Karen's Pilgrim Read online

  The author would like to thank

  Carolyn Travers and the Plimoth Plantation staff

  for their help in making sure

  the facts in this story are correct.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Thanks to Thanksgiving

  2 My Two-Family Story

  3 Are We There Yet?

  4 Welcome to Plimoth Plantation

  5 A Walk Around the Village

  6 Lots of Questions

  7 Snap!

  8 Souvenirs

  9 No Fair!

  10 Meanie-mo

  11 Karen’s Report

  12 The Best Secret

  13 Pamela’s Presentation

  14 Welcome to Stoneybrook

  15 Karen’s Important Job

  16 How Fare Thee?

  17 I Am a Pilgrim Girl

  18 Brianna Murphy

  19 Making Peace

  20 Karen’s Thanksgiving

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Thanks to Thanksgiving

  “Who would like to take attendance this morning?” asked my teacher, Ms. Colman.

  My hand shot up so fast, I almost fell off my chair.

  “All right, Karen. You have not had a turn in awhile,” said Ms. Colman.

  Yes! I like doing important jobs. Especially in Ms. Colman’s second-grade class. Ms. Colman is a gigundoly wonderful teacher. She never raises her voice or gets angry at me. Even when I call out in class, she just asks me please to use my indoor voice.

  Ms. Colman handed me the attendance book and a blue pencil. I started checking off names.

  First I checked off my own name, Karen Brewer.

  Then I checked off my two best friends, Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis. They waved to me from the back of the room.

  I used to sit at the back of the room with them. Then I got glasses and Ms. Colman moved me up front where I could see better. Actually, I have two pairs of glasses. I wear the blue pair for reading. I wear the pink pair the rest of the time. I happen to look excellent in both pink and blue. In case you are wondering, I have blonde hair and blue eyes. I also have a bunch of freckles. (They are light brown.)

  After I checked off my best friends, I checked off my best enemy. Her name is Pamela Harding. She is a meanie-mo sometimes. Her two best friends are Jannie Gilbert and Leslie Morris. I checked off their names too.

  Next I checked off Addie Sydney, who was peeling witch stickers off her wheelchair tray. She had a package of turkey stickers that she wanted to put on. That is because it was the beginning of November. Thanksgiving was on the way.

  Natalie Springer popped up from under her desk. She had probably been pulling up her socks. They are always drooping. I checked off her name.

  I checked off Ricky Torres, my pretend husband. (We got married on the playground one day at recess.) Then I checked off Ricky’s friend Bobby Gianelli.

  Terri and Tammy Barkan, who are twins, were in class. I checked off their names.

  And I checked off a few more names. Then I handed the book and pencil back to Ms. Colman.

  “Everyone is here,” I said.

  “Thank you, Karen,” she replied. “All right, class, I would like to tell you about a special assignment.”

  I sat up tall to listen. I love anything with the word special in it.

  “As you know, Thanksgiving comes at the end of this month. There is a lot to learn about this wonderful holiday. I would like each of you to write a report about Thanksgiving. But that is not all. I would like you to make a presentation, as well. That will be the best way to share what we learn.”

  All right! Thanks to Thanksgiving, November was going to be an exciting month. I would get to stand in front of my class and make an important presentation. And this weekend I was going on a trip. I was going with my little-house family to visit Plymouth, Massachusetts. That is where Thanksgiving started.

  But wait — you do not know about my two families. I have a little-house family and a big-house family.

  Get ready. I have a lot to tell you.

  My Two-Family Story

  When I was little, I had just one family. I lived in a big house in Stoneybrook, Connecticut, with Mommy, Daddy, and Andrew. (Andrew is my little brother. He is four going on five.) I liked my family, but Mommy and Daddy fought a lot. That made everyone unhappy. Mommy and Daddy tried their best to get along. But it just did not work. So they told Andrew and me that they love us very much, but they could not live with each other anymore. Then they got a divorce.

  Mommy moved with Andrew and me to a little house not too far away. She met a nice man named Seth and married him. Now Seth is my stepfather. Mommy, Seth, Andrew, and I live at the little house together. We have pets at the little house. They are Midgie, Seth’s dog; Rocky, Seth’s cat; Emily Junior, my pet rat; and Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab.

  Daddy stayed at the big house after the divorce. (It is the house he grew up in.) He met a nice woman named Elizabeth. Daddy and Elizabeth got married. So Elizabeth is my stepmother. Elizabeth was married once before and has four children. They are Kristy, who is thirteen and the best stepsister ever; David Michael, who is seven; and Sam and Charlie, who are so old they are in high school.

  My other sister is Emily Michelle. She is two and a half. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted Emily from a faraway country called Vietnam. (I named my pet rat after her because I love her so much.)

  After Emily came to live with us, Nannie moved in. Nannie is Elizabeth’s mother. That makes her my stepgrandmother.

  Those are all the people at the big house. These are the pets: Shannon, David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Boo-Boo, Daddy’s cranky old cat; Crystal Light the Second, my goldfish; and Gold-fishie, Andrew’s turkey. (Gotcha!) Emily Junior and Bob live at the big house whenever Andrew and I are there — which is every other month.

