Ms. Colman led my classmates and me down the hall. We passed one of the kindergarten classrooms. Then we stopped at Mr. Posner’s door. Ms. Colman knocked on it. She waved through the window.
Mr. Posner opened the door and let us inside. “Welcome,” he said.
I looked around. The kindergarten room sure was different from our second-grade room. There were no desks, just two long tables. Around the room I saw blocks and toys and easels and dolls, as well as books and writing paper and some math games. On one of the tables was a cage with two mice inside. On the outside of the cage was a sign: Hunca Munca and Stuart Little. I decided I liked Mr. Posner’s room.
“Hello, boys and girls,” said Mr. Posner to my classmates and me. “Find a seat on the floor. Let me tell you about our project. Each one of you will be paired with one of my students. Together you will make a costume for your new kindergarten friend to wear in the Halloween parade. Over there are the things you can use to make the costumes.” Mr. Posner pointed to several big boxes. Spilling out of the boxes were feathers and buttons and old clothes and scraps of fabric and more. We would be able to make terrific costumes with those things, I thought.
“Now,” Mr. Posner continued, “let me tell you who your partners will be.” He started calling out names. After he called my name, he said, “Leah Frenning,” and a little girl with two long braids down her back stood up shyly.
Later, Mr. Posner said we could work wherever we wanted to. So Leah and I sat down on the rug in the story corner. I smiled at Leah. “I am Karen,” I reminded her. “I am seven. How old are you?”
“Five,” she replied.
“I have a little brother. He is almost five,” I said. “He loves Halloween, but he does not know what he wants to be this year. Do you know what you want to be?”
Leah frowned. “Mmm … maybe a … no … maybe … I do not know.”
“That’s okay. I will suggest some things. How about a princess?” Leah shook her head. “A witch? No? Okay, how about a ghost? A cat? A monster?”
Leah kept shaking her head. “Maybe a … no,” she said.
“An angel? A fairy? A doctor? A race-car driver?”
“No. I am thinking of the little things in the woods…. An elf! That’s it. I want to be an elf,” said Leah. “I mean, I think I do.”
“All right. Let’s look at the stuff in the boxes.” Helping Leah was going to be easy, I thought. After all, she was about Andrew’s age, and I am good with my brother. Plus, an elf costume should be easy to make. We would just need some green felt.
“And some green feathers and buttons,” I said to Leah. “Also, do you have a green leotard at home? That would be good.”
“Yes,” replied Leah. “But maybe, um, maybe I do not want to bring it in.”
“What do you mean? Why?” I asked.
Leah looked at the floor. She whispered something.
“What?” I could not hear her.
“Maybe I do not want to be in the parade,” she said more loudly.
“You don’t want to be in the parade? Why not?”
“I do not want all those people looking at me.”
Hmm. I just love to have people looking at me. But not everyone feels that way. “Does this mean you do not want to work on the costume?” I asked.
Leah shrugged.
Uh-oh. I had not expected this problem.
The Milky Ways
That afternoon, the Three Musketeers became candy-sellers. We rode the school bus to the little house. We brushed our hair and tidied ourselves up and picked up our candy bags.
Mommy almost did not let us out the door.
“I think a grown-up should go with you,” she said.
“Oh, no! Please let us go by ourselves,” I cried. “We promise we will only visit people we know. If we do not know who lives in a house then we will not ring the doorbell. Honest.”
“We-ell … all right,” said Mommy.
“Yes!” shouted the Three Musketeers.
We ran outside with our bags. Then we slowed down. We walked to Nancy’s door. Nancy rang her own bell. Mrs. Dawes answered it. She was carrying Danny. “Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” replied Nancy. “Mommy, I mean, madame, we are selling candy to help build a new library in Stamford. Would you like to buy a bag?”
“Or a few bags?” I interrupted.
“Yes, or a few bags?” said Nancy. “Each bag has twenty little candy bars inside. Perfect for trick-or-treaters.”
“That is perfect,” agreed Mrs. Dawes. “I will take three bags.”
“Cool!” exclaimed Hannie. “I mean, thank you very much, madame. That will be seven dollars and fifty cents.” (Hannie is very good at math. It is her best subject.)
Hannie and Nancy and I grinned at each other. Then Nancy said, “Okay, now I just need to fill out this form. Half of it will be your receipt.”
“And you pay us now, madame,” I said. “Then the candy will be delivered to you the week before Halloween.”
Nancy handed Mrs. Dawes her receipt, and Mrs. Dawes handed her the money. Nancy put it in her envelope.
