The author gratefully acknowledges
Gabrielle Charbonnet
for her help
with this book.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
1 The Best Kids Ever
2 Karen Two-Two and Andrew Two-Two
3 Copycat Andrew
4 Karen’s Brilliant Idea
5 Merry Says Yes!
6 The Three Musketeers
7 The Perfect Potter
8 Karen’s Big Mouth
9 Turtle, Horse, Eagle
10 Andrew Two-Two-Too
11 How Does Isabel Do It?
12 The Big Switch
13 Karen Is Doomed
14 Karen Is Saved
15 What Friends Are For
16 Isabel Returns
17 Caught in a Coil
18 Karen’s Confession
19 Setting Things Right
20 And One for All!
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
The Best Kids Ever
“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day,” I sang.
“Andrew Brewer wants to play,” chimed in my little brother, Andrew. (He is four going on five.)
We looked out the window. The rain had not gone away. It was still a windy, rainy March morning.
“Well, we can always play inside, Andrew,” I said.
“I do not really want to play,” replied Andrew. “I just sang that because it went with the song. I want to sit here and wait for Merry.”
I nodded. All I wanted to do was wait for Merry too.
Oh, I have not told you who Merry is. I have not even told you who I am yet!
My name is Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair and blue eyes and freckles. I live in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I am in second grade. I have two families. And I will tell you more about myself in a minute.
But first I have to tell you about Merry Perkins. Because Mommy was starting a new job, Andrew and I needed someone to look after us during the day. We needed a nanny to arrive before school started and stay until Mommy came home in the afternoon. Andrew and I helped choose the nanny ourselves.
We chose Merry. This was going to be her first day with us. She would be arriving any minute to help us get ready for school.
I was sure that Merry would be the perfect nanny for us — just like Mary Poppins! Their names even sound alike.
Andrew and I sat and waited patiently for Merry. I hummed a little. Andrew hummed a little. I kicked my heels against the side of the couch. Andrew kicked his heels against the side of the couch.
I was going crazy. And I could tell that Andrew was going crazy too.
“Mommy!” I called. “When will she get here?”
Mommy came out of the kitchen. “She should be here any minute,” she said. Mommy sat on the couch with us. (She did not kick it with her heels.)
“You two seem pretty excited about your new nanny,” said Mommy.
“Oh, yes,” I said. “I am very excited. Merry is great! We are going to have so much fun with her.”
“I am glad you are looking forward to spending time with her,” said Mommy. “But you know, it might take you some time to get used to having Merry around.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, we all like Merry,” said Mommy. “Still, she is new to you, and you will be new to her. You will have to get used to each other.”
What was there to get used to? Merry was wonderful, and I was… well, I was pretty wonderful too, when you got right down to it. And so was Andrew. How could there be any problems?
“Everything will be fine,” I told Mommy. I patted her shoulder. “I am sure of it.”
“Okay, Karen,” said Mommy. “I am glad you think so.”
“I do,” I said.
Mommy smiled at me, and then she headed back to the kitchen.
After Mommy left, I thought for a moment. (I am always thinking. It is very tiring sometimes.) I was sure that I liked Merry. I was sure that Andrew liked Merry. And I was sure that Merry liked us too. If she did not, she would not have accepted the job as our nanny. But what if Mommy was right? What if we had trouble getting used to Merry? What if she had trouble getting used to us? We needed to make sure everything went smoothly.
“Andrew, I know how we can make sure that Merry is really happy being our nanny,” I said.
“How?” Andrew asked.
“We can be on our best behavior. We can try to be the best kids Merry has ever nannied. Merry will fall in love with us. And we will all be happy.”
“That is a great idea, Karen,” said Andrew.
“Thank you,” I said politely. I was already on my best behavior!
Karen Two-Two and Andrew Two-Two
Now I need to tell you about my two families. So here I go.
A long, long time ago, when I was little, Mommy and Daddy and Andrew and I lived together in Daddy’s big house. But Mommy and Daddy decided they did not love each other anymore and they got divorced. So Mommy moved into her own little house. Andrew and I went with her. Daddy stayed in the big house, where he had grown up.
After awhile Mommy met a nice man named Seth Engle. They got married, and Seth came to live in the little house. He is our stepfather now. Seth brought his dog, Midgie, and his cat, Rocky, with him. Mommy, Seth, Andrew, Midgie, Rocky, Emily Junior (my pet rat), Bob (Andrew’s hermit crab), and I all live together at the little house.
Daddy also got remarried, to a gigundoly nice woman named Elizabeth Thomas. She is our stepmother. Elizabeth already had four children of her own, and they all came to live with her in Daddy’s big house. Elizabeth’s kids are Sam and Charlie, who are practically grown-ups (they are in high school); Kristy, who is thirteen and who is the best stepsister ever; and David Michael, who is seven, like me, but who goes to a different school.
After Daddy and Elizabeth got married, they adopted my little sister from a faraway country called Vietnam. Emily Michelle is two and a half. I love her so much that I named my pet rat after her.
