Karen's Baby Read online

  “Right,” she agreed.

  Nancy showed Kristy her mezuzah. Then the three of us looked at Daniel’s room again. We thought it was perfect. But just to be sure, Nancy and I tested it with our baby dolls. They seemed to like everything.

  Now all Daniel’s room needed was Daniel.

  Hats for Sale

  The next day was Friday. Daniel was going to come home that afternoon. On Friday morning, Nancy and Hannie and I went to school carrying big paper bags. The bags were full. They were full of baby things. Bottle-warmers and hats and booties and mobiles.

  We planned to sell them in school.

  A couple of years ago, Hannie and Nancy and I had a favorite picture book. It was called Caps for Sale. We loved the story about the man who sold caps and wore all the caps on his head in one tall, tall tower. He would walk through town calling, “Caps! Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap!”

  So before school that morning, the Three Musketeers walked up and down the rows of desks in Ms. Colman’s room. We held out our piles of baby things. I called, “Hats! Hats for sale! Fifty cents a hat!” And, “Bottle-warmers for sale! Fifty cents a bottle-warmer!”

  Nancy called, “Booties for sale! Fifty cents apiece! A dollar for a pair!”

  And Hannie called, “Mobiles for sale! A buck will get you one!”

  Bobby Gianelli looked at our stuff. “A buck for a mobile?” he repeated. “That is a lot of money. I would not spend a dollar on one of your old mobiles.”

  “It takes a long time to make a mobile,” said Hannie.

  “It takes a long time to earn a dollar,” replied Bobby.

  Then Ricky Torres looked at our things. “Who needs bottle-warmers, anyway?” he said. He went back to his game of marbles.

  Now Bobby is a big bully. I would expect him to say something rude. But Ricky is my pretend husband. We got married on the playground one afternoon. He was not supposed to be rude to us.

  I walked over to a bunch of girls. “Hats for sale!” I cried.

  Pamela Harding looked at the baby beanies. She made a face. “Who made those?” she said. “Your little brother?”

  No wonder Pamela is my best enemy.

  Nobody wanted to buy our baby things. By the time Ms. Colman came in the room, the Three Musketeers had not earned a single penny.

  I think maybe Ms. Colman felt sorry for us. At lunchtime she said, “Girls, why don’t you bring your things to the teachers’ room. You might have some customers there. Come with me.”

  We did have some customers!

  Mrs. Klein looked at the booties. “Adorable,” she said. She bought a pair.

  Mr. Peterson looked at the mobiles. “My daughter would love these,” he said. He bought a pink and white mobile.

  And Ms. Colman looked at the hats. “Lovely,” she said. “I will take one.”

  “Pamela thought my little brother made them,” I told her.

  “Well, I think they are very nice,” she replied.

  The Three Musketeers had sold one pair of booties, one mobile, and one hat. We had earned two dollars and fifty cents.

  “I bet a store earns more than that in one day,” I said.

  “They probably don’t have so many things left over at the end of the day, either,” said Hannie.

  “I wonder what we are doing wrong,” said Nancy.

  “Maybe we don’t have enough to choose from. Maybe we need to sell more kinds of baby things,” I suggested.

  “Maybe,” said Hannie and Nancy.

  At least the day had passed quickly. I had thought it would be lo-o-o-o-ong and slo-o-o-o-ow. But it was not too bad.

  When the bell did ring, I cried, “Here we come, Daniel!”

  The Sad News

  The Three Musketeers ran out of school together. We saw my mommy in her car and Hannie’s mommy in her car. We all ran to my mommy first.

  “Is Daniel home?” asked Hannie. “Is he home yet?”

  “Not yet,” said Mommy.

  “Boo,” said the Three Musketeers.

  Then Hannie said, “I have to go. Someone call me when Daniel comes home, okay? I want to know the minute he is home.”

  “Okay,” Nancy and I promised.

  That afternoon, Nancy and I sat in the living room at the little house. We sat by the window. We held our dolls in our laps.

  We waited and waited and waited. We did not see the Daweses’ car.

  After a long time, the phone rang. Mommy answered it. When she hung up, she called, “Nancy? Karen? Can you come here, please?”

