Karen's Snow Day Read online

  “No.” Charlie even smiled at my friends and me. “You guys were a big help today. Thank you. And Sam and I earned a ton of money. Oh, by the way, I have your share.” Charlie gave each of us a one-dollar bill and two quarters.

  I looked at Hannie and Nancy. “We wasted the whole snow day,” I said. I almost began to cry.

  “Not the whole day,” Charlie pointed out. “You could still build a fort or something.”

  “I am too tired to build anything,” said Nancy.

  “Me, too,” said Hannie and I.

  “Well, maybe we will have another snow day soon,” said Sam.

  “Maybe,” I replied. But I did not really think so.

  “Save the schedule, just in case,” added Hannie.

  The Thomas Brothers and the Three Musketeers went inside. We started to peel off our wet clothes for about the one hundredth time.

  “Wait!” cried Charlie. “Karen, when do you and Nancy want to leave? If you leave now, you will not have to take off your things again.”

  “Then let’s leave now,” I said. So Nancy and I called good-bye to Hannie. Then I said good-bye to my big-house family. And then Charlie drove Nancy and me home in his old car, the Junk Bucket.

  “You still have one thing to look forward to,” said Nancy on the way. “Dinner with Ms. Colman.”

  “Oh! That’s right! She is coming at six o’clock!” I exclaimed.

  But guess what happened when I reached the little house. Mommy met me at the door.

  “Honey, Ms. Colman just telephoned,” she said. (Uh-oh. I had a bad feeling about that.) “She will not be able to come over tonight. The roads where she lives have not been plowed yet. Her house is way out in the country, remember? So we will have to find another evening for our dinner.”

  Boo.

  Boo, boo, boo, and bullfrogs.

  It had been a horrible day. The worst snow day ever.

  Surprise!

  “Good morning! Good morning!” said Dr. G.

  “Oh, be quiet,” I replied.

  It was Friday morning. Our snow day was over. My radio alarm had turned itself on. It was time to get up. (Really, I do not think it is fair that I have to wake up when it is still dark outside.)

  I slapped at my radio to turn it off. I yawned. I sat up in bed. Lazily I pulled up my window shade and peeked outside.

  It was snowing again! It was really and truly snowing! I could not believe it. Yea, hurray! Two snow days in a row!

  “Mommy! Mommy!” I shrieked. “Seth! Andrew! It is snowing!”

  Mommy and Seth hurried to my room. They were rubbing their eyes. “Honey?” said Mommy sleepily. “What’s wrong?”

  “It is snowing! Look outside!”

  Mommy and Seth looked out my window.

  “I think it is just a flurry,” said Seth. “It is not snowing hard.”

  “And Karen, please do not wake up the entire household every time it snows,” added Mommy. “You are forgetting your indoor voice.”

  Well, boo and bullfrogs. Mommy was no fun. Neither was Seth.

  “Sorry,” I said.

  Mommy and Seth went back to their room. I started to get into bed again. But Mommy called over her shoulder, “Time to dress for school, Karen.”

  “Okay,” I answered. I looked out my window again. It was still snowing, so I turned Dr. G. on. When it was time for the next weather report, I said, “I am sorry I told you to be quiet, Doctor G.” Then I listened to him carefully.

  “Today will be sunny and bright,” he announced. “The storm has moved out to sea. Temperatures will hover right around thirty degrees. Here in Stoneybrook, all roads have been plowed and all schools will be open.”

  “Look outside!” I exclaimed. “It is snowing!” (I remembered to whisper loudly instead of yelling.)

  “You may see a passing flurry early this morning,” Dr. G. added. “But by nine o’clock, the skies will be clear.”

  “Darn!” I said.

  I pouted. I made faces. I turned off old Dr. G. again. What did he know? After I got dressed, I stomped into the bathroom. Then I stomped around looking for my workbooks to take to school. Then I stomped downstairs to breakfast. I flumped into my chair.

  “Karen, what on earth is the matter?” asked Mommy.

  “I did not get my snow day, and Ms. Colman did not come to dinner. That is what is the matter,” I replied.

  The phone rang then and Mommy answered it. She listened for a few moments. She smiled. Then she said thank you and hung up. She was still smiling. “Well, Karen,” she said, “I think you just got your snow day. That was someone from school. Stoneybrook Academy is closed today. The boiler is broken. You cannot go back to school until Monday.”

  I jumped to my feet. “Really? I do not believe it!”

  “Really,” said Mommy. “There is no heat at your school.”

  “But today is not a real snow day,” said Andrew. He looked confused. “Karen told me about snow days. And this is not one.”

  “Oh, I don’t care!” I cried. “It is a day off from school, and we have tons of snow, and I still have the snow day schedule. Mommy, can I invite Hannie and Nancy over for the whole day? We have a lot to do.”

  “Okay,” said Mommy. “Go ahead.”

  “Thank you.” I picked up the phone and dialed my two best friends.

  Angels and Ice Skates

  “Hannie!” I cried, when Hannie answered the telephone. “Did you hear the news about our school?”

  “Yes! The boiler is broken!”

  “And you know what that means? It means we can have our snow day after all. Mommy said so. Can you come over right away? The roads are clear. Oh, and bring your ice skates.”

  I called Nancy and said the same things to her. She ran to my house as soon as we hung up the phone. Hannie’s mother dropped her off about twenty minutes later. It was nine o’clock on the dot.

  “Perfect,” I said. “This is just when our snow day begins. All right. Now we can really build a snowman.”

  The Three Musketeers went outside. We had the entire yard to ourselves. Even Andrew was not around. He was at his preschool. We decided to build a snowman and a snowwoman. (We named them Dudley and Fiona.) We gave them lots of dress-up clothes because they were on their way to a ball.

