Karen's Good-Bye Read online

  (Pat is Hannie’s kitten. Once she pounced on Priscilla’s tail. Amanda got really mad.)

  “You know, I think Priscilla is right,” continued Amanda. “Moving will be fun. I’ll get a brand-new room. And the pool at the new house is so, so beautiful. It’s shaped like a giant flower.”

  “I think Priscilla is right, too. Moving can be really, really fun!” I said.

  What I wanted to say was, “Especially when you get to have a good-bye party planned by me with lots of people and food and presents.” Ooh! I wanted to say it so, so much. But I didn’t. That is because I am good at keeping surprises.

  “Karen!” called Mrs. Delaney. “Kristy just called. Your family would like you to come home now.”

  I said good-bye to Amanda. But not too big a good-bye. I had to save my big, big good-bye for moving day.

  While I was walking home, I started wondering who would move into the Delaneys’ house when they were gone.

  Oh, no! I thought. What if a whole family of boys moves in? Yuck.

  Or maybe just two really old people. I like old people. But I already have lots of grandparents.

  Or maybe it will be a bunch of burglars. Would they wear masks all the time, I wondered.

  Or maybe it would be a family of lion tamers. Scary! They would go to the supermarket one day to buy all the meat in the store for their hungry lions. Then they would get stuck in traffic on the way home. The lions would get bored waiting for them. And they would come out, cross the street, and walk one house over … yikes!

  Invitations

  Hurray! Andrew and I got to stay at the big house for Sunday night dinner. That was because Mommy and Seth went to the country. They were going to pick up Andrew and me later.

  Daddy and Elizabeth were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. It was the perfect time to ask them about the good-bye party for Amanda.

  “Daddy, did you know that Amanda Delaney is moving away?” I asked.

  “Yes. I spoke with Mr. Delaney earlier in the week. I’m sorry your friend is leaving, honey,” said Daddy.

  “Me, too. And I think Amanda feels a little sad. I bet we could cheer her up, though. We could give her a party. A surprise party. Right here. Could we?”

  Daddy and Elizabeth looked at each other. They have a special way of talking with their eyes.

  Finally Elizabeth said, “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

  “I think so, too,” said Daddy. “A party will make Amanda feel very special.”

  “Wow! Thank you!” I said. “I never gave a good-bye party before. I want to invite lots of people. And I want it to be a happy party, not a sad one.”

  “Games are happy,” said Elizabeth. “Maybe you could play Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”

  “Oh, yes! And we could have prizes. We could have little whistles, and Super Stickers, and ruby rings!”

  “How about decorations?” asked Daddy.

  “Balloons and streamers,” I said. “Lots of streamers.” Planning parties is gigundo fun!

  “You will need a cake,” said Elizabeth. “I can help you bake it.”

  “We can write Good-bye, Amanda on it,” I said. “No. That would be too sad.”

  “Let’s think, then,” said Daddy. “What do you want to say to a friend who is leaving?”

  “I know!” I said. “I will write Good luck, Amanda!”

  “Terrific!” said Daddy. “Now, do you want to give Amanda a gift?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I want it to be something really special. Something that will always remind Amanda of her friends in Stoney-brook. I need to think about it awhile.”

  “Karen, dinner is almost ready now,” said Elizabeth. “Will you bring these plates out to the table, please? We’ll talk more about your party later on.”

  After dinner I went upstairs and made out my invitation list. First I wrote the names of everyone at the big house: Watson, Elizabeth, Kristy, David Michael, Charlie, Sam, Emily Michelle, Nannie, Andrew, KAREN! (I was not inviting Shannon and Boo-Boo.)

  I left spaces for three of Amanda’s friends from school. Amanda doesn’t go to my school. She goes to Stoneybrook Day School. But Mrs. Delaney could give me their names.

  Next I wrote Maria Kilbourne. She’s eight and lives right next door to Amanda.

  Then I wrote Nancy Dawes. She does not know Amanda very well. But she is my best friend and she loves parties.

