The author gratefully acknowledges
Gabrielle Charbonnet
for her help
with this book.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
1 Ms. Colman’s Announcement
2 The Little House
3 Show and Share
4 Lies
5 Bugle Boy
6 To Tell the Truth
7 Letter to Bobby
8 Paints and Pots
9 Karen’s Promises
10 Easy as Pie
11 Lying to Charlie
12 Ricky’s Baseball
13 The Kazoo Kid
14 Superduperstar
15 Two Families
16 Stoneybrook Manor
17 Ricky to the Rescue?
18 A Bad Week
19 Karen’s Letter
20 Little-House Kazoo Band
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
Ms. Colman’s Announcement
“Settle down, class,” Ms. Colman said. “I would like to make an announcement.” Ms. Colman is my teacher. She is the best teacher in the world.
“Oh, goody,” I said. I sat up straight in my seat. I love Surprising Announcements.
“As you know, we have been growing flowers in pots for the last couple of months,” said Ms. Colman.
I nodded and looked over at the class windowsill. A long row of plastic flowerpots stood there. A beautiful bunch of bright yellow marigolds was in each pot. I could see my pot from where I sat. I thought my flowers seemed especially bright that day.
“Soon we will decorate larger clay pots. Then we will transfer our flowers into the new pots,” said Ms. Colman.
“Double goody,” I said. I love decorating things. I am very good at it.
“But that is not all. After we are done, we will go to Stoneybrook Manor and give them to the residents,” Ms. Colman said.
“Triple goody!” I love visiting Stoneybrook Manor.
Oh, but wait. I have not told you what Stoneybrook Manor is. I have not even told you who I am.
My name is Karen Brewer. I am seven years old and in second grade. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles. I wear glasses — blue ones for reading and pink ones for the rest of the time.
There is much, much more to know about me. And I will tell all of it to you later. Right now I have to explain about Stoneybrook Manor.
Stoneybrook Manor is a senior citizens’ residence. That means it is a home for older people. They go there to live when they cannot take good care of themselves at home.
I like meeting old people. And old people like meeting me. Maybe that is because I am usually cheerful and friendly.
Ms. Colman continued talking. “But there is still more,” she said. “The residents of Stoneybrook Manor are interested in what we have been doing since the last time we saw them. So each of you will present a short Show and Share.
“To get ready for our presentations at Stoneybrook Manor, we will practice our Show and Share skills here at school. Tomorrow I would like three students to present Show and Shares. We will work on speaking clearly, smiling, and sharing things that will be interesting to our friends at Stoneybrook Manor.”
I love showing and sharing more than practically anything else in the whole world. During Show and Share I get to stand in front of an audience (my class). Everyone has to pay attention to me. It is my chance to shine.
My arm shot up. I looked around. Some other kids had put their hands in the air. I waved my hand around. Since I sit in the front row with the other glasses-wearers, Ms. Colman could not miss me.
“Okay,” said Ms. Colman. “I would like Ian Johnson, Addie Sidney, and Karen Brewer to show and share with us tomorrow.” She wrote our names in a little book.
I was not sure what comes after “triple goody.” So instead, I said “goody” four times: “Goody, goody, goody, goody!”
(Ms. Colman gave me a Look, but she did not remind me to use my indoor voice.)
I was gigundoly excited about visiting Stoneybrook Manor. Already I was planning to come up with a superspecial Show and Share for our visit — something that would really knock the socks off the residents of Stoneybrook Manor.
But first, I had to practice a little on my classmates. This was going to be fun.
The Little House
“I’m home!” I called out when I arrived home at the little house that afternoon. (I will tell you about the little house and the big house in a minute.)
I was expecting someone to call, “Hi, Karen!” That is always nice to hear when I arrive home.
I stood at the front door. No one welcomed me.
Then I listened closely for a second. I heard singing, coming from the kitchen:
“This old man, he played four.
He played knick-knack on my door
With a knick-knack, paddywhack …”
It was Merry, my nanny, and Andrew, my little brother. (Andrew is four, going on five.)
I ran into the kitchen. “I’m hoooome!” I called out, extra loudly.
“Oh, Karen, my goodness!” Merry exclaimed. “I did not hear you come in.”
“Hi, Karen!” Andrew said. He waved a pretzel stick at me. “Merry and I were singing.”
“I know,” I said. “I heard.”
“Karen, why don’t you sit down and have a snack,” said Merry. She put a plate of pretzel sticks and apple slices at my place at the table. “You could join us in another round of ‘This Old Man.’ ”
“Okay,” I said. I sat down, ate an apple slice, and started singing.
“This old man, he played one.
He played knick-knack on my thumb …”
“This Old Man” is not my favorite song of all time. But Andrew likes it, and I had fun singing along with Merry and him.
We knick-knacked all the way up to twelve. Then Andrew wanted to start over at one again. I had had enough knick-knacking, so I did not start over with him. I concentrated on my pretzels instead.
Merry laughed. “Why, Andrew, you certainly love singing. Perhaps I could play the piano for you someday, while you sing.”
