Karen's Cartwheel Read online

  Miss Donovan was still talking to our class. I tried to pay attention to her, but I could not. I was busy daydreaming. I could see pictures in my head. I saw Miss Donovan saying, “I am happy to ask Karen Brewer to join the invitational team.” Then I saw myself standing up. Tears were in my eyes. “Oh, how can I ever thank you?” I said. (I put my hand over my heart.) “This means more to me than anything in the world.” Next I saw myself at Mommy’s house. When I told her the good news, she wept. She hugged me to her. Then I phoned Daddy. He cried, too. “When you are turning cartwheels at the mall,” he said, “I will bring the entire family to see you. I will tell people, ‘That’s my daughter.’ ”

  “Karen? Karen?”

  I shook my head. Natalie Springer was tugging at my elbow.

  “Yeah?”

  “We are supposed to be working on our floor routines,” said Natalie. “Miss Donovan told me to be your partner. Come on.”

  Natalie and I practiced and practiced. It is a good thing Miss Donovan puts mats on the floor. Natalie falls a lot.

  But not me. I did not start falling until Miss Donovan added a cartwheel to the routine. Then, flip-flop. I was on my bottom more than I was on my hands or my feet.

  Those darn old cartwheels. I did not give up, though. I worked and worked and worked. Miss Donovan said she was proud of me.

  Odd Jobs

  “Karen!” Mommy called. “Telephone!”

  “Coming!” I called back. I was in my room at the little house. Gymnastics class was over. I was daydreaming about the invitational team again. It was the part of the dream where Daddy says he will bring the entire family to watch me perform at the mall. I changed the dream just a little. Now when Daddy says he will bring the family, he breaks down and sobs. He is sobbing because he is so very, very happy. He is so proud of his daughter Karen the invitational gymnast.

  I ran into Mommy and Seth’s room. I picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hi, it’s me.” Hannie was calling. “Guess what. I was talking to Nancy. We had a great idea. We know how to earn money to buy the Doll Sisters.”

  “How?” I asked. “How?”

  “We will start a business. We will do chores and odd jobs for people. We will walk their dogs. We will clean their houses. We will weed their gardens. We will do anything they need done.”

  “That is excellent!” I cried. “We will tell our families about our business.”

  “And our neighbors,” said Hannie. “They will probably have jobs for us.”

  “We can call everyone we know!” I said. “Also, we can make posters. We can put them up near our houses.”

  “Cool,” said Hannie. “Let’s get to work.”

  We got to work on Saturday. Hannie and Nancy came to the big house. (Andrew and I were there for the weekend.) We sat on the floor in my room. We made posters. This is what they said:

  We listed our phone numbers on the bottom of each poster.

  “How many posters should we make?” asked Nancy.

  “About forty,” I answered.

  We made three. We decided to put up two near Daddy’s house. Nancy said she would take hers home with her. She would put it up near the little house.

  We waited for the phone to start ringing.

  By Sunday night, I was back at Mommy’s. When the phone rang, I dashed for it. “Girls can do anything!” I said.

  “Karen?” It was Daddy’s voice.

  “Hi, Daddy.”

  “Hi, honey. I have a job for you. Elizabeth just thought of it. We need you to pull up dandelions in the backyard. Are you interested? I’ll pay you ten cents for each dandelion you pull up with its roots. What do you think?”

  “I’ll take the job!” I cried.

  After Daddy and I hung up the phone, I picked it right up again. I had to call Hannie with the news. But the doorbell rang. Then Nancy ran upstairs. “Karen, Karen! Great news!” she said. “I have a job!”

  “You do? So do I!”

  Nancy’s job was to wash her parents’ outdoor furniture.

  “Now let’s call Hannie,” I said, but before we could, the phone rang.

  It was Hannie! “I have a job!” she exclaimed. “My first one! Mommy and Daddy hired me!”

  Cool. We all had work. The Doll Sisters were nearly ours.

  Dandelions

  On Saturday, Seth drove me to Daddy’s. It was not a big-house weekend, but I had a job to do. I was a working woman. I felt very important as I ran into the backyard with a bucket and a trowel.

