Karen's Big Job Read online

  “Don’t worry. We are not rolling yet,” said the director.

  “Oh.” (I was disappointed.)

  “What does she mean?” whispered Ricky.

  “She means we are not being filmed yet,” I whispered back.

  “I am adjusting the camera,” the director explained. “I will let you know when we’re ready to begin.” The director told us it was important to act natural. “Try to forget you’re being filmed,” she said. “Just pretend you’re sitting with your friends enjoying Wacky Cracky Bubble Gum. Blow bubbles. Make crackling noises. Have fun. But make sure you stay seated at your desks. I do not want anyone running around the room or getting too rowdy.”

  I thought the director was a great person.

  Soon the director nodded at the man holding the boom. Then she turned back to us. “When you hear me say ‘action,’ that means the filming has begun,” the director explained.

  First one of the men held up a big piece of slate that looked like a blackboard. (Elizabeth said it was a clapboard.) “Scene one, take one,” he said. Then he clapped two pieces of wood on the board together.

  “Roll camera,” said the director. “Action!”

  My class chewed like crazy. We blew huge bubbles. We popped them. We crackled. (Or at least the gum did.) Once a giant bubble exploded in Bobby’s face. Another time Natalie spit out her gum by mistake.

  The director did five takes. “That means I am shooting this scene five times,” she explained. She also told us our classroom scene was only part of the commercial. “The finished commercial will have lots of kids in different places enjoying the gum,” she said.

  My class did not care. We were having too much fun. Best of all, every single one of us was going to be in a TV commercial. Even Ms. Colman. I was thrilled.

  A Talk with Elizabeth

  “When will we see ourselves on TV?” asked Bobby as the film crew was packing up their equipment.

  “The commercial should be on the air in about one month,” said Elizabeth. “The clients has to approve it first.”

  A month seemed like a long time. But I was not going to complain. I was in a wonderful mood. Elizabeth’s presentation had been the best of all. Everyone in my class thought so, too.

  “Elizabeth, I loved your talk,” I said in the car after school. (Elizabeth was not going back to work that afternoon. Instead she was coming home with me.) “I did not know you got to make TV commercials.”

  Elizabeth looked surprised. “Karen, you spent a whole morning at work with me. We were talking about the commercial in the meeting you went to. Remember?”

  “Oh,” I said. Elizabeth looked at me sideways. “Um, I was not really paying attention during the meeting,” I confessed. “I got kind of bored when that man talked and talked about stuff I did not understand. So I stopped listening.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I think I am beginning to understand what happened,” she said.

  I felt embarrassed.

  “I am not mad, Karen. That was a busy morning, and I did not have time to explain a lot of things about my job to you. But when I asked if you had any questions, you could have told me you did not understand what was happening in the meeting. I would not have bitten your head off,” said Elizabeth, smiling.

  I giggled. “Well, yes. I guess so.”

  Elizabeth talked to me about honesty and about paying attention. “You know, Karen, professional people pay attention to what is happening around them. They notice things, and that is how they learn more about a business.”

  That made sense. I thought about what I had paid attention to in the advertising agency — the candy machine, the water cooler, the copy machine, Elizabeth’s office. How everything in Elizabeth’s office was so neat. She had a blotter, a pencil case, and photos in beautiful red leather frames of everyone in my big-house family. Hmm … the photos. Suddenly I got a gigundoly brilliant idea for Elizabeth’s present. But of course I could not tell her about it.

  “This has been a perfect day,” I said, snuggling into my seat.

  Elizabeth smiled at me and turned into our driveway. “I am glad you thought so, Karen.”

  A Special Present for Elizabeth

  As soon as Elizabeth parked the car, I raced inside the house.

  “Guess what!” I shouted to Nannie and Emily Michelle. They were in the kitchen having an afternoon snack. (Actually, only Emily was. Nannie was pouring her some juice.)

  “What?” asked Nannie.

  “My class and I and even my teacher are going to be on television. We are all in a commercial Elizabeth is making,” I shrieked.

  “Oh, Karen, that is wonderful,” said Nannie.

  I grabbed Nannie’s hands and we danced around the kitchen. Elizabeth came in and laughed.

  “Would you like a snack, Karen?” asked Nannie.

  “No, thank you,” I said. (I did not have time to eat. I was too excited about making Elizabeth’s present.)

  I went upstairs to my room. I pulled out my stack of magazines from under my bed. I found paste, scissors, and paper in my desk. Then I looked around for pictures of everyone in my big-house family. In the study I saw a bunch of photos that had not been put into albums. (They were all doubles.) I also found some extra school pictures. I took all the pictures back to my room without anyone seeing me.

  Finally I sat down to make Elizabeth a very special present — a collage of everyone in my big-house family. In the car I had realized that Elizabeth did not have a picture of my entire big-house family together. Her office needed one.