  When Dudley and Fiona were finished we flopped on the ground. We made a herd of snow angels, one after the other. Do you know how to make a snow angel? It is gigundoly easy. You lie on your back in the snow and sweep your arms up to your head, then down to your sides. Then you sweep your legs apart and together, apart and together. And then you stand up very carefully. In the snow you can see the angel’s head and body and wings and skirt.

  “Let’s decorate the angels,” I said. We made very fancy clothes for them with food coloring. Squirt, squirt, squirt.

  When the angels were finished we made a snow fort.

  “But we cannot have a fight,” said Nancy. “There are three of us. That would be two against one, and two against one is no fair.”

  We decided our snow fort was a snow playhouse instead. We held an outdoor tea party in it. (Even though our schedule said “Snowball fight.”)

  “Guess what,” said Hannie when the tea party was over. “I am all soaky and wet. I need to go inside for awhile.”

  “Me, too,” said Nancy.

  “Well, anyway, it is lunchtime,” I told my friends.

  The Three Musketeers hung their wet clothes in the kitchen. Andrew had come home from preschool by then, and he watched us.

  “What is the proper lunch for a snow day?” Mommy wanted to know.

  I looked at the schedule. “Alphabet soup, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and milk,” I announced.

  “Can I eat with you?” asked Andrew.

  “I guess,” I replied. Andrew is a pain when he eats alphabet soup. He keeps borrowing letters out of other people’s bowls. He is not happy until he has spelled the name of every person at the table.

  But Andrew was not to
o bad during lunch that day. So we let him ice skate with us. We make a skating rink every year by filling our wading pool with water. Then we let the water freeze and we can skate around.

  By five o’clock Andrew and my friends and I were very tired. But we were happy, too. I got a good idea.

  “Mommy,” I said, “let’s just see if maybe Ms. Colman could come to dinner tonight. She had the day off, too. And all the roads have been plowed.”

  “All right,” said Mommy. “Good idea.”

  Mommy called Ms. Colman at her house. She invited her to dinner. I watched Mommy’s face carefully. She began to smile, so I did, too. When she hung up the phone she said, “Ms. Colman will be here at seven o’clock.”

  Ms. Colman’s Wonderful News

  “Mommy, everything has to be perfect for Ms. Colman,” I said. I looked at my watch. Five-thirty. Hannie and Nancy had gone home. Ms. Colman would ring our doorbell in just one hour and a half.

  “Why don’t you set the table?” suggested Mommy. “You may put out any china you want. And maybe you could make a centerpiece.”

  “Oh! I will make placecards, too. Thank you, Mommy.”

  I decided to set the table with our very best china. It is the china we use on special occasions, like Thanksgiving. While I was doing that, I said, “Mommy, what are we going to have for dinner? We did not know Ms. Colman would be coming this night.”

  “I know,” replied Mommy. “But I can still fix fish and salad, just like you wanted. I do not have any dessert, though.”

  “May I make dessert?” I asked. “We can have Jello-O pudding. I know how to make that. I made it at the big house.”

  “Okay,” said Mommy.

  Goodness. I was very busy. After I set the table I made a centerpiece. I put a bowl of fruit in the middle of the table. Around it I put candles in brass holders. I tied red ribbons to the holders.

  Then I made the placecards. Andrew wanted to help me, but I would not let him. He does not stay in the lines when he colors. Besides, I had already let him be a pest when my friends and I were eating alphabet soup.

  “Can’t I do something?” begged Andrew.

  I gave Andrew the placecards when they were finished and told him where to put each one. Then we stood back and admired the table. It looked very beautiful.

  Next I made the Jell-O pudding and Andrew helped me. After that we got dressed up in our most gorgeous holiday clothes. Also, I cleaned up my room.

  At six o’clock Seth came home. At six-thirty Nancy called to find out what we were serving Ms. Colman for dinner. (She thought chocolate pudding was a nice dessert idea.) At seven o’clock the doorbell rang.

  I froze. Then I whispered. “That is my teacher. Ms. Colman is here.”

  “Answer the door!” cried Andrew. He was jumping up and down.

  I walked to the door very primly, like a Lovely Lady. I opened it slowly and said, “Good evening, Ms. Colman. Won’t you come in?”

  “Why, thank you, Karen,” said Ms. Colman.

  Seth hung up Ms. Colman’s coat. The grown-ups sat in the living room and talked for a while. I did not know what to say. But then Ms. Colman said, “Karen, would you show me your room? I would love to see it.”

  “Sure!” I exclaimed. I took Ms. Colman’s hand. I led her upstairs. “This is it,” I said when we were standing in the doorway. “My room.” (I was glad I had cleaned it up.) I showed Ms. Colman everything. “This is Goosie, and this is Tickly, and there is Emily Junior in her cage. There is where I keep my glasses when I am not wearing them. Oh, and here come Rocky and Midgie.”

  After the tour of my room we ate dinner. Ms. Colman said she liked the fish and salad very much. She cleaned her plate, so I know she really meant it. Then I served dessert. “I made this myself,” I said.

  While we were eating the chocolate Jell-O pudding, Ms. Colman made a Surprising Announcement. She makes them all the time in school. I did not know she made them in dining rooms, too.

  “I am engaged to be married,” said Ms. Colman. “That is why I have been so busy lately. The wedding will be several months from now. After the wedding I will go away for awhile for our honeymoon. But then I will come back to school. Oh, and my name will still be Ms. Colman.”

  “Yea!” I cried.

  “Congratulations!” said Mommy and Seth.

  I got up from the table and gave my teacher a hug. This was exciting news. It was the perfect way to end the best snow day ever.

  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 © 1993 by Ann M. Martin

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, BABY-SITTERS LITTLE SISTER, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  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, 1993

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-05642-6