Olivia’s stomach churned. That means something bloody, I know it, she thought. She gulped her glass of water. “I don’t think I’m hungry,” she said after a moment.
Her father’s face fell, and Olivia felt super guilty. “Won’t you even try a bite?” her dad pleaded. “It’s quite a delicacy. In fact, it’s part of a traditional human breakfast.”
It can’t be too gross then, Olivia thought. Okay, I’ll try it.
Her father slipped on a gray oven mitt and crossed the kitchen to pull something out of the oven. She could tell he was slicing something. He returned and set a plate before her. It had two thick patties on it that looked like dirt.
Olivia poked one with a fork. “What is it?”
“Black pudding,” her father said proudly. “It’s very popular in England.”
That doesn’t sound so bad, Olivia thought. “What’s in it?”
“It’s congealed blood sausage, cut into slices,” her father said matter-of-factly.
“Humans eat that?” Olivia blurted.
“All the time,” her dad replied, sitting down across from her with his own plate. He cut a huge piece and popped it in his mouth. He shut his eyes blissfully, savoring the taste. “Mmmmm.” He gestured toward Olivia’s plate encouragingly, but she couldn’t move. She was too busy concentrating on not breathing through her nose.
“Go on.” He nodded.
Olivia’s fork and knife shook in her hands. She forced herself to cut a piece the size of her pinky fingernail. She adjusted her glass of water so the moment she took a bite she could chug.
“Don’t let it get cold,” her father directed.
Olivia felt like the whole Franklin Grove cheerleading squad was doing handsprings in her stomach. You have no choice, she told herself. You have to eat it! She shut her eyes as tight as she could and raised the trembling fork to her mouth.
Ivy tilted the living room lamp so that it shone on Casey and Stacey like a spotlight. Olivia’s mom and the girls’ own mother, who’d arrived to pick them up, watched from the couch. Instead of teaching the girls a dance or a cheer, Ivy had helped them write a little play, and now was their big performance.
“And so Princess Casey and Ballerina Stacey were trapped by the evil wizard,” Ivy narrated. She swung the lamp toward Olivia’s father, who was sitting in the corner in an easy chair, rubbing his hands together. “The infamous AccountantO!” she announced. Mr. Abbott laughed menacingly.
“Eeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!” shrieked the girls. “Isn’t Steve frightening?” Audrey whispered happily to her friend, who nodded. “They waited for their princes to rescue them,” Ivy continued.
“My prince will rescue us,” said Casey, ruffling her yellow tutu nervously with her fingers. “He has twenty-three racing cars, plus he’s a veterinarian.”
Stacey stepped forward. “My prince will save us,” she enunciated, “because he’s really rich and he has a mustache.”
The moms giggled.
“They waited and waited,” said Ivy. “Accountant-O’s dungeon was really gross.” She reached into a plastic bag full of props. “There were worms.” She reached out a hand and showered the girls with cut-up pieces of string.
“Eeeewwwwww!” they screeched.
“And there was a monster chained to the wall in the corner,” Ivy added. She gave a huge roar, and the girls ran around screaming. Ivy reached into her prop bag and pulled out a spray bottle. She sprayed the girls with mist. “It sneezed on them.”
“Yuck!” the girls yelled, shielding their eyes.
“But still their princes did not come,” Ivy intoned. Casey and Stacey pouted dramatically. From the shadows, Mr. Abbott laughed evilly again.
“Princess Casey and Ballerina Stacey grew impatient,” Ivy said.
Stacey reached into an imaginary pocket in her pink tutu and pulled out an imaginary cell phone. “Where are you?” she said. “You were supposed to be here hours ago!” She listened like a real actress, and then hung up. “I don’t know what his problem is,” she huffed.
Casey crossed her arms. “Boys!” she exclaimed. “They’re so unreliable.”
“Finally,” narrated Ivy, “Princess Casey and Ballerina Stacey decided not to wait around any longer.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Casey said to Stacey.
“They snuck up on the evil wizard AccountantO,” Ivy went on, following the girls with the lamp as they tiptoed up to Mr. Abbott, who was punching things into an imaginary calculator and muttering numbers triumphantly.
Casey tapped him on the shoulder.
“What the—?” Mr. Abbott spun around in mock surprise and leaped to his feet.
Stacey balanced on one foot and raised her hands over her head, howling like a kung fu master about to execute a killer move.
Mr. Abbott’s eyes widened. While he was distracted, Casey ran up and stamped on his foot.
“Ouch!” he cried. Ivy winced. They hadn’t rehearsed that part.
Stacey karate chopped him in the back.
“Ooh!” Mr. Abbott said.
“You meanie!” Casey said and kicked him in the shin.
Doubled over, Mr. Abbott craned his neck and shot Ivy a desperate look. “Happily ever after!” he whispered. “Happily ever—”
Both girls leaped on his back, and the three of them collapsed to the living room carpet with a crash.
“Uh, then Princess Casey and Ballerina Stacey ran away,” Ivy said quickly.
The girls sprang off Mr. Abbott and dashed out of the room.
“And they lived happily ever after as best friends forever!” Ivy concluded.
The moms leaped up from the couch, cheering wildly. Casey and Stacey skipped back into the living room and curtsied daintily to their audience.
“Bravo! Bravo!” Audrey called. “You take a bow, too, Steve!”
“I can’t,” Steve groaned from the floor. “My back,” he said apologetically.
Ivy helped him to his feet and settled him into the easy chair. Then the girls came over, took her hands, and dragged her back in front of the couch. Ivy bowed with a flourish, her ponytail whipping forward.
I’m getting almost as good at being Olivia as Olivia! Ivy thought proudly. I wonder how she’s doing being me right now.