I sat with Hannah in the audience again and Hannah gurgled happily at seeing Dad. Soon, I'd be turning thirteen and that meant there'd be two teenagers in the house. It was an exciting prospect for me to be a teenager. Dad wanted to do something with sports or cars but I didn't. I wanted a boy/girl party here in the basement but I hadn't told my parents yet.

"It's the end of floor finishing week on Tool Time. We got a big finish for you."

"We're gonna shoot Al out of a giant glue gun. He'll be everywhere. It's gonna be a great show so stay tuned."

"We're going to finish finishing our floor. For best results, you wanna use two coats. However, before applying the second one, scuff the first coat with a fiberglass screen to help the second coat adhere better. Easy to install - set it underneath your buffer and start buffing."

"Al uses one of these to buff his legs before he waxes 'em."

"Speaking of wax - for a gentler, smoother shine, I suggest using wax."

"With all the wax I got in there, you could wax a whole basketball court."

"Remind me not to shake your hand at the end of the show." I'm ready to buff out my wax and show you the difference, but Al's using the buffer, so I've brought my own. Heidi and Stumpy, could you bring out my buffer, please? Here you go, Tim. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Stump."

"Could you have built a bigger buffer?

"I didn't build this. I bought this at Bob's Big and Tall Appliance Shop. I'm ready to buff this up. Watch the shine. Klaus, music."

Klaus played some music as I watched with a laugh. With a gurgle, Hannah pointed to Dad with a coo and I nodded. I quietly mouthed that yes it was Dad and to wave to him. Dad waved back and blew a kiss to her. She cooed eagerly and laughed. Whenever Dad waved to her, she'd laugh and loved that Dad acknowledged her being there.

….

I stood in the kitchen with Hannah in my arms and smiled. Babbling, Hannah babbled hello to Tim as he came in. He kissed me and then kissed her cheek and hung up his coat. It was his normal greeting toward Hannah when he came in from places and to me, it was really cute! He loved his little girl and she meant the world to him and had ever since we found out we were pregnant in September. I loved having a little girl and I couldn't wait for her to get old enough to have girl talks.

"Bet you can't guess where l came from."

"Art museum?"

"Slippery Steve's Snowmobiles. He doesn't rent, but he'll make exception."

"It is so great to be married to a man with that kind of power."

"But I must learn to use my power for good, not evil."

"And the good would be?"

"A snowmobile party for Randy's birthday."

"Dad, I don't know about a snowmobile party." Randy groaned.

"Come on, think about it. There's no better way to say happy birthday than saying it at 85 miles an hour, blistering across the tundra, icicles frozen to your face. 'l can't see anything!'"

"As good as that sounds, I was thinking a boy-girl party in the basement."

"Girls love snowmobiles."

"Tim, nobody has their first boy-girl party on a snowmobile. At my first boy-girl party, all the girls wore frilly little dresses. The boys wore suits and ties. We played charades and telephone.

"Mom, things have changed in the last 100 years."

I made a face and Hannah laughed, biting down on a teething toy that was a hand-me-down from Marty and Nancy's twins. Nancy always gave me the hand-me-downs from the twins but I often bought stuff for her too. Needless to say, we had a lot of baby stuff. When she outgrew them, we'd donate them to the shelter.

…

I walked down the stairs and jumped down them, heading to Brad. Tonight, I'd be having my first boy/girl party down in the basement. Since Brad was close to my age, I decided to allow him to come anyways. He wasn't too young but not too old either since a couple of the kids were in his grade. Anyways, my crush, Michelle, was gonna be there so I was more than a bit concerned. Brad knew better than I did about girls since he had a girlfriend.

"So how do I look?"

"What's different?"

"I changed shoes."

"Randy, what are you so nervous about?"

"Well, there's this girl Michelle coming to the party."

"Randy, Michelle's not gonna care about what pair of shoes you're wearing. All she's gonna care about is she gets to have fun at the party. And she doesn't want any nerdy parents hanging around."

Mom walked down with a box and I groaned. Why did Mom have to come down? I got that she had to chaperone the party, but couldn't that be upstairs? It was extremely annoying that parents thought they needed to follow you. It was Mom and Dad's and my agreement to allow me to have the party. I could only have the party if they chaperoned.

"Great news. Guess what I found in the closet. My old 45s."

"You're gonna let us have guns at the party?" Brad and I gave inquisitive looks towards Mom's box.

"These are records. This is the music I used to listen to at my parties. 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' by Donovan. This is a great slow song. 'To Sir With Love' by Lulu."

"Don't worry. There's not a machine in the city that'll play those."

"Not true. I found my old Princess record player in the closet too. All l have to do now is find a needle for it."

"Hey, why don't you just hop into your time machine?"

The doorbell rang and I ran to got up to get it. Mom followed eagerly and I hoped against hoped that it was Michelle. I didn't want her to meet my family, but I did want her to meet Brad. Out of all my family (maybe except Hannah who was helpless) was the coolest out of them. Brad knew what was in and what wasn't in kids my ages' minds. The worst were Mom and Dad of course but oh well.

