Karen's Movie Star

  “Pumpkin, you are not lost. Please just ignore this can of cat food,” I said. “And go find Boo-Boo. Tell him we are looking for him.”

  I could not find Boo-Boo anywhere. I started to feel worried myself. Maybe he had gotten out. I put on my coat and ran out the back door.

  I called Boo-Boo very softly, so I would not interrupt the filming. They had been shooting the important scene all afternoon, and I had not seen one bit of it. But I did not care. Boo-Boo was much more important. I checked under bushes and in Daddy’s greenhouse. I wished there were snow in the backyard, so I could see cat tracks. But there was nothing. I could not see a sign of Boo-Boo anywhere. Bullfrogs. Double bullfrogs.

  As I walked along the driveway, a movie assistant came up to me.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  I told him about Boo-Boo — that he was old and sick and now missing. I described what he looked like. The assistant was very nice. He said he would tell everyone to keep their eyes open for a cat that looked like Boo-Boo. There were many people around from the movie company. Maybe someone would see him.

  “Thank you,” I said. I went back inside. I was worried and upset, just like Nannie. Nannie and Kristy and Sam and I sat at the kitchen table, trying to think of places Boo-Boo could hide. We did not know what we would tell Daddy when he got home.

  Karen’s Great Idea

  “Well,” said Nannie finally. “We have looked everywhere. I think we will just have to wait for Boo-Boo to turn up. Maybe he is napping somewhere and did not hear us calling him. Maybe he is exploring a new place and does not want to come out right now. He will probably show up at dinner.”

  She did not look as if she really believed this.

  Outside, the movie workers were taking down their huge lights. They were loading the equipment into their trucks. I had been waiting for this afternoon for weeks, and I had missed the whole thing. But I did not really care. Who wanted to see Allison filming a scene, anyway? She was not my friend.

  The doorbell rang. I jumped up.

  “Maybe it is one of the movie people!” I cried. “Maybe they found Boo-Boo!”

  I ran to the front door and opened it. There stood Allison Hunter.

  “Hello,” she said. She seemed a little shy.

  “Hello.” I looked around. “Is this part of the movie? I thought you were finished.”

  “We are,” said Allison. “Soon we will leave Stoneybrook. But I heard that your cat is missing. I came to help look.”

  Well. I forgave Allison for everything.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Come on in. We have looked everywhere. But we can look again. Maybe we need a new pair of eyes.”

  I introduced Allison to Kristy and Sam. I was proud that I could introduce a big star to my family, but I was even prouder that Allison wanted to help look for Boo-Boo.

  The two of us looked in all the places I had looked in before, and even a few new places.

  “I love your house,” said Allison as we crawled under Daddy’s bed. “It is so big, but it is also very cozy. It feels like a family lives here.”

  “Yes,” I said, and then I sneezed because of all the dust bunnies under the bed. I told Allison about how Mommy and Daddy had gotten divorced, and then remarried, and about how now I had two families.

  “And we are all going to eat dinner together on Thanksgiving,” I finished. “It will be so great.”

  “It sounds great,” said Allison. She crawled out from under the bed and sat back on her heels. “I would just like to see my one family for Thanksgiving. But I will not be able to. The very day after Thanksgiving, I have to be in New York to film some more scenes. So I cannot go to Arizona to see my sister and my father. And they cannot come here. I really miss them.”

  Suddenly I realized something: Allison wished she had my life and my family just like I wished I were a star! I had thought her life must be wonderful. But it sounded as if most of the time she was busy and lonesome and homesick. I was sure she had fun too sometimes, but she was missing out on a lot of things that I had all the time. Hmm. Maybe being a big star was not as terrific as I thought.

  Then I had a brilliant idea. I did not tell Allison my brilliant idea. Instead I walked her to the door, because she had to meet her mother. She and her mom would be staying in the hotel until late Thursday night.

  I thanked Allison for helping to look for Boo-Boo. Then I ran to the kitchen. Elizabeth had just come home from work. Nannie was telling her about Boo-Boo.

