Chapter 13 - Anti-Gravity Land

XL's birthday would occur on the following Saturday. He would be 11 years old. As for past birthdays, his parents had arranged a birthday party for him, and he was very excited about the upcoming one.

Over his life, he had enjoyed a variety of birthday festivities. When he was young, most of his parties were at home, and each one had a different theme. There was a bicycling party one year, and a cowboy party another year (where all the guests dressed in old western style and played cowboy games), and a flying party where all the guests rode in Saucer 1. Also there were parties held at other places, like a swimming party or a bowling party. This year his parents had arranged a party for him at Anti-Gravity Land, which had opened just last year at the north end of the city where he lived. He was thrilled about that, because he had never been there.

He knew that Anti-Gravity Land didn't have real anti-gravity, but still it would be fun. For real anti-gravity, he would need to go on one of the trips to the moon. Then he could float all the way there. And the moon would be fun too, because with low gravity he could jump long distances. But moon trips were very expensive, so they were only available to scientists and to very wealthy individuals who could afford tickets.

XL had already e-mailed invitations for his Anti-Gravity Land party, and several friends had accepted already. A week ago he gave the first invitation to Beeba Boeboo, because he wanted to ensure that his best friend could attend on that day and time. Once he was sure that his own family and best friend could attend, then he sent additional invitations to some of his school pals. They would have fun in the anti-gravity park, and then eat cake in one of the birthday party rooms there. His mom had reserved a birthday room for up to 10 people, and so far there were 8 people who had been invited: his own family plus four other boys.

When he was little, he sometimes had both girls and boys at his party, but at age 11 boys and girls mostly played separately. XL worried that he would be teased if he invited any girl. Of course his mom and sister would be there, but that didn't count.

There was one invitation he sent where he hadn't received a reply yet: to James, who was in his own classroom at school. James and his twin sister Judy had been in the school yard during the bullying incident that happened last week. But James didn't always read his E-mail, so maybe he hadn't seen the invitation. XL decided to phone him.

He phoned James, who answered almost immediately - on the third ring. It turned out that James hadn't read his e-mail yet, so XL told him about the date, time, and location for the party.

"Wow, I would really love to come," said James. "But I promised to go to a movie with my sister that afternoon. Both of my parents will be working, and they will be dropping me and Judy off at the Super 4D Theatre for Space Aliens Movie Marathon. I don't think I can leave her there by herself."

"Oh, that's too bad," said XL. "But I guess Space Aliens are nice too."

"Yes, but not as nice as Anti-gravity Land," replied James. "I haven't been there, but Judy has, and she says it is fantastic. She would rather go there any day, than to see yet another movie."

This gave XL an idea. If he invited both of them, then probably they could come. But he wasn't sure if he liked the idea of Judy being there. She was a nice girl, very courteous, and cheerful. He liked to joke that she was the Cheshire Cat, because her smile reached almost to her ears. Like XL, she got good grades in school, and on top of that she was very athletic. She was the fastest kid in their grade level, and faster than kids in older grades too. Racing wasn't XL's favorite hobby, but nevertheless he didn't like being beaten by a girl in a race. It's so annoying, he thought.

"Hold on a sec," said XL. He put the phone on mute, and turned to his dad, who was working at a computer nearby.

"James can't come unless Judy comes too," said XL. "Do you think I should invite Judy too?"

"It doesn't matter," said Max. "There is room for both of them, so you could invite her if you want. But you don't need to feel obligated. Sometimes people are busy, and it just doesn't work out for them to come. If you prefer, you can invite someone else."

What should XL do?

Choice A	Invite both James and Judy to the party.
Choice B	Accept that James can't come. Look in his school phone book and pick out another boy to invite instead.

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