Karen's Big Sister Read online

  “I bet Ms. Colman would love that!” said Sara.

  “We could buy cute things for the baby,” said Jannie.

  “Do we have to wait for the baby to get here to have the party?” asked Ricky.

  “I do not want to wait,” said Natalie.

  Nobody did. We wanted to have the party as soon as possible. We decided it should be a surprise, too.

  “We will need some help planning an important party like this one,” said Hannie.

  I said I would talk to Daddy and Elizabeth when I got home. They could call the other parents. Then everyone could work together planning the baby shower.

  “I think we should have streamers and balloons for decorations,” said Nancy.

  “We will need party food, too,” said Addie. “We should have healthy food for Ms. Colman.”

  “And candy for us,” said Bobby.

  We talked about presents for the baby and how to surprise Ms. Colman. This party was going to be fun!

  One More Try

  At dinner that night, I told everyone about the baby shower. They thought it was a terrific idea. Even Kristy. I was happy that she did not seem upset with me anymore.

  My entire family knows Ms. Colman and her husband, Mr. Simmons. (Mr. Simmons is a gigundoly nice high school principal.) The Simmonses have been to the little house and I have been to their house. I was invited to their wedding, too. (I was co-flower girl. Ms. Colman’s niece was the other flower girl.)

  After dinner, Daddy, Elizabeth, and Nannie sat down with me to talk about the party.

  “We would like to have streamers and balloons. And we want to have healthy food for Ms. Colman,” I said.

  “Those are excellent ideas,” said Daddy.

  “Would you like to have the party at school, or here?” asked Elizabeth.

  “I think we should have it at school. It will be easier to surprise Ms. Colman that way,” I replied.

  “What about gifts?” asked Nannie. “Will you all chip in and buy one gift? Or will each of you give her something?”

  “We would like Ms. Colman to have lots of presents to open. So we will each give her something,” I replied.

  “We should call the other parents before it gets too late,” said Daddy.

  Daddy and Elizabeth made their calls while Nannie put Emily to bed. We have two phone lines, so they could both make calls at the same time. There are eighteen kids in my class. That meant there were sixteen phone calls to make. (They did not have to call me. And they only had to make one call for Terri and Tammy Barkan, the twins.)

  There was nothing left for me to do, so I looked for Kristy. She was standing in the doorway of Charlie’s room talking about her plans for the weekend.

  “Tomorrow night I am going to a slumber party at Mary Anne’s. On Saturday my friends and I are going ice skating in the afternoon,” she said.

  “I can drive you to Mary Anne’s tomorrow,” said Charlie. “I am going to a movie then. And I may be going ice skating on Saturday. So I will see you.”

  “Great,” said Kristy.

  When they finished talking, Kristy went to her room. I followed her there. I noticed that the pin was on her dresser. I guess she wanted to keep it out so she could look at it.

  “Hi, Kristy,” I said.

  “Hi, Karen. How are your plans for the party going?”

  “Okay,” I replied. “Daddy and Elizabeth are calling the other kids’ parents right now. I think the party is going to be fun.”

  “Oh, I do, too,” replied Kristy. “It is so nice that Ms. Colman and Mr. Simmons are having their first baby.”

  Kristy was being very friendly. So I decided the time was right. I wanted to ask her one more time if I could borrow the pin.

  “Um, Kristy,” I said. “I know I asked you two times already, but …”

  “Do not even finish the question,” said Kristy. “The answer is no for the third time. You may not borrow my pin.”

  So much for being friendly. Kristy would not even let me ask the question. And I did not like the way she said my pin.

  I decided I better leave before we got into trouble again.

  What to Do?

  After dinner on Friday, Charlie drove Kristy to Mary Anne’s house.

  “Drive carefully,” said Daddy. “It is snowing pretty heavily.”

  As soon as they left, I ran to Kristy’s room. I knew Kristy had not worn the pin. And I did not think she had taken it with her. She would be too afraid of losing it. And I wanted to look at the pin.

