Karen's Promise Read online

  I learned how to make fudge, how to separate eggs, how to make chocolate leaves. (We used a special brush to paint fabric leaves with chocolate. Then, when the chocolate had set, Nannie peeled the fabric away from the chocolate. The leaves were beautiful.)

  Together, Nannie and I made truffles. (Those are fancy chocolates with all different kinds of fillings.) We also made nutty chocolate bars, chocolate cherries, chocolate nuts, chocolate marshmallow nut fudge, coconut bars covered with chocolate, peanut butter cups, and chocolate-covered caramels. We were very busy.

  Deliveries

  “I cannot believe we are almost finished,” I said to Nannie. I was handing her yellow and lavender bows. She was wrapping the candy baskets in cellophane and tying them with the bows. I thought the candy baskets looked beautiful. So did everyone else in my big-house family.

  Each basket for the hospital held real roses, chocolate leaves, and lots of chocolate candy, of course. Nannie had wrapped some of the candy in gold and purple foil. Ms. Colman’s baskets were smaller. Nannie had wrapped Ms. Colman’s candy in pink, green, and silver foil, and tied the baskets with green and pink ribbon. They looked soooo pretty.

  “Ready for the deliveries, Karen?” asked Charlie. He picked up the baskets that were ready and started carrying them out to his car. “I think we are going to have to make a few trips,” he said. “The Junk Bucket will not hold all these baskets.”

  “Do I have time to change?” I asked. I wanted to look my best when we delivered the baskets to the hospital and to Stoneybrook Manor.

  Charlie looked at his watch. “I guess so,” he said. “But do not take too long.”

  I handed the last bow to Nannie and rushed upstairs. My room was a mess, but that is nothing new. I found my blue velvet dress on the floor of my closet. My patent leather shoes were under the bed. I grabbed my white tights and a silver bracelet. When I was dressed, I brushed my hair and tied it back with a piece of navy ribbon that was on my desk. I thought I looked very grownup.

  “You look lovely,” said Nannie when she saw me. “Thank you for all your help. I would never have been ready without you.”

  “Okay, Karen, let’s go,” said Charlie. “First stop, Stoneybrook General.”

  The hospital parking lot was very crowded. We unloaded the baskets and took them into the lobby. Lots of people told us how pretty they were.

  “Thank you,” I said politely. “I helped make them.”

  “Did you?” said a woman in a fur coat. I could tell she did not believe me. And that made me cross.

  Luckily, the lady who was in charge of the dinner believed me. “You did a wonderful job. These baskets are beautiful,” she said. She asked Charlie and me to place a basket at each big table in the hospital cafeteria. All the tables were set with white tablecloths and vases of flowers. Waiters with white aprons were carrying around silver trays with glasses on them. I could smell delicious food cooking.

  “Do we get to stay?” I asked hopefully.

  “No,” said Charlie, looking at his watch. “We have to deliver Ms. Colman’s baskets, remember?”

  Of course I remembered. It is just that I love parties, and I was all dressed up.

  We did not get to stay at Ms. Colman’s fund-raiser either. But I did see Ms. Colman. She was wearing a long navy blue velvet gown, sort of like my dress, only hers did not have lace at the collar or a sash. But it was very pretty.

  “I love your baskets, Karen,” said Ms. Colman. “Your grandmother told me how much you helped her with them. Thank you.”

  Feeling very proud, I drove home with Charlie.

  Baskets for Everyone

  “Here is the dark chocolate,” I said to Nannie.

  “Thank you, Karen,” said Nannie as I handed it to her. I watched while she mixed dark and white chocolate together in the pan.

  Nannie and I were very busy. It was the day after the fund-raisers, and guess what we were doing? Making candy for my class. Nannie was making swirly chocolate bars. (That was my name for them. They are bars of chocolate made from white, dark, and milk chocolate, all swirled together. Yum.)

  We were making one basket for each group.

  Here is what we put into the little baskets:

  1) Chocolate cherries, peanut butter cups, fudge — all leftovers from the fund-raisers.

  2) Swirly chocolate bars. Nannie made them especially for my class.

  3) Lollipops. They were my idea.

  When we were finished, we tied pink and green bows around the baskets.

  The next day, I rode to school in the Junk Bucket with Charlie and Kristy — and the baskets, of course. Kristy helped me carry the baskets to my classroom.

  “Finally,” said Pamela when she saw us. But she was smiling. “I cannot wait to taste this candy,” she told Kristy.

  “They are here!” shouted Bobby when he saw the baskets.

  “All right, class, please take your seats,” said Ms. Colman when she came into the classroom. “I see Karen brought you wonderful candy. Everyone at the fund-raiser certainly enjoyed it.”

  “Can we eat the candy now?” begged Bobby.

  Ms. Colman shook her head. In fact, my class had to wait until after social studies, math, spelling, and lunch before Ms. Colman let me pass out the baskets. I guess she did not want my class to ruin their appetites.

  My friends took the baskets outside with them at recess. Instead of playing tag or hide-and-seek, we sat on benches and ate and talked, just like Pamela and her friends.

  “These chocolate cherries are the best,” said Bobby.

  “I like the fudge,” said Hank. (It was hard to understand him because his mouth was full.)

  “I like everything,” said Nancy.

  “Me too,” said Pamela as she munched on a coconut bar. “Oh, Karen, you cannot go to Chicago. Who will bring us this great chocolate?”

  “Yeah,” said Hank.

  “Try to stay,” begged Ricky.

  I looked at my classmates and felt as if I were going to cry. I was going to miss them if I moved.

  Promises

  “Have you decided whether you are moving, Karen?” asked Hannie. We were sitting together on the school bus, riding home.

  I shook my head.

  “Have you talked to Andrew?”

  “No,” I said. “But I will.” I looked out the window and sighed.

  Hannie sighed too. “I wish you would stay here in Stoneybrook. You promised you would try.”

  “I know,” I said.

  * * *

  When I jumped off the bus, I saw Andrew in the backyard playing catch with David Michael. I thought about my promise to him — that we would stay together, no matter what. I knew that meant I should move to Chicago, but I was not sure I wanted to go. And I had promised Hannie and Nancy I would try to stay.

  I picked a daisy. “I leave. I stay,” I chanted as I pulled off the petals one by one. “I stay,” I said as I threw the last petal on the ground. Hmmm.

  “Hi, Karen,” said Andrew then.

  “Hi,” I replied. I waved to Andrew and David Michael. Then I went in the house and up to my room. (I did not even stop in the kitchen to say hello to Nannie.) I needed to think.

  I sat on the bed and told Moosie about my promise to Andrew. And my promise to my friends. He did not know what I should do either.

  I thought about what promises mean, that when you say you will do something, you have to do it if that is what you promised. I thought about all the promises I had made lately. I promised my class candy. I promised Nannie I would help her. I promised Hannie and Nancy I would try to stay in Stoneybrook. But my biggest promise of all had been to Andrew. I sighed. Luckily I did not have to decide about Chicago right away. But I did know one thing. I had kept some hard promises. And now I might have to break one.

  I did not want to break a promise.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Tea
l, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.

  Copyright © 1998 by Ann M. Martin

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, 1998

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-06044-7