The next day was a normal Monday at Lou Lou’s school, El Corazón Public. There was plenty of talk of the Bonanza, and Lou Lou felt proud when she saw the red program on the hall bulletin board. Kids practiced performances for the celebration, with a spontaneous gymnastics demonstration and a trumpet concert. There was also some discussion of the mayor’s sudden departure. Lou Lou asked her classmates about the vice-mayor, but, again, no one knew much about him. One kid thought he might be a friend of her uncle, and another said he once saw the vice-mayor at Cupcake Cabana.
After lunch, Lou Lou had Art. She’d been looking forward to today’s class because Sarah was helping them make banners for the Bonanza.
“Go ahead and roll out the paper!” On Sarah’s command, Lou Lou began to unroll a giant scroll from one end.
“Don’t pull so hard on your side until I’m ready!” a high-pitched voice squealed.
“Sorry.” Lou Lou slowed down and grinned at blond, petite Danielle Desserts, who was unrolling the paper opposite Lou Lou. Danielle looked away and adjusted her pink sparkly headband, but Lou Lou saw the glimmer of a smile on her face. Danielle and Lou Lou weren’t exactly friends, and Danielle and her snooty-girl posse were by far the bossiest kids in the school. But she and Lou Lou had come a long way from the enemies they had once been.
When the blank scroll of paper was fully unrolled, Lou Lou’s classmates drew in big block letters: ¡BIENVENIDOS A BONANZA DE BICENTENARIO! and WELCOME TO THE BICENTENNIAL BONANZA! Their handwriting was good, but not as pretty as Pea’s. It was no wonder that she went to a special arts school. In smaller letters, other kids wrote the names of all the neighborhoods in the city. Then Lou Lou and her classmates added glitter and drew designs to make the banners colorful and shiny.
“Great!” Sarah said when they were finished. “Now it’s time for one more banner. This one will thank our city for the lovely gift of the gazebo. Please draw pictures of how you will use the gazebo so this banner will be truly special!”
On the second banner, Lou Lou’s classmates wrote: ¡GRACIAS POR EL MIRADOR! and THANK YOU FOR THE GAZEBO! Lou Lou drew herself and Pea wearing Pea’s hats and enjoying PSPP tea and scones in the new gazebo. In Kyle’s drawing, he stood in the gazebo in his silver Comet Cop outfit, holding his meteor blaster, which was really just streamers attached to a spatula.
“I did a good job on the galactic gazebo.” Kyle admired his artwork.
“It looks great, but I don’t see how the gazebo will be galactic,” said Lou Lou. “It won’t have rockets or orbit the sun.”
“Mayor Montoya said that the gazebo will be for everyone to use however they’d like. So I’m using it as a space lair. Plus, everything on Earth orbits the sun, Lou Lou Bombay.” Lou Lou had to admit that Comet Cop Kyle made some valid points.
In addition to Lou Lou’s and Kyle’s drawings, a boy sketched himself playing the accordion in the gazebo, there was a drawing of two girls eating ice cream, and another of a boy riding his neon-orange skateboard. Lou Lou squinted at Danielle’s gazebo sketch of herself and her friends dressed in pink with their hips twisted to one side.
“What are you doing in this drawing, Danielle?”
“The Sugar Mountain Sisters’ Shimmy. Duh!” replied Danielle.
“Oh, of course.” Lou Lou was careful not to let Danielle see her giggle. Danielle and her snooty-girl posse took their obsession with Shelly and Sherry from the Sugar Mountain Sisters book series very seriously. They would perform the sisters’ dance on the afternoon of the Bonanza celebration.
Sarah took a step back to survey the two banners. “These look great!” she said. “Everyone should be proud of their work. The banners will be on display tomorrow at the Preview, and then we’ll hang them at the Bonanza celebration, of course. This Bicentennial Bonanza is truly going to be an occasion to remember!”
As Lou Lou helped Sarah carefully re-roll the paper, Sarah’s words, occasion to remember, echoed in Lou Lou’s head. She was certain that the Bonanza would be one of the most memorable events of her life so far, and she could hardly wait another few weeks for the celebration!
* * *
On Tuesday after school, Lou Lou went to Marvelous Millinery, where Pea was adding the special touches to a few of the final hats—sequins and a peacock feather as her signature accent.
“Wow!” was all Lou Lou could say when Pea held up the hats for Lou Lou’s inspection. She admired the feathers. “These really make it perfect!”
“As Christian Dior said, ‘Feathers are lovely on a bird and glamorous on a hat,’” explained Pea.
“That’s definitely true,” replied Lou Lou. She tried a horticulture quote. “As Violet Petals said, ‘Pretty flowers may smell like pretty dirt.’”
Pea politely didn’t ask Lou Lou how that quote was related to feathers or hats, and did not point out that she never wanted to smell dirt, no matter how pretty.
“Should we get going?” Lou Lou asked. “It’s almost five-thirty.”
“Yes.” Pea quickly put away her supplies and tidied up the workshop.
“Which hat are you bringing for the Preview?” asked Lou Lou. “One of the super-duper-fancy ones?” Lou Lou emphasized duper because most of Pea’s hats were, at the very least, super-fancy.
“Abuela Josie’s lucky hat, of course,” Pea replied. She carefully placed the hat in a large bag and slung it over one shoulder.
“I can’t wait to see her face when you show her how incredible it looks!” said Lou Lou.
