Karen's Easter Parade

  Diana started pedaling fast and left me behind, looking at her in surprise.

  “Diana, come back!” I called after her. “You do not know where you are going. You might get lost!”

  “I will not get lost!” Diana yelled back at me. “I am not a baby!”

  And she pedaled away even faster.

  Well, my goodness. I did not know what I had done wrong. I had only asked if she felt homesick. Why was she mad at me? I started pedaling fast to catch up. Stoneybrook is not a humongous town, but still, Diana could get lost. How would I explain that to Mommy? “Diana, wait!” I called.

  Easter Eggstravaganza

  I caught up with Diana, worried about what she would say next. But she did not seem to be mad at me anymore. She did not pedal away from me, and the rest of our bike ride was lots of fun. We stopped at a store and bought lemonade and fruit roll-ups. Her favorite fruit roll-up was strawberry — the same as mine.

  And that night, when I put on my Packett Family Reunion T-shirt to sleep in, guess who else put on hers? That is right. Diana!

  We were like twin cousins again. I decided Diana had just been grumpy earlier because she was tired after her train ride.

  On Sunday, Mommy and Seth helped Andrew, Diana, and me decorate Easter eggs. I love decorating Easter eggs.

  “Why are we decorating them so early?” asked Diana. “Easter is not until next Sunday.”

  “We are going to donate these to the Stoneybrook Easter egg hunt on Tuesday,” I explained. “The parade is on Easter Sunday, so the Easter egg hunt will be during the week. Kids are all off from school next week, for spring break. So Tuesday is a great day for the hunt.”

  For the past month, every time Merry needed to cook an egg, she would prick each end with a thick needle. Then she would blow in one hole and the egg would come glooping out the hole at the other end. (It is not easy to do. I tried it once, but I could not blow hard enough.)

  Now we had three dozen clean, emptied-out eggshells saved up for the Easter egg hunt. (It is not a good idea to use regular eggs for a hunt because they might go bad outside the refrigerator.) We were going to dye the eggs, glue glitter to them, and stick stickers onto them.

  Andrew, Diana, and I divided up the empty eggs among us. Mommy covered the kitchen table with newspaper and set us up with bowls of dye.

  “I am going to make my first egg pink,” I said. I carefully slipped one of my eggshells into a bowl of red dye. I had to hold it down with a spoon because empty eggs float.

  “Mine will be green,” said Andrew as he put an egg in some green dye.

  “Well, those will be nice enough, I suppose,” said Diana. “But I like to make my Easter eggs look extra-special. I will be back in a minute.” She ran upstairs to my room.

  Diana came back carrying a white crayon and a bunch of watercolor markers.

  “What are you going to do with those?” I asked.

  “You will see,” said Diana.

  Diana sure knew how to decorate Easter eggs. She used the white crayon to draw designs on an egg. When the egg was dipped in the dye, the color did not stick to the crayon, leaving the design white. It looked fabulous!

  With the watercolor markers she drew fancy designs on her eggs. Then she dipped them quickly in the dye, and the colors ran together in beautiful artistic patterns. Some of them reminded me of the fired clay pots that Merry makes. (Merry is a potter when she is not being my nanny.)

  All the while, Diana talked about what she was doing and how her eggs were coming out better than Andrew’s and mine. Sometimes I thought Diana was bragging a little too much and talking a little too loudly (Diana’s parents remind her to use her in door voice a lot, just like mine do). But I had to admit that Diana was right. Her eggs really were much fancier and prettier than Andrew’s and mine.

  The Late, Late, Late Show

  That night Diana and I put on our Packett Family Reunion T-shirts again. I brought out a bag of Easter candy that I had bought with my own money. We were going to have a pre-Easter candy feast. We started with marshmallow bunnies. I liked to eat the ears first. So did Diana.

  We were allowed to stay up a little later than usual because I did not have school the next day. I felt as if we were having a sleep-over party! I wished that Hannie and Nancy could be with us, but I also wanted Diana to myself. We would have time all week to play with my friends.