  I have special names for my brother and me. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought up those names after Ms. Colman read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) I gave us those names because we have two of so many things. We have two families and two sets of pets. We have two sets of toys and clothes and books — one set at each house. That makes going back and forth between our houses easier. I have two bicycles, one at each house, and so does Andrew. (I helped him learn to ride a two-wheeler.) I have two stuffed cats. (Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house.) And you already know that I have two best friends. Nancy lives next door to the little house. Hannie lives across the street and one house down from the big house.

  Like I said, Andrew and I switch houses every month. Where were we in November? At the little house. And my little-house family was going on a trip. I could hardly wait.

  Are We There Yet?

  I counted the days until my trip. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday — trip day!

  School went by in a blur. All I could think about was going to the place where real Pilgrims once lived.

  After school I did not ride the school bus home. Mommy, Seth, and Andrew were waiting to pick me up.

  “See you Monday!” I called to my friends.

  “Have a great time,” said Hannie.

  “Tell us everything when you get back,” said Nancy.

  Pamela was standing near us.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “I am going to Plymouth, Massachusetts. To a place where the real Pilgrims lived,” I said.

  “Oh, you mean Plimoth Plantation. I have been there twice already,” said Pamela.

  Boo. Pamela always has to be first and best.

  “Well, I am glad it is my first t
ime. First times are the most fun,” I said.

  I heard Mommy calling me. I waved good-bye to my friends and ran to the car. I was glad to be going someplace new. And I was glad to be getting away from Pamela Harding.

  “How was school?” said Mommy.

  “It was okay,” I replied.

  “Would you like a snack?” asked Seth as we drove off.

  “Sure,” I replied. I am always hungry after school.

  “Me too,” said Andrew.

  We had crackers with peanut butter, and apple juice. While we were eating, Mommy read to us from a Plimoth Plantation brochure.

  “Listen to the names of some of the foods the Pilgrims ate,” said Mommy. “Seethed lobster. Savory pudding of hominy. Crimped fish. Colewart sallet. Cheate bread.”

  “Ooh, it is bad to cheat,” said Andrew with his mouth full of crackers. “That bread is going to get in trouble.”

  Seth laughed. “I wonder what cheate bread is.”

  “We can ask when we get there,” said Mommy. “The brochure says the people we meet will be happy to answer our questions.”

  I finished my snack.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” I said.

  “Me too,” said Andrew.

  Seth pulled off the highway at the first rest stop, even though we had just gotten on the highway. We used the bathrooms, then found the highway again.

  “I am bored,” I said after we had driven a little way.

  “Me too,” said Andrew, kicking his seat.

  Mommy and Seth played a game of Twenty Questions with us. Then we sang songs. We stopped for supper. Then we got back on the road.

  “Are we there yet?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” replied Seth.

  We played more games. We sang more songs.

  “Are we there yet?” I asked.

  “Almost,” replied Seth.

  He pulled off the highway and onto smaller roads. Finally we stopped at the water. It was dark outside, but we could see a tall ship.

  “Are we there yet?” asked Andrew.

  “We sure are,” said Seth. “That is the Mayflower Two. It was made to look like the boat the Pilgrims sailed.”

  “Wow!” said Andrew. He loves boats.

  “The Pilgrims’ trip from England to America took a lot longer than our trip from Stoneybrook,” said Mommy.

  “And they did not have a comfortable hotel to stay in. But we do,” said Seth.

  I love hotels. We drove to ours and settled in. In the bathroom were little soaps wrapped in paper. Fresh sheets were on the beds. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  Welcome to Plimoth Plantation

  We woke up early on Saturday morning. We ate breakfast in the hotel coffee shop, then drove to Plimoth Plantation.

  Seth bought four tickets good for two days of visiting. I wanted to go straight to the village. But Mommy and Seth wanted to see the orientation show.

  “I would rather see real things,” I said.

  “The show is short,” Mommy replied. “Seeing it will help you understand the village better.”

  We found four seats in the screening room. The program started right away. Pictures flashed on the screen. The narrator said Plimoth Plantation was a re-creation of the real village from the year 1627.

  I was surprised that the village looked so cheerful and colorful. I thought Pilgrims wore black clothes and tall black hats all the time.

  The voice said the people we would meet in the village are called role players. It is their job to talk and act the way the Pilgrims did in 1627. I wondered how they knew what life was like all the way back then. The voice must have read my mind, because it answered my question right away.

  “We learned about this historical village through painstaking research. We continue to learn new things as more objects from the past are uncovered,” said the voice.

  We were told we could ask the role players as many questions as we liked. I already had a long list.

  I clapped when the show ended. It was very good. And short.

  “I have an idea,” said Seth. “How about starting at the Mayflower Two? That way we will see the sights in the same order the Pilgrims did.”

  This sounded like a good idea to me. And Andrew could not wait to get back to the boat he had seen the night before.

  We got in the car and drove to the water. The Mayflower Two looked even prettier in the daylight.

