Karen's New Year Read online

  Oh, well. I looked at my list. Maybe I could narrow it down. Maybe I should choose just one resolution. Everyone else would probably make only one. I read my list again. No. I could not leave out anything. All the resolutions were important.

  I knew I would have to work hard to keep my resolutions. For instance, I would have to check all of my spelling very, very carefully. And I would have to think of something nice to do for someone each day. That might be difficult. And probably I would not always want to share with Andrew. But I would do it anyway.

  I knew I had made the best promises of all.

  I could not wait to read my list at the party that night.

  Everyone would be very impressed.

  I was going to start off the new year in a big way.

  I Will, I Will Not

  We had a gigundo fun dinner that night.

  “Last dinner of the old year!” said Elizabeth.

  “But there will be another dinner tomorrow … won’t there?” asked Andrew. Tears filled his eyes again.

  “Oh, of course, honey,” said Elizabeth. She put her arm around Andrew. “But it will be the first dinner of the new year.”

  At dinner, we ate ham and baked potatoes and peas with sauce on them. For dessert, Elizabeth made a big fruit salad. We ate and talked about our party. We remembered funny things that had happened during the year. We said what we wanted to happen during the new year. Mostly we wanted peace and no guns.

  When dinner was over, I said, “Let’s go into the living room now. Let’s tell our resolutions!”

  So we did. We sat on couches or chairs or the floor. All of us. Even Emily. But Emily played with toys and did not pay attention to what was going on.

  “Who should go first?” I asked.

  “Oldest to youngest,” replied Nannie. “I will go first. Here is my resolution. I resolve to work very hard to make my hip better.” (Nannie broke her hip last month.) “I bet I will be walking on my own even before the doctors say I will.”

  Daddy went next. “I resolve to lose ten pounds by April.” He patted his tummy. “I’m getting — ”

  “A gut?” suggested Sam, and everyone laughed.

  “I,” began Elizabeth, “resolve to finish things I start.”

  “I resolve not to talk on the phone while I’m doing my homework,” said Charlie.

  “I resolve not to burp loudly at the table anymore,” said Sam.

  “Ew, gross!” I cried. “Sam, that’s not a resolution.”

  “Do you want me to keep burping?” he asked.

  “No,” I replied.

  “Okay, so that’s my resolution.”

  Then Kristy resolved not to talk about softball while she was on the phone with Bart. Bart is Kristy’s boyfriend, I guess. They both coach softball teams. But it seems like all they ever do is talk about softball.

  “I resolve,” said David Michael, “to practice hitting and pitching every day.”

  “Good for you,” said Kristy. (David Michael is on her team.) “Karen, what’s your resolution?” she asked.

  “I want to go last,” I told her.

  So Andrew resolved to floss his teeth every night, which made Sam laugh, which made Andrew cry.

  But I saved the day. I read my list of resolutions.

  “You’re going to do all those things?” said Kristy. She raised her eyebrows.

  “Yup,” I replied. “And I am going to make resolutions for Shannon and Boo-Boo and Emily,” I went on.

  “Not Emily,” Daddy interrupted. “She’s too little. I don’t want you to expect her to do something she doesn’t understand. If you want to make resolutions for Shannon and Boo-Boo, go ahead. But don’t expect them to keep promises.”

  “Okay,” I replied. “I resolve that Shannon will not have any more accidents in the house. And I resolve that Boo-Boo will not scratch anymore.”

  I was done. We cheered for ourselves. Everyone was feeling proud.

  Happy New Year!

  “Par-ty!” yelled Sam. “Let’s get this New Year’s Eve party going!”

  “Let’s get the food!” said David Michael.

  Our resolutions were over. The serious part of the evening was over. So we brought out some of our party food.

  “Now what?” asked Andrew.

  “Let’s play games,” said David Michael.

  “Games that Nannie can play, too,” added Charlie.

  We played Twenty Questions and Memory. Then I suggested a spelling bee, but nobody wanted to do that. So we played Categories. Then Sam turned on the TV to see the New Year’s Eve parties in New York City. At one party, a big band was playing. We began to dance around the living room. Except for Nannie, who couldn’t, and Emily, who had fallen asleep.