  “Nannie!” I said. “Elizabeth! Allison and her mom will be here till Thursday night. Allison is sad because she will not have Thanksgiving with her family. Can they have dinner here with us on Thursday?”

  Nannie and Elizabeth looked at each other.

  “Sure, why not?” said Elizabeth. “We are already going to have so many people here that two more will not make much difference.”

  “Yea!” I cried, jumping up and down. It made the day seem less yucky. Now if we could just find Boo-Boo, everything would be great.

  Daddy’s Sad News

  We did not find Boo-Boo all that evening. David Michael looked again as soon as he got home. Even Emily Michelle looked. But Boo-Boo did not come out for dinner. We could not hide how worried and sad we felt. That night, even Pumpkin seemed upset. She came into my room, meowing, and she poked around under my desk and up on my bed, as if looking for Boo-Boo. I did not sleep well that night.

  When I woke up on Wednesday, I had a good thought and a bad thought:

  1) My little-house family was coming home today!

  2) Has Boo-Boo come back yet?

  I jumped out of bed and threw on my jeans and a sweatshirt. Then I ran downstairs to the kitchen. Nannie was there, turning sausages in a frying pan. I could tell by her sad smile that Boo-Boo had not shown up yet.

  I decided to look in every single square inch of our house after breakfast.

  Elizabeth came in then, carrying Emily Michelle. “Good morning, everyone,” she said. “Karen, are you excited about going to the airport later?”

  “Yes, I really am,” I said. “I cannot believe the day is finally here.”

  Elizabeth smiled at me and put Emily Michelle into her booster seat. Then Elizabeth leaned over and kissed my head. “We will certainly miss you during your little-house months. But I am happy you will be back soon.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Juice! Juice!” said Emily Michelle, banging her hands on the table.

  As Kristy was pouring out juice, Daddy came into the kitchen. He looked awful.

  “Daddy, what is wrong?” I cried.

  Daddy took a deep breath and sat down. “I am afraid I have some sad news,” he said quietly. We all looked at him. Suddenly, I knew what he was going to say.

  “I found Boo-Boo this morning,” said Daddy. “He was in the very back of the linen closet in the hallway. He must have curled up there to take a nap yesterday. It looks as if he died in his sleep.”

  “Oh, no,” said Elizabeth softly. “I am so sorry, honey.”

  “Boo-Boo is dead?” I asked. My voice cracked a little.

  “Yes, sweetheart,” said Daddy sadly. “He was a very old cat, and we knew he was sick.”

  I could feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I had known Boo-Boo my whole life. For most of my life, I had not liked him very much, because he had been grumpy. But lately he had become so nice. He had become my friend. I would miss him very much.

  Everyone looked sad except for Emily Michelle, who did not understand what had happened.

  “I am really sorry, Watson,” said David Michael. “I know you had Boo-Boo for a long time.”

  “I got him as a little kitten,” said Daddy, “years and years ago.”

  Elizabeth put her arms around Daddy. I got up from my seat and climbed on Daddy’s lap. (I am not too old to do this, in emergencies.) He held me and I leaned against him. I was trying not to cry.

  “Poor Boo-Boo,” I whispered.

  “We
will tell your mother when we pick her up this afternoon at the airport,” said Daddy. “Boo-Boo was her cat too, for awhile.”

  I nodded.

  For several minutes we all sat quietly in the kitchen together, feeling sad. That is what families do during hard times.

  A New Friend

  After breakfast, Daddy took Boo-Boo and put him in a beautiful wooden box that used to hold important papers in his office. We decided to bury Boo-Boo in our backyard the next day, when Mommy would be here too.

  I went upstairs to my room. I did not feel like talking to anyone. Pumpkin came in and rubbed her little black head against my knee. I petted her softly and told her about Boo-Boo. She seemed to understand that something was wrong. She did not act playful, the way she usually does.

  I sighed several times to myself, trying to let the bad feelings out. In a little while I would have to go downstairs and help Nannie get ready for our big Thanksgiving dinner. At least I could still look forward to that.

