Karen's Paper Route Read online

“I am sleeping. I have today off,” I said.

  “You have the day off from school, not from work! The papers must be delivered.”

  “But … but …” I said. My eyes were still half closed.

  “No buts! Get out of bed this minute!”

  “Oh, all right.” I groaned. “I am coming.”

  I did not get ready too fast. I was not about to rush on my day off. As long as I was working, though, I wanted to leave something for my friend.

  I found a pencil I had not used yet. I rolled it up in paper and drew a heart on the outside of the package.

  By the time I was downstairs, Kristy was fighting mad. She had folded and banded all the papers. It was so late that she said there was no time for me to eat breakfast. My stomach was rumbling. Boo.

  I was too hungry and tired to rush. I could not keep up with Kristy and Scout. That set us behind even more.

  When we reached our mysterious friend’s house, a package was waiting for us. Kristy would not let me stop to open it.

  “We have to get back to the house,” she said. “I have to go to school even if you do not!”

  I raced to put my present on my friends’s porch. But I worried that I had put it in a place where it could be missed. I ran back to move it.

  We were so late that Kristy missed the school bus. She had to ask Daddy for a ride.

  “This afternoon, we are going to have a meeting and make some rules!” she said as she ran out the door.

  When Kristy came home from school she handed me a sheet of paper that said:

  PAPER ROUTE RULES

  Each employee must …

  - Be on time or lose pay!

  - Fold and band half the papers.

  - Be cheerful and considerate at all times.

  “And from now on we will deliver the papers on our bicycles. It will be a whole lot faster,” said Kristy.

  I promised to follow the rules. And riding my bicycle sounded like fun. On Wednesday morning we tried out our new system.

  I was up on time. I folded and banded half the papers. I tried my best to be cheerful and considerate. And I followed along on my bicycle.

  “Come on, Karen. You can ride faster than that!” said Kristy.

  I was lagging behind.

  “My legs are shorter than yours. They do not take me as far,” I whined.

  Oops. I was not being cheerful. And I was slowing us down. Kristy could not ride ahead because she had to watch out for me. Especially when we needed to cross a street.

  I pedaled as fast as I could. But it was not fast enough.

  “This is not working out at all,” said Kristy. “I don’t know what we are going to do.”

  I did not have any ideas either. I was too tired to think.

  A for Effort

  I was tired most of the time. I was too tired to play outside with my friends. I was too tired to stay up and talk on the phone. I was too tired to do much of anything.

  On Thursday afternoon I was in my room trying to stay awake so I could do my homework. But my eyes were closing and my head kept dropping down into my notebook.

  Maybe this job is not worth it, I thought. I used to have energy. I used to have fun. But I am not having much fun anymore.

  There was a noise in my room that was making me cranky. It was a noise I had heard lots of times before. It was Emily Junior running on the wheel inside her cage. Now that I was tired, it sounded like the worst and loudest noise in the world.

  I had not finished my homework, but I had to get out of my room. I went downstairs. Sam was in the den watching TV. He looked even crankier than me.

  “Why are you here, instead of at work?” I asked.

  “I was fired,” said Sam. “The store decided they had too many part-time workers.”

  “That is not fair!” I said.

  Now I had something important to be cranky about.

  Sam just shrugged and stared at the TV. I sat there keeping him company. While I was sitting, I thought, what if I lost my job? What if I overslept again? What if I was too tired to be cheerful? Maybe Kristy would fire me!

  I did not love my job, but I needed it. I needed it to buy Moonbeam. I would have to try to be an excellent worker.

  “Excuse me, Sam,” I said. “I am very sorry to hear about your job. But I have to do my homework now.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Karen,” said Sam.

  I had to finish my homework soon. Otherwise I would need to stay up late. Then I would be too tired to get up the next morning. And Friday was paper-route day!

  I shook myself awake every time I felt like nodding off. My homework was finished by dinnertime.

  After dinner, I drew a beautiful picture to give to my mysterious friend. This is how I signed it:

  I was washed and ready for bed by quarter of nine. That was fifteen minutes earlier than usual on a work night. I wanted to have plenty of time to fall asleep.

  I turned off the lights and closed my eyes. Instead of counting sheep, I counted moonbeams. “One moonbeam. Two moonbeams. Three moonbeams.”

  I must have fallen asleep right away. I do not even remember counting to ten.

  In the morning I was up and out of bed as soon as my alarm clock went off. I dressed quickly and ran downstairs. I was there before Kristy.

  I brought in the papers and started folding and banding them. By the time Kristy arrived, I already had a neat pile of papers in front of me.

  “Karen? Is that really you?” asked my sister, rubbing her eyes.

  “It sure is,” I replied proudly.

  Kristy smiled.

  “This is not my favorite job in the world. Getting up so early is really hard,” she said. “But when you help out, it is a whole lot easier.”

  “I am going to try hard from now on,” I promised.

  “Today you get an A for effort,” said Kristy.

  “Next time I want an A plus!” I replied.

  There She Is!

  When we reached our mysterious friend’s house, I put the drawing I had made under a flowerpot on the porch.

  (Kristy said she appreciated the gifts but did not have time to make any in return.)