  Diana and I told some great riddles. Here are a few:

  Q: Why did the dinosaur cross the road?

  A: Because chickens had not been invented yet.

  Q: Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the tube?

  A: It wants out.

  Q: Where is the best place to have a bubble-gum contest?

  A: A chew-chew train.

  We laughed and laughed. It was as much fun as Maine had been. I was so glad Diana had come to spend the week. Finally Mommy opened my door and told us to settle down and go to sleep.

  “Even if you two do not have to go to school tomorrow, I have to go to work,” said Mommy. “You are keeping me awake.”

  Wow. We had stayed up past Mommy’s bedtime.

  Mommy closed the door, and I whispered to Diana, “Good night. Sleep tight.”

  “You are not going to go to sleep yet, are you?” Diana whispered back.

  “Well … yes,” I said. “Mommy told us to.”

  “You do not have to listen to her,” Diana said. “If we are quiet, she will never know we are awake. We could stay up all night!”

  “But —” I started to say.

  “Come on, Karen,” said Diana. “It will be fun. We are old enough to stay up late.”

  “Well … I am not sure.” I could not decide what to do. Part of me wanted to stay awake. And part of me was tired and sleepy. Besides, Mommy had told us to go to sleep. But a third part of me wanted to keep Diana happy. After all, she was my guest.

  “Okay, you can be a baby, then,” said Diana. She sounded as if she were frowning. “I will stay up all night by myself, if that is the way you feel about it.”

  “I am not a baby,” I said. “I will stay up with you.”

  So we talked some more. We talked about Annemarie, the girl whose diary we had found in Maine. And we talked about Polly, her cousin. Then we told knock-knock jokes and scary stories and —

  “Karen and Diana!” Mommy said, opening the door. She was very angry. “It is almost twelve-thirty. You should have been asleep hours ago. Now, I am going to tell you for the last time, please stop talking and go to sleep!”

  She shut the door hard. I heard her footsteps pounding away down the hall.

  “Good night, Karen,” Diana whispered.

  “Good night,” I said.

  We were quiet for a minute. And then I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Merry was opening my curtains and singing, “Wake up, sleepyheads!”

  Helping Merry

  “And I would like you two to gather towels for the laundry,” said Merry.

  Diana and I were eating breakfast, our eyes barely open. Merry was asking us to help her with some of the household chores.

  Even though I was still sleepy, I tried to pay attention to what Merry was telling me. If I were a grown-up, I would have drunk a big cup of coffee to wake myself up. (Since I am a kid, I hate coffee. It is too bitter.) Instead, I had a glass of orange juice.

  Diana’s eyes started to droop. She was eating her cereal with her head propped on one hand.

  “Okay, Merry,” I said tiredly. “You can count on us.”

  “Good,” said Merry. “I am glad to hear that, Karen. And I am sure that Diana will be a big help to me too. Right, Diana?”

  “Hmrmph?” said Diana, her head jerking up.

  “Merry asked if you are going to help do chores around the house this week,” I said, giggling.

  Diana sighed and said, “I guess so.”

  Now, normally I am not crazy about doing chores. But I knew that Merry was trying to make the house look beautif
ul in time for our Easter party with Diana’s family and my little-house family. And that is what I told Diana.

  “I suppose the Easter party will be fun,” said Diana. (She seemed a little more awake.) “A little fun, anyway.”

  “A little fun?” I said. I was shocked! “It will be the most fun party ever.”

  “Will there be anyone there besides our families?” asked Diana.

  “No,” I said. “I do not think so. But having our families there will be more than enough fun. There will be yummy things to eat, and Easter baskets, and —”

  “If you say so,” said Diana.

  After breakfast I gathered the towels and put them in the laundry room. Then I tidied my room (again). Then Merry asked us to sweep the front and back porches. Mostly I swept while Diana looked bored.

  “Now what should we do?” I asked Merry.

  “Um, you need to clean Emily Junior’s cage.”

