Karen's Angel Read online

“You know, there are no such things as angels,” said Sam.

  “Well, I like to think there are,” I replied.

  After dinner, I called a meeting. It was only a little meeting for Andrew and me. But at least I was in charge.

  “We need to decide what kind of angel we want. Should we make one, or buy one? Whatever we do, the angel must be really terrific,” I said.

  “I do not know what kind it should be,” said Andrew.

  “I have a very good book we can look at,” I replied. “Maybe we will find an angel we like there.”

  We carefully looked through My Book of Angels. That did not help, because we liked every angel we saw.

  “I will get more books at school tomorrow,” I said. “Maybe we will see the perfect angel in one of them.”

  At recess the next day, I went to the library instead of the playground. I asked Mr. Counts, the school librarian, for books with pictures of angels.

  “We have several good ones, Karen,” he replied. “I will help you find them.”

  I took out four books, which is the most we are allowed to borrow. Then I went to see Mr. Mackey, the art teacher.

  “Do you have any books about making angels?” I asked.

  “There are some excellent craft books on my shelves over there. Feel free to browse and borrow,” Mr. Mackey replied.

  I browsed and borrowed two books. At home, I called another meeting. I opened the new books to the pictures of my favorite angels.

  “Okay,” I said. “It is time to decide. When I count to three, point to the angel you like the best. One, two, three!”

  Guess what! Andrew and I pointed to the same one. It was amazing. I was sure it was an angel’s magic sign. The angel we picked was wearing a blue flowing robe. She had a golden halo and golden wings. She was blowing on a silver trumpet. She was fantastic.

  Then I remembered something. I saw an angel just like her in the Connecticut Yankee Gift Shop downtown. (I am always on the lookout for angels.)

  “Go get your money, Andrew. I will get mine. We will see how much we have,” I said.

  I counted our money. It was just enough to buy the angel.

  “Let’s ask Daddy if he will drive us downtown on Saturday,” I said.

  Daddy said he would be glad to. Yippee!

  Oops!

  “Are you ready to go?” asked Daddy.

  “We are ready!” I said.

  It was Saturday morning. Daddy was driving Andrew and me downtown. Kristy was coming, too. She wanted to buy wrapping paper and ribbon at the card shop, since she was in charge of wrapping gifts with David Michael. The card shop was next door to the Connecticut Yankee Gift Shop.

  When we reached the gift shop, I said, “We would like to go in by ourselves. We want our angel to be a surprise. No one is allowed to see her until Christmas Eve when we put her on the tree.”

  “I do not like letting you and your brother go into a store alone,” said Daddy.

  “It is a small store,” I replied. “We will not get lost or anything. Really.”

  “Are you sure you do not need my help?” asked Daddy.

  “We are sure,” I replied.

  “All right. Just stay inside,” said Daddy. “We will come back to get you in ten minutes.”

  “Thank you, Daddy!” I said. I opened the door to the store. Tiny bells tinkled above our heads when we walked inside.

  “May I help you with something?” asked the store owner.

  “No, thank you,” I replied.

  I knew just where to find the angels. They were at the back of the store. I led Andrew there.

  “I see her! I see our angel,” said Andrew, pointing to the shelf where she sat.

  “She is the most beautiful angel of all,” I replied. I reached up and carefully carried her down. A price tag was hanging from her halo. Uh-oh. She was a little more expensive than I remembered. Ten dollars more, to be exact.

  “What is wrong?” asked Andrew.

  “I thought this angel cost nine dollars. But now I see there is a number one before the number nine. That means she is nineteen dollars. We do not have enough money to buy her,” I said. “We have to put her back.”

  Andrew looked sad. “Let me just see her first,” he said. He held out his hands.

  I am not sure what happened next. Either I let go too fast, or Andrew did not hold her tightly enough. All I know was the angel fell to the floor and broke into pieces.

  Oops.