There are so many people at the big house (so many pets too) that Elizabeth’s mother, Nannie, came to live there and help take care of everyone. (It is important to remember that my big-house Nannie is not my little-house nanny. Nannie is short for “grandmother.” I do not know what nanny is short for.)
Now Andrew and I go back and forth between the little house, where Mommy lives, and the big house, where Daddy lives. We spend a month at one house, then a month at the other house.
Even though Emily Junior and Bob travel back and forth with us, most of our stuff does not. That is because we have two of a lot of things — one for each house. I have two sets of clothes, two collections of books, and two stuffed cats named Moosie and Goosie. Plus I have two houses and two families, two mommies and two daddies, and two pieces of Tickly, my special blanket.
I also have two best friends. Hannie Papadakis lives across the street and one house down from the big house. Nancy Dawes lives next door to the little house. We call ourselves the Three Musketeers. Our motto is “All for one and one for all!”
Because Andrew and I have two of so many things, I started calling us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I got the idea from a book called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.)
Hey! I just thought of something! Now I even have two “nannies” — Nannie, my stepgrandmother, and Merry, my nanny.
And speaking of Merry, the doorbell finally rang! I smoothed my hair and put a big smile on my face. Andrew did the same. We ran to the door. We were on our best behavior. And we were ready to greet Merry on her very first day of work.
Copycat Andrew
“Merry!” I shouted as I flung open t
he door.
“Karen! Andrew!” said Merry. “Good morning! How nice to see you!” She shook out her umbrella. “Still in your pajamas? Run upstairs and get dressed. We do not want to be late for school.” Merry’s smile was even bigger than mine.
Andrew and I dashed upstairs to put our clothes on.
While we were dressing, Mommy said good-bye to us. She had to go to her job making jewelry at the crafts center.
We rushed downstairs as soon as we were dressed. Merry had fixed our breakfast. I sat down at my place. There was a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar on top. The raisins made a smiley face, with brown-sugar hair. My juice glass had a wedge of orange stuck on the rim. My paper napkin was folded into a sort of flower shape.
Everything looked gigundoly fancy and special.
“Wow!” I said. “This is bee-yoo-ti-ful!”
Andrew looked at me. “Yes!” he said quickly. “Bee-yoo-ti-ful! Thank you.”
Merry was wonderful. And this was just her first hour! I was glad Andrew and I were planning to be wonderful too.
* * *
Usually I love school, but today I wanted to spend all my time with Merry. As soon as the bus pulled up to my stop at the end of the day, I leaped off, said good-bye to Nancy, and raced home.
I found Merry and Andrew in the kitchen, working on an art project. (I love art projects!)
Merry had taken out a stack of old National Geographics. She and Andrew were looking through them and cutting out pictures of fish and other sea life. They were pasting the pictures onto a blue sheet of construction paper. The blue looked like water.
“Would you like to help us with our aquarium collage, Karen?” Merry asked.
I could see that the aquarium collage was almost done.
“Would it be okay if I started a new collage?” I asked politely. “Maybe I will make a farm.”
“That is a great idea, Karen,” said Merry.
I flipped through the magazines and ate my snack (peanut butter on rice crackers). Pretty soon I had cut out a good collection of animals, tractors, and other farm things. I started pasting them onto a fresh sheet of green construction paper. The green looked like fields.
Across the table from me, Andrew was looking at my farm scene.
“May I make a farm too?” asked Andrew nicely.
“Our aquarium is not quite filled up yet,” said Merry. “We have a few more fish to paste down, plus this handsome crab.”
She held up a picture of a crab. It was green and blue.
“I think I’d like to make a farm now,” said Andrew.
“Well, okay, we can make a farm collage,” said Merry. “Let’s find some farm pictures.” (I could make my collage on my own, but Andrew needed Merry’s help with the scissors.)
I watched them flip through magazines for awhile. I had already cut out all the best farm pictures. All they could find were some teeny, tiny faraway cows and a building that did not look much like a barn. Andrew was upset. I did not want him to be upset in front of Merry. We were supposed to be on our best behavior.
“Here, Andrew,” I said. I handed him my pile of farm pictures. “You may have these.”
“Why, Karen,” Merry exclaimed. “That is so nice of you, to share your pictures. What a good big sister you are.”
I smiled. Merry was beginning to see how wonderful I was.
“I will work on a food collage instead,” I said grandly.
“That will be fun, Karen,” said Merry. “You are full of good ideas today.”
I beamed. Merry was pleased with me already. Soon I was cutting out pictures of hot dogs, ice-cream cones, a roasting turkey, a pile of some weird beans, and lots of other foods. I started pasting them down.
I glanced up. Andrew was watching me. He was not working on his farm collage.
“I want to do foods,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows. “What did you say?” I asked him.
“Foods,” he said. “I want to make a food collage too.”
I could not believe it. Andrew was copying me.
“Andrew,” I said, frowning. “You said you wanted to make a farm, and so I gave you — ”
“I have an idea,” said Merry cheerfully. “I think we should put away the collages for now, and listen to some music instead.”
