Funny Business by A. J. Stern

Author:A. J. Stern
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Just then, my dad looked at his watch.

“I have about ten more minutes before I have to go meet Tina Zucker.”

“Who’s Tina Zucker?” I asked.

“She’s the guest speaker.”

“Guest speaker?” I had never heard of this job before. It certainly sounded very important.

“A guest speaker is the person who makes a speech. She’ll welcome everybody to the conference and get them thinking about some of the topics of the day,” my dad explained.

“What kind of topics?”

“Something you are already very good at,” my dad said. “Creativity in the work place—how to use your imagination to help you do a better job.”

“They have conferences about that?” I asked. I did not know that being creative was a conference kind of topic. If I had known that all along, I would have asked to be the guest speaker!

A waiter came over and refilled our water glasses.

“Mrs. Pellington says I have a simply magnificent imagination!” I told them.

“And you most certainly do,” my mom agreed.

“Maybe if the guest speaker doesn’t have a good idea for a speech, she could call me on Mom’s cell phone while we’re at Princessland.”

“I’ll certainly let her know,” my dad said. “But she’s one of the very best guest speakers—”

“Or we can just wait until she gets here, and I can give her some good ideas myself. Or even just my business card,” I interrupted. Turning to my mother so she wouldn’t feel bad, I said, “And then we can go to Princessland.”

“I think she probably has some good ideas, Birdy. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“In fact,” I added, “if anyone seems to need help with anything whatsoever, they can just call me on Mom’s cell phone and I can tell them how to use all the office supplies.”

My mom looked at me for a long time.

“Frannie?”

“Yes?”

“Would you prefer to stay here instead of going to Princessland today?”

I didn’t say anything because I was still worried I would hurt her feelings.

“It’s okay if you do,” she said with a voice that had only a tiny bit of sadness in it.

“Well, kind of,” I said.

“You really want to be cooped up inside all day in dark rooms with no windows when we’re here in sunny, beautiful Florida?” my dad asked me.

“It’s beautiful in here, too!” I said.

My parents laughed. Then they looked at each other.

“I thought we would spread Princessland over two days, but I guess just going tomorrow is good enough,” my mom told my dad.

“I don’t see why not,” he said.

Then they looked at me.

“Frannie?” my mom asked in a very top-level business type of voice. I sat up really tall.

“Yes, mom?”

“I want to make sure that your father and I understand. You would prefer to stay inside today and work, is that correct?”

“Yes!”

“On a spectacularly and utterly cloudfree, beautiful day, you would rather be inside this hotel than at Princessland?”

I stood up so excited. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” I cried. Then people at other tables turned around to look at me, so I sat down again.

“Yes,” I whispered one more time for good luck.

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