  “What is going on back there?” called the store owner. He rushed to the back of the store where Andrew and I stood staring at what was left of the angel.

  “We are sorry,” I said. “It was an accident.”

  The store owner was red in the face.

  “That may be,” he said. “But you will still have to pay for it.”

  He pointed to a sign on the wall. It said: If you break it, you own it.

  I reached into my pocket and handed over our money.

  “That is all we have,” I said.

  “Well, you will just have to owe me the rest,” said the store owner.

  He told us exactly how much that would be.

  “We cannot give it to you right away,” I said. “But I promise we will have the money for you by Christmas Eve.”

  “I would like your parents’ names and their phone number. Just in case,” said the store owner.

  We followed him to the counter where he wrote everything down. Andrew looked scared. I thought he was going to cry.

  When the store owner was finished, we waited inside the entrance for Daddy and Kristy. As soon as we saw them coming, we rushed outside.

  “Did you get it?” asked Kristy.

  “No, we did not buy it after all,” I replied quickly. “Can we go home now, Daddy? I am hungry.”

  I was not really hungry. I just wanted to get as far away from the Connecticut Yankee Gift Shop as I could.

  Holiday Helpers

  “Psst. Andrew. Meeting in my room,” I whispered when we returned to the house.

  We went to my room and closed the door.

  “We are in big trouble. We have no angel. And we do not have a single cent between us,” I said. “We cannot buy another angel. We cannot even buy Christmas presents. And we have to pay the store owner the money we owe him by Christmas Eve.”

  “I guess we messed up,” said Andrew.

  “We sure did. Big time,” I replied. “We had one little responsibility and we blew it.”

  “We could make an angel,” said Andrew.

  “Maybe. But a fancy store-bought angel would be much better. We need to earn some money,” I said. “Then our troubles will be over.”

  “How will we do that?” asked Andrew.

  “I have an idea,” I replied. “Everyone is complaining about how busy they are. They are saying they do not have enough time to get everything done before Christmas. We will help them.”

  “And they will pay us!” said Andrew.

  “Exactly,” I replied. “We need to get organized. First we should make uniforms. That way we will look like serious workers.”

  “I want to wear a fireman uniform,” said Andrew.

  “That is not the kind of uniform I mean,” I said. “We have to make a uniform to go with our business.”

  “Does our business have a name?” asked Andrew.

  I thought and thought. Finally, I came up with a name. I thought of a very good motto, too.

  “We will call ourselves the Holiday Helpers. Our motto will be: ‘If you have a job that needs to be done, ask Holiday Helpers and you’ll be free to have fun.’ ”

  “I like that!” said Andrew.

  “Thank you,” I replied. “We will charge fifty cents for each job we do. Come on. Let’s make our uniforms.”

  I got out paper, crayons, glitter, string, and glue. We made signs that said: Holiday Helpers, 50¢ a job. We hung the signs around our necks with string. Then we stood in front of the mirror to admire ourselves. The Holiday Helpers were r
eady.

  We knocked on Nannie’s door first.

  “Holiday Helpers to the rescue,” I said.

  Then Andrew and I said together, “If you have a job that needs to be done, ask Holiday Helpers and you’ll be free to have fun.”

  Nannie smiled. “I certainly could use some help. Would the Holiday Helpers be able to dust this room?”

  “We are very good dusters,” I said. “When you come back, the job will be done.”

  “Thank you,” replied Nannie.

  When we finished dusting, we found our next customer. It was Kristy. (She liked our motto a lot.)

  “I lost one of my high-top sneakers,” said Kristy. “I have been looking for it all morning.”

  “Holiday Helpers to the rescue!” I said.

  Andrew found the sneaker under a poster that had fallen off the wall.

  Daddy and Elizabeth asked us to read to Emily before her nap.

  David Michael hired us to brush Shannon.

  Charlie asked us to wipe the windows on the Junk Bucket. (That is what we call his car.)

  Sam asked us to take phone messages for him while he went downtown to buy batteries for his radio.

