Karen's Little Sister Read online

  Ricky got up from his desk. He stood in front of the classroom. What he had to show was a dumb old tooth he had lost. The Tooth Fairy had given him a dollar for it.

  Ricky was just sitting down when a knock came at our door. Ms. Colman opened it. There was Mommy carrying Magic Tastee in his box! When she walked into the room, all the kids went, “Oooh.”

  I stood proudly in front of the room. Mommy set Magic Tastee’s box on a desk. Then she sat down in the visitor’s chair.

  “This,” I said, “is Magic Tastee. He’s a baby sparrow. I found him on Monday, and I have been feeding him and warming his nest and — ”

  “I can’t see!” cried Audrey. Audrey sits in the third row.

  “Neither can I!” said Hannie and Nancy and a whole bunch of other kids.

  “Then if you’re very quiet,” began Ms. Colman, “you may all come to the front of the room. Remember to tiptoe and whisper.”

  “And I can take the screen off of the box,” I added. “It will be okay.”

  My friends followed Ms. Colman’s directions. They crowded around Magic Tastee, but they were very quiet.

  “What do you feed him?” asked Ricky Torres.

  “How much does he weigh?” asked Audrey.

  “Do you ever let him outdoors?” asked Natalie Springer.

  “What do Rocky and Midgie think of him?” asked Hannie.

  “What will you do when Magic Tastee learns to fly?” asked Ms. Colman.

  I answered everyone’s questions — everyone’s except Ms. Colman’s. Why did adults keep talking to me about Magic Tastee and flying?

  I did not want to think about that.

  Instead I looked at all my friends. I pretended that they were a big audience and they had come to see Karen Brewer and her World-Famous Sparrow.

  I just love being the center of attention.

  Someday I will be gigundo famous.

  Kristy’s Call

  One thing I do not like about being Karen Two-Two is that I don’t get to see my big-house family very often.

  Kristy does not like this, either. So she said, “Let’s talk on the phone sometimes when you’re at your mom’s house.”

  We usually talk once or twice a week.

  One Wednesday — the Wednesday after Magic Tastee had visited school, and two days before Andrew and I were supposed to go back to the big house — the phone rang.

  Ring, ring.

  “I’ll get it!” I shouted.

  “Karen, you don’t need to scream,” said Mommy.

  “Sorry,” I apologized. I ran into the kitchen.

  I picked up the phone. “Hello, this is Karen Brewer,” I said. I was going to say, “Hello, this is the famous Karen Brewer,” but Mommy was in the kitchen, too. So I didn’t.

  “Hi, Karen. It’s me, Kristy.”

  “Kristy!” I cried. Mommy and I looked at each other. I remembered to keep my voice down. “Hi!” I said. “Guess what. I took Magic Tastee outside today. I mean, I took him outside in his box.”

  “Did he like that?” asked Kristy.

  Kristy already knew about Magic Tastee, since I had talked to her twice the week before. She knew how I had found him. She knew that he was growing, and that he had a new, bigger box.

  “He liked it a lot, I think,” I told Kristy. “You know what? I took the screen off so he could look around, and he flapped his wings and jumped right up onto the edge of the box. Then he just perched there.”

  “Weren’t you afraid he would fly away?” asked Kristy.

  “No,” I replied. “ ‘Course not. Why would he fly away? I am his mother. Thanks to me, he feels a lot better. He chirps and eats and jumps around. No more squawking.”

  “That’s good,” said Kristy. “You know who else feels better?”

  “Who?”

  “Emily. The medicine worked. Her ear infection is gone, and she isn’t fussy anymore. Well, of course, sometimes she gets a little fussy, but not the way she was when you were here the last time. That was really bad.” (I was glad to hear Kristy say that.) “On Friday she goes into the hospital. I’m sure she’ll be scared, but once the tubes are in her ears, she’ll really feel better.”

  “Who’s going to stay at the hospital with Emily on Friday night?” I asked. I just had to know. Please, please, please not Daddy.

  “My mother is,” replied Kristy.