I opened the door and Michelle looked really nice. She had a purple top with nice black pants with her hair down. Overall, she looked beautiful. I didn't know how I felt but I knew that I had feelings for her.

"Hi, Michelle."

"Hi, Randy. The person who followed me in is my father."

"I'm Bert Sanford."

"I'm so happy to meet you. I'm Jill Taylor."

"You've met his mother and you can see that she looks basically normal. You can go now."

"I can assure you my husband and l will supervise the whole time. We're very responsible people."

"I'll be right back, Mark." I heard Dad come from the basement.

"There's my husband now. Tim. Come and meet Michelle's father."

"Oh, hi, Michelle's father. Good to see you."

"Tim, don't be rude. Come and shake his hand."

"Not a good time, honey."

"Wait a minute. Aren't you the guy on that tool show? Yes, I am. I love that episode where you lit your sleeve on fire."

"I got that thing on tape. I you wanna watch it, I got it."

Dad walked out and I groaned internally, feeling extremely embarrassed. This was the worst possible time for D3ad to embarrass me. What I wanted was for Dad and Mom to go away so I could have alone time with my friends. I looked at Michelle who shared an embarrassed look. Kids bonded over parents being embarrassing.

"You're wondering why l don't have any pants on, aren't you?"

"Why's your father in his underwear?"

"To ruin my life."

"I switched from brief to boxers because they're freeing then slacks. I'm gonna go and get a pair of Sansabelts on now. You guys just hold still while I get some slacks on. I'll be right back."

…

I stood by Brad and felt really nervous. Part of me wanted to ask Michelle to dance (a big part) while the other part wanted to stay here and have Brad do it. That'd make me seem like a coward so I opted out of that idea. Just standing here mad me seem like a jerk and like I didn't like her. Sometime today I had to ask her to dance and Brad was giving me the same look.

Brad was the one I always asked advice about girls. He knew better than Mom or Dad did about how things like that worked. Though Mom and Dad had good advice, Brad knew better. He knew what girls liked nowadays plus he knew what to say to make them like him. I wasn't like that but I wanted to be. Hence why I asked Brad more than Mom or Dad.

"Why don't you ask Michelle to dance?" Brad gave me a weird look.

"I just ate. You're supposed to wait an hour before you go dancing."

"That's swimming."

"Right. It's two hours before dancing."

"Get over there."

Brad shoved me towards Michelle and I reluctantly walked over. Sometimes, I doubted how helpful Brad could be but he proved me wrong. He'd save me from bullies and help me with Beth and now Michelle. We were brothers and brothers did stuff for each other. Nothing could tear ours (and Hannah's) bond apart, not even a crowbar. Blood is thicker than water!

"Hey, Michelle." I smiled.

"Hi."

"So are you having a good time?"

"Not really."

"Well, neither am I. I'd leave, but this is my house."

"I like your shoes."

"I like your ears. I mean, I just never noticed 'em at school before."

"I always bring them with me."

"Yeah, it's just usually you wear your hair down and you can't see 'em.

But now you can and they really match your nose."

"Thanks."

"I'm really glad your father let you stay."

"I'm really glad your father put some pants on."

Dad walked down and bumped his head on the pole that was hanging. It caused us to look over at him and I internally groaned. Why couldn't he just stay upstairs with Mom? Well, a chaperone had to at least check up on the kids but it still embarrassed me. Dad thought he was cool and hip but Brad and I knew better.

"How come no one's dancing? This floor isn't just for looking at. Sherman. What do you think of the dance floor? l made this for Randy. Did your dad ever make you a dance floor?"

"No. I kept dropping hints, but all l got was a crummy CD player."

"Dad, I thought you told me you'd stay upstairs."

"I thought I'd come down and help get the party going. A little dancing. Everybody, come on. I'm the king. No one gave me nothing. Shut up!"

"Dad. Dad. You're killing me here. Could you go upstairs, please?"

"Yeah, all right."

Dad walked away and started to walk upstairs.

"So, Michelle, do you wanna—?"

"Dance?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for asking." Michelle walked there and fell on her ankle with a thud which didn't sound pleasant.

"Michelle, are you OK?"

"I don't think so."

"Give me a hand. Are you all right?"

….

Dad and I helped Michelle up the stairs. He held up one side and I had the other. It hurt me that Michelle was hurting. I loved her a lot and just like with Hannah, I was protective of Michelle too. Nothing and nobody were allowed to hurt Michelle or Hannah for that matter. I'd better include my mom in there since I was protective of her also.

"I think she should go to the doctor."

"I'm not sick. I'm just singing." Mom looked at us.

"Sit here." Dad pointed. He was careful not to wake up Hannah.

"I'm really sorry about this, Michelle." I looked at her.

"What did you do? Tim!"

"I might have put a smidge too much wax on the dance floor."

"A smidge? You could hold Ice Capades on that thing."

"Speaking of which, we need some ice."

"Well, l just put it all in the punch. She'll stick her foot in there. Go ahead, put it in there."