  “How could she fall asleep when we’re being so noisy?” I asked.

  “She’s only two,” said Nannie gently.

  Elizabeth carried Emily Michelle upstairs to put her to bed.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “Ten-thirty,” Kristy replied.

  “Only ten-thirty?!” The night seemed very long.

  At eleven, Elizabeth made popcorn. At eleven-thirty, Sam found a different station on the TV.

  “There’s the ball,” he exclaimed. He was looking at a lighted ball way up high on a tower or something. “At eleven fifty-nine,” he said, “that will start to fall. When it reaches the bottom, it will be the new year.”

  “Why?” asked Andrew. He looked confused. (Also sleepy.)

  Sam tried to explain. But he did not get far. Daddy and Elizabeth were handing out hats. They put bags of confetti and piles of streamers on the coffee table. “It’s almost time!” said Daddy.

  Soon the TV announcer said, “It’s eleven fifty-nine, folks!”

  When ten seconds were left, we counted backwards to zero. “… three, two, one, zero! … Happy New Year!”

  “Yea! Hurray!” Everyone shouted and screamed and hugged. We threw confetti and streamers everywhere. We blew our horns.

  The room was gigundo noisy.

  “Come on,” said Daddy. “Let’s open the front door.”

  We did. And all up and down the street we could hear people shouting, “Happy New Year!” and blowing horns. It was exciting.

  But soon Elizabeth said, “Bedtime.”

  Before I knew it, I was in bed. I was very tired, but I could not sleep. I had brought some Hershey’s Kisses up to my room. Maybe candy would help me sleep. I was reaching for one when I remembered my first resolution: I will not eat sweets.

  I drew my hand back quickly. I would have to remember to put the candies away the next day.

  Then a horrible thought occurred to me. I was up way past my bedtime. Had I already broken my third resolution? I decided I had not. Daddy and Elizabeth had given all of us permission to stay up until after midnight.

  But I realized just how hard it would be to keep my resolutions. It would be even harder than I had thought.

  Boo.

  Caught You!

  Guess how late I slept the next morning. Eleven o’clock! I was gigundo glad that I had not made a resolution about sleeping late. I would have broken it for sure.

  I got dressed quickly. I made my bed. Then I thought — what could be the nice thing that I do for someone today? The answer was easy. I had already done it. I had made my bed. (I do not always remember to. Then Daddy or Elizabeth gets cross and has to remind me.)

  Feeling very proud of myself, I went downstairs. I was starving! Should I eat breakfast or lunch? I wondered. The first meal of the day is usually breakfast. But it was almost lunchtime.

  When I got to the kitchen, Sam, Kristy, Daddy, Andrew, and David Michael were there. They were sitting at the table.

  “ ’Morning, sweetie,” said Daddy.

  “ ’Morning,” I replied. “What meal is this?”

  “It’s brunch,” said Kristy, grinning. “We’re eating whenever we wake up.”

  “What’s brunch?” I asked.

  “Br
eakfast and lunch at the same time,” David Michael told me. “Get it? Breakfast and lunch? Brunch?”

  “Yeah!” I said. “Neat.”

  Daddy served me eggs and fruit and a muffin. “What do you want to drink?” he asked. “You can have anything you want.”

  Before I could answer, we all heard a loud, “B-U-R-P!”

  “Excuse me,” said Sam.

  “Sam!” I cried. “You already broke your resolution! You didn’t keep it for a day. You didn’t keep it at all. This is your first meal of the new year. And you burped.”

  “Sorry,” said Sam. (He did not sound very sorry.) “I really needed to burp. I drank my soda too fast. Besides, when I made my resolution, I meant I would not burp just to gross people out.”

  “Well, you didn’t say so.”

  “Well, that’s what I meant.”

  “Okay, okay,” said Daddy. “Enough arguing.”

  I didn’t say anything else to Sam during brunch — even though he did not burp again. But I had a plan.