  I was very busy. I cut faces from the pictures. I cut people’s bodies from the magazines. I glued Sam’s face to the body of a football player. I put Emily Michelle’s face on the body of a little girl dressing up in her mother’s clothes. I pasted my face to the body of a ballerina Kristy was hard. I could not decide what body to paste her head on. Then I found a girl dressed in a softball uniform. Perfect. I put Kristy’s face on the softball player. (Kristy is the coach of a softball team.)

  I had a lot of fun arranging everyone on the big piece of paper. I put Kristy next to me. I had Daddy throwing Emily Michelle high in the air. Finally, when I was happy with the way the collage looked, I carefully glued all ten people in my big-house family onto the paper.

  The next afternoon I found some fancy wrapping paper and cardboard. Then I sat down and made a picture frame for my collage. Here is what I did:

  1) I cut the cardboard into a big rectangle-shaped frame that would fit around my collage.

  2) I pasted the fancy paper onto the cardboard. (None of the cardboard showed afterward.)

  3) I glued the picture frame onto the collage.

  I had enough fancy paper left over to wrap the present. Then I tied it with a big lavender bow. There. A very special present for Elizabeth.

  Party Time

  When I woke up on Saturday, I blinked. The sun shone through my window. I heard robins and sparrows chirping. It was a beautiful day for Elizabeth’s party. I bounded out of bed.

  “Karen, have some breakfast,” said Nannie. Andrew, David Michael, Daddy, Elizabeth, and Emily Michelle sat eating French toast.

  “Where are Kristy, Sam, and Charlie?” I asked.

  “Oh, they have been up for hours,” said Nannie, winking. “They are outside in the backyard.”

  I found Kristy, Sam, and Charlie setting up tables in the backyard.

  “Have you really been up for hours?” I asked.

  “Of course,” teased Sam. “Who do you think does all the work around here?”

  Kristy laughed. “Sam,” she said. “We have not been up that long. We are just starting to set up. Get dressed and have some breakfast, Karen. Then come help us. We have a lot to do. Andrew and David Michael are going to keep Mom busy so she does not come out here.”

  We really did have a lot to do to get ready. These are the things we did:

  1) Set the tables with white tablecloths, plastic knives, forks, and spoons, and paper cups, plates, and na
pkins. (The paper plates and cups were blue, the napkins yellow.) We set up three tables — one to hold the food, and the other two to eat on.

  2) Mixed punch and lemonade.

  3) Blew up balloons.

  4) Put chairs around the tables.

  5) Gathered bunches of flowers for the tables.

  6) Set the food and presents out on the big table.

  We were all ready by lunchtime. I ran to find David Michael, Andrew, Daddy, and Elizabeth and I brought them out to the backyard.

  “Surprise!” everyone yelled. Except Shannon and Boo-Boo, of course. But they wagged their tails. Kristy had tied yellow bows around their necks.

  “Oh, my,” said Elizabeth. “Everything is so pretty.” She looked like she was trying very hard not to cry. Daddy gave Elizabeth a hug. The rest of us hugged her, too.

  Then we ate. I ate three little sandwiches: tuna, egg salad, and ham. Then I ate some potato chips and fruit. Then more potato chips. Then lots of lemonade.

  “Everything tastes wonderful,” said Elizabeth.

  “Time for dessert,” announced Nannie, nodding at Kristy and me. Soon Kristy came outside carrying the big chocolate birthday cake. I walked beside her. The cake had three yellow candles on it. (“Grown-ups do not like to be reminded of their age,” Kristy had told me when we were making the cake.)

  Elizabeth blew out the candles in one breath. Andrew and David Michael put a lot of vanilla ice cream on their cake. I did not. I thought it tasted gigundoly good just the way it was.

  Then came the best part of the party. Elizabeth opened her presents. She loved her giant card and spent a lot of time reading all the funny notes we wrote in it. I hopped on one foot. Then the other. I could not wait for Elizabeth to open my present.

  “Oh, Karen, what a wonderful idea,” Elizabeth said when she unwrapped my gift. She held it up so everyone could see it.

  “How come I am wearing a cat costume?” asked Andrew.

  “I was being creative,” I answered.

  “Where did you find the bowling ball for me?” asked Nannie.

  “In a magazine,” I said. Everyone loved my collage. They spent a long time looking at it.

  “And now for the play,” said David Michael.

  “A play asked Elizabeth.

  “Yes, I wrote it myself,” said David Michael.

  I ran inside to change into my Sassy Sally costume. I wore white tights, a white T-shirt, and a beak. Kristy pinned some feathers in my hair.

  David Michael put on his Marvin outfit. He wore a chain of daffodils around his neck.

  “I am a sunflower named Marvin,” said David Michael. “I am the tallest flower in the garden.”

  Elizabeth chuckled.

  Everyone laughed a lot during the play. They especially liked the part when Marvin saved Sassy Sally’s life. At the end, I strutted away like a hen.

  When the play was over, everyone stood up and cheered. I felt very proud.

  “Three cheers for David Michael,” called Daddy.

  “Three cheers for Elizabeth,” I cried.

  “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!” we cheered.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, 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 © 1997 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, 1997

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-06018-8