  We ran into the kitchen.

  “Girls,” said Mommy, “I have some sad news. Daniel is not feeling very well, so he will not be coming home this afternoon.”

  Nancy looked scared. “What’s the matter with him?” she asked.

  “Nothing too serious,” said Mommy. “A couple of little problems. One of them is called jaundice. Lots of babies get that. They just need to stay in the hospital for a few extra days. When Daniel does come home, he will be feeling fine.”

  “Okay,” said Nancy. She looked as scared as ever. “Is Mommy coming home?”

  “Tomorrow. She could come home today, but your daddy said she wanted to spend one more night at the hospital with Daniel. Also, your daddy is going to be at the hospital until late tonight, Nancy, so you are going to stay with Karen again.”

  “But it is Friday!” I exclaimed. “I am going to the big house.”

  “And Nancy will go with you. I’m sure it will be fine with your father and Elizabeth. I am going to call them right now. But I already told Mr. Dawes that’s where Nancy would be. Is that okay with you, Nancy?”

  Nancy nodded.

  “Yes!” I cried. “We can have another sleepover tonight! Only it will be better than the last one because we will not have to wake up early.”

  Nancy nodded again.

  Then Mommy took us next door so Nancy could pack some things for our slumber party. We passed by Daniel’s room. We all looked inside. But nobody said anything. Until later. On our way to the big house, Mommy said, “I know you are sad, girls. But you do not need to worry. I am sure Daniel will be fine.”

  I took Mommy’s advice. I did not worry.

  Nancy worried, though. At dinner, she hardly said a word.

  Nannie said, “Nancy, you are a big sister now. How does that feel?”

  “Fine.”

  And Kristy said, “I love the name Daniel. Is that your favorite name?”

  “I guess.”

  And Daddy said, “What did you think when you saw your brother?”

  “He’s okay.”

  After that, everyone stopped asking Nancy questions.

  * * *

  Nancy was no fun at our slumber party. She did not want to play games with me. She did not want to play Lovely Ladies. She did not want to raid the refrigerator. All she wanted to do was read.

  “Are you okay, Nancy?” I asked.

  “No. I am not okay. I told you Daniel was little and scary. Now he is sick. How are we going to take care of him? It will be too hard. He is so tiny. Maybe he will never come home from the hospital.”

  The Baby Sale

  Nancy felt better the next morning. Her father called her. He said, “Nancy, I am going to the hospital again now, but Mommy and I will both come home after lunch. We will pick you up at Karen’s then.”

  “How is Daniel?” asked Nancy.

  “He’s doing fine. The doctor said he can probably go home on Tuesday. That is just three days from now. How would you like to go out to dinner tonight? You and mommy and me?”

  “Tonight? Don’t you have to be with Daniel?”

  “We want to be with you.”

  “All right!” cried Nancy. When she hung up the phone, she said, “What shall we do this morning, Karen? We can play all morning.”

  “Hmm,” I said. “Maybe we should try having another baby sale. This time we can sell our baby things to the neighbors. We can walk from door to door and say, ‘Would you like to buy o
ne of our lovely items?’ ”

  “Okay,” replied Nancy. “Except I left all my lovely items at home.”

  “That’s all right. Some of my things are here at the big house. And Hannie has her things.”

  I telephoned Hannie. She came right over with six mobiles and a drawing of Noah’s Ark. “Isn’t my picture beautiful?” she said. “It will be a perfect decoration for a baby’s room.”

  The Three Musketeers piled their things in my red wagon. Then we put on our coats. We were ready for our baby sale.

  “Where are you going?” called Elizabeth.

  When I told her, she said, “Ask Kristy or a grown-up to go with you.”

  Kristy came with us. She walked behind the wagon and made sure nothing fell out. Hannie and Nancy and I took turns pulling the wagon.

  We went across the street to Hannie’s house first.

  Hannie rang her bell. When her mother came to the door, I said, “Hello. We are having a baby sale. Would you like to buy a lovely item?”

  “We-ell,” said Mrs. Papadakis.

  “How about a lovely mobile?” asked Hannie.

  Mrs. Papadakis sighed. Then she bought one mobile.