  I looked at the window ledge. Then I looked below it. There was nothing in either place. First I felt bad. Then I felt worried. A gift had been waiting every newspaper delivery day since we got our granola bars.

  Then I saw them. About a foot away from the window were two tulips tied with ribbons. One was red tied with a yellow ribbon. The other was yellow tied with a red ribbon.

  I looked up toward the window.

  “Thank you,” I said in case anyone was listening.

  The next day Nannie was making strawberries dipped in her secret Chocolate Magic sauce.

  “Is there any chance you will have extra chocolate strawberries?” I asked. “I know someone who might like them.”

  “Might that someone be you?” asked Nannie.

  “No, it is for a friend on my paper route,” I replied.

  “Oh, who is that?”

  I told Nannie the address.

  Nannie thought for a minute. Then she said, “That is Mrs. Casper. I have not seen her since her husband died. She always seemed like a nice person.”

  “She leaves gifts for Kristy and me,” I told Nannie. “And I have been leaving gifts for her.”

  “I will be sure to save a few strawberries,” said Nannie. “I am glad you have a nice new friend.”

  I made a tinfoil tent for the strawberries and tied colored ribbons on top. I left my gift on Monday. Another gift was waiting for Kristy and me: two refrigerator magnets shaped like newspapers.

  On Wednesday, I brought a funny cartoon in a homemade frame as my gift. (It was a Peanuts cartoon from the paper.)

  I was better about getting up in the morning, so we left the house earlier than usual.

  Our friend probably did not expect us to arrive as early as we did. When we turned the corner, we saw her on her porch!

  “Look, Kristy! There she is
!” I said.

  But by the time Kristy looked up, she was already gone.

  I had been too far away to see her face. But I could see she was wearing tan slacks and a white shirt. She looked like a regular person.

  But if Mrs. Casper was a regular person, why had she disappeared so fast? Was she hiding from us?

  Our friend was still a mystery.

  A Miserable Morning

  It was raining when I woke up on Friday. Our papers came late. They also came with a supply of plastic bags. We were supposed to slip the papers into the bags so they would not get wet. That meant we had to fold, band, and bag the papers. There was no way we could do that and still leave on time.

  We were working as fast as we could when we noticed Shannon wrestling with something on the floor.

  Grrr! Woof! Grrr! Woof!

  She was playing with …

  “Oh, no!” cried Kristy.

  Kristy gently pried the newspaper away from the dog.

  “We always get a couple of extra papers in case of emergencies, right?” I asked.

  “Yes, but now we have only one extra,” said Kristy. “We have to keep an eye on that dog!”

  Thanks to Shannon, we were even more behind than before.

  “I cannot be late for school today,” said Kristy. “I have to take a test.”

  “I need to eat breakfast,” I said. “Last time I went out without breakfast, I felt sick.”

  I poured myself a bowl of cereal and ate it in four bites. As soon as I finished, I was sorry.

  “Ugh. Now I have a stomachache.” I moaned.

  “Eat a piece of bread. That might settle your stomach,” said Kristy.

  She was still working on the papers.

  I munched on a piece of bread. It worked. I felt a little bit better.

  Kristy stuffed the last paper into the last plastic bag.

  “I am exhausted. And we have not even started delivering yet,” said Kristy.

  “I am exhausted too. We need help.”

  Kristy and I looked at each other. We must have had the same idea at the same time.

  “Do you think they would do it?” I asked.

  I did not have to say who “they” were. I was sure Kristy knew.

  “They will not like getting up at this hour,” she said.

  “This is a desperate situation,” I replied. (I had heard a detective say that on a TV show once. I have wanted to use that line ever since.)

  “You are right,” said Kristy. “If we are going to ask for help, we had better do it now.”

  Kristy and I ran upstairs together. We each knocked on a door. We had no idea what was going to happen next.

  Sam and Charlie to the Rescue

  “Huh?” said Sam. “Is it six-thirty already?”

  “No. It is five-thirty,” I replied.

  “Five-thirty in the afternoon? Was I napping?”

  “No. It is five-thirty in the morning. You were fast asleep,” I replied.

  Sam opened his eyes.

  “If I was sleeping, why am I awake?”

  “I woke you up to ask a favor,” I said. “Well, not really a favor. We will pay you.”

  I explained about the paper route and how late we were.

  “Oh, all right. Now that I lost my job, I could use the money,” Sam replied.

  Charlie agreed also. The four of us were out the door in ten minutes. Thank goodness the rain had stopped.

  While we were delivering papers, I was thinking. I was thinking about delivering papers. I decided to make a list in my head of the good things and the bad things about the job. First I thought about the bad things:

  Getting up and going to sleep early.

  Missing my friends because I am too tired to play and cannot talk on the phone at night.

  Feeling tired most of the time.

  Then I thought of the good things:

  Making money.

  Having a new friend.

  Getting and giving gifts.

  Hmm. I added up in my head how much money I had made. It was already enough for my share of Moonbeam. I crossed “Making money” off the list. That left only two reasons to keep the job: my friend and the gifts.

