Smiley Tie - 3

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"Can we go too?" Joseph asked.

"Sure, same rule."

They lined their punch cups neatly against the baseboard on the far side of the balcony aisle. Thereafter they stood wide-eyed and transfixed, forking cake into their mouths. Well, at least the guys were. Pauline was too mesmerized to do much but stare.

The boys began to lose interest and talk among themselves. It was probably getting close to time to get them out of here before there was any trouble, like missing children reports. Anton joined them at the railing.

"Had enough?"

The boys nodded.

"Oh, please, just one more minute, Mr. Anton," Pauline pleaded.

"One more minute." Anton bent over and rested his elbows on the railing beside her, trying to imagine what it must look like through her eyes. Gemstones glittered, gowns in all the rich jewel colors popular this season swirled and swayed in rhythm. The band eased seamlessly from one song to another. He doubted the kids recognized any of the tunes or any of the town's notables who made up the largest portion of the guest list. Anton could spot a couple congressmen and their wives, the mayor curiously without his spouse, a few councilmen and women, members of the school board, Senator Thompson and her husband and their daughter Aimee who was twenty and on the prowl. She had been stalking Anton most of the evening and was one of the many reasons he sneaked out through kitchen door and ran over Herman in the first place.

"Oh, that's my teacher. Mrs. Layman!" As Pauline pointed with one hand, the plate of cake tilted in the other, and there was not enough time to react between the premonition of disaster and the cake sliding off the plate when it bumped the rails. The plate clattered to the balcony floor, but what was left of Pauline's cake slid between them and began its free fall. There was nothing for any of them to do but stand there and watch it unfold.

The cake tumbled, in slow motion it seemed, plain side over icing, gathering speed and timing its landing most perfectly.

On the mayor's head.

Icing side down, of course.

Pandemonium broke loose as the mayor tried fend off the attack from above. The mangled piece of cake, with his toupee glued to the icing, landed in the décolletage of Aimee Thompson.

Her reaction was to pull it off and throw it as hard as she could, shrieking all the while, no doubt imagining it was some sort of rabid animal bent on biting her. It landed on the floor where a dancer squished it and slid, pulling his partner down on top of him in a rather embarrassing sort of position. Before anyone could say, "Watch out!" a half-dozen other dancers were dropping like bowling pins.

A flurry of guests and servants exploded into regular speed motion and buzzed about trying to set things right.

"Good-n-bennett!" Joseph whispered.

"This ain't good," Herman said.

If they hadn't spoken, Anton might not have laughed out loud. The Stooges couldn't have staged anything better than this. But the laugh carried, and he saw his father's head turn.

His first reaction in preservation mode was to pull the two boys back from the railing so they wouldn't be seen. Then he stepped backwards, just in time. It was then he noticed that Pauline was gone.
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Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of Smiley Tie.