  What about Hannie? I did not know whether to invite her. First of all, she did not like Amanda one bit. Second of all, she was mad at me. And I was a little mad at her, too.

  But she is still my best friend, I thought. And if I don’t invite her, she will feel left out. Then she will be more mad than ever.

  I added Hannie’s name to the list. If she doesn’t want to come, she doesn’t have to, I decided.

  The Mommy Blanket

  It was Tuesday. Mommy dropped me off at Amanda’s house again after school. I had promised to help Amanda clean out her room. She was moving in eight days.

  “I don’t know where to start,” said Amanda.

  I looked around her room. Shelves. Toy chest. Closet. Drawers …

  “Let’s find out what’s in Drawer Number One!” I said. I was acting like a game show host. “Oooh! Maybe there will be a washer-dryer.”

  Amanda opened the top drawer. No washer-dryer. Just some blouses, shorts, T-shirts, and …

  “Yuck!” I said. I held up an itchy orange sweater. It had short, puffy sleeves with bright green squares. “Where did this come from?”

  “My Aunt Gayle gave it to me. I think she hates me,” said Amanda, taking the sweater.

  “You’re not going to keep it, are you?” I asked.

  Amanda had a funny look in her eye. “I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but …”

  “Ew, gross!” I said. I grabbed the sweater and threw it into the giveaway box Mrs. Delaney had put in Amanda’s room.

  Drawer Number Two had pajamas, T-shirts, marbles, and a little pink teddy bear that smelled good.

  “This is called a sachet. My grandma gave it to me,” explained Amanda. “Oh, look. Here’s a nightie from when I was a little, little baby.”

  I could hardly believe Amanda was ever that small. She folded the nightie and put it back into her drawer.

  “Aren’t you going to give it away?” I asked.

  “No. I still like it,” said Amanda. “Maybe I will let one of my dolls wear it.”

  Drawer Number Three was filled mostly with socks. But we found a bag of seashells, one small black doll shoe, a notebook that said “Top Secret” (Amanda would not let me look in it), an old peppermint stick, and way in the corner, a small white box tied with string.

  “What’s in it?” I asked. “A diamond ring?”

  “I don’t know,” said Amanda. She untied the string. Inside the box was a four-leaf-clover key ring.

  “I remember this!” said Amanda. “I bought it at a fair last year. And right after I got it, I won a teddy bear.”

  “That means it’s lucky. It could be your good-luck-moving charm,” I said.

  “That’s right,” said Amanda. She put the key ring in her pocket.

  We were finished with the drawers, so we started on the toy box. Amanda had a zillion toys. She had about seventeen Barbie and Ken dolls. Two of them were tied together at the wrist with red ribbon.

  “They’re going steady,” explained Amanda.

  I was busy winding up an old jack-in-the-box. It played, “All Around the Mulberry Bush.” When it popped open we both jumped about ten feet.

  We laughed, but then Amanda threw it in the giveaway box. “That clown always scared me,” she said.

  We found a wooden lady you could open up. Inside was another, smaller lady. When you opened her up, there was an even smaller lady. I kept opening them until I got to the last teeny, tiny lady.

  “You can have it if you want,” said Amanda.

  “Thanks,” I said. I really liked it. I carefully put all the little
ladies back where they belonged.

  Amanda was holding a ragged piece of blue cloth to her cheek.

  “Ew, what’s that?” I asked.

  “Don’t say anything bad about it,” said Amanda. “This is all that is left of my Mommy Blanket. I used to sleep with it when I was little. I am definitely taking it with me.”

  “I would definitely take Tickly, too,” I agreed.

  Suddenly we both remembered something. We remembered why we were cleaning out Amanda’s room.

  Amanda was really moving.

  Pictures

  “I got it! I got the camera,” I said.

  It was Thursday afternoon. I was back at Amanda’s house. Six more days to moving day.

  Mommy and I had stopped at Daddy’s house first. He said I could borrow his really great camera because Mr. Delaney’s was broken. Daddy’s camera is easy to use. All you have to do is press one button.

  “I’ll take lots of pictures,” I said. “I will give them to you as soon as they are developed.”