  Everyone paid us promptly. But by the end of the day, we still did not have much money.

  “We only have three dollars,” I said. “I think we charged too little.”

  We could not go back and ask for more money. That would not be nice. But I did not give up hope. Things would work out somehow. They always did.

  Holiday Spirit

  I put my money worries aside when I arrived at school on Monday. Ms. Colman said we would spend the afternoon making our holiday decorations for Stoneybrook Manor. It was hard to worry and have fun at the same time.

  We did our schoolwork in the morning. After recess, we found arts-and-crafts supplies set out around our room.

  “If you need any help, just let me know,” said Ms. Colman.

  I moved to the back to sit with Hannie and Nancy.

  “I am going to make a Christmas tree,” I said. “What are you going to make?”

  “I am going to make a diorama of Santa flying through the sky in his sleigh,” replied Hannie.

  “I will make a cardboard dreidel,” said Nancy.

  “Can I play the dreidel game with you?” I asked.

  “Sure,” replied Nancy.

  Nancy once showed me how to play the dreidel game. It is part of the Hanukkah holiday. A dreidel is a top with letters on each side. You spin the top, then do different things, depending on which letter comes up when the top stops. You even win little prizes. It is fun.

  “I will be right back,” I said.

  I looked in the supply closet for a few more things. I wanted my Christmas tree to have very interesting ornaments. I needed a little of everything I could find. Except for the glitter. I needed a lot of that.

  “Is there any more glitter in there?” asked Sara Ford.

  I had filled my cup to the very top. The jar was almost empty. It was time to show some holiday spirit.

  “Here, you can have some of this,” I said.

  “Thank you,” replied Sara. “I am making a mkeka mat out of newspaper. I want to decorate it with glitter. I think that will look very nice at Stoneybrook Manor, don’t you?”

  “It will look great,” I replied.

  A real mkeka mat from Africa is made out of straw. It is one of the gifts given during the Kwanza holiday. That is the holiday that Sara, Ms. Colman, and Omar Harris celebrate.

  When Sara left, I turned back to my supplies. The next thing I knew, Pamela was there.

  “Hi, Karen,” she said. “I need a sheet of blue construction paper. Have you seen any?”

  I happened to know that I had taken the last sheet.

  Pamela looked through the closet. Then she looked at me. She saw the blue construction paper poking out from my supplies.

  “I guess I could take white paper and color it with a blue crayon,” said Pamela.

  Hmm. Pamela is usually my best enemy. But she was trying to be nice. She was showing holiday spirit. I decided to show some holiday spirit right back. (I did not want my best enemy to have more holiday spirit than me.)

  “You can have half of this sheet,” I said.

  “Hey, thanks,” replied Pamela. (She looked surprised.)

  We cut the paper in half. I grabbed a few more things from the closet, then raced back to my desk. It was time to get to work.

  By the end of the afternoon, I had made the most beautiful tree ever. Hannie’s diorama looked so real I thought I heard sleigh bells ringing. Nancy’s dreidel spun like a real top you would find in a store.

  “You have all done a wonderful job,” said Ms. Colman. “Next Tuesday we will visit Stoneybrook Manor.”

  I could hardly wait. We had beautiful decorations and lots of holiday spirit to share.

  Making Costumes

  On Wednesday after school the kids in the Christmas pageant gathered at Hannie’s house.

  “We are going to start making our costumes today,” said Hannie. “Linny and I were sure we put away a box of things last year. But we cannot find them. So we have to start all over.”

  “Sari help,” said Hannie’s little sister. (Sari is two and a half, like Emily.)

  “You can help me with my angel costume,” said Hannie.

  I wished I were making the angel costume. That would be exciting. The costume for Mary was not as much fun. I could wear the long-sleeved white blouse I had on. And Mrs. Papadakis lent me one of her skirts. It came down to my ankles. She gave me a light blue shawl to wear around my shoulders and a scarf to put on my head. On the day of the pageant I would wear my black party shoes instead of sneakers. That was it. I was done.

