Page 46 of Tasty Cherry

“He’s what?” Sebastian says, with outrage. “Nobody should be grumpy at a party!”

Snow White dances close, her teeth gritted in a forced smile. “The face is permanent!” Then she dances by.

I look beyond them at the dwarves. It’s true. The dwarves all wear full-face masks with hats and hair attached. There’s no way to change an expression. Dopey dances up to Gina, swinging his head back and forth, but she buries her face in her mother’s shoulder.

The mother swings her away from us. “I want them out of here. I want a full refund. I want my daughter to stop crying!”

Dang. It’s not the hotel’s fault her kid hates the costumes.

But Sebastian nods. “Absolutely.” He taps Gina on the arm. “Gina? Come down and pick who gets to stay.”

Interesting.

Gina wiggles away from her mother, who sets her on the floor.

She walks up to the dancing dwarves.

“Stop the bloody music!” the mother calls.

The man behind a DJ setup in the far corner lowers the volume until it is barely audible.

Sebastian turns around, his arms upraised. “The birthday girl is going to pick which characters get to stay extra-long!”

Huh. That’s a nice spin on it.

Snow White looks doubtful, but she holds her practiced smile.

“Line up the dwarves!” Sebastian calls.

The seven of them stand across the dance floor. Doc is first. He clasps his hands like he’s begging. “Can I stay, please, birthday princess? Your Highness?” He gets down on his knees in a silly bow and falls over on his back like he lost his balance.

Gina giggles. “You stay.”

Then Dopey comes up, clumsy and tripping over his feet. “What about me, Princess Gina?” He takes her hand and kisses it, or at least lifts it to his painted lips.

“Yes!”

Each of the dwarves ask to stay until we get to Grumpy. He crosses his arms and huffs, turning away. Then he slowly turns around, does a silly tap dance with his feet, then huffs and turns away again.

Gina laughs and claps her hands. “Again!”

He does another dance, this one even sillier, and Gina collapses on the floor in giggles. “More, more, more!”

The mother bends next to her. “I thought you wanted him gone?”

“No, Mama! Grumpy is silly!”

Grumpy lies on the floor next to Gina, kicking his legs in the air. She mimics him.

The mother stands. “Well, all right. I guess she is five, after all.”

“Can we help with anything else?” Sebastian asks.

“We could use another server,” the mother says, even though the two that are already here are simply standing behind the counter of a kitchenette on the back wall.

“Done,” Sebastian says. He passes her a card. “Call me directly if you think of anything you need.”

She holds the card. “Thank you.” She seems mollified.