  “Let’s take pictures of my room first,” said Amanda.

  It was probably the last time I would see Amanda’s room the way it was. The next time, it would be all packed up.

  I looked at her thick pink carpet and her gigundo big bed with the white lace canopy. On her night table was a Peter Rabbit lamp with a pink shade that matched the carpet. There was a picture window with a seat and lots of pretty pillows. The room was so big, I had to take a few pictures to get everything in.

  Click! Click! Click!

  “Can I take some pictures, too?” asked Amanda.

  “Okay. Just be careful,” I said. I showed Amanda how the camera worked.

  We took turns taking pictures of every room in the house — all the bedrooms (I think there were six), the playroom (toys were everywhere), her mother’s dressing room (can you believe she has a dressing room?), the kitchen (with its outer-space gadgets), the living room (all white), the library (very fancy), the hall with the fish fountain (I asked Amanda to stand next to it on her tippy toes and make believe she was spitting with the fish, but she said no), and all four bathrooms — white, blue, pink, and green with matching soaps and towels.

  It was a good thing I had lots of film.

  Click! Click! Click! Click!

  Amanda went back to her room. She got a book and a piece of chalk. Then we went outside.

  Amanda took her book and sat under her favorite tree. That’s where she liked to read. I took a picture. Click!

  We drew Snail boxes on the ground. I took a picture of Amanda hopping into one. Click!

  I took pictures of the two tennis courts. Click! Click!

  And Amanda took a picture of me making believe I was going to dive into the pool with my clothes on. Click!

  Then Mrs. Delaney came outside.

  “Mommy, will you please take pictures of us together?” asked Amanda.

  “Of course,” said Mrs. Delaney.

  She took some more pictures of us at the pool and two in front of the house. Then I got an idea.

  “Come on!” I said to Amanda. We went to her room and put on our dress-up hats. I asked Mrs. Delaney if we could take a picture in her dressing room. The room has a three-sided mirror. If you stand in front of it just right, you can see yourself over and over and over again.

  Amanda and I put on our hats. We smiled our loveliest Lovely Lady smiles. We stood in just the right spot. It looked like we went on forever and ever.

  Click!

  Surprise!

  “Party! Party! We’re going to have a party!” I sang. It was Saturday. I was at the big house. It was almost time for Amanda’s good-bye party.

  This is what I was wearing: my shiny black party shoes, white pants, a purple-and-white-striped T-shirt, and my favorite purple hair ribbon.

  There were balloons everywhere. And lots of colored streamers, just like I wanted.

  “Hello! Anyone home?” called a voice.

  I went to the back door. Daddy and Elizabeth were saying hello to Maria Kilbourne. Then Nancy arrived. Amanda’s friends from her school were behind her. Everyone was right on time.

  As soon as they signed this card I had made for Amanda, Kristy and I helped them hide in the living room and the front hall.

  My guests were having so much fun. I wished Hannie had come. But she said she did not want to.

  “Is everyone ready?” I asked.

  The guests all said yes. I looked around to make sure you could not see anyone. That’s when I saw Andrew’s head sticking up from behind a table. I moved a vase in front of him.

  Then I phoned Amanda. Her mommy and daddy knew all about the party. They made sure Amanda would be home when I called.

  “Hi, it’s Karen,” I said into the phone. “Guess what! I got the pictures back. Come over and see them.”

  I hung up and ran to the window. In about half a minute I saw Amanda heading for our house.

  “Okay, everybody. Quiet!” I said. (I felt really important.)

  Ding-dong! I opened the door for Amanda and …

  “Surprise!” everyone shouted.

  “Oh, wow!” said Amanda. “I can’t believe it! This is the greatest!” Amanda really looked surprised. And happy!

  “Who wants to have a relay race?” asked Kristy.

  We all did. We went to the backyard to play. Kristy is really good at organizing games. I was glad when Amanda’s team won, especially since I was on it. Kristy gave out the prizes. We all got whistles.