  The pin was not on the dresser anymore. I was sure it was in her jewelry box. But I looked in a few other places first. I knew Kristy would not like my snooping around. But I was mad at her. So I did not care.

  I opened a couple of drawers. I did not see anything very interesting. Mostly turtleneck sweaters and T-shirts.

  I looked in her closet next. I saw sneakers, jeans, and a couple of baseball bats. (Kristy is the coach of a softball team called the Krushers.)

  Oh, well. I had snooped enough. I went to the dresser and opened the jewelry box. Just as I thought, the pin was there.

  I picked it up. I ran my fingers over the smooth diamonds and pearls. I turned the pin over in my hand a couple of times. I had forgotten how heavy it was. It was definitely an important pin.

  When I walked out of Kristy’s room the pin was in my hand. I went back to my room and I showed it to Moosie. After all, I had already told him about it.

  “Here is the pin, Moosie,” I said. “It is really beautiful, isn’t it?”

  It was time to have a little talk with myself. One part of me said, “Put it back.” The other part said, “Keep it.” If I was going to return the pin, I knew I should do it right away. What did I do?

  I put the pin in my own jewelry box. It looked nice and cozy. So I left it there overnight.

  In the morning, I thought about returning it once and for all. Then I thought about wearing it. One part of me said, “Return it.” The other part said, “Wear it.” “Return it.” “Wear it.” “Return it.” “Wear it.” What did I do?

  I got dressed and fastened the pin inside my sweater.

  A Snowy Day

  It was still snowing when I went downstairs for breakfast. It had been snowing all night long. Sam was in the kitchen listening to the weather report on the radio.

  “The snow is expected to stop by midmorning,” said the announcer. “We should have up to eight inches by then.”

  “Hooray!” I said.

  I love snow. It is so pretty.

  I poured myself a bowl of Krispy Krunchy cereal. I sat there munching it and watching the snow falling down. The sky was gray. The snow was white. I felt as if I were sitting in the middle of a powder puff.

  As soon as I finished breakfast, I bundled up to go outside. I was about to walk out the door with David Michael when the phone rang. Charlie answered it.

  “It is for you, Karen. It is Hannie,” he said.

  “Hi, Hannie,” I said. “What’s up?”

  It was a short conversation. Hannie was inviting me to come over to play.

  “See you later, everyone,” I said.

  I grabbed my sled from the garage. Then I hurried across the street and rang Hannie’s bell.

  “I am so excited,” said Hannie. “I want to do everything. We have to go sledding and build a snowman and throw snowballs. Come upstairs while I finish getting dressed.”

  While I was in Hannie’s room, I remembered I was wearing the pin. I wanted to show it off to Hannie. I opened my coat and my sweater.

  “Look at this,” I said. “It is my new pin. It is very valuable. These are real diamonds and pearls.”

  “Wow,” replied Hannie. “Where did you get it?”

  I told Hannie that Daddy had given me the pin.

  “It was in his family for years and years. He wanted me to have it,” I said.

  “That is a neat gift,” replied Hannie.

  I knew Hannie would be impressed. After we bundle
d up in hats and mittens and scarves, we went outside. It was the perfect snowy day.

  We dragged our sleds across the yard and went sledding with the kids in the neighborhood. After a while, David Michael and Linny showed up. (Linny is Hannie’s older brother. He is nine.)

  “Where is Andrew?” I asked David Michael.

  “His throat hurt, so he had to stay inside,” replied David Michael.

  When we got tired of sledding, we went back to the Papadakises’ house to warm up.

  “Come have some lunch,” said Mr. Papadakis.

  We had egg salad sandwiches and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Yum.

  As soon as we finished eating, we were ready to go outside again. We built a snow fort in the yard. David Michael and Linny built one, too. Then we had a snowball fight between the forts. The snow was soft and powdery. Our snowballs fell apart before they could hit anyone.

  We saw a couple of cleanup trucks driving down our street. Their snowplows left huge hills of snow.

  “Let’s go!” said Linny.

