Halloween Parade

  FOUR-EYES!

  It was a sleepy morning. Rain was falling. Hannie looked lazily out the windows in Ms. Colman’s room. She wished she could go back to bed. Instead, she was sitting at her desk by herself, waiting for her classmates to arrive. And the very next two people to arrive were Karen and Nancy. Karen was wearing …

  “Glasses!” cried Hannie. “Karen, you got your glasses! They do not look too bad.” Karen’s glasses were pink.

  “Not too bad?” repeated Nancy. “I think Karen’s glasses look great.”

  Hannie could feel her cheeks getting hot. “Well, that is what I meant —” she started to say. “Um, I mean, oh, cool! Pink glasses!”

  “Do you really like them?” asked Karen.

  “I really do,” said Hannie.

  The other kids began to trickle into Ms. Colman’s room. Half of them did not even notice Karen’s glasses. Tammy just said, “Oh, Karen, you got your glasses.” Sara said the same thing.

  Ms. Colman told Karen she liked her glasses very much. So did Natalie. (Ms. Colman and Natalie wore glasses themselves.)

  Hannie and Karen and Nancy were just settling down in the back of the room when Ricky ran in. He spotted Karen right away.

  “Ooh-ooh. Four-eyes!” he cried. “Hey, Karen. Are you just blind, or are you as blind as an ugly old bat?”

  “You are so dumb, Ricky,” Karen replied. “I am not blind at all. And anyway, what if I really were blind?”

  Yeah, thought Hannie. Ricky’s question was very rude.

  Ricky did not answer Karen. “Blind as a bat,” he said one more time, just to make her mad.

  Karen stuck her tongue out at Ricky.

  Then Ms. Colman clapped her hands. It was time to start the day.

  All morning long Ricky would lean back in his chair, behind Hannie, and call down to Karen at the other end of the row. “Four-eyes!” he would whisper loudly. Or “Batwoman!”

  Hannie and Nancy and Karen tried to ignore him.

  Near the end of the day, Ms. Colman called Karen to her desk.

  Uh-oh, thought Hannie. Was Karen in trouble? Hannie had passed her a mean note about Ricky. Maybe Ms. Colman had seen that. Maybe Ms. Colman was going to call Hannie to her desk next.

  But that was not what happened at all. What happened was that after Karen spoke with Ms. Colman, she tiptoed to the back of the room (she did not want to disturb her classmates during Free Reading Time) and began to take her things out of her desk.

  “What are you doing?” Nancy whispered to her.

  “Ms. Colman wants me to move to the front of the room. She says people who wear glasses can see better from the first row. She wants me to sit next to Natalie. In Hank’s place.”

  “Where is Hank going to sit?” asked Hannie.

  “Back here. At my desk,” replied Karen.

  “But — but you cannot move!” cried Nancy. “I do not want you to move, Karen! You are my best friend.”

  For heaven’s sake, thought Hannie. Karen was not moving to a different town. Just to a different row. Hannie did not want her to move either, but why was Nancy so upset?

  “I’m sorry. I have to move,” Karen told Nancy. “Ms. Colman said so. But look. You are still sitting next to Hannie. And Hannie is my other best friend, so she should be your other best friend too.”

  Nancy pouted.

  And Hannie realized the truth then. Nancy did not think of Hannie as her best friend. In fact, she was jealous. She was jealous of Karen’s friendship with Hannie. And she was probably jealous that Hannie was getting those great costumes for everyone. Hmm. Hannie did not know what to do about Nancy.

  THE COWGIRL

  One morning, while Hannie and Karen and Nancy were waiting for school to begin, Karen said, “Do you guys want to come over this afternoon?”

  “You mean us?” asked Hannie.

  “Both of us?” asked Nancy.

  “Sure,” replied Karen. “Hannie, your mom can drive you over, can’t she?”

  “Well … I guess so.”

  “Goody,” said Karen.

  But Hannie did not feel excited. She and Karen and Nancy had not played together after school very often. And Hannie thought there might be a good reason for that. She and Karen were best friends. And Karen and Nancy were best friends. But Hannie and Nancy — that was a different story.