  Then we played musical rug. This is how: Kristy put a bath mat in the yard. Sam played a Michael Jackson tape. We walked around in a circle and made sure to cross the mat. Whoever was on the mat when the music stopped was out.

  You know what? The music stopped the minute I stepped on the mat. Boo! (Sam promised he did not do it on purpose. But I don’t believe him.)

  We played Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Andrew won and got a page of Super Stickers. I was glad.

  Then everyone lined up to have a picture taken with Amanda. Kristy used Elizabeth’s Polaroid camera so we could see the pictures right away. She took two photos of each of us. When everyone had had their picture taken, Elizabeth made an announcement.

  “It’s time for cake and ice cream. Everyone come to the table, please,” she said.

  The cake was white with pink candles and pink writing that said, Good luck, Amanda!

  “It’s not your birthday, but you get to make a wish anyway because you are moving,” I said.

  Amanda closed her eyes. Her face was glowing in the candles. “I wish that everyone here will stay my friend after I move.”

  Then — whoosh! — she blew out the candles.

  Friends 4-Ever

  First I ate some ice cream. Then I ate some cake. Then I ate more ice cream. Then more cake. Yum!

  When I finished, Elizabeth whispered to me, “I think this would be a good time to give Amanda her gifts.”

  Oh, goody! The gifts were hidden in the front closet. I ran and got them.

  First Amanda opened the giant card I had made. Inside in really big letters I had written, Friends 4-Ever. Then everyone wrote nice things and funny things, too:

  “This is great! Thank you, everybody,” said Amanda.

  If Amanda thought the card was great, wait till she saw her other gift. It had taken me a long time to decide what to give Amanda. I hoped she would like it.

  Amanda was taking off the paper really carefully. I bet she wanted to save it. It was pink, with balloons and confetti. And I wrote Good-bye!, Good luck!, and Surprise! all over it.

  You should have seen Amanda’s face when she opened the box. She almost cried.

  This was the gift: It was a photograph album. On the front of it I wrote, “Amanda’s House.” Inside I had put all the pictures we took of Amanda and me and her house. I wrote what everything was under each picture, so Amanda would always remember.

  “I love my gift so much, Karen. Thank you!” said Amanda. She even gave me a kiss.r />
  Everyone wanted to see the album. So we passed it around. I heard the guests saying things like, “Wow!” and, “Neat!” I felt really proud.

  “If I ever move away, will you make an album like that for me?” said Nancy. I told her I would, but that she better not move away.

  It was getting pretty late. People had to leave.

  “This was a super party,” said Maria. “Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Wait! Don’t forget your pictures!” I said.

  I handed everyone their Polaroid picture on the way out.

  Then just me and Amanda and my big-house family were left.

  “Here is one more gift,” I said. I handed Amanda the extra set of pictures Kristy had taken. I explained that there were a few pages left at the end of the album. “You could put these in the album. Then if you miss anyone, you could just look at their picture.”

  “Thanks a lot, Karen,” said Amanda. “I can’t believe I am moving on Wednesday. It’s so soon!”

  “We hope you will come visit us,” said Elizabeth.

  “And we can drive Karen over to visit you sometimes, too,” said Daddy.

  “Friends forever!” I said.

  “I better go home now,” said Amanda. “Thank you all so, so much for this party. It was the greatest!”

  Amanda ran out the door. She looked happy and sad all at the same time.

  Coming Apart

  Tuesday was packing day at the Delaneys’.

  “See you later, alligator,” said Mommy when she dropped me off. I waved and ran up the driveway.

  Maybe I should say “See you later, alligator” to Amanda when she moved. That was better than good-bye. It meant I would see her again.

  Amanda was waiting for me at the door. She looked upset and a little scared.

  “The movers have been packing since yesterday,” said Amanda.

  When I went inside, I knew why Amanda was upset. The Delaney house seemed to be coming apart.

  There were lots of boxes all over the place. Shelves were bare. The movers were pushing things around and covering them up.

  Even the fish fountain looked sad. The fish was standing on its tail. But it was not spitting anymore. Someone had turned it off.