Dad helped Michelle put her foot in the ice and she winced as she stuck it in there and I watched carefully. Sometimes, Dad didn't have the best ideas when it came to health. That was Mom's forte and she was quite a bit better at it than he was. Well, he knew the basics and necessities and such, but sometimes he was a bit odd.

"We'd better call her parents. What's your number?"

"Oh, no one's home. My mom's out of town and my dad's buying a new car."

We need someone to call What kind?"

"Dad."

"My ankle really hurts."

…...

Dad and I carried Michelle into the emergency room and I felt really bad. This was turning out to be a great thirteenth birthday for me. Happy birthday, your dad caused your crush to be in the hospital. Yeah, my birthday was turning out to be a grand one, note the sarcasm here. It was the worst birthday I could think of and the thought of that upset me.

"Oh, great. This place is packed."

"It's busier than usual. You should have had the party in here."

"It's bad enough you might have broken her ankle or sprained it. Don't make her listen to your jokes."

"Just watch her, will you? I'll see if l can move things along. Don't touch him."

Dad walked away and I looked at Michelle. I wondered if she'd ever want to see me again and if she did, I'd be shocked. My parents were super embarrassing, my dad nearly broke her ankle, etc. If she still wanted me after then, I'd be amazed.

"I'm sorry your party bombed out." Michelle looked at me sadly.

"I'm sorry you hurt your ankle."

"When my dad finds out about this, I'll never be able to go to another party again."

"Maybe we can hang out together, 'cause I'll never be invited to another party."

"I'd like to hang out with you. But my dad probably won't let me when he finds out l got hurt on your dad's floor."

I sighed sadly as Dad came in and Marge followed after him. Last year in February, I had come in with Dad. I had sprained my wrist from falling off the sled into a tree, but everything turned out to be alright. Still, I probably looked as bad as Dad did.

Marge took Michelle and put her in the wheelchair. They quickly wheeled her back to the examination room and I felt bad. What if her ankle broke and her dad never let her go to another party again? I'd feel bad and I knew she'd never forgive me.

"She's gonna be just fine. They're good here. Some birthday, huh?"

"It's the birthday I dreamed of - sitting with bleeding, infected people."

"Hey, the day's not over. Maybe we can salvage it yet."

"No. There's no way you can salvage this one, Dad. I finally find out Michelle likes me and now her dad won't let me hang out with her."

"I'll talk to him. He likes Tool Time. He'll understand accidents happen."

…...

I opened the door and Mr. Sanford was there, which shocked me since he wasn't supposed to come for another two hours. He was a "helicopter" parent which was a parent that controlled everything their kids did. Still, how was I gonna tell him that his daughter was in the emergency room? If I was told by someone that my child was in the emergency room, I'd be angry but then terrified along with worried.

"Oh, Mr. Sanford, you're early."

"After seeing your husband in his underwear and your neighbor wandering around naked, I was a little concerned."

"But it seems like everything's under control here."

"Right here? Yeah, everything's really under control. Want some cake?

"No, but l will take some punch. It's very different. Make it yourself?"

"Michelle helped."

"It tastes like she had a hand in it. Where is Michelle?"

"The truth is she's had a little accident. She's at the emergency room. See? Look, there she is."

Tim came in and carried Michelle as Randy walked in with a sad look. My heart broke for my little boy. Though he wasn't little anymore, it broke my heart that Tim had accidentally hurt Michelle. Dads with daughters were quite a bight protective. Don't doubt a mother's love for her son. It's special and no one can break it.

"Sweetheart, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. It's just a sprain. It's a mild sprain. She should be OK in a couple of days."

"How did this happen?"

"Guy builds dance floor for son, guy overwaxes, girl slips and hurts herself, guy feels terrible, girl's father forgives guy."

"Look, Mr. Sanford, it was just an accident."

"Like on Tool Time, the show you like - accidents."

"I like when the accidents happen to you, not to my daughter. I should've followed my instincts. I shouldn't have let you stay. Dad, I should have taken you car shopping."

"What kind of car did you end up with? Gremlin? AMC General? A Hornet?"

"No. For your information, I collect muscle cars. What l'm really looking for is a '70 GTO."

"Yeah! With a big block?"

"Of course with a big block. And I'd love to find a convertible."

"You're a car guy?

"Yeah. I like to take old pieces of junk and restore 'em to cherry."

"I got a '46 Ford convertible I'm trying to retrofit into a hot rod.

"You've got a '46 Ford convertible?"

"I do. Wanna see?"

Tim and Mr. Sanford walked out and I sighed at them. This meant Michelle could come over and Randy would be happy again. It was one of the rare times I was thankful that Tim was so into cars. He now had a car buddy to help when Brad wasn't around. When he was, he'd let both help. It felt to Brad like it was his and I wasn't about to take that away. Nor was Tim.

"Would you like to have some cake?" I cut two pieces of cake for them. "Randy, I am so sorry that your birthday worked out this way. If you want, your father and I can make it up to you by taking you and a bunch of your friends to some kind of concert next weekend."

"Why? ls Lulu doing a world tour?"