Andrew stopped singing. “You play the piano, Merry?”
Merry nodded. “Yes, I do play, a little. I enjoy it.”
“I wish we had a piano here for you to play,” said Andrew.
“There is not enough room in the little house,” I pointed out. “The big house would be better.”
Okay. I said I would tell you about my big house and my little house. Here is what you need to know.
A long, long time ago, I lived in the big house all the time. I lived with my mommy, my daddy, and Andrew. Then Mommy and Daddy got divorced. So Andrew and I went to live with Mommy in the little house. (Daddy stayed at the big house. It is the house he grew up in.)
After awhile, Mommy got married again, to a very nice man named Seth Engle. He is my stepfather. So now my little-house family is Mommy, Seth, Andrew, Rocky (Seth’s cat), Midgie (Seth’s dog), Emily Junior (my pet rat), and Bob (Andrew’s hermit crab).
Back at the big house, Daddy got married again too, to Elizabeth Thomas. She already had four children. Sam and Charlie are really old. They go to Stoneybrook High School. Kristy is thirteen and the best step-sister ever. David Michael is seven years old, but he does not go to my school. He goes to Stoneybrook Elementary.
Soon Daddy and Elizabeth adopted my little sister, Emily Michelle, from a country called Vietnam. (Emily is two and a half.) And Elizabeth’s mother, Nannie, came to live at the big house to help take care of all the people and pets.
There are many pets at the big house. Shannon is David Michael’s Bernese mountain dog puppy. Pumpkin i
s a little black kitten. Andrew and I have two goldfish, Goldfishie and Crystal Light the Second. And Emily Junior and Bob live at the big house whenever Andrew and I do. So you can see that the big house is pretty full, even though it is a big house.
Andrew and I live at the little house every other month, and at the big house in between. This is one of the reasons I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. I have two of lots of things: houses, families, stuffed cats, bicycles, beds. I even have a nanny (Merry) and a Nannie!
I also have two best friends, Hannie Papadakis and Nancy Dawes. Hannie lives across the street and one house down from the big house. Nancy lives next door to the little house. We are all in Ms. Colman’s class. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers. Our motto is “All for one, and one for all!”
Andrew was just finishing up the last verse of “This Old Man”:
“… With a knick-knack, paddywhack,
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling ho-o-ome!”
“One more time!” shouted Andrew, waving his spoon.
Merry laughed. “Andrew, if you love music so much, maybe you should learn to play an instrument.”
Andrew’s eyes grew wide. “Play an instrument? Like the piano? Wow? What a great idea! I would love to know how to play an instrument.”
“Well, since you do not have a piano in the house, it would be a little hard to learn how to play one,” said Merry. “But I am sure we can find some other instrument for you.”
“Oh, boy! That would be great, Merry!” said Andrew.
For some reason, I was not excited about Andrew learning to play an instrument. I had a feeling it was going to be more fun for him than it would be for anyone else.
Show and Share
The next morning at breakfast I remembered that I had to present a Show and Share to my class that day.
I was worried. I would not need to practice my Show and Share ahead of time. It is easy for me to talk in front of the class. I do not get nervous. I could make it up as I went along. Still, I had to bring in something to talk about. Something interesting, but not the superinteresting thing I would save for Stoneybrook Manor. (I did not know what that was yet. But I knew I could come up with something.) Today I thought about bringing in Tickly, my special blanket. Or Goosie, my stuffed cat.
As I thought, I poured myself another bowl of Krispy Krunchie cereal. A piece of cardboard inside a clear plastic wrapper fell into my bowl. A Krispy Krunchie surprise!
I fished out the surprise. I wiped milk and Krispy Krunchie dust off of it with my napkin. Then I ripped open the plastic. Inside was a baseball card!
I looked at the picture of the player. He was holding a baseball bat and smiling. He looked friendly. The card said his name was Bobby Martinez.
I like surprises. I liked my new baseball card. And I knew what I was going to show and share with my class that day.
* * *
“Last year my mommy went on a business trip to Washington State,” said Ian Johnson during Show and Share that day. “She visited Mount St. Helens, the volcano that blew up years ago.”
Ian held up a black rock about the size of a baked potato.
“Mommy picked up this rock from the slope of Mount St. Helens,” he said. “It is a chunk of cooled lava, straight from the volcano.”
I oohed and ahhed. So did all the other kids in the class. A real volcano rock! That is a pretty good Show and Share.
Ian handed the rock to Ricky Torres, my pretend husband, to look at. (Ricky and I got married on the playground one day.) Ricky held the rock carefully and looked at it. I heard Ricky whisper, “Wow! Real lava!” Then he passed it to the kid in back of him.
Ian talked some more about Mount St. Helens. When he was finished, everyone clapped.
Addie was next. She rolled to the front of the class in her wheelchair.
“Today I would like to show you some artwork I made on my computer at home,” began Addie. She explained how she had a new program that let her draw pictures with a mouse right on the screen. She could color the pictures, as if she were using markers on paper. Plus, once the drawing was made, she could ask the program to change the drawing in lots of different ways. She held up some pieces of paper to show us what she meant.
