All the guests at Billy Jenkins’ birthday party laughed.
“And that, is what happens when you sneeze so hard your belly button undoes,” Mr. Bobo announced.
Half the party guests checked their navels for unexpected wear. Cecily Warner pointed at Evan Blake’s outie. “Better not sneeze, Evan. Yours is coming loose.”
Evan pulled his shirt down quickly.
Mr. Bobo tried the elephant again. This time, it worked. He handed it to the birthday boy and squeezed the bulb at the end of his lapel flower. A stream of water hit Billy in the face. “Naughty elephant,” he chided.
The next three balloon animals—poodle, giraffe, snake (“Really?” Mr. Bobo asked Evan Blake)—worked fine. Then two more “oopses.” Mr. Bobo covered with “my world-famous disappearing tiger trick” and “ninja pony!” but he was losing his audience.
Only one thing that could distract the children from the fact that only half of them had balloon animals. He grabbed three metal rings from his oversized carpetbag, juggled them (successfully!), then poured liquid from a bottle labelled “Mystery & Wonder” into a pizza pan. A dunk of a metal ring and the children oohed and aahed at the enormous soap bubble that filled the living room.
“Can I try?” Cecily Warner asked.
Usually the answer was “no,” but for balloon-animalless waifs like Cecily, Mr. Bobo made exceptions.
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