  Hannie went to Karen’s anyway, though. When her mother dropped her off that afternoon, Hannie saw Karen and Nancy sitting together on Karen’s front steps.

  “Hi!” called Karen.

  “Hi,” Hannie replied. “What are you doing?”

  “Talking about Halloween,” said Karen. “Remember the year you were Pad-dington Bear? And your hat kept blowing off?”

  Hannie giggled. “Yeah. I wonder what I will be this year.”

  “I cannot wait until those cool costumes come,” said Karen. “I wonder what the costumes will be.”

  “Well, I already know what I am going to be,” said Nancy.

  “You do? How?” asked Hannie.

  “Because I am making my costume myself. That will be much more fun. Besides, I do not want some costume I have never seen before. I want to choose it myself. And I want to be a cowgirl. I already have the hat and boots. And my mom and I are making a vest with fringe on it.”

  Hannie’s tummy felt a little funny. “So you do not want one of the costumes my father is getting?” she asked.

  “No. Thank you. I do not need one,” replied Nancy.

  “Oh,” said Hannie.

  Hannie could not stop thinking about what Nancy had said. She thought about it for the rest of the afternoon. When her father picked her up on his way home from work, Hannie was in a very bad mood.

  THE BIG MISTAKE

  The days passed. The kids in Ms. Colman’s class looked at the big calendar every day. They were counting down to the Halloween parade.

  On Tuesday, three days before the parade, Ricky said, “Hannie, have our costumes come yet?”

  “No, but they will be here in time for Halloween.”

  “Will they be here in time for the parade?”

  “Oh, of course,” replied Hannie.

  But the costumes did not arrive that afternoon. Hannie thought about asking her father about them that night, but she did not want to spoil his surprise. By the next day, though, her classmates were nervous.

  “Where are they, Hannie?” asked Natalie.

  “The parade is in two days,” added Leslie.

  “We need to try the costumes on,” said Sara. “What if they do not fit?”

  “Well,” said Hannie, “I am sure my father is going to bring them home tonight.”

  And if he does not, Hannie said to herself, I will ask him about them.

  When Hannie’s father returned from work that night, Hannie pounced on him.

  “Hi, Daddy!” she cried. She looked around. She did not see any costumes. So she had to ask, “Where are the costumes, Daddy?”

  “What costumes?” said Mr. Papadakis.

  “Oh, Daddy. I already know about the surprise. And I am sorry to spoil it. But it was a very good surprise. So now you can show me the costumes.” Mr. Papadakis was frowning. “The Halloween costumes,” Hannie went on. “I heard you talking about them on the phone. You said everything was ordered and would be here in time for Halloween. And that there would be plenty for everyone. So then I knew. You got free costumes for all my classmates —”

  “Whoa, Hannie. Slow down,” said her father gently. “I think you misunderstood something. I was not talking about costumes. I was talking about a Halloween party at our office. I am in charge of it. I had to order the food and decorations. And I managed to get free party favors for everyone.”

  “So you did not get costumes for my friends and me?”

  “Well … no. I did not know anything about that.”

  That funny feeling had crept into Hannie’s tummy again. “Um, then can you get us free costumes? I mean, your company makes costumes, doesn’t it
?”

  “Yes, but Hannie, the costumes are in stores by now. And the extras are in our warehouse — and the warehouse is in Illinois.”

  “Illinois?” Hannie was not sure where that was, but it sounded far away from Connecticut.

  “Yes. And Hannie, I cannot just get free things from the company whenever I want. I would have to make special arrangements. And sixteen free costumes would be a very big deal.”

  “Oh.”

  Hannie did not know what to say. So she went to her room. She lay on her bed. She covered her head with her pillow. Hannie knew she was in big, big trouble. The next day was Thursday, the day before the Halloween parade. Her friends might have time to buy or make costumes before Sunday for trick-or-treating. But they would probably not have time to get costumes for the parade. What were her classmates going to do? They were excited about the parade. They had told everyone they were going to win all the prizes.

  And now Hannie was going to let them down. Every single one. Hannie began to cry.

  SQUARE-EYES

  Hannie did not sleep well that night. She woke up a lot. And every time she woke up, she thought about the costumes. She knew there was only one thing she could do the next morning. She would have to give her classmates the bad news.