  What a relief, I thought. But then I began imagining Emily in the hospital. I thought of her lying in a strange bed. I thought of all the doctors and nurses coming into her room. They would probably give her shots and look in her ears and make her take medicine. Emily wouldn’t understand what was going on. I began to feel sort of sorry for her. And I felt guilty for having been so mad at her before.

  “Kristy,” I said, “what will Emily think when she has to stay in the hospital and have an operation?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kristy replied. “I’m a little worried. After all, she lived in an orphanage until she was two. Then she was taken away from the only place she’d known, and brought to a strange country and a strange family. Now we’re going to take her to another strange place where some strange people are going to do things to her that will probably hurt.”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly.

  Now I really felt horrible. I had yelled at Emily and called her a bad girl when she wasn’t even feeling well.

  I would have to do something about that.

  Get Well Soon, Emily

  As soon as Kristy and I got off the phone, I went upstairs to my room. I felt like crying, but I was not sure why.

  “Something is wrong,” I said to Goosie. “I feel bad. Emily is a pest and she gets lots of attention. But she has to go into the hospital, where she will be scared, and where she might hurt. She will not know what’s happening to her. How can I call her a pest when she will be so upset?”

  Goosie wanted to say something to me, so I held him up to my ear and listened.

  “What?” I said. “A card? A get-well card for Emily? Well, maybe I should make her one.” I looked over at Magic Tastee, who was hopping around in his box. “I could draw a picture of Magic Tastee for Emily,” I said, “couldn’t I?”

  I made Goosie nod his head.

  “Okay, then. I better get to work.”

  I found some plain white paper in my desk. Then I found some crayons and Magic Markers and glitter and glue. I set everything on the table in my room. I was ready to get to work.

  First I folded a piece of paper in half. With the brown Magic Marker, I drew the outline of a bird. I left plenty of space under him so I would have room to write. Then I spread glue all over the bird and sprinkled sparkles on the glue. When I was done, I had made a green bird with a red wing and a blue beak. It was a very fancy bird.

  The bird did not look anything like Magic Tastee. Even so, at the bottom of the card I wrote:

  I stopped writing there. I opened up the card. Inside I wrote:

  I made each letter a different color. Then I signed my name. I wrote it in cursive:

  “Here, Goosie,” I said. “Look at this.”

  I showed Goosie the card. I made him nod his head again and say in a little cat voice, “Very pretty, Karen.”

  Then I remembered something. I remembered how I had felt when I came home from the hospital with my broken wrist. I had been bored. Emily would probably be bored, too. So I found a coloring book that I had only colored one page in. I would give Emily the card and the book on Saturday.

  I felt a little bit better about having been so mean to Emily.

  Big Sisters, Little Sisters, Middle Sisters

  Two days later it was another going-to-Daddy’s Friday. As Andrew and I were packing our knapsacks, I said to Mommy, “What will happen to Magic Tastee while I’m gone?” “Seth and I will take care of him,” Mommy replied. “We told you we would care for any pet you got whenever you’re at Daddy’s. Remember?”

  I nodded. “Don’t forget to change his water.”

  “We won’t
.”

  “Or to feed him.”

  “Of course not.”

  “And take him outside.”

  “Right. We will leave the top off of his cage.”

  “Very carefully,” I told Mommy. “Don’t let Rocky attack him. And don’t let him get away.”

  “But honey, he’s learning to fly,” said Mommy. “He needs his freedom. We can’t keep him cooped up in a box all his life. He’s a wild bird.”

  I thought for a long time. Finally I said, “Well, Magic Tastee won’t fly away and leave me. I am his mother.”

  When Andrew and I got to the big house, Daddy and Elizabeth and Emily were already gone. They were at the hospital. Nannie was in charge, and Kristy and all my brothers were at home.

  “This isn’t too bad,” I said to Andrew. We were going upstairs to unpack our knapsacks. “It’s just like any night when Daddy and Elizabeth go out and Nannie or Kristy baby-sits for us.”

  “Yup,” replied Andrew. “Except that Emily isn’t here.”