“Okay, now where should we go?” asked Hannie as we left Nancy’s house.
“Over to Willie and Kathryn’s,” I said.
We dashed across the street. I rang the bell. Kathryn’s daddy answered it. And he bought two bags of candy from me.
“This is easy,” I said as we ran to the sidewalk. “Okay, Hannie. The next house is yours.”
We worked our way down the street. We stopped in at almost every house. And each person bought at least one bag of candy. Then we headed toward Bobby Gianelli’s house. Bobby is in Ms. Colman’s class, too. We used to think he was a bully, but he is really not so bad.
“We are going to beat the pants off Pamela,” I said. “Come on, you guys. Here is Bobby’s house. And it’s my turn to sell.”
But you will never guess what we saw at Bobby’s. Pamela, Leslie, and Jannie. And they had just sold candy to Mrs. Gianelli.
My mouth dropped open.
Nancy and Hannie and I stood on the sidewalk. We waited for Pamela, Leslie, and Jannie to see us. When they did, Pamela called, “Hello, Three Musketeers!”
“What are you doing over here in my neighborhood?” I replied. “You do not live around here.”
“We are just doing our job,” said Pamela.
“Just raising money for the library,” added Leslie.
“Well, do it somewhere else,” I said.
“Yeah, stay in your own neighborhood,” said Nancy.
“We do not have to,” said Jannie. “There is no law about where we can go.”
“Yeah. You guys think you are so great,” said Pamela. “Just because you have a name for yourselves. But get this — we have a name, too. We are the Milky Ways.”
Well, for heaven’s sake.
The Little Engine That Could
The Three Musketeers did not know what to think about the Milky Ways. All we wanted to do that afternoon was get away from them. So we walked back to my house. We flopped onto the front stoop.
“I cannot believe it,” said Nancy.
“The Milky Ways are gigundo pests,” added Hannie.
“At least we sold a lot of candy,” I said. “Let’s count up.”
We had sold eighteen bags altogether. Then we counted our money.
“Forty-five dollars!” exclaimed Hannie. “Cool!”
I told myself to think about the forty-five dollars for the library, and not about the pesty Milky Ways.
* * *
That night, Andrew and I poked through our box of dress-up clothes.
“We better decide on our Halloween costumes,” I said to my brother. “We need to get to work on them, if we want to finish them in time.”
“Are you going to be a witch again?” Andrew asked me.
I shook my head. “Nope. I want to be something different this year, something really good. Something better than Pamela.”
“Better tha
n Pamela?”
“Yes. I want to beat her in the Halloween parade. I am going to win a prize. And I do not want Pamela to win one. So I need a great costume.”
Andrew pulled a hard hat out of the box. “You could be a construction worker.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“A pilot? A cowgirl?”
“No.”
“Well, I know what I want to be.”
“You do?” said Mommy. She poked her head in the doorway.
“Yup. I want to be the Little Engine That Could. I mean, I want to be the train.” Andrew looked quite pleased with himself.
“A whole train?” repeated Mommy. She rubbed her eyes. “Hmm. Maybe we will need a little help with your costumes this year. Would you like me to find out if Kristy could come over a few afternoons and give us a hand?”
“Yes!” Andrew and I cried. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Then we waited by the phone while Mommy called Kristy. Kristy said she would be happy to help us. Now if I could just think of a good costume….
Karen’s Promise
Halloween was coming soon, and I did not have an idea for my costume. But Leah’s elf costume was coming along nicely.
Even though she said she was not going to wear it.
One afternoon my classmates and I were in Mr. Posner’s room again. We were working away with our kindergarten partners.
“You are going to be the best elf in the parade,” I said to Leah.
I was kneeling on the floor. Leah stood before me. She was dressed in green from her head to her toes. “No I am not,” she replied. “I do not want to wear it.” She paused. “And I mean it. I am not even going to finish it.”
“But you have to wear it. And you especially have to finish it. I do not want Ms. Colman to think I was not helping you.”
“Karen, I do not want everyone looking at me.”
“How about if you finish your costume, but when you march in the parade you wear your regular clothes?”
“Then everyone will look at me because I will be the only person who is not wearing a costume.” Leah’s lip trembled.
I sighed. “Are you going to finish your costume?”
Leah shook her head slowly.
I did not know what to do. I stood up. And when I did, Pamela brushed by me. “I sold eight more bags yesterday,” she whispered.
“So?” I replied.
“So we are going to beat you,” she said in a singsong voice.