  So I did. Diana held Emily Junior while I cleaned the cage. I was hoping we could have fun doing chores, but Diana did not seem interested. When I suggested playing Cinderella while we swept, Diana just rolled her eyes. Finally, Diana took out her hand-held computer game. She settled on the couch and started clicking.

  Even though Diana was right there in the room with me, I felt a little lonely.

  “There is going to be an Easter parade on Sunday too, you know,” I reminded her.

  “Huh?” Diana said, without looking up.

  I repeated what I had just said.

  “A parade? Really?” said Diana. “That sounds like fun. More fun than a boring old family party, anyway.”

  I did not argue with Diana about whether our family party was going to be fun. I was just glad she seemed excited about the parade. All the same, I wondered again what was going on with Diana. Sometimes she was fun and we were best cousins. And sometimes she was like a stranger to me.

  Egg Hunt

  “Hurry, Diana, we are going to be late,” I called up the stairs.

  “I am coming!” Diana yelled back.

  The Easter egg hunt in downtown Stoneybrook was due to start in less than fifteen minutes. We would have to hurry if we were going to arrive on time.

  Merry and Andrew were waiting in the car for us when we piled in. It was a beautiful spring morning, chilly and sunny and clear. I snuggled into my jacket and put my hands into my pockets.

  “There will be prizes for the ones who find the most Easter eggs,” said Andrew, wiggling excitedly.

  “What kind of prizes?” asked Diana.

  “Candy,” said Andrew. “Chocolate bunnies. Marshmallow eggs.”

  “Yum,” I said. I love all of those things. My own private, personal bag of candy had been eaten awhile ago. I was glad I would not have to wait until Easter morning for more treats.

  Merry parked the car near the town square, and we dashed to the information booth to get our official egg-carrying baskets. The town square, where the eggs were hidden, was roped off. I saw a bunch of people I recognized, but I could not see Hannie yet. She had said she was coming.

  A man walked up onto a little stage and said into a microphone, “Welcome, everyone, to Stoneybrook’s annual Easter egg hunt. There will be prizes for the children who collect the most eggs. So that everyone has a chance, children five and under will be given a brief head start.”

  “Yea!” shouted Andrew.

  Merry led Andrew to where a bunch of other little kids were being allowed to pass beneath the rope into the town square. Diana and I had to stay behind the rope.

  “Now, begin!” shouted the man at the microphone. “Happy hunting!”

  The five-and-unders dashed around the square, finding eggs under bushes, in the long grass, underneath benches. Some of the really little kids walked right past eggs that I could see from all the way behind the rope! The parents were calling instructions and laughing. It was really funny.

  “Man! Look at that! We will not have a chance to win, the way the little kids are going,” said Diana. She sounded mad.

  “It is okay,” I said. “Even if we do not win, we will have fun hunting for eggs. And we will have plenty more candy on Sunday. Besides, the kids are so cute.”

  Right in front of us, a little girl found her first egg, held it up proudly, and said, “Mine egg! Mine egg!” I laughed.

  “It is not fair,” Diana muttered.

  Finally the man at the microphone blew a whistle, and we big kids could start hunting. Diana and I raced through the square. We pawed through bushes, searched beneath the water fountains, and reached up high into trees. We each found some, but not nearly as many as some of the younger kids had.

  The egg hunt leader blew another whistle, and it was time to stop searching and start counting our eggs. I had looked around again for Hannie, but decided she had not made it after all. But maybe I could go to her house later.

  “Look, look!” cried Andrew, running to Diana and me. “I have a billion eggs!”

  “Good for you!” I said. “Let’s all count.” I tapped each egg in my basket as I counted it. “Hey, here’s one of ours!” I cried, holding up an egg that I recognized.

  “That was one of mine,” said Diana. “It’s really cool.”

  “Anyway, I have seven,” I said. “How many do you have?”

  “Nine,” Diana answered.

  “Fourteen,” said Andrew. (Diana helped him count.)

  “That is pretty good,” I said happily to both of them.

  “If I had gotten a head start, I would have gotten thirty,” said Diana. “I saw a little kid over there who must have twenty.”