  As soon as I finished eating, I went to my room and found a notebook. I turned to the first page and wrote SAM at the top. Underneath that I wrote: Jan. 1 — Sam burped loudly at brunch.

  While I was doing that, I reached over to my dresser. I felt around until I found a piece of gum. I unwrapped it and put it into my mouth. I chewed slowly while I wrote about Sam.

  Then suddenly — uh-oh! I was chewing gum!

  Gum is a sweet, isn’t it?

  I grabbed the gum wrapper and read it. Sugarless gum, it said.

  WHEW. I decided I was safe. If the gum was sugarless, then it was not a sweet. And I was not in trouble.

  But Sam was.

  And I decided I better keep an eye on everyone else. Maybe they would not be any better at keeping resolutions than Sam was. I was glad my notebook was thick. I might need a lot of pages.

  I hid the gum in my nightgown drawer. I knew I was keeping my first resolution, but if someone else saw the gum, they might not think so.

  Breaking the Rules

  “There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o.”

  It was the next day. I was so, so happy that I was still at the big house. I was in our playroom. I was pretending I was a farmer. I had found a straw hat, and I was wearing overalls and a plaid shirt. I was trying to make Shannon be my dog, but she did not want to play.

  Ring, ring! went the telephone.

  “I’ll get it!” I cried.

  But Kristy was saying, “I’ll get it,” too — and she did.

  She stood in the hallway outside the playroom. I could not help overhearing her end of the conversation.

  “Hi, Bart!” she said happily. There was a pause. Then Kristy said, “No, I think it’s too cold for a game. Anyway, it’s supposed to snow on Monday…. Yeah…. Yeah. What? The kids’ hats? … Oh, their bats. I guess we could find some aluminum bats. That shouldn’t be a problem…. No, it’s a good idea. I’m glad you called. Okay, I’ll talk to you soon. ’Bye!”

  Well.

  I could not believe it. Now Kristy had broken her resolution. And resolutions had been her idea in the first place.

  I ran into the hall.

  “Kristy!” I said.

  “Yes, Farmer Jones?”

  “I’m not Farmer Jones. And you broke your resolution.”

  “What?” said Kristy.

  “You broke your resolution. You talked about softball on the phone with Bart.”

  “Well, I couldn’t help it,” replied Kristy. She sounded huffy. “Bart called to talk about softball stuff. When I made my resolution, I just meant that we wouldn’t talk about softball when we’re having a friendly, casual conversation. Because we should learn to talk about other things. But Bart had some questions. What was I supposed to do? Tell him he has to come over because I can’t answer his questions on the phone?”

  “I guess not,” I said slowly. “Sorry, Kristy.”

  “That’s okay,” she replied. But she looked a little cross.

  Kristy went back to her room. I took off my hat. Then I went to my room, too. I found the notebook I had started. I turned past Sam’s page. On the next page, I wrote KRISTY. Underneath that I wrote: Jan. 2 — Kristy talked about softball on the phone with Bart.

  Boy. People sure didn’t take their resolutions seriously. I decided to go over to Hannie’s house. I would complain to her. Hannie always listens when someone complains. That is very handy.

  At the Papadakises’ house, Linny let me in and told me that Hannie was upstairs in her room reading. I decided to tiptoe upstairs and surprise her.

  When I did, guess what I found. Hannie was lying on her bed, reading a book.

  She was biting her nails.

  “Hannie!” I cried.

  Hannie jumped a mile. “Karen! I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Hannie, you broke your New Year’s resolution. You’re biting your nails.”

  “Oops,” said Hannie. But she did not seem upset.

  When I went home later, I started a page for Hannie in my notebook. I wrote: Jan. 2 — Hannie was biting her nails.

  Emily’s Accident

  Sometime in the afternoon that day, I remembered that I was supposed to do something nice for someone. So I made Andrew’s bed for him. I did not even tell him that I had done it.

  Then that night, I remembered that I had resolved to be helpful with Emily. So I said to Daddy and Elizabeth, “Tonight I will put Emily Michelle to bed for you.”

  “How nice,” said Daddy.

