All the children looked over when they heard the receiver bang down.
“Who was that, Dad?” asked Hallie.
“Oh, nobody,” Mr. Grayson said.
“You sounded upset,” Hallie said.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Mr. Grayson answered.
Jessie knew it was none of her business. Still, she wondered what had made Mr. Grayson so angry.
“It wasn’t that magic lady again, was it?” said Hallie.
“Magic lady?” her father said. “Oh, you mean the magician. Yes, as a matter of fact, it was.” He turned to the Aldens and explained. “When Hallie broke her ankle, I knew the skating party was out. So I quickly called the same magician we’d had last year. She changed her plans to fit us in at the last minute. But Hallie wasn’t too excited about having the same party she’d had last year.
“Then Janet Woodruff told me about you kids, so I canceled the magician. She and her manager are pretty angry now. Anyway …” Mr. Grayson seemed eager to change the subject. Looking down at Hallie’s leg, he said, “What great drawings you made on Hallie’s cast!”
“Doesn’t it look nice now?” Hallie asked.
“We’d better get going—we’ve got to go to the party store and buy supplies,” Jessie said.
“Great. Call and let me know how things are going,” said Mr. Grayson.
“See you this weekend!” Hallie called as the Aldens left.
On their way to the store, the Aldens talked about what had just happened at the Graysons’.
“Do you think Mr. Grayson was talking on the phone to Cassandra the Great?” asked Violet.
“He might have been,” said Jessie. “There aren’t that many magicians in town who entertain at birthday parties. And he said it was a woman.”
“If it was Cassandra and she was really angry at us for taking one of her jobs, that might explain why she tore down our posters,” said Benny.
“That’s right,” said Jessie. “Mr. Grayson said she’d rearranged her plans for him.”
“I hate to think that someone is so angry at us,” said Violet. “We’re not trying to steal her business.”
“No, we’re not,” Jessie agreed. “And even if we have gotten some of her jobs, that doesn’t make it right to tear down our posters.”
“I was wondering …” said Benny.
“What?” asked Henry.
“What if it isn’t Cassandra who’s tearing down the posters?” Benny said.
“Are you thinking of her manager?” Jessie asked.
“Well, maybe he is,” Benny said.
“It sounds as if you have another person in mind,” Violet said.
“Yes,” Benny said. “Mr. Woodruff.”
“Mr. Woodruff?” Jessie asked. “Why would he do something so rotten?”
“Whenever we see him, he’s very rude to us,” Benny said. “And we saw him following us. What if he just doesn’t like us for some reason and he wants our business to fail?”
“I guess that’s possible,” Jessie said doubtfully.
“Well, we just have to keep doing the best we can at each party,” said Violet. “Then our business is sure to be a success.”
Soon they reached Party Time. When they entered the store, Ms. Fox gave them a cheery hello. “Are you kids back again?” she asked.
“We’ve just been hired to do another party!” Benny said excitedly.
“Wow, that business of yours is really taking off!” Ms. Fox said. “Whose party is it this time?”
Jessie told Ms. Fox about Hallie Grayson and her broken ankle.
“Poor kid,” said Ms. Fox. “I remember I broke my ankle when I was a kid. It’s hard being on crutches when you want to go out and play.”
“She was planning to have a skating party, too,” said Violet. “We’re still going to celebrate at the rink, though. They have a special room for parties. The kids will play games and make things instead of skating.”
“Why not just have the party at their house?” Ms. Fox asked.
“Their house has lots of fancy artwork, so her father doesn’t want kids running around there,” Henry explained.
“Well, I’m sure it will be great,” said Ms. Fox.
“We’d better hurry up and get started,” said Jessie. “The party is this Saturday afternoon!”
The Aldens picked out plates and napkins with snowflakes on them. For decorations they bought sparkly silver tinsel to hang up like icicles. They bought colored felt and yarn for making puppets, and for the snow globes they bought colored quick-drying clay and glitter.
“And finally,” said Jessie, “we’ll get this little stuffed snowman as the prize for the Melt the Ice Cube game.”
The children finished making their purchases and headed home to begin working.
The Aldens managed to get everything done by Saturday. It was a cold, crisp day when the Aldens arrived at the rink to begin setting up. They hung the tinsel and snowflakes they’d made, and covered the table with the pretty snowflake tablecloth.
“It looks great,” Hallie said when she got there.
As soon as the guests arrived, Jessie and Violet taught all the kids how to make their own snow globes. Each girl or boy ended up making something quite different. One made a snowman and another a little teddy bear. Hallie made a girl ice-skating.
At the end of the party, when the clay was hard, the Aldens would put water and glitter into the jars to finish the snow globes.
The puppet show was a great success—the children shouted and laughed and threw confetti when they were supposed to.
When the party was almost over, the Aldens got the cake ready. They had baked it in the shape of a snowman, using three different-sized round cake pans for the body and head. They had iced the cake with white icing and shredded coconut to look like snow. The snowman’s eyes, nose, and mouth were made from candy, the arms were pretzel sticks, and a piece of red licorice around its neck made a scarf.
Hallie’s eyes lit up when she saw the cake. She turned to the Aldens and said, “This is the best birthday party ever! Thank you.” Then she blew out the candles.
After the party favors had been given out, the guests had all gone home, and everything had been cleaned up, the Graysons and Aldens said good-bye.
“Thank you so much for everything,” Hallie said as she gave each of the Aldens a hug. “You made this birthday really special. You really did a wonderful job. I’ll recommend you to all my friends.”
“That would be great,” said Henry.
“Enjoy the rest of your day!” Jessie called as the Graysons drove off.
Grandfather had told the children he’d pick them up at four o’clock, a half hour after the party ended, so they’d have time to clean up. It was now ten minutes to four.
As the children waited for Grandfather, they heard the music playing from the ice-skating rink.
“I want to go skating!” Benny said.
“That’s a great idea,” said Jessie. “I’ll call Grandfather and tell him not to pick us up until six.”
The Aldens went back inside the rink. While Jessie found a phone, the others rented skates.
“Grandfather said that would be fine,” Jessie said when she came back. She got a pair of skates for herself. The others had already laced up and were waiting for her.
Soon all four children were out on the ice, skating around in time to the music. Henry zoomed around quickly. Hockey was one of his favorite sports. Benny was still a little unsteady on his skates, so he just went slowly, trying not to fall. Violet tried the new moves her hockey coach had been teaching her—crossing her skates over and skating backward. Jessie went straight to the middle of the ice and practiced her graceful spins and turns.
Too soon it was quarter to six. The children returned their skates and put their shoes back on. When they got outside, Grandfather was just pulling up to the curb.
“How was the skating?” he asked when they’d all gotten inside the car and buckled their seat belts.
“It was great!” said Jessie.
“And the party went well?” Grandfather wanted to know.
“It did. Hallie was really pleased,” Henry said.
As they drove, the children told their grandfather about their afternoon. The ride home took them past the Graysons’ house. As they turned onto Hallie’s street, the children saw a police car parked right in front of the Graysons’.
“Look, a police car!” Benny cried.
The Aldens looked at the Graysons’ house as they went by, but they could see nothing wrong from the outside.
As soon as they got home, Mrs. McGregor met them at the door, a concerned look on her face. “Henry, Mr. Grayson called a little while ago. He asked you to call him as soon as you got home.”
“Thanks, Mrs. McGregor,” Henry said, going straight to the phone.
He dialed and then waited a moment. “Hello, Mr. Grayson,” he said when he heard the man pick up. “It’s Henry Alden. Is everything okay?”
“Well,” Mr. Grayson said, “the party was wonderful. But when we got home, we found we’d been robbed!”
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