  “I know,” I said. I couldn’t figure out why I felt disappointed.

  After I had unpacked, I put Emily’s card and coloring book on my bureau so I would remember to give them to her the next day.

  At supper that night I said to Nannie, “When will Emily have her operation?”

  “First thing tomorrow morning,” Nannie answered. “It won’t take very long. Emily will be ready to come home after lunch. In fact, anyone who wants to can go to the hospital to pick her up. You can even go to her room.”

  “Right up to her room?” said Andrew.

  “Cool,” said David Michael.

  “Yeah,” said Kristy, Sam, and Charlie.

  I had a feeling we would all be going to the hospital the next day.

  When bedtime came that night, Andrew and David Michael and I brushed our teeth together. We foamed up the toothpaste in our mouths. Then, “Unh, two, fee, pit!” I said with my full mouth.

  We spat into the sink and looked at all the foam. There was quite a bit of it.

  Afterward, Kristy read me a bedtime story. It was called A Baby Sister for Frances. “You know,” said Kristy, when the story was over, “now that Emily is here, my brothers and I have two little sisters — you and Emily.”

  “But I am not the littlest little sister anymore,” I said.

  “No,” Kristy replied, “but you’re still my first little sister. Plus, you’re something else that is very special. You’re a middle sister, which means you’re an older sister and a younger sister. Emily will probably never get to be a middle sister.”

  I thought about that. Then I said, “You know what, Kristy?”

  “What?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Good night, big sister.”

  “Good night, middle sister.”

  In the Hospital

  The next day was Emily Day. In the morning, Daddy drove to the hospital to stay with Emily and Elizabeth.

  Before he left, Nannie said to him, “The rest of us will come at two-thirty so we can all be there when the doctor says Emily can come home.”

  I didn’t like to admit it, but I was excited about going to the hospital. I had never been in a hospital room — not the kind where you spend the night. I wanted to see what one looked like. And I wanted to see Emily and Elizabeth — especially Emily. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t too scared. And I wanted to show her that I was sorry I had called her a bad girl and gotten mad at her.

  At two-fifteen, Nannie called, “Everybody into the Pink Clinker! I’m driving!”

  Sam and Charlie groaned. They are embarrassed to be seen in Nannie’s rattly old pink car, but I like the Pink Clinker.

  I grabbed the get-well card I had made for Emily and raced outside to the car. I scrambled into the front seat. Kristy crawled in after me. Then Sam and Charlie climbed into the backseat, and Andrew and David Michael sat in the third seat, which faces backward.

  We all buckled our seat belts.

  “Off we go!” said Nannie.

  Sam and Charlie ducked down and wouldn’t sit up straight until we reached the hospital.

  As we were getting out of the car I said, “The last time I was here was when I got my cast off.”

  “Really?” said Sam. “I thought the last time you were here was when you had that brain operation. The one that made you so weird.”

  “Oh, Sam,” I said.

  Nannie led us into the hospital, and in no time at all we were walking through the doorway to Emily’s room. I was surprised to see Emily standing up in her crib.

  “Hi, Emily!” we said.

  Emily just looked at us for a few moments. Then she gave us a huge smile.

  She knows us! I thought. She knows me. She remembers me. She likes me. I felt the way I felt when I would kneel by Magic Tastee’s box and he would hop over to me.

  Andrew and David Michael began exploring Emily’s room. It was pretty ugly and boring except for a TV set mounted way up high in a corner. That was sort of interesting. Sam and Charlie and Kristy talked to each other, and Daddy and Elizabeth and Nannie talked to a doctor who had come into the room.

  So I talked to Emily. I stood by her bed and read the get-well card to her.

  “Look,” I said. “This is Magic Tastee. He’s my bird. He’s a sparrow. Maybe you can see him sometime. Okay?”

  “Da,” said Emily. (We’re not sure what “da” means.)

  I tickled Emily’s toes. She giggled.

  Then Elizabeth said, “Okay, everybody. We can go home now. Let’s get the show on the road.”