  “Thank you,” said Elizabeth.

  Then Daddy added, “Remember to put a diaper on her.”

  “Okay,” I replied. (We are toilet-training Emily. She wears panties during the day. Usually she does not have accidents. At night, she still wears a diaper, though. And I know how to put one on her.)

  I took Emily by the hand. I led her around to all the people in the big house. “Night-night,” said Emily to each one.

  Then I walked Emily upstairs to her room. Emily used to have a crib. Now she has a big-girl bed.

  “Let’s read a story first,” I said to Emily.

  I sat her on the bed and found her copy of Peter Rabbit. Then I sat next to her. I opened the book and began to read.

  We had just reached the part where Peter gets caught in the gooseberry net, when Emily said, “Uh-oh.”

  I did not like the sound of her “uh-oh.”

  “What?” I asked her.

  “Wet,” said Emily.

  “Oh,” I groaned. I lifted her up. Emily had wet her pants. She had wet right through her blue jeans, and the blanket and sheets on the bed.

  “Emily,” I said. I could not help sounding a little cross. Now I would have to clean up Emily and change her bed.

  Emily began to cry.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her. “It’s all right. It was an accident.”

  I took off Emily’s wet clothes and put a diaper on her. Then I slipped her nightgown over her head. “Okay. You’re ready.” I turned and looked at the bed. I still had to change it. That was a much bigger job than changing Emily.

  “Kristy!” I called.

  “Yeah?” (Kristy was down the hall, reading to Andrew and David Michael.)

  “Emily had an accident. I need you to help me change her bed.”

  “I’m busy,” Kristy replied. “Besides, I thought one of your resolutions was to be more helpful with Emily.”

  “Never mind!” I shouted.

  I changed the bed myself. It took a long time. Emily fell asleep on the floor while I was working. Then, when I finally put her to bed, I had to take the wet blankets and sheets down to the laundry room. When I was finished, I was very tired.

  I went to my room. I looked around for my list of New Year’s resolutions. I changed the second one to read, I will be more helpful with Emily. Except when she wets her pants.

  Then I called Daddy. When he came to my room, I told him w
hat had happened. I did not tell him I had changed my resolution. But I said, “It isn’t fair that Emily didn’t make a resolution. She should resolve not to wet her pants anymore.”

  “Sorry, sweetie,” said Daddy. “Emily is too little for resolutions.”

  That was the end of that.

  Back to School

  I could not believe it. Christmas was over. New Year’s Eve was over. And now our winter vacation was over.

  It was time to go back to school.

  Luckily, I like school. I did not mind going back. I like my teacher very much. Her name is Ms. Colman. And Hannie and Nancy and I are all in Ms. Colman’s second-grade class.

  Ms. Colman almost never yells. She is very patient with me. I am the youngest kid in my class and sometimes I forget things. I forget when to use my indoor voice and when to raise my hand. Ms. Colman reminds me nicely.

  I like most of the other kids in my class, too. I have a friend named Natalie and a friend named Sara. But I especially like this boy named Ricky Torres. I used to call him Yicky Ricky. That was because he teased me when I got glasses. Now we both wear glasses, and Ricky has stopped teasing me.

  I plan to marry him.

  When I got to school on that first day after vacation, I marched right up to Ricky’s desk. (He sits next to me in the front row.) I had to keep my fourth New Year’s resolution.

  “Ricky,” I said. “Will you ask me to marry you?”

  Ricky was sitting at his desk. He was coloring a picture of a spaceship. “Sure,” he replied. He did not even look at me.

  “You will?”

  “Yup.”

  Goody! I could not wait.

  Then I ran to the back of the room where Hannie and Nancy were talking and talking off their coats.

  “Hi, you guys!” I said. The Three Musketeers were together again.

  “Hi!” they replied.

  We talked for a few minutes about our vacations. Then I said to Nancy, “Did you make a New Year’s resolution?”

  “Yes,” replied Nancy, “even though this is not the Jewish New Year. We celebrate that in the fall. But I resolved to stop passing notes to Hannie at school.”