  “Let me show you something,” said Daddy. He grabbed a dandelion and pulled at the leaves. “That is not how to get rid of a dandelion,” he told me. “If you do not want the dandelion to come back, you have to pull up the roots, too. Like this. But you do not want to leave big holes all over the lawn. So use the trowel carefully.”

  “Okay,” I replied. I looked at the dandelion Daddy was holding. “Do I get ten cents for that one?” I asked. “If I had pulled it up, I might have pulled up the roots, too.”

  Daddy grinned. “Okay. Ten cents.” He handed me a pencil and a pad of paper. “Here. Use the paper to keep track of how many dandelions you pull up. Each time you get the roots, make a mark with the pencil.”

  Daddy left and I set to work. I tugged and dug and pulled until my arms ached. Then I tugged and dug and pulled some more.

  Five, ten, fifteen … Dandelions were everywhere.

  Twenty, twenty-five … I stopped to take a rest. I wiped my grubby hands on my jeans. I wiped my forehead. I sat up straight and stretched my back. And that was when I saw Morbidda Destiny.

  The witch.

  She was standing in her backyard. She was looking in her garden. Most people grow flowers or vegetables in their gardens. The witch grows herbs. And then she uses them to make potions and cast spells. I am almost sure of this.

  Quickly I turned around. I ran behind Daddy’s flower garden. I knew the witch could not see me there. I just hoped I would find more dandelions. I did. A whole flock of them.

  I tugged and dug and pulled. After a long, long time I thought I would not be able to pull up one more anything. So I took the pad and pencil and bucket and trowel into Daddy’s house.

  “Look!” I said. I held out the bucket. “I dug up thirty-one dandelions. With roots. They are all here.”

  “Wonderful, sweetheart!” said Daddy. “Great job!” And he paid me three dollars and ten cents. I felt gigundoly rich.

  I stayed at Daddy’s for lunch. In the afternoon, Hannie came over. “I earned two dollars,” she said proudly. “I earned it by watching Sari for Mommy and Daddy while they were busy.” (Sari is Hannie’s baby sister.)

  “Cool!” I said. “You are a baby-sitter.”

  “Well, sort of. Mommy and Daddy were at home. But still … I guess I am a baby entertainer. That’s what I did. I entertained Sari. I even put her in her stroller and walked her up and down the driveway.”

  “I wonder what our next jobs will be,” I said.

  “I wonder how Nancy’s job went.”

  “Let’s call her,” I said.

  Nancy had hosed down all the Daweses’ lawn furniture. The she had dried it with paper towels. It had been a big job. Her parents had paid her by the hour. Nancy had earned two dollars.

  “Now how much money have we earned?” she asked.

  Hannie added it up. “Seven-ten today,” she replied. “Just thirty-one dollars to go.”

  Karen’s Red Face

  At last, at last, at last. I was sitting in Miss Donovan’s room at my gymnastics school. Today was the day we would find out who was going to be on the special invitational team.

  I was sitting on the end of the balance beam. Class had not begun yet. I was supposed to be practicing. But I was too nervous to practice. How could I possibly think about balancing when — any minute now — Miss Donovan would be saying that soon I would be a star. I could see it now. The big sign in front of the Washington Mall would read: HELD OVER FOR ANOTHER WEEK! Extra special
gymnastics show. Starring the one and only KAREN BREWER.

  Or maybe I would use a stage name. Then the sign would read: Starring the one and only KATERINA VON DE BREWER! (That sounded exotic.)

  As soon as everyone in the class had arrived, I raised my hand. “Miss Donovan, when are you going to tell us who is on the invitational team?”

  “At the end of class, Karen.”

  “Oh, Miss Donovan, please, please, puh-lease can you tell us right now? I cannot wait a second longer. I don’t think anyone else can, either.”

  “All right,” said Miss Donovan. “I am happy to announce that three students in this class have been invited to join the team. They are …” (Miss Donovan paused. I closed my eyes.) “… Sophie.”

  “Yea!” cried Sophie.

  “Gregg.”

  “Yes!” Gregg waved his fist in the air.

