Karen's Turkey Day Read online

  “How about having your breakfast and then helping me make some soup?” said Granny. “I found a package of vegetable soup mix in the cupboard.”

  I ate my Krispy Krunchy cereal very fast. Then I helped Granny measure and mix.

  When I finished, Mommy said, “Would you like to help me baste the chicken wings?”

  “Sure,” I replied. I brushed barbecue sauce over each of the chicken wings.

  Meanwhile, Andrew was helping Seth set the table.

  “Do you know how many places we need to set?” asked Seth.

  I counted in my head. There were six of us and four in Nancy’s family. That made ten places. I whispered the answer to Mommy and Granny, but I did not say it out loud. It took Andrew a long time to count on his fingers, but finally he called out, “Ten!”

  “Good for you,” replied Seth.

  “Mommy, when is the Macy’s parade? I want to watch it on TV,” I said.

  Mommy looked at her watch.

  “It starts in about an hour,” she replied. “Why don’t you call Nancy and invite her to watch it with you?”

  “All right,” I replied.

  I called Nancy. She promised to come over as soon as she could. I decided it would be fun to make decorations and placecards while we watched the parade. I ran upstairs and found paper, glue, streamers, markers, and glitter. Before I knew it, Nancy was at the door and the parade was starting. Nancy, Andrew, and I sat down to watch together.

  “I see Winnie-the-Pooh,” said Andrew. “Hi, Pooh!”

  “Here come the Flintstones,” I said. Nancy and I sang the Flintstones song.

  We named every one of the balloons. When we were not jumping up and down and pointing to things in the parade, we were busy making decorations and placecards. By the time the parade was over, we had everything we needed.

  Our placecards were shaped like turkeys. On each one was written a guest’s name. We put a card at every seat. We filled three vases with paper flowers. Then Seth helped us hang streamers around the room.

  “You have done a beautiful job,” said Granny.

  “Thank you,” Nancy and I replied.

  Our work inside the house was done. It was time to get ready for our parade.

  “Midgie! Midgie, come!” I called.

  “I just saw her go the other way,” said Andrew.

  “Do not be shy, Midgie. You will look very nice in a pilgrim’s hat,” I said.

  I do not think she believed me.

  The Parade

  Clang! Clang! Clang! Bangity! Bang! Bang!

  Andrew was using two pot lids to make cymbals. Bobby and Alicia were using pots and wooden spoons to make drums.

  “Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages!” I called. “The very first Stoneybrook Thanksgiving Day Parade is about to begin.”

  (I could not remember how a parade starts. So I started ours like a circus.)

  Clang! Clang! Clang! Bangity! Bang! Bang!

  In New York City, the streets are lined with people whenever there is a parade. So we rounded up as many relatives, guests, and neighbors as we could. We wanted them to cheer for us as we marched up and down the street.

  Here is what I wore to lead the parade: red tights, blue shorts, white T-shirt, jean jacket, and a pair of Granny’s white gloves. I put one of Nancy’s party hats on my head. And I draped a banner over my shoulder. It said Happy Thanksgiving inside a beautiful glitter border. I was carrying a baton. (It was really a folding umbrella with streamers on it.)

  My friends were dressed up, too. They were princesses, pilgrims, and movie stars.

  Midgie’s pilgrim hat was hanging under her chin because she kept knocking it off with her paw. And she walked next to Willy’s wagon instead of riding in it. But that was okay. Her tail was wagging and she was smiling. So I knew she was having fun.

  We were carrying balloons and cutouts of Disney characters on sticks. We held them high in the air as we marched up and down our street.

  Clang! Clang! Bangity! Bang!

  “Hi, everyone!” I called as we passed the little house.

  My family and Nancy’s were standing together. Even Grandad was outside. He was sitting in a chair on the lawn.

  We marched and waved, and even did a line dance. Seth was taking pictures. And Bobby’s father was videotaping us. He promised to make a copy of the tape for anyone who wanted one.

  Andrew and I wanted a tape. We wanted to show the parade to our big-house family when we were at Daddy’s in December.

  I put my arm around Andrew and waved and smiled into the camera. Watching the Macy’s parade in person would have been fun. But being in our own parade was exciting, too.

  When the parade was over, Mommy asked us to come inside. It was time for our Thanksgiving dinner.

  Thanksgiving Dinner

  “Pass the chicken wings, please,” I said.

  The plate was at the other end of the table. It was passed from Mommy to Seth to Mrs. Dawes to Granny to Mr. Dawes to Nancy to me.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  We had already eaten the soup Granny and I had made. It turned out very well. Now we were eating the main course. The chicken wings were not in the shape of a turkey anymore. But they had looked very nice when we started. I had spelled out the word turkey using lima beans at the bottom of the serving plate. Seth took a picture of it.