  Nannie and Elizabeth put Emily’s things in a little bag. Kristy lifted Emily out of her crib. And Daddy picked me up and said, “Thank you for making Emily the card. That was nice of you. I am very proud of you.”

  I kissed Daddy on his head, right on the place where he’s getting bald.

  Karen’s Little Sister

  As soon as we got home, Elizabeth settled Emily on the couch in the den. She put her pillow there and covered her with a blanket. David Michael turned on the TV and found a cartoon show that Emily likes. Kristy gave Emily her favorite stuffed animal, a poodle named Pooh. Elizabeth gave Emily her favorite book, Caps for sale. And Charlie gave her a piece of chocolate.

  This was just like when I had come home from the emergency room with the cast on my arm. I had stretched out on the couch and David Michael had turned on the TV. Everyone had given me things. Charlie had even given me a candy bar.

  I felt just a teensy bit jealous. Then I remembered that I had some things for Emily, too. I ran upstairs to my room. I got the coloring book and found a box of crayons. I took a secret surprise out of my knapsack. Then I ran back to the den.

  “Here, Emily,” I said. “These are for you.”

  Emily was rubbing her ears again. She looked like she might cry. But when I sat down next to her, she stopped rubbing her ears. She even smiled.

  “Da?” she said.

  “Crayon,” I told her, taking a red one out of the box. “Crayon.”

  “Cray,” Emily said.

  Then I opened the coloring book. “See?” I said. “You can color all these pictures.”

  Emily knows what crayons are for, but she is not a very good colorer yet. She scribbled all over a picture of a kitten. Then she handed the book back to me. “Kitty,” she said.

  “That’s right!” I exclaimed. “That is a kitty. Good girl, Emily! Hey, Emily, I have something else for you,” I said. I took the secret something from where I’d hidden it behind a couch pillow. I opened up an envelope.

  “These,” I said, “are real pictures of Magic Tastee. See him, Emily? That’s my bird.”

  “Bird,” repeated Emily.

  “Yes. Good girl!”

  After I had shown Emily the photos, she began to look tired. “Everybody leave the den!” I announced. “Emily needs a nap.”

  I tucked the blanket around my little sister. Kristy and my brothers and I tiptoed
out of the den. Emily was already falling asleep.

  I felt grown-up. I liked taking care of Emily the way I took care of Magic Tastee. But I did not like watching Daddy and Elizabeth and Kristy and everyone spend so much time with her. Daddy bought her a pink pig, which Emily named Piggy. Kristy spent lots of time reading books to Emily that afternoon, and Charlie gave her another piece of candy.

  Still, I knew how they felt. I had given her the coloring book and crayons and card, and shown her the pictures of Magic Tastee. Also, I was glad Emily did not seem too frightened after being in the hospital. She just seemed happy to be home with us again.

  And at bedtime that night, Kristy and I read together for half an hour.

  Where Is Magic Tastee?

  On Sunday morning, Emily was much better. She woke up early and Elizabeth dressed her and took her downstairs for breakfast in her high chair.

  I could tell it was going to be a regular old day.

  Except for one thing. I was beginning to worry about Magic Tastee.

  It started when we were finishing breakfast and Emily suddenly called out, “Bird?”

  Daddy, Elizabeth, Nannie, Sam, and I were still sitting at the table in the kitchen. We turned and looked out the window. Sure enough, a bird was in the feeder. It was a sparrow, like Magic Tastee.

  In fact, for just a moment, I thought it was Magic Tastee. Then I saw that the bird was bigger than my pet. But that was when the worrying started. I wondered if Mommy and Seth were being careful when they took Magic Tastee outside. Were they keeping Rocky indoors? What if they let Magic Tastee hop out of his box? Would he start to fly?

  I worried so much that I wanted to call Mommy. But I didn’t. I did not want Mommy to think I didn’t trust her.

  Instead, I just kept worrying.

  Magic Tastee wouldn’t leave me … would he? He was my special pet. I saved his life. He must know that. But what if he was gone when I returned to the little house?

  All day I was nice to Emily, and all day I worried.