  The last name was going to be mine. I knew it. I started to hop off the balance beam so I could be ready to jump up and cheer when Miss Donovan called my name. She called it while I was in mid-hop, and I didn’t quite hear her, but so what?

  I leaped in the air. “All right! I made it!” I shouted.

  Natalie grabbed my hand. She pulled me onto the floor. “Miss Donovan didn’t say your name!” she hissed. “She said Polly’s name.”

  “She did?” I whispered. I looked around. Sophie, Gregg, and Polly were standing by Miss Donovan. They were grinning.

  Everyone else was staring at me. I could feel my face turn red.

  Oh, no. Oh, no. This was awful. I had made a fool of myself. But even worse, I had not made the invitational team.

  I would never get to perform in a mall.

  * * *

  That night at the little house I said, “Mommy, I do not think I can eat dinner. I am too, too sad.”

  “Just try,” said Mommy.

  I ate two pieces of corn on the cob and some fish and some salad and a peach and a dish of ice cream. But that was all.

  Then I went into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. “Good-bye, Katerina von de Brewer,” I said. I would not be needing my stage name.

  I think Mommy overheard me. She said, “Karen? Let’s have a little talk.”

  Mommy and I went to my bedroom. Seth came with us. “We know you are sad, honey,” said Mommy. “But we are not disappointed in you. Neither is Daddy. You always try your best.”

  “That’s right,” said Seth. “Plus, you can do something about the team. You can practice. Maybe you will be asked to join next year.”

  That was it! I would practice, practice, practice, until I could turn the best cartwheel ever.

  Over and Over

  I began practicing that very night. Right away, I changed my mind about something, though. I decided I did not need to practice until I could turn the best cartwheel ever. I just needed to practice until Miss Donovan said to me, “Karen, would you like to be on the team now? You are good enough to join.” That was all I wanted. To be good enough to join the team.

  When Mommy and Seth left my room, I stood by the doorway. I looked at the space between the door and my bed. Was it big enough to turn a cartwheel in? I thought so, but I was not sure. I had never tried it.

  I stretched my hands in the air. Over I went. Bump! I landed with my back on the rug and my legs on the bed.

  I guess there was not enough room.

  I ran downstairs and stood at one end of the living room. It was empty. Mommy and Seth and Andrew were in the rec room. I decided there was plenty of space for cartwheels in the living room, so I turned one. When I landed on my feet, I was not even halfway across the room. So I turned another cartwheel and then another. Over and over and over I went. The cartwheels were not very good, but that was why I was practicing. Besides, I was getting faster. I had never turned three cartwheels in a row so quickly.

  I decided to try it again. But I decided to try it through the hallway and into the rec room. I wanted to surprise my family.

  I aimed myself for the entrance to the rec room. Over I went. And over and over — CRASH! I cartwheeled into Andrew.

  “Ow!” he cried. He held his hand to his head. “Your foot hit my ear!”

  “Karen, what are you doing?” asked Mommy.

  “Practicing,” I replied.

  “How about practicing in the basement? I know we do not have tumbling mats, but at least the basement is carpeted now.”

  “Okay,” I said. Then I added, “Sorry, Andrew.”

  After that, I practiced in the basement. The only thing I crashed into down there was the washing machine. (The dent I made was very small.) By the time I went to my next gymnastics class I could turn five cartwheels in a row without stopping.

  I waited until class had ended. When Miss Donovan and I were the only people left in the room, I said, “Guess what. I have been practicing my cartwheels. Watch me!”

  I chose the longest tumbling mat. I turned five cartwheels, from one end of the mat to the other. Over and over and over and over and over.

  When I stood up I was wobbly and dizzy. But I could see that Miss Donovan was smiling. “Much better!” she said.

  “Thank you,” I replied politely. “May I be on the team now?”

  I watched Miss Donovan’s smile disappear. “Oh, Karen,” she said. “I am sorry, but you are still not ready for the team. Your cartwheels are better. And they are certainly faster. But they are not good enough yet. You need to work some more. Anyway, we do not need more gymnasts on the team now. We have enough.”