  We climbed up the hills and slid down. Up and down. Up and down. Even with all my clothes on, I was getting wet.

  “Brr. I am cold,” I said.

  “Me, too,” replied Hannie. “Let’s go inside.”

  We went up to Hannie’s room and peeled off our wet clothes. When I got down to my sweater, something did not feel right. My sweater felt lighter than it had before. I looked inside. Uh-oh.

  “My pin!” I cried. “My pin! It is gone!”

  The Search

  “We must find it!” I said.

  “I know,” replied Hannie. “You told me the pin is very valuable.”

  That is not all, I thought to myself. I started bundling up again to go outside. I was so nervous I was having trouble zipping up my zipper. While I was tugging on it I blurted out, “Kristy will kill me.”

  “Why should Kristy care about the pin?” asked Hannie. “It is your dad who will be upset.”

  “They will both be upset,” I mumbled. “It is not my pin.”

  “Huh?” said Hannie.

  “It is not my pin,” I repeated. “It belongs to Kristy. Daddy gave it to her, not to me.”

  “Then how did you get it? Did Kristy lend it to you?” asked Hannie.

  “No,” I replied.

  I told Hannie the whole story. I told her how I took the pin from Kristy’s jewelry box without her permission.

  “You mean you stole it from her?” asked Hannie.

  “Well, I borrowed it,” I replied. “I was going to give it back. I just wanted to wear it for awhile. That is all.”

  I did not give Hannie a chance to ask any more questions. I just headed for the door.

  “Come on,” I said. “We have to start looking right away.”

  As soon as we got outside, my heart did a flip-flop. The snow did not look pretty to me anymore. It looked scary.

  “We will just have to retrace our steps,” said Hannie.

  “We started on our sleds,” I said. “We went across the front yard and up the street that way.”

  We followed our path. But by the time I reached the street, I felt hopeless. We had been sledding all over the place. And once the snowplows drove by, nothing was the same anymore.

  We looked every place we might have been. We tunneled through snow drifts. We took apart our snow fort, then our snowman.

  “Wait! I feel something at the bottom of the snowman,” said Hannie.

  I raced to her. I started jumping up and down.

  “Did you find it? Did you really find it?” I cried.

  “No,” replied Hannie. “It is only a rock.”

  Boo. Just then a truck came plowing down the street. Another truck was behind that one. One truck was for plowing. The other truck was for carting away the snow banks. Workers were loading the snow into the back of the second truck.

  “If the pin is in one of those piles, it will be gone forever,” I said to Hannie.

  “Maybe the pin is buried somewhere in my yard,” Hannie replied. “We will find it in the spring when the snow melts.”

  “Maybe you are right,” I said. “But somehow I doubt it. Anyway, I cannot wait till spring. Kristy is going to be home in a couple of hours. She is not going to wait until spring to get upset.”

  Oh, boy. I was in a really big mess this time.

  When to Tell?

  “Thanks for helping me look for the pin, Hannie,” I said.

  I waved good-bye to my friend and went home. Kristy had not returned from ice skating yet. That was a relief. I was not ready to tell her about the missing pin. (When would I be ready? I was not sure.)

  The first thing I did was put on dry clothes. After I took off my wet ones, I looked through them again. I did not find the pin. Oh, well. I had looked for it as hard as I could.

  Andrew and Emily were in the kitchen with Nannie, so I went downstairs. They were having hot apple cider and cinnamon toast.

  “Come join us,” said Nannie. “I want to talk to you about the baby shower. Have you thought of a gift you would like to give Ms. Colman?”

  “I would like to make something for her myself. I want my gift to be extra special,” I said.

  “How about a crib blanket?” asked Nannie. “You could knit one.”

  “That is a good idea,” I said. “Only I have not knitted anything in a very long time. I am not sure I remember how.”

  “I will help you,” replied Nannie. “You can knit small squares and sew them together. It is not very hard.”

  “All right!” I said. “Then I will have a personally designed, one-of-a-kind gift for my favorite teacher.”

