Finishing getting her bags packed once again, Johanna looked around at the guest bedroom she was in and sighed. Visiting her Uncle Benny and Aunt Evie's home was not something she expected to do on her summer vacation, but nonetheless was required to do for one reason or another. It was her cousin Levi's birthday and even though Levi's brother David hated Johanna, he still invited her to go, telling his parents that Johanna was one of his favorite cousins. Never being particularly close to Levi, Johanna thought this was odd but complied anyways since it was his birthday. Missing her flying fox Atticus and her mother and Nan and her friends at school all at once, Johanna wished more than anything to go home. Things for her had been going awkwardly enough. Her mother and Nan simply dropped her off at her Aunt and Uncle's house and for some reason she was surprised that they weren't going to stay with her, assuming they would since around Hanukkah they always stuck by her side. This was only for two days however so they thought she'd be able to handle it alone. She barely skimmed by.
David had started to pick on her from the moment she'd gotten there, constantly trying to trip her, jumping from behind things to try and scare her, throwing pop itz leftover from the Fourth of July at her feet to make her jump, and he even tried to give her a wet willy, to which she evaded easily. The party itself wasn't too bad, Levi had a large round chocolate cake with brown chocolate frosting and yellow icing accents. Everything at the party was clown themed, which annoyed Johanna because she absolutely hated clowns.
A lot of people were afraid of clowns, but Johanna was never afraid... she just hated clowns. They always made her the very opposite of happy and every time she saw one in person she avoided them at all costs. She partially blamed this on her sixth birthday party, when her dad's family used to insist on orchestrating her birthday parties for her and her mother couldn't say no or it would've seemed rude. Her Aunt Ruth had taken the liberty of hiring a clown to come to the party and straight away, the guy rubbed her the wrong way. From the way he walked to the way his face paint was, Johanna hated everything about him. Despite this, she was still as nice as could be, as to not hurt his feelings, and watched as he badly made balloon animals, popping the balloons over and over again before finally getting them right. Then he started to juggle. This almost amazed Johanna, until one of his clubs he was juggling flew through the air and landed right in the punch bowl on the table, showering Johanna with a mixture of Funny Face Rootin Tootin Raspberry and Orange Tang drink. If this wasn't bad enough, the party clown who called himself Giggles ran towards Johanna to help clean her off when David tripped the clown, causing him to fall and completely ruin the snack table and her birthday cake. Even her gifts were crushed under the clowns weight and covered with party drinks and food, and her birthday party was completely ruined. David got grounded for two months, plus his summer vacation and Johanna had to watch as her family frantically cleaned the onion dip and cherry jell-o off of the boxed gifts in a feeble attempt to save the party. Johanna would like to think that for this reason and because of her cousin David, this was why she hated clowns.
The food at the party was delicious, and she was secretly so happy her Aunt Evie was as good of a cook as she was. There were barbecue meatballs skewered on sticks, deviled eggs, ambrosia fruit salad, a cheese log surrounded by crackers, pretzels and cans of Tab for everyone to drink. After everyone ate snacks and played party games like pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs and freeze tag, they ate cake and Levi got to open his presents. Johanna had gotten Levi a GI Joe Mike Power Atomic Man action figure labeled Dive to Danger. He came in a scuba diver outfit with an oxygen tank, goggles, and a plastic shark doll. Johanna liked the doll so much she was almost jealous watching him rip it out of the box and play with it immediately. Levi's younger friends were at the party with him and at one point, Levi walked up to Johanna when her friends were playing tag and said,
"I want you to do magic tricks for my friends."
"What?!" Johanna whispered to him worriedly and once again he said,
YOU ARE READING
Back Home Again
פנטזיהThis is the second book in the story line of Johanna Beetle, a young Hogwarts transfer student that befriends the Marauders and deals with many challenges as a young witch.