“I’m also going to take the one that I will wear at the Bonanza. I finished it yesterday.” Pea pulled a round, sky-blue, silk-covered hatbox from the cabinet. On the hatbox was a fancy sewn-on label that read Propiedad de Peacock Pearl. She lifted its cover to reveal a cloche made from navy velvet and trimmed with green ribbon and a peacock feather. On one side was an oversize royal-blue bow. It wasn’t the most elaborate of Pea’s hats, but Lou Lou could tell it was crafted with love and made from the finest of materials. When Pea modeled it over her brown hair, the blue of her eyes shimmered.
“Gorgeous!” said Lou Lou, once again awestruck by her friend’s millinery talents. “What will you name it?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Pea put the hat back in the box, then slung its satin braided cord over the crook of her elbow so she could close the hat shop door. “It will definitely be something extra special.”
Once on the street, Lou Lou and Pea joined their El Corazón neighbors. They were all going to the same place—the Heliotrope, the girls’ favorite restaurant and theater. The air was thick with excitement as everyone talked about the evening’s event.
“I heard that Ella Divine is going to debut the song she wrote for the Bonanza!”
“¡Esta noche es seguro que será muy divertido!”
“It will be so amazing to see the model of the gazebo!”
It was a short walk to the Heliotrope’s grand oak doors and lighted marquee, which read in big letters: TONIGHT! BICENTENNIAL BONANZA PREVIEW! And in smaller letters below: Complimentary slices of our famous chocolate cheesecake! Lou Lou’s mouth watered at the sign. She and Pea loved the Heliotrope’s chocolate cheesecake.
Inside, the crowded theater was abuzz with activity. The evening’s Preview was intended for assigning tasks to Bonanza volunteers, as well as providing a glimpse of what would happen at the Bonanza. It was like the trailer for one of Lou Lou’s dad’s beloved pirate movies that showed brief swashbuckling scenes, but made you wait for the film to get the whole story.
At the Preview, everyone presented a sample of the creation or performance they were working on for the upcoming celebration. In a far corner, Sarah hung one of the banners made by Lou Lou’s class above an elaborate model of the gazebo that had been on display in Lou Lou’s school’s trophy case. In another corner, Kyle tried to stop Jupiter from gnawing on the Heliotrope’s fancy velvet upholstery.
“Let’s go see the Celebrar candles that Rosa ordered for the Bonanza!” Lou Lou pointed to a dark-haired older girl standing behind a candlelit table.
“And keep an eye out for my abuela! I can’t wait to give her the hat. Which reminds me…” Pea took her own blue hat from the box and proudly placed it on her head.
Lou Lou and Pea made their way through the crowd, stopping to get a piece of chocolate cheesecake. A voice behind Lou Lou said, “Save room for dinner. I made minestrone sloop soup. Hearty enough for my favorite first mate.”
Lou Lou smiled. “Hi, Dad.”
Just then, the houselights went down and the Heliotrope’s manager appeared onstage in front of the heavy crimson curtain. Lou Lou and Pea turned to watch.
“Welcome and bienvenidos,” the manager said. “Gracias for coming to tonight’s Preview! To kick this off, let’s enjoy the vocal stylings of El Corazón’s favorite singer performing a piece she wrote just for the Bonanza. Please welcome the one, the only … Ella Divine!”
Lou Lou, Pea, and the rest of the crowd cheered. The curtain lifted and Ella Divine appeared, looking stunning. Her black hair curled elegantly around her face, her lips were painted a deep plum, and she was wearing a long gold gown tied with a wide silk sash of her signature color, emerald green. Pea nodded approvingly. Ella Divine was Pea’s favorite performer, which had as much to do with her fashion sense as it did her beautiful voice.
“Good evening,” said Ella Divine into the microphone. “This song is called ‘Abundant Cheers for Two Hundred Years.’” Everyone was mesmerized as Ella Divine began to sing:
“They traveled many miles
Diego and dear Giles
And became the best of friends
True companions till the end
And they thought this land so pretty
So did found our lovely city
Now we celebrate our home
In our dear El Corazón
And mark our city’s special day
On the twentieth of May
So raise your glass and let’s say ‘cheers!’
To the past two hundred years!”
At that, everyone in the Heliotrope raised their glasses in a toast. Lou Lou and Pea clinked together their pomegranate Italian sodas and joined the crowd in clapping and crying, “Bravo!” Eventually, the applause died down except for one loud slow clap.
“Spectacular, indeed!” a man’s voice boomed from the back of the theater. Even though the words were complimentary, Lou Lou detected something unpleasant about the man’s tone. Her ears began to tingle and she glanced at Pea, who was frowning. “But I have a small suggestion to improve your song,” the voice went on. “May I join you onstage, Miss Divine?” The man sounded like he was giving an order rather than asking permission.
“It’s a bit unconventional, but please do come up,” Ella Divine said graciously.
When the man behind the voice approached the Heliotrope’s stage, Lou Lou’s ears went from pink tingly to red warm. There was something about him—Lou Lou couldn’t quite put her finger on it—that screamed, I’m up to no good! He was tall with a pointy goatee and was wearing a satin jacket printed with gray and black diamonds, and black patent-leather shoes polished to a high shine.
Chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, Lou Lou said three times in her head, a trick she used to calm her nerves. She didn’t know who this man was or what he had to say, but Lou Lou suspected that she wasn’t going to like it.