  While we were walking next door to the Kilbournes’ house, Kristy said, “Are you guys sure you want to call this a baby sale? It sounds as if you are selling babies.” She frowned.

  “Well, we are selling baby things,” I told her. Even so, when Mr. Kilbourne answered the door, I said, “Hello, we are having a baby-things sale. Would you like to buy a lovely item?”

  “You are having a what?” replied Mr. Kilbourne.

  “A baby-things sale.”

  Mr. Kilbourne did not buy any baby things.

  “I should have said we were having a baby sale,” I whined as we left the house. “Just like I had planned.”

  “Sorry,” said Kristy.

  Next we rang Melody Korman’s doorbell. Melody is a friend of ours, even though she does not go to our school.

  Melody was not at home, but her mother was. Mrs. Korman answered the door holding Melody’s baby sister. When we told her about the baby sale, she smiled. Then she bought the picture of Noah’s Ark.

  “This is just what Skylar’s room needs,” she said.

  At twelve o’clock we stopped our sale. Kristy pulled the wagon home because the Three Musketeers were very tired. Also, we had only earned two more dollars.

  But Nancy was grinning. She could not wait to see her mother.

  Waiting for Daniel

  Here is some gigundoly good news. On Monday Nancy said to me, “Karen, guess what. Daniel is going to come home tomorrow.”

  “Yes!” I cried. “Does that mean he is all well?”

  “It means he is very well, and that tomorrow he will be all well.”

  Nancy’s mother had come home on Saturday. I saw her on Sunday evening when Andrew and I returned to the little house.

  I was surprised because Mrs. Dawes was still fat. Not quite as fat as before she had Daniel, but still fat. Plus, she looked tired.

  I asked Mommy about this and she said Mrs. Dawes would look the same as usual before I knew it. She said to be patient.

  There are just so many things to be patient about.

  The hardest one was the baby, of course. Waiting for Daniel.

  “Are you still scared?” I asked Nancy in school on Monday.

  “A little. Not as much. Mommy and Daddy told me to remember something. They said to remember that I am Daniel’s big sister, but that I only have to help take care of him. They will do the hard things. If anything scares me, Mommy or Daddy will handle it. Then we will talk about it.”

  “What time is Daniel coming home?” I asked.

  “In the morning,” said Nancy. “Early.”

  “Before we leave for school?” Hannie wanted to know.

  “Not that early. But he will be waiting for me after school.”

  “We should do something special for Daniel,” I said. “When we adopted Emily Michelle, we made a big sign that said Welcome, Emily. And we baked cookies for her. It was a very special day.”

  “Let’s make a sign for Daniel,” said Nancy. “Can you guys come to my house after school? Mommy said she would be at home.”

  The Three Musketeers worked very hard on the sign. It said WELCOME HOME, DANIEL! We drew each letter on a separate piece of paper. We even used one whole piece of paper for the !. Then we strung the papers together. Mrs. Dawes helped us hang them over the fireplace.

  “There. All ready for Daniel,” said Hannie.

  “Now if he would just come home,” I added.

  “He will be here before you know it,” said Mrs. Dawes.

  “At last I will feel like a big sister,” said Nancy.

  Welcome Home, Daniel!

  “Today is the big day!” I cried. The Three Musketeers had just reached school. When we saw each other, we jumped up and down. Then we ran to Ms. Colman’s room.

  “How will we wait? How will we wait all day?” I asked.

  I tried to be a good waiter. I really did. But I was a little bit wiggly. Also, Ms. Colman had to tell me twice to remember to use my indoor voice. And both times she had to interrupt the class to do it.

  I felt sorry. But I just could not keep still.

  “Maybe we should not be too excited,” said Hannie at lunchtime. “What if he does not come home after all? What if Daniel has to stay at the hospital for another day or two?”

  “He will come home today,” said Nancy. “I just know it.”

  The Three Musketeers rode home from school together. Mommy picked us up.

  “Is Daniel home?” asked Nancy.

  Guess what. He was not.

  “But he will be later this afternoon. Your parents are at the hospital now, Nancy. I’m not sure what the delay was,” said Mommy. “Why don’t you girls play outside and watch for the car. You can take Andrew with you.”