  I was thinking about my friend when we arrived at her house. I took the gift I had made for her out of my pocket. I had written a poem and drawn a picture:

  I ran to the porch. Our gifts were waiting on the window ledge. Mrs. Casper was very thoughtful. She had wrapped the gifts in plastic because of the rain. Here is what they were: two tiny address books with flowered covers.

  How could I stop delivering papers? I would miss giving gifts. I would miss getting gifts. And even though I did not see her, I would miss my friend.

  I knew she would miss me too.

  A Big Relief

  We were almost finished with our paper route. There were just a few more houses to go. Thanks to Sam and Charlie, all the papers would be delivered on time.

  When we were finally finished and on the way home, I looked at Kristy. She was yawning.

  Then I looked at Sam and Charlie. They seemed fine. Especially Sam. He was even joking around.

  “What newspaper do cows like to read?” he asked.

  We all gave up.

  “The Daily Moos!”

  I could not believe I did not get the answer. I have heard that joke a hundred times. I must have been really tired.

  But I was not too tired to have a good idea. Sam was great at this job. And he needed a job, because he had lost his. My idea was to ask Sam to deliver the papers.

  I did not want to be a quitter. But sometimes you have to make a choice. Sometimes something you thought would be great turns out not to be great for you. Then stopping is not about being a quitter. It is about being smart.

  I knew Kristy had not wanted this job to begin with. She would be happy to give it up. And I did not want to disappoint Mrs. Casper. But I would find a way to explain it to her.

  I wanted to ask Sam then and there about taking the job. But Kristy and I were a team. I decided to be a good team player and ask her about my idea first. I thought this was very grown-up.

  Kristy did not have time to hear my idea when we got home. I had to be very grown-up and wait a little longer.

  Just before dinner I got my chance to talk to Kristy.

  “Here is my idea,” I said. “I do not think you really like delivering papers.”

  “You are right about that,” said Kristy.

  “I do not like the job either. And I already have enough money to buy Moonbeam with David Michael. But Sam needs to make money. He was very unhappy about losing his job at the A&P. I think this job would be perfect for him. But I did not want to say anything to him until I asked my teammate.”

  “That was very grown-up of you, Karen. And I like your idea a lot,” replied Kristy. “You know, once you started following the rules, working with you was really fun. I am glad we took this job together. But now I will be glad to say good-bye to it. And the sooner the better!”

  “We can talk to Sam right now — as a team,” I said.

  We found Sam napping in the den. I gently shook him awake.

  “Huh? What time is it?” he said.

  “Five-thirty,” I replied.

  “No! Not again!”

  “No, it is five-thirty in the afternoon. You were taking a nap.”

  When Sam was completely awake, we told him our idea.

  “Sounds great,” he replied. “I do not like getting up so early. But once I am up, I am okay. And I really could use the money.”

  “Then it is done,” said Kristy. “I will call the newspaper office and we can tell them about the switch.”

  Kristy and I gave each other the thumbs-up sign. Our newspaper delivery days were over. It was a big relief!

  Mrs. Casper

  There was one more thing I had to do. I had to explain everything to Mrs. Casper.

  After dinner, I went upstairs and wrote a note on my best stationery. It said:


  I wanted to tell Mrs. Casper that if she had any more gifts for me she could leave them for Sam to pick up. But I did not want to sound greedy. I put my note in an envelope and drew a bouquet of flowers on the outside.

  On Tuesday after school Kristy and I delivered my note. The house looked extra quiet in the bright sunlight. At other houses you could hear voices coming from inside. Doors were opening and closing.

  Guess what. As I was slipping my note under the flowerpot, Mrs. Casper’s door opened! I jumped back. Mrs. Casper was my friend, but she was still mysterious. I was a little afraid.

  Until I saw her face. It was a friendly face with a big smile. I wondered what had made her open the door.

  “Karen? Are you all right? You are not usually here at this time,” she said.

  Now I knew she was nice. She had come outside because she was worried about me.

  “I am fine,” I replied. “I was just leaving you a note to tell you that Kristy and I will not be delivering your newspaper anymore.”

  “Would you girls like to come inside for some lemonade?” asked Mrs. Casper. “A note is nice, but a real visit is even nicer.”

  Since Nannie knew Mrs. Casper, I thought it would be all right to go inside. I looked at Kristy to see if she thought it was okay too. Kristy nodded.

  “Thank you,” we said to Mrs. Casper.

  We waited in the living room while Mrs. Casper fixed the lemonade. The house was cozy and friendly. And my gifts were everywhere! The origami bird was on the windowsill. The cartoon was on the coffee table. The tulip poem was on the mantel over the fireplace. I felt very proud.

  “Yes, your gifts are all around,” said Mrs. Casper, returning with the lemonade and cookies. “I love each and every one of them.”

  “We love your gifts too,” said Kristy. “Thank you very much.”

  “I’m wearing the barrette you gave me,” I said. I turned my head so she could see it.

  “It looks very pretty on you,” said Mrs. Casper.

  While we drank our lemonade, we told Mrs. Casper why we would not be delivering her newspaper anymore.

  “I understand. It is hard to get up so early,” said Mrs. Casper. “But I will miss seeing you.”