  “Well, it does not ma —” I began, but Diana took my arm and dragged me away from Andrew. She lowered her voice to a whisper.

  “Hey, Karen, here is an idea. If you give me all your eggs and pretend that you did not find any, I might have enough to win. Do you want to go in with me? I will share the prize with you.”

  My mouth dropped open. Diana wanted to cheat!

  “I do not think that is the right thing to do,” I said. “And besides, if we go in together, we will have more than Andrew, and he will lose his prize.”

  Diana frowned. “So?”

  Well. I could not believe that Diana did not see how mean that would be. So I decided to believe she was just kidding me.

  “Ha-ha,” I said. “That would be pretty funny. Now come on. The judges are counting the eggs. We have to show them our baskets.” I ran off quickly, before she could try to talk me into being a meanie-mo.

  Well, it turned out that Andrew won third place! His prize was a box of chocolate bunnies. If Diana and I had cheated, Andrew would have come in fourth and gotten just a marshmallow chick. I was very glad we had not cheated.

  Besides, Andrew shared his chocolate bunnies with Diana and me, because he is generous and kind. I made a big show out of praising him in front of Diana.

  Diana did not say anything, but she seemed grumpy.

  Still, she managed to eat the chocolate bunny Andrew had given her.

  Sam the Easter Bunny

  We were standing in the middle of the town square, finishing off our chocolate bunnies, when who should join us but Sam, my big-house big stepbrother!

  “Hi, Karen! Hi, Andrew!” Sam called.

  “Hi, Sam!” I said. “Let me introduce you to my cousin. Sam Thomas, this is Diana Wells.”

  “Nice to meet you,” said Sam.

  “Hi,” said Diana.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked Sam. “You are a little old for Easter egg hunts, aren’t you?”

  Sam laughed. “I am a volunteer,” he said. “I helped hide the eggs early this morning.”

  “You did a good job,” said Andrew. “But not good enough. I found fourteen!”

  Sam laughed. “That is great, Andrew,” he said. “Hey, are you guys going to go to the Easter parade on Sunday?”

  “Sure,” I said. “I love parades. I would not miss it for the world.”

  “Great,” said Sam. “The
n I will probably see you there.”

  “Oh, are you marching?” Diana asked.

  Sam gave her a funny look. “No, not marching, exactly,” he said. “At least, not any more than anyone else. Promenading, I think, is what people call it.”

  Diana and I exchanged confused looks. But before we had a chance to ask Sam what he was talking about, he explained.

  “Actually, I am going to stand out in the crowd,” Sam said. “I will be wearing a bunny suit and collecting money for charity.”

  “A bunny suit?” I said. “Like the Easter Bunny? That will be so cute. Are you going to have big floppy ears and a fuzzy white tail?”

  “Of course,” said Sam. “No proper bunny would be seen in public without them.”

  Diana, Andrew, and I laughed.

  “Well, I have to go now,” said Sam. “See you Sunday. You girls will have on your best Easter bonnets, won’t you?”

  For the second time, Diana and I exchanged a confused look.

  “Um, sure,” I said. “Right.”

  Sam waved to us and trotted across the square.

  “Easter bonnets?” repeated Diana. “Like hats?”

  I nodded. “I guess so. Sam said we should wear our best ones. I wonder why.”

  “Maybe there is going to be a contest for best hat,” said Diana.

  “That must be it,” I said. “Why else would Sam want us to wear our best bonnets?”

  “Well,” Diana said, very seriously. “Even if I did not win the Easter egg hunt, I know one thing I am going to win — the prize for the most amazing Easter bonnet.”

  A Bee in a Bonnet

  The next morning Diana woke me up early. “Come on, Karen!” she said. “We have to go to the mall and buy hats. Look, I made some sketches of our winning bonnets.”

  I blinked sleepily. I put on my blue glasses. (I forgot to tell you. Glasses are another thing I have two of. I wear blue ones for reading up close, and pink ones the rest of the time.)