  “This is one turkey we will not want to forget,” he said.

  I served myself a few chicken wings and some stuffing. I already had sweet potatoes, lima beans, and the cranberry sauce the Daweses had brought on my plate. Everything tasted very good. I think that is because we were laughing and talking so much. Having a good time makes everything more tasty.

  Midgie and Rocky were having fun, too. Danny was throwing his food in the air. Midgie and Rocky were catching it.

  Clink, clink. Grandad tapped on his glass with a spoon.

  “I would like to say a few words,” he said.

  Everyone stopped talking and turned to Grandad.

  “At first I did not want to leave Nebraska to come here for Thanksgiving. You see, Nebraska is a place I love. But now I am with the family I love. I am with the family who canceled an exciting trip so we could celebrate the holiday together. We are joined by wonderful friends. And we are eating a very funny dinner. I have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. So happy holiday and thank you all.”

  We raised our glasses to Grandad.

  “Happy Thanksgiving,” we said.

  Clink, clink. I tapped my glass with my spoon. Everyone turned to look at me. They looked surprised.

  “I wrote a Thanksgiving poem last night,” I said. “I would like to read it to you.” I stood up and read my poem loudly enough for everyone to hear.

  “We were going to New York City.

  But now I’m glad we stayed.

  We had family and friends to dinner.

  And a special Thanksgiving parade!”

  I sat down.

  “Karen, that poem is wonderful!” said Mommy.

  “Bravo!” said Seth.

  It was time for dessert. We set out a plate of chocolate chip turkey cookies. Then we popped our frozen pumpkin pies into the microwave. When the pies were ready, we served them with fresh whipped cream.

  It could not have been as good as homemade dessert. But it must have been all right. Because by the time dinner was over, not one cookie or pie crumb was left.

  A Cozy Night

  After dinner, Nancy, Andrew, and I played in my room. The grown-ups visited downstairs. Then Danny started to cry. He cried and cried and would not stop. So the Daweses decided to go home.

  Granny and Grandad rested in their room while Andrew and I helped Mommy and Seth clean up the kitchen. We were just about finished when the doorbell rang. It was Bobby.

  “Hi,” he said. “My dad made a copy of the parade tape and asked me to bring it over.”

  “Cool!” I said.

  “Please thank your dad for us,” said Seth
.

  By then Granny and Grandad had woken up, so we watched the parade tape together.

  It started with me saying, “Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages!”

  “I want to rewind the tape. I want to watch that again,” I said.

  “We will never see the rest if we start rewinding now. You can watch it as much as you want tomorrow,” said Mommy.

  I was glad we watched the rest of the tape. I had been so busy leading the parade that I had not seen everything that was happening. I had not seen Midgie leave the parade to chase a squirrel up a tree. I had not seen Alicia trip over her princess costume. (She did not hurt herself.) And I had not seen Bobby’s spoon fall down the sewer. (He had to use a stick to bang on his pot after that.) Funny things had been going on all the time.

  When the video was over, Andrew said, “I am hungry.”

  “Me, too,” I said.

  “Me three,” said Seth.

  “I guess it is time to eat again,” said Mommy.

  We spread the leftovers out on the table. We were allowed to take whatever we wanted. That is my favorite kind of meal.

  We took turns piling food on our plates, then returned to the TV room. We were in time to see the end of a football game. Then one of my favorite movies, Miracle on 34th Street, came on. Yea! As soon as that movie comes on TV, I know Christmas is on its way.

  Andrew and I were going to be at the big house for Christmas. The big house has lots of people even without any guests. I knew we would have fun there. We always do.

  Finally I had to stop eating leftovers. I was starting to feel like a stuffed turkey. I helped put the food away, then snuggled up on the couch between Granny and Grandad. Andrew was on the floor resting his head on Midgie. (They were both sleeping.) Mommy and Seth pulled their chairs close together and held hands.

  When the commercials came on TV, Seth used the remote control to turn off the sound. (We do not like to watch commercials.) While we waited for the movie to come back on, I tried to decide which part of Thanksgiving I had liked the best. The parade. Our big dinner with the Daweses. Or being cozy together the way we were now. I decided I liked the whole day from start to finish.

  When the movie started again, a little girl climbed onto Santa’s lap. Santa had twinkling eyes and white hair.

  “I like this Santa,” I said to Grandad. “He reminds me of you.”

  “But I am luckier than he is,” said Grandad.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because I have you for my granddaughter,” Grandad replied.

  Grandad seemed happy. He smiled and hugged me. I hugged him back. I was happy, too.

  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 © 1995 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, 1995

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-05891-8