  Hannie was the fourth person to arrive in her class the next day. Leslie, Jannie, and Chris were already there.

  “Hannie!” Leslie cried. “Where are —”

  Then Leslie stopped speaking. She was looking at something behind Hannie. Hannie turned around. Ricky was entering the room. And he was wearing … glasses. Ricky looked as if he wanted to hide behind Hannie.

  “Hey! Are those glasses?” cried Chris.

  Ricky hurried to his desk. “Yes,” he muttered.

  A few more kids came into the room. They spotted Ricky right away. When Karen spotted him, she looked cross. “Ricky, are you imitating me? Are you making fun of me?” she asked. “My glasses are not that bad,” she said, looking at the big square glasses perched on Ricky’s nose. Then she stopped. “Very funny, Ricky. Okay, you can take them off now….” Karen’s voice trailed away. Ricky’s lip was trembling. “Ricky? What is wrong?” asked Karen.

  “They are real glasses,” Ricky whispered. “They are not a joke. I had to get them, just like you.”

  The kids crowded around Ricky’s desk.

  “Four-eyes!” said Hank.

  “Batman!” cried Omar.

  “Square-eyes!” called Hannie. She could not help herself.

  “Boys and girls, what is going on in here?” asked Ms. Colman. She stood at her desk while the kids ran to their seats.

  “Ricky got glasses!” Audrey called gleefully.

  “My goodness. Another glasses-wearer,” said Ms. Colman. “Ricky, you look very handsome.” (Hannie snorted.) “All right. It is time to change some seats again. Ricky, you need to move to the front row with Natalie and Karen.”

  “Ew,” said Karen. (She said it quietly.)

  “Let me see,” Ms. Colman went on. “Ricky and Jannie, why don’t the two of you trade places. Jannie, you move to the back next to Hannie. And Ricky, you move to the front next to Karen.”

  Hannie was not sorry to see Ricky move. He was a tease. And he had been bothering her since the beginning of second grade. But she was not sure how she felt about Jannie, since Jannie and Leslie did not like Hannie or Karen or Nancy very much.

  Hannie wanted to lean over and whisper to Nancy that Meanie-mo Jannie was moving in. But right now, Nancy did not like Hannie very much either. Hannie sighed loudly.

  Ricky and Jannie emptied out their desks. A lot of junk fell out of Ricky’s — scraps of paper, parts of erasers, lint from his pockets, bitten-off sticks of chewing gum. It took him a long time to clean out his stuff, and a long time to carry his things to the front of the room. But at last he was gone, and Jannie was sitting next to Hannie.

  Jannie grinned at Hannie. “Where are our costumes?” she asked. “Is your father bringing them over later or something?”

  Hannie’s stomach flip-flopped. She had almost forgotten about the costumes. Now she would have to tell the truth.

  “Well,” Hannie began, “the thing is, um, I was wrong. I made a mistake. My father did not get us costumes after all.”

  “He did not get costumes?” cried Jannie. “What are we going to do? The parade is tomorrow! Hannie, you are —”

  “Okay, kids. It is time to settle down,” said Ms. Colman. “Quiet, please.”

  The kids quieted down. But Jannie turned to Hannie and whispered, “You have ruined Halloween, Hannie Papadakis.”

  NANCY’S GOOD IDEA

  Hannie felt horrible. She had ruined Halloween. A whole holiday. It was the worst thing she had ever done.

  By recess every kid in Ms. Colman’s class knew about the costumes. That was because Jannie had told Leslie, Leslie had told the twins, Terri had told Natalie and Ian, and Tammy had told Omar and Audrey. That was before lunch. During lunch, the rest of the kids found out.

  And after lunch, the kids surrounded Hannie on the playground.

  “What are we going to do about costumes?” Leslie said to Hannie.

  “Well … today is only Thursday. Halloween is on Sunday,” said Hannie. “You have three days to get costumes. Or make them.”

  “Hannie, have you looked in the stores?” asked Ricky. “There is nothing left. Just old stuff no one wants. Like broken fangs. And bent witches’ hats.”

  “Dirty costumes from last year,” added Sara.