  “You look great,” said Hannie.

  “Thanks,” I replied. “I will help Andrew with his costume now.”

  Andrew’s costume was a little more exciting. He was going to be one of the lambs in the barn where Jesus was born. He needed to be white and fluffy.

  I found cotton puffs in a jar in the Papadakises’ bathroom. I helped Andrew stick them together with glue.

  “We need a little bit of glue right here,” I said, pointing to a couple of cotton puffs.

  Andrew squeezed the bottle of glue hard. Sticky white paste squirted out.

  “We only needed a little glue,” I said.

  Luckily the glue dried fast. The cotton puffs felt a little stiff. But they looked okay. We glued together a whole bunch of them and put them on Andrew’s head. Now all he needed was white clothes.

  “Maa-aa. Maa-aa,” said Andrew.

  He looked and sounded like a perfect little lamb.

  I had already finished making two costumes. Hannie and Sari were still working on the angel costume. Sari held up a wire hanger that was bent in the shape of a wing. Hannie was covering it with some white material Mrs. Papadakis had found in her sewing basket. It made a beautiful angel’s wing. I wished it were my beautiful angel’s wing.

  I felt someone tugging on my shawl. It was Callie.

  “Will you help me look like a lamb, too?” she said.

  “Sure,” I replied.

  I handed Callie the container of glue. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Hannie making her second angel wing.

  “Squeeze,” I said.

  Callie squeezed hard just the way Andrew had squeezed. Glue squirted out again. Why do little kids do that? I guess they do not know any better.

  When we got tired of working on our costumes, we started on the announcement fliers. Mrs. Papadakis typed the words we asked for on her computer. Then she printed them on paper. The fliers said:

  Hear ye, hear ye.

  Come one, come all to

  our famous Christmas Pageant.

  Time: Saturday, December 23rd at 7pm

  Place: the Papadakis house

  We sat down with green and red markers and drew beautiful holiday borders on the fliers. When we were done we had enough for our families and
a few left over to post in the neighborhood.

  Getting ready for a Christmas pageant is gigundoly fun!

  Christmas in the Air

  Mommy. Check. Daddy. Check. Seth. Check. Elizabeth. Check. Kristy. Check.

  It was Saturday morning. I was not taking attendance. I was in my room checking off my gift list. Before Andrew and I broke the angel, I had gifts for about half the people on my list. There were still a lot of names to go.

  “I do not have money left to buy anything,” I said to Moosie. “So I better get busy making gifts.”

  All I had to do was think of what to make. I decided to go downstairs and see what everyone was up to. Maybe I would get some ideas. Maybe I would also get some lunch. I was hungry.

  I took a pencil and paper with me. That way if I got any great gift ideas, I could write them down.

  I was halfway down the stairs when David Michael raced past me.

  “Excuse me!” he said.

  He was hiding something under his shirt.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “Nothing you need to know about. At least not yet,” he said, smiling. He disappeared into his room.

  Hmm. Mysterious.

  When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was practically knocked over by Kristy.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  Kristy was hiding something under her shirt, too.

  Aha! I did not even have to ask what it was. I knew. Kristy and David Michael were hiding presents under their shirts. They were running upstairs to wrap them.

  Ooh. Things were getting exciting.

  When Kristy passed by me, I noticed that one of her shoelaces was torn. I wrote “shoelaces” on my gift list next to Kristy’s name. I happened to have a brand-new package of shoelaces that I had not opened yet. That could be one of my gifts to Kristy.

  Ding-dong. The doorbell rang. I was just in time to answer it. I looked outside and saw Mr. Venta, the mail carrier. I opened the door for him. (I am allowed to open the door for Mr. Venta.)

  “I have a package addressed to your dad,” he said.

  In a flash, Daddy was behind me.

  “Thank you, Mr. Venta. I will take that,” he said.