She started sweeping up the magazines, glue sticks, and construction paper.
I wanted to tell Andrew he was a copycat. But I decided I better not. Not in front of Merry. I did not want her to think I was disagreeable, or that Andrew and I bickered a lot. We usually do not.
“May I help you pick out music?” I asked.
“Yes, indeed,” said Merry, walking into the living room.
Before I followed her, I frowned hard at Andrew.
Karen’s Brilliant Idea
I soon stopped feeling mad at Andrew. We both knew it was important to stay on our absolute best behavior. We even shook on it.
The next afternoon Merry had another fun activity planned for us. We went to a crafts fair at the Stoneybrook Community Center.
“Some of my old students have some pieces in the fair,” Merry said.
Besides being our nanny, Merry is a potter. She makes things such as mugs and bowls out of clay and sells them.
“That bowl is beautiful,” I said, pointing to one of the pieces. It was green, with a red rim.
“It was made by one of my students,” said Merry proudly.
“Are you going to have time to teach pottery, now that you are our nanny?” I asked.
“Yes. During the months that you two are at the big house, I will teach a children’s pottery class,” said Merry. “But during little-house months, I will be too busy taking care of you to teach a class. I am looking forward to having a little variety in my schedule. The only problem is…” Merry’s voice trailed off.
“What?” I asked. “What is the problem?”
“Well, the nanny job came on rather suddenly,” Merry said. “I had already agreed to teach a pottery class during March. So just this month, starting next Thursday, I will be teaching a class on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.”
“What will happen to us?” Andrew asked. His eyes grew big.
“That is the problem,” said Merry. “Your parents and I have been looking for a baby-sitter who can take care of you on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the month. But we have not been able to find anyone so far. If we cannot find someone fast, I do not know what we are going to do.”
I walked up and down the hall, looking at the crafts. I saw picture frames made of seashells. I saw handmade teddy bears and dried-flower arrangements and bird paintings. And lots of cups, plates, saucers, and bowls made out of pottery.
The pottery was really neat, I thought. I had never thought about pottery before. I was sure Merry would be pleased if I showed an interest in it. Someday maybe I could even take her class…. That was it!
“Merry!” I cried. I ran to her. She and Andrew were looking at a display of fancy leather belts. “I have the answer to your problem!”
“You do? And what is it?” Merry asked.
“The solution is that Andrew and I will take your pottery class. I would love to take a pottery class.” I was proud of my solution.
“Me too!” Andrew chimed in.
I beamed at Merry. I waited for her to say, “Karen, that is a stroke of genius.”
Instead she said, “Karen, I am afraid you and Andrew cannot take my class.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Why not?” Andrew echoed.
“It is for older children. Eight- to eleven-year-olds.”
“I am almost eight,” I pointed out. “Because I am already seven. And Andrew is very mature for his age.”
Andrew stood up tall.
Merry smiled. “I do not know, Karen. I am not sure it is a good idea. But there may not be any better options. I will talk to Seth and your mommy about it.”
Yippee! Andrew and I high-fived. We were going
to take pottery lessons. I was sure of it.
Merry Says Yes!
“Mommy, please!” I begged. “Pretty please. Pretty please with a cherry on top!”
Mommy smiled. “You certainly know how to ask nicely, Karen,” she said.
It was later that afternoon. Mommy had come home from her job making jewelry. I had told her how Andrew and I could take Merry’s pottery class.
Now Mommy, Merry, Andrew, and I were in the living room. We were talking about my brilliant idea.
Mommy did not seem convinced.
“Andrew and I want to learn how to make pottery,” I pointed out. “Right, Andrew?”
“Yes,” said Andrew. “I want to be in the class with Karen.”
“I am happy that you are both so interested in pottery all of a sudden,” said Mommy. “But the problem is, the class is for older children.”
“We will act older,” I promised. “We will pay attention. We will not misbehave. I will use my indoor voice. I am sure we will be no trouble at all.”
“Well…” said Mommy. “It is true, it would be very convenient for me if you were to take Merry’s class. I have not been able to find any other arrangement for you.”
She was about to give in. I could tell.
“I suppose it is okay with me…” Mommy began.
I started to shout, “Hip, hip, hoo — ” when Mommy cut me off.
“It is really up to Merry, however,” said Mommy. “She is the teacher. It is her class. She has the final say.”
Mommy turned to Merry. “What do you think, Merry? Will it be okay for Karen and Andrew to sit in on your class?”
“Oh, Merry, please,” I said. “Pretty please with a cherry on top. Pretty please with a cherry and chocolate sprinkles on top!”
Merry laughed. “No chopped nuts?”
“Pretty please with everything on top,” I said.
“That is quite a pretty please, Karen,” said Merry. “Still, I am not sure. Will you and Andrew be able to keep up with the class? I do not want the other students to have to hold back.”
“I am sure that we can keep up,” I said. “I have made lots of things out of Play-Doh. That is almost the same as clay. And Andrew is an expert at making mud pies.”