  We did not really want to play with Andrew, but we played with him anyway. After our snack we put on jackets and mittens and scarves and hats and boots. We ran into the front yard. We tried to build a snowman but there was not enough snow. So we made a snowman head. Then we sat on our steps and counted cars. Andrew saw the Daweses’ car first.

  “There it is!” he shrieked.

  “This is it! Here’s Daniel!” I cried.

  “He’s home!” added Nancy.

  Hannie and Nancy and Andrew and I ran next door. We watched the car pull into the driveway. We watched Mr. Dawes park it carefully. We watched him help Mrs. Dawes out. She was holding a bundle of blankets. That is all I could see. Just some soft blankets.

  “Where is he?” I whispered.

  My friends and I had crowded around Mrs. Dawes.

  “He’s right here,” she answered.

  Nancy stood on tiptoe. She peered into the blankets. “Hi, Daniel,” she said softly. “It’s me, Nancy. Your big sister.”

  Then Hannie and Andrew and I peered into the blankets. And there was a teeny, tiny face. A doll’s face. Soft and pink. Daniel was asleep.

  “Let’s go inside now, kids,” said Mr. Dawes. “It’s cold out here.”

  When we were inside, we took off our coats. We sat in the living room. Nancy and her mother sat on the couch. Mrs. Dawes let Nancy hold Daniel. Now that he was not so wrapped up, I could see him better. And Nancy had been right. He was very, very small. I do not remember Andrew when he was that small. Daniel was not much bigger than Hyacynthia, my best doll baby.

  Mr. Dawes brought two cameras into the living room, a video camera and a regular one. He took some pictures of Andrew and the Three Musketeers looking at Daniel. Then he took about a thousand pictures of Mrs. Dawes and Nancy holding Daniel.

  “Let’s show Daniel his room,” said Nancy after awhile.

  Mrs. Dawes picked up Daniel. We followed her to Daniel’s bedroom. Mr. Dawes followed us with the video camera.

  “Here you go, Daniel,” said Nancy. “This is your room. Welcome home.”

>   Kristy

  After I saw Daniel, I decided something. I decided I just had to have a baby of my own. A baby brother or sister. I did not care which.

  One evening, Kristy came to baby-sit at the little house. Mommy and Seth were going to a party. “Have fun with Kristy,” said Mommy as she put on her coat. “Do what she tells you. Andrew, your bedtime is eight-thirty. Karen, yours is nine, but you may read in bed for half an hour. Lights out at nine-thirty.”

  “Okay,” said Andrew and I.

  We could not wait for Mommy and Seth to leave. As soon as they did, Andrew said, “Let’s play Candy Land!”

  I said, “Let’s put on a play.”

  We did both things. Then Kristy made cocoa. And then Andrew had to go to bed. While Kristy read a story to Andrew, I looked over my baby lists. I had started quite a few. There were my lists of names, of course. They were getting pretty long. Then there was a list of baby furniture, a list of baby toys, a list of baby clothes, a list of picture books, and a list of ways to decorate my baby’s room. (My favorite was Animals Around the World.)

  I did not hear Kristy come into my room.

  “Karen?” she said.

  I jumped. “You scared me!”

  “Sorry. I just put Andrew to bed. What are all those?”

  “These? These lists?” I tried to hide them, but Kristy had already seen them.

  “Furniture For My Baby,” she read. “Books For My Baby. What baby, Karen? You mean your imaginary baby, don’t you? Because you know you are not going to get a real baby brother or sister.”

  “Well, I sort of meant a real one,” I admitted.

  “But, Karen, everyone has told you and told you. You are probably not going to get a new brother or sister. Your mom and Seth do not plan to have a baby, and neither do your dad and my mom…. Karen, do you want to have a baby, or do you want to be a big sister?”

  “Both, I guess.”

  Well, Daniel is right next door. You can visit him a lot. And you already are a big sister. You have a little sister and a little brother.”

  “I know. But they are not babies.”

  “No, but they are fun. They can do things. You can color with Emily, and you taught Andrew to read. Remember that? You could not teach a baby to read.”