  “Oh.”

  “We will choose new members in the fall.”

  “Oh.”

  “Karen, I really am sorry.”

  “Oh. I mean, I know you are. Thanks.”

  I walked into the hall where Seth was waiting for me. “How was your day?” he asked.

  “Terrible,” I answered.

  Cornelia, Cordelia, and Cecelia

  Yea! The Three Musketeers had another job! This was a job for all of us to work on together. Elizabeth had phoned me at the little house one evening. “Our garage is a mess,” she had said. “It’s a pigsty.” (I giggled.) “We cannot even park the cars in it anymore. Would you and Nancy and Hannie like to clean it out?”

  “Oh, yes!” I exclaimed.

  “It will be a big job.”

  “That’s okay,” I said. “We could do it on Saturday. I mean, if Hannie and Nancy can come over then.”

  Both of my friends said they could go to the big house on Saturday. We decided to start work early, just in case the job lasted all day.

  At nine o’clock we were in the garage. Daddy had rolled up the big doors for us. Then he had left us alone.

  My friends and I looked around. Our garage is huge. It is not attached to our house. It is in our backyard, behind the trees and Daddy’s gardens. The driveway in the front winds around to the side of the house and leads to the garage. All of the cars were parked in the driveway. None of them could fit in the garage.

  “Look at all this junk!” cried Hannie. “I mean, sorry, Karen. It isn’t junk exactly, but there is a lot of it. Whatever it is.”

  I laughed. “Most of it is junk, I think. Look at this.” I held up a football. It was as flat as a pancake. There was a hole in the seam and the air had leaked out of it.

  “Look at this!” cried Nancy. “What is it?”

  Hannie and I rushed over to see. “Oh, gross!” said Hannie.

  “That is Daddy’s fish head,” I said. “Once he caught this enormous fish. He was very proud of it, so he mounted its head on that board. Elizabeth says it is disgusting and that it cannot go in the house, but Daddy loves it. We better not throw that away.”

  “Can we throw away the football?” asked Nancy.

  “Definitely,” I said. “We can throw away lots of stuff.”

  We decided that everything we could throw away we would toss into the driveway. Soon a mountain of stuff was out there. We were working extra hard. But we were able to talk while we worked.

&
nbsp; “I keep thinking about the Doll Sisters,” said Nancy. “Then I do not mind our work. It is almost fun.”

  “I think about them, too,” I said. “And I thought of a great new name for my doll. I have decided she should be Cornelia.”

  “Oh, pretty,” said Hannie. “I think I will call my doll Cordelia.”

  “Then I will call mine Cecelia,” said Nancy. “Aren’t those beautiful names for triplets? Cornelia, Cordelia, and Cecelia. We — ”

  “SHHH!” I hissed. I was peering around a corner of the garage into Morbidda Destiny’s backyard. “I see the witch!” I whispered.

  “You do? Where?” said Hannie.

  “Yeah, where?” said Nancy.

  My friends did not see the witch, but I knew I had seen her. She had probably put a spell on herself to make her invisible to everyone except me. That is just the kind of sneaky witch thing she would do.

  Nancy and Hannie and I went back to work. We took one break so I could show my friends my five fast cartwheels in a row. We did not finish cleaning that garage until lunchtime. The garage looked lovely. There was even room to park a car or two in it.

  “Okay,” I said, “now we get paid!”

  Working for the Witch

  “Just a second,” Nancy said. “I do not think we will get paid yet. The garage is lovely, but the driveway is not.”

  Nancy was right. That huge pile of junk was sitting in the driveway. There was so much I did not know what to do with it all.

  “How are you coming along, girls?” Daddy and Elizabeth were walking across the backyard to the garage.

  “Fine,” Hannie said.

  “We are finished,” I said.

  “We think,” Nancy said.

  I pointed to the stuff in the driveway. “We do not know what to do with that. The garbage people will not pick it up. Most of it is too big.”

  “Well,” said Daddy, “I will drive it to the dump. Charlie and Sam can help me. You have done the hard part of the job. I guess you wouldn’t want to get paid now, would you? You probably — ”