  “Ohmygosh!” I suddenly said, sitting up. “I forgot to ask Allison and her mother to dinner tomorrow!”

  I had to call her right away. But I did not know her number. I only knew the name of her hotel. I asked Elizabeth to help me get the number. But she had a better idea. First we found the number and called Allison to make sure she was there. Then we went to the hotel in person!

  Mrs. Hunter opened the door to their room. “Hello, Karen,” she said. “Nice to see you again.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I came over to ask Allison something.”

  A few days ago all I wanted to ask Allison was how to become a star, and whether she could get me a bigger part in her movie. That was when we were not friends. Now I wanted to ask her something much better.

  “Hi, Karen,” said Allison. “Come on in. Did you ever find Boo-Boo?”

  Inside, the room looked like a small apartment. There was a tiny kitchen, a living area, and two bedrooms and a bathroom. You might think, since a star was staying there, that it would be totally fancy inside. But it looked very normal. There were no fake tiger-skin rugs on the floor. No gold curtains. No fancy furniture. It just looked like a regular, comfortable hotel room. I liked it.

  I sat down and answered Allison’s question. I told her how Daddy had found Boo-Boo this morning, and how we would bury him tomorrow. Allison was very sad to hear about it.

  “I have a cat of my own at home,” she said. “I know how upset I would feel if anything happened to her. I am sorry, Karen.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “But actually, that is not why I came over. I came over because no one should be by themselves on Thanksgiving. Daddy and Elizabeth said I could ask you and your mom to come to our house tomorrow for dinner. There will be about a million of us. But it will be very fun. And maybe if you are surrounded by all of my families, you will not miss your own family so much.”

  Allison’s face lit up. “I would love to! Mom, can we, please?” She turned back to me. “We were going to have Thanksgiving dinner here. But I would much rather come to your house.”

  “Are you sure it is okay?” asked Mrs. Hunter.

  I nodded. “Yes. We will be eating at two o’clock.”

  “Great!” said Allison. “Thank you so much.”

  I was glad that I had made Allison happy. We sat and talked for awhile longer. Allison was excited because, in two weeks, she would finish filming the movie, and she could go home and see the rest of her family. But she could stay with them for only a month before she had to head off again to make another movie.

  It is much harder being a star than you would think.

  Allison told me that the reason she had not picked me for the special sledding scene on Sunday was that the producers had wanted her to pick a boy. I felt much better when I heard that. Allison was becoming a friend, and I was very lucky. On the way home, I thought about how much I had to be thankful for, even though Boo-Boo was gone.

  Welcome Home, Andrew!

  Daddy and I were supposed to pick up my little-house family after lunch. But when he called the airport to check on the flight, they gave him bad news.

  “There was a huge snowstorm in Chicago last night,” he told me. “More than a foot of snow has fallen. Mommy’s plane cannot leave. They do not know when it will be able to leave.”

  “What?” I cried. “I have been waiting for them to come for so long! It is Thanksgiving! I told Allison that both of my families would be here. And we need to tell Mommy about Boo-Boo! They cannot be late. I cannot wait any longer!” Before I knew what was happening, I had burst into tears.

  Daddy kneeled down and put his arms around me. I took off my glasses and buried my face in his shoulder. (It is hard to cry when you wear glasses. They get all fogged up from the tears.) I do not know how long I cried. It felt like a long time. Finally I was all cried out. Daddy handed me a tissue. I wiped my nose.

  “I am sorry, Karen,” Daddy said softly. “I think I know how you feel. Sometimes it is all too much.”

  I nodded and hiccuped.

  “But this does not mean that Mommy will not be coming home at all,” continued Daddy. “It just means she will be a bit late. As soon as the snow stops and they plow the runways, her plane can leave. There is a very good chance that we will all have Thanksgiving together tomorrow. Okay?”

  I nodded again. I felt very tired.

  Nannie knelt beside me. “I know you are upset, Karen,” she said. “But I could really use your help. We need to get everything ready for tomorrow. If your mother does come, it is important that we have a good meal ready for her, right?”

  “Right,” I whispered.