  I finished my cider and went upstairs to draw a picture of the blanket I wanted to make. I decided to make it light pink, blue, and yellow. That would be pretty.

  Kristy came home when it was almost time for dinner. I heard her go into her room. I waited a minute or two. I did not hear any screams. So I knew she had not looked in her jewelry box yet.

  I put down my crayons and walked to my door. I took one step out of my room. I was going to tell Kristy about the pin. But I changed my mind. I went back into my room and closed the door.

  At dinner, Kristy seemed friendly. She asked about my day. I told her about it. (Except the part about losing the pin, of course.)

  After dinner, my family went into the den. We read, then watched TV. Everyone was relaxing. I did not want to upset them. So I did not tell Kristy then either.

  “Good night, everyone,” said Kristy when our show was over. “I will see you in the morning.”

  This is it, I thought. I am sure she will want to look at her pin now. Should I tell her before she opens her jewelry box? Or should I explain after she finds out it is gone?

  I decided I would run in and explain as soon as I heard her screaming. I waited and waited. But I did not hear anythng.

  Phew. I knew Kristy was never going to wear the pin. She might not even look at it for a long time. Maybe I do not have to tell her now at all, I thought. If she finds out a long time from now that it is missing, I could make up a story. I could tell her something else happened to her pin. Something I had no part of. Hmm.

  Party Plans

  I decided I did not want to make up a story about the pin. That would not be right. I needed to tell Kristy the truth. But Sunday did not seem like a good day. Or Monday. Or Tuesday.

  Oh, well. Kristy seemed to have forgotten about the pin anyway. I was thinking about it less and less, too. My classmates and I were spending a lot of time thinking about Ms. Colman’s baby shower. We were making new plans every day.

  The kids in my class and the grown-ups agreed that the refreshments should be homemade. Nannie volunteered to organize the menu.

  We also agreed to hold the party at the end of January. (Ms. Colman was not leaving then. But we could not stand to wait any longer than that.)

  We decided that everyone in class who could afford it would donate five dollars by the end of the week to
the party fund. The money in the fund would pay for decorations, plates, cups, napkins, and things like that.

  Guess who was going to the mall to shop for the party supplies? Me! And Hannie and Omar. We were going with Daddy, Mrs. Papadakis, and Mrs. Harris on Friday. I could hardly wait. I love shopping for party things.

  On Wednesday, the kids in my class held a meeting at recess. Audrey made a list of the gifts each of us wanted to give Ms. Colman. That way we would be sure Ms. Colman would not get two of the same thing.

  Some of the kids were going to buy gifts. The store-bought gifts on the list were a music box; baby books; a silver rattle, knife, fork, and spoon; a baby pillow and pillowcases to go with it.

  Other kids, like me, were going to make gifts. The homemade gifts on the list were a crib blanket (made by yours truly); a picture frame; a photograph album; and a crib mobile.

  A few kids had not decided what to give yet.

  “We need to figure out how we are going to surprise Ms. Colman,” said Hannie.

  The bell rang then. It was time to go inside.

  “Meeting again tomorrow at recess,” I said.

  * * *

  On Thursday we met again.

  “This morning I thought of a way we can surprise Ms. Colman,” said Nancy. “We could ask one of the other teachers to make sure Ms. Colman has playground duty the day of the party. While she is outside with us, our parents could sneak into the room and set everything up.”

  “When we go back inside after recess, all we have to do is shout, ‘Surprise!’ ” I said.

  “Then it will be party time,” added Omar.

  Our class liked Nancy’s idea. I promised to tell Daddy and Elizabeth about it. I was sure they would think it was a good idea, too.

  Everything was falling into place. And the next day was Friday. Washington Mall, here I come!

  The Truth

  On Friday afternoon, we bought everything we needed for the party. We bought light blue cups, yellow napkins, pink plates, and assorted colors of plastic knives, forks, spoons, streamers, and balloons. (I was happy the colors matched the blanket I was making.)