  “And besides, the parade is tomorrow,” added Chris. “Not in three days. If we want to be in the parade, we need costumes in one day. You ruined the parade, Hannie.”

  “Yeah, now we will not win any prizes,” added Tammy.

  A holiday ruiner and a parade ruiner. Hannie’s lip began to tremble.

  “You guys,” said Karen. She stepped through the crowd of kids. She stood next to Hannie. “You guys leave Hannie alone. She did not do anything wrong.”

  “Yes she did. She wrecked Halloween because she is so stupid,” said Leslie.

  “She is not stupid!” cried Karen. “She just made a mistake.”

  “What do you know, Four-eyes?” called Bobby.

  “Oh, Bobby. Get a life,” replied Karen. “Quit picking on everyone.”

  “Square-eyes!” called Bobby anyway.

  “Well, I know one person who can be in the parade,” grumbled Hannie. “Nancy. She made her own costume.”

  Hannie glared at Nancy. To her surprise, Nancy did not glare back. Instead, she smiled. Then she stepped forward. She stood on the other side of Hannie. “Maybe I did,” said Nancy, “but I am not going to march in the parade all by myself. Besides, I think you guys are being very mean to Hannie. It is not nice to call people names. It is not nice to tease them about glasses or about anything else. Anyway, I think glasses would make good costumes for the parade.”

  “Thanks a lot, Nancy,” said Karen.

  “Not your glasses, Karen. Most people hardly notice regular old glasses. Most people,” she went on, glaring at Bobby. “No, I mean the funny kind with the nose and mustache attached. What if we all wore them in the parade tomorrow?”

  The kids were quiet for a moment. Then Audrey said, “Glasses are not really costumes.”

  “But they would look kind of funny,” said Ian. “I mean, if we were all wearing them. Maybe Ms. Colman would wear them too.”

  “Let’s talk to her after recess,” said Karen.

  When recess was over, Hannie, Nancy, and Karen hurried to their classroom.

  “Ms. Colman, we have to talk to you!” cried Karen.

  “What is it?” asked Ms. Colman.

  Karen and Nancy looked at Hannie. Then Hannie told her teacher the long, sad story about the Halloween costumes. After that, Nancy told her about her glasses idea.

  “Hmm,” said Ms. Colman. “I think we can get seventeen pairs of funny glasses. I know where to buy them. And we can pay for them out of our cl
ass account. Are you sure that is what you kids want to do?”

  “We are sure,” replied Hannie and her friends.

  THE COSTUME PARTY

  After school that day, Hannie said to Nancy, “You know, you could wear your costume in the parade tomorrow. You should let everyone see it. You should not waste it.”

  “No,” replied Nancy. “I do not want to be the only one in our class with a whole costume. Besides, I want to stick with you guys.”

  “Thanks, Nancy,” said Hannie.

  Hannie was glad about the glasses. Now her classmates could be in the parade. And the other kids would probably think the glasses were funny. Still, Hannie knew she had let her friends down. She had promised them fantastic costumes. And she had gotten them … nothing.

  After supper that night, Hannie told her parents about the glasses. And about what had happened on the playground.

  “Nancy came to your rescue, didn’t she?” said Mrs. Papadakis.

  “Yes,” said Hannie. “I did not think she would do that.”

  “It sounds as if she really wants to be your friend.”

  “I guess so. That would be nice. I would be very happy if Karen and Nancy and I were all best friends.”

  Mr. Papadakis had been looking thoughtful. “You know, Hannie,” he said finally, “a few years ago, we cleaned out our offices and I brought home several cartons of costume parts. I had forgotten about that until now. The boxes are sitting out in the garage. They are full of eye patches, wigs, masks —”

  “In the garage?” interrupted Hannie. “I want to go look at them!”

  Hannie ran into the garage. Her father followed her. “They are over here,” he said. He led Hannie to five large cartons stacked against a wall. He opened two of them.

  “Oh! Oh, excellent!” exclaimed Hannie. “Look! Masks and wigs and rubber hands. And eye patches, just like you said. And here are hats. Oh, and fabric and sequins and feathers and all kinds of stuff. We could make great costumes! Daddy?”