  “Ahoy!” said Andrew. He waved a make-believe sword.

  “There were no pirates on this boat. They were Pilgrims,” I said.

  We stepped on board and back into history. We saw men swabbing decks and fixing masts. Two women sat together. One was knitting; the other was reading aloud from a Bible.

  We walked down to the cabins. A mother was on a bed with her daughter.

  “Mother, I am feeling very poorly,” said the girl.

  “Father will be here soon with medicine for thee,” the mother replied.

  “Maybe she needs to go to a doctor,” I whispered.

  “There were one hundred and three people crowded together on this ship,” said Seth. “Many of them got sick, and there was only one doctor to help them as they crossed the sea. It was a difficult trip.”

  “The trip from England to where they finally settled in Plymouth took over two months,” said Mommy.

  “What did the children do if they did not go to school?” I asked.

  “It was very hard for them,” said Mommy. “There was no room to run and play. They had little fresh food to eat. They had to wear the same clothes every day. And most of them had to sleep on beds on the ship’s hard, cold floor.”

  “I want to go home!” cried Andrew.

  Mommy put her arms around him. “I am sorry I scared you,” she said. “You do not have to worry. You have warm clothes, good food, and two houses to live in.”

  Andrew was still crying. “I want to go home!”

  Mommy took Andrew off the boat. Seth and I stayed and walked around some more. I even got to help tie a rope to the ship. I felt like a true Pilgrim.

  A Walk Around the Village

  When Seth and I had seen everything we wanted to see, we left the boat. We found Andrew and Mommy looking in the windows of a bakery.

  “Karen! This is where they make cheater’s bread!” Andrew said.

  “Cheate bread,” said Mommy. “Should we try some?”

  “Yes, please!” Andrew and I said together.

  Cheate bread is a lot like regular bread. Only it is made into little rolls. It is delicious.

  After our snack, we drove back to the village. I felt as though I had been there before. That is because it looked just the way it did in the orientation show.

  The people were wearing colorful clothing. They were laughing and talking, working and playing. Even though I knew they were just pretending to be Pilgrims, and even though lots of other people were visiting Plimoth Plantation that day, just the way my family and I were, I forgot about real life as I walked through the village. I felt as if I had walked back in time to 1627, when the Pilgrims lived.

  “Good day to you. And how do you fare?” asked a man passing by.

  He seemed friendly, even though he was carrying a big saw over his shoulder.

  “I fare fine, thank you. How are you?” I replied.

  “Very well. I am on my way to saw timbers, with which to build a house for my family,” replied the man. “Come join me if it please you.”

  “Thank you!” said Seth.

  I was not surprised that Seth was excited. He is a carpenter. But sawing wood did not sound so exciting to me. I was more interested in two girls playing nearby.

  “I want to go over there,” I said.

  “I want to saw wood,” said Andrew.

  “No problem,” said Seth. “We can split up and meet in a couple of hours at the Visitors’ Center.”

  Mommy walked and I ran to where the girls were playing.

  “I know that game! It is Fox and
Geese,” I said.

  “It is our favorite,” replied one of the girls.

  “You played this game all the way back in the sixteen hundreds?” I asked.

  “We play it, yes,” replied the girl. “You can play the next round if you like.”

  “When you finish the round, it will be time for us to return home,” said a woman standing near us.

  “Yes, Mother,” said the girl. She turned to me and said, “You are welcome to come along.”

  “Cool!” I cried. I was going to a Pilgrim girl’s house!

  “By the way, my name is Remember,” said the girl. “I am twelve.”

  “I am Karen Brewer. I am seven. And this is my mom,” I replied.

  When the game of Fox and Geese was over, Mommy and I followed Remember and her mother home.

  Lots of Questions

  On the way, I studied Remember’s clothes. They did not look anything like mine. I was wearing purple leggings, pink sneakers, a gray sweatshirt, and a navy blue jacket. Remember was wearing a white bonnet, brown jacket, white apron, long cranberry skirt, and tan coat. Her skirt looked a lot bigger than she did.

  “Do you have a lot of stuff on under there? You look very puffy,” I said.

  As soon as I asked my question, I felt a little bit sorry. I hoped I had not hurt Remember’s feelings. I could tell by her answer that I had not.

  “Aye, I do wear a number of garments. It takes me a long time to dress every day. Next to my skin I wear a linen shift. Then I put on stockings and garters to hold them up. Over these garments, I put on three petticoats. This one of sad red is the topmost,” said Remember.

  “Wow, that sure is a lot,” I replied.

  “There is more,” said Remember. “I put on my apron and coif and — ”

  “What is a coif?” I asked.

  “It is the linen cap on my head. Then I put on my shoes and my waistcoat. My waistcoat has many buttons and I must be sure to button every one,” said Remember.

  I knew her waistcoat was her jacket. I counted the buttons on it. There were fifteen!

  “If I had to do all that dressing, I would be late for school,” I said.

  “No. You would get up early the way I do,” said Remember. “And you would not dillydally in the morning.”