“This is a printout of my first drawing,” said Addie. It was a picture of a cat lying on a windowsill. Through the window you could see a tree and the sun. (It was very nice. Addie is an excellent artist.) The drawing looked as if it had been done in crayon.
“This is a printout of the same picture,” said Addie. “Only this time, I asked the computer to make it look like a watercolor painting.”
She held up another piece of paper. It was the same drawing of a cat in a window. But this one looked as if it had been done in watercolors.
All the kids oohed and ahhed. So did I. It was pretty cool. I wondered if Daddy would get me that art program for the computer at the big house.
Then Addie showed us the same picture printed out in several more ways — as a chalk drawing, a black-and-white drawing, and even as a stained-glass window!
Addie handed all the pictures to Ricky. (Like me, Ricky sits in the front row because he wears glasses. That is why he was handed things first.) He looked carefully at each piece of paper. I heard him whisper, “Wow! This is really neat!”
Addie finished up her Show and Share. Everyone clapped.
“Karen, are you ready for Show and Share?” asked Ms. Colman.
“Yes,” I said. I walked to the front of the classroom. I held up my baseball card.
“This is a baseball card,” I said. “The player is Bobby Martinez. He plays for …” I glanced at the card. “He plays for the San Diego Padres.” I waved the card so everyone could see it. A baseball card, especially a brand-new one, is pretty neat, I thought.
The class looked interested. But they did not look very interested.
I did not have any more to say. I had shown the card. I had shared just about all I knew about it. No one was oohing and ahhing, though. Hmm, I thought. Maybe my class wanted something more.
I glanced at the card again. On the back were some facts about the player. Very convenient, I thought. “Bobby Martinez is an outfielder,” I said. “He is a really good player.” (I did not know if that was true. I figured it must be, if he was on a card.)
Still no oohing or ahhing.
My classmates looked less interested than they had before. Terri Barkan was fidgeting. Jannie Gilbert was doodling on a piece of scrap paper. Ricky, my pretend husband, had his mouth wide open in a yawn.
My Show and Share was flopping! I had to do something, and fast. But what?
“I found this card in a box of Krispy Krunchies,” I said.
No one seemed impressed. I was still flopping.
What else could I say about it? What would make it a better Show and Share? My classmates were a tough audience. I could not stand it. I wanted them to ooh and ahh, the way I had done for them.
Suddenly I blurted out, “I have met Bobby Martinez.” I do not know where that came from. It just popped out of my mouth.
Terri stopped fidgeting.
“I have met him more than once,” I said, listening to myself in amazement.
Jannie looked up from her doodle.
“He is a friend of mine,” I went on. My eyes were wide. My heart was pounding. What was I doing?
Ricky’s mouth was still open. But he was not yawning anymore. His mouth was open in wonder.
“Bobby Martinez has been to my house,” I said. It was like watching a horrible accident happen before your eyes. I could not stop myself. When I looked into the amazed and impressed faces of my classmates, I was happy. Now everyone was paying attention. My Show and Share was no longer a flop. I was a gigundo success!
Lies
“Here,” I said. I handed Ricky my baseball card, so he could pass it around.
I waited for everyone to applaud my Show and Share. Then I would just sit down and i
t would be over.
Instead, hands shot up all over the room, and kids started shouting questions at me.
“How do you know Bobby Martinez?” “When did he come to your house?” “What did you have for dinner?” “Did Bobby have seconds?”
There were too many questions at once. I could not answer them all. (Actually, I could not answer any of them.)
I held up my hands. “Settle down, class, please,” I said. “Indoor voices, people!” I have always wanted to say that. (I bet Ms. Colman thinks it’s fun too.)
When everyone had stopped yelling, I said, “My Show and Share is over. You may ask me about Bobby Martinez during recess.”
By recess, I figured, they would have forgotten about my baseball card. Or I would have thought of a story to explain how I knew Bobby Martinez.
* * *
“Bobby Martinez is my favorite player of all time,” said Ricky. “How long have you known him?”
“What is he like?” asked Omar Harris.
“Is he nice?” asked Jannie.
Guess what. They had not forgotten. During the last hour I had thought about telling my friends the truth at recess. But I did not want them to know I had lied. So now I found myself answering questions about someone I had never met!
“Bobby is very nice,” I said. I tried to sound as if I knew what I was talking about.
“Wow,” said Ricky. “Cool.”
“How do you know him?” asked Jannie.
“Um, Bobby Martinez is an old friend of my stepfather, Seth,” I said. “They knew each other in high school, before Bobby was a big star. They were on the baseball team together. They were practically best friends.”
(I know high schools have baseball teams because my stepbrother Charlie is on one.)
“Wow,” said Ricky. “Teammates. Way cool.”
“Yes, it is way cool,” I said.
“So, he has been to your house?” asked Omar.
I nodded helplessly.
“You ate dinner with him?” he asked.
I nodded again.
“What did he eat?” asked Jannie.
What had I had for dinner the night before?