  For the rest of the afternoon I was Nannie’s special helper. I put up Thanksgiving decorations. I helped set the gigundo dining room table that we hardly ever use. I dusted extra chairs. I made beautiful place cards to show everyone where to sit. Three of the cards were for Mommy, Seth, and Andrew.

  After dinner David Michael, Kristy, Emily Michelle, and I watched a movie. Kristy made popcorn. The house was already full of wonderful cooking smells. It smelled like Thanksgiving. But it did not feel like Thanksgiving.

  Every so often, Daddy would call the airport. By the time I had to go to bed, Mommy’s plane had not taken off yet. I could not believe it.

  Kristy helped me get ready for bed. I had gotten used to having Boo-Boo sleep with me. The night before Pumpkin had slept with me instead. Kristy found her and put her on my bedspread. I petted her while Kristy tucked me in.

  “Kristy, what if Mommy does not get here in time?” I asked. “I wanted to have both my families together for Thanksgiving. I promised Allison everyone would be here.”

  Kristy patted my hand. “Try to think positively,” she said. “You never know what will happen.”

  I did not think I would ever be able to go to sleep. But I was worn-out and tired. The next thing I knew, a dim gray light was coming through my window. I sat up and opened my curtain. For a moment I thought the movie people had sprayed fake snow all over our side yard too. Then I realized what had happened: The same storm that had hit Chicago had finally made its way to Stoneybrook, Connecticut. There was about a foot of snow on the ground. It looked beautiful.

  Suddenly my bedroom door burst open.

  “Karen!” shouted Andrew.

  “Andrew!” I screamed. I flung myself out of bed and grabbed him in a huge bear hug. “You made it!” I said. “You really made it!”

  “Hi, honey,” said Mommy. She and Seth came in my room.

  “Mommy!” I yelled. “Seth!”

  We all hugged and kissed and hugged again. I was so, so, so, so happy. They told me they had finally gotten home around five o’clock in the morning. But they could not wait to see me. They had eaten breakfast and hurried over to the big house.

  I told them everything about the movie, and about Allison coming for dinner. Then I told Mommy about poor Boo-Boo.

  “Oh, dear,” she said, looking sad. “I knew he was getting old. But I sort of
thought he would last forever.”

  Andrew and I decided to write a farewell poem to Boo-Boo. We were going to hold the funeral at one o’clock, before Allison arrived. But first Andrew had to take a nap.

  I smiled as Mommy and Seth went downstairs for a cup of coffee. My family had come home, in spite of the snowstorm. It was just like Allison’s movie, I’ll Be Home for Christmas. I was very thankful.

  Farewell to Boo-Boo

  Because of all the real snow in the backyard, Daddy, Seth, Sam, and Charlie had to clear a space and then dig a deep hole.

  We bundled up and gathered around the grave. I felt sad all over again. I had been so happy, then so sad, all in one day. It was exhausting.

  “Today we have gathered to say good-bye to an old friend,” said Daddy quietly. That was all it took. I started crying. Mommy started crying. Nannie sniffled. Elizabeth and Kristy blinked back tears. Even Sam and Charlie looked sad. David Michael’s and Andrew’s lips quivered. (Thank heavens Emily Michelle was inside taking her nap. The nursery monitor was clipped to Nannie’s belt.)

  “Boo-Boo was not always the most affectionate cat,” continued Daddy. “But he was ours for a long time, and he was my friend. I will miss him. I am glad he died at home, with us, his people, and that his end was peaceful.”

  I held tightly to Mommy’s hand.

  “Karen?” asked Daddy.

  I stepped forward to read the poem Andrew and I had written. “It is called ‘Dear Boo-Boo,’ ” I began. Then I read:

  We miss you, dear Boo-Boo,

  We miss you so much,

  Although until recently

  You didn’t like us to touch

  You.

  But lately you had been

  So nice and so sweet.

  When you curled up with us,

  We thought it was neat.

  And now you are gone

  Forever, they say.

  Dear Boo-Boo, sweet Boo-Boo,

  We wish you could stay.