I stuck my tongue out at her. Pamela turned her back and walked away.
“What is that girl’s name?” Leah asked me.
“Meanie-mo,” I muttered.
Leah nodded. “That is what I would call her, too,” she said.
I grinned at Leah. I liked her. I liked her even if she was stubborn. And then I had an idea. “Leah,” I said, “are you going trick-or-treating this year?”
“Of course,” replied Leah.
“And what are you going to wear when you go trick-or-treating?”
Leah frowned. “I guess … my elf costume?”
“Okay. Then we better finish it, even if you do not want to march in the parade. Right? You still need a good costume.”
Leah sighed. “Okay.”
“Great. Now let’s decide how to decorate your hat.”
Leah and I began to search through a box of yarn and scraps and buttons. Suddenly I saw an enormous green button. “Perfect!” I cried. I reached for it — and another hand snatched it away.
“Sorry,” said Jannie. “I saw it first.” She dashed away with the button.
“Is her name Meanie-mo, too?” asked Leah.
“It ought to be. Come on, let’s look in that other box.” I took Leah by the hand. And that was when I got a great idea. “Leah,” I said, “you stay here and look for green things. I have to talk to Mr. Posner and Ms. Colman for a minute. I will be right back.”
The teachers were standing by Mr. Posner’s desk. I told them about Leah. I said she had decided not to walk in the parade.
“Leah is very shy,” said Mr. Posner.
“But I have an idea,” I told him. “I bet Leah would walk in the parade if I walked with her. I could hold her hand. Then she would not feel so scared. Could I do that?”
Mr. Posner and Ms. Colman looked at each other. Then they smiled. “Of course,” replied Mr. Posner. “That is a very good idea.”
I ran back to Leah. I told her I would hold her hand. “Then would you be in the parade?” I asked her.
“Yes,” Leah said seriously. “Thank you, Karen.”
Too Late
One afternoon I was sitting on the floor in our playroom. I was looking through the box of dress-up clothes again. I was still trying to decide on a Halloween costume. I had just found a big fuzzy hat when I heard the phone ring. Andrew answered it. He just loves to answer the phone. It makes him feel grown-up.
“Who should I say is calling?” I heard him say importantly. Then he yelled, “Karen! It’s Nancy!”
I ran into the kitchen. “Thanks, Andrew,” I said. I took the phone from him. “Hi, Nancy!”
“Hi! I just had a great idea. Tomorrow you and Hannie and I could bring our candy-selling stuff to school. We could sell candy to all the teachers. I bet we would sell tons of bags.”
“Nancy, that is a great idea. Let’s try to get to school early.”
“Definitely,” agreed Nancy. “Maybe someone will drive us so we do not have to wait for the bus. I will call Hannie now to tell her the idea.”
“Okay. And let’s dress up tomorrow,” I said.
* * *
The next day, Hannie and Nancy and I remembered our bags. And we dressed up in extra-nice school clothes. We had just one little problem. No one could drive us to school. We had to wait for our buses after all. So we did not arrive at school early.
“Oh, well,” said Nancy when we met in our classroom. “We still have time to sell a little candy.”
We gathered up our things. We walked primly out of our classroom.
“Where should we go first?” asked Hannie.
“To Mr. Posner’s room,” I replied. “Then we will work our way through the school. First-grade rooms, second-grade rooms, all the way to the big kids’ classrooms. Is that a good plan?”
“Yes,” replied Hannie and Nancy.
And then we saw Pamela, Leslie, and Jannie. They were leaving Mr. Posner’s room. They were holding their candy receipts. And they were stuffing some money into one of their envelopes.
“Hi, Three Musketeers,” said Leslie.
Jannie eyed our CANDY FOR SALE bags. “You were not going to sell candy to the teachers, were you?” she asked.
“Yes we were!” I cried.
“Sorry. Too late,” said Pamela. “You should have gotten here early, like we did. We have visited every teacher in the school already.”
“But … but … NO FAIR!” I shouted.
“Sorry,” said Pamela again.
* * *
That afternoon my friends and I took our candy-selling bags and walked down my street. We walked past Bobby’s house. Then we kept going until we were in … Pamela’s neighborhood.
“But we do not know anybody here,” said Nancy.
“Yes, we do. We know a few people,” I said. “This is Molly Foley’s house. Come on.”
We had not even reached Molly’s front door when I heard someone shout, “Hey! What are you doing over here?”
My friends and I turned around. There were the Milky Ways.
“Just doing our job. Just selling a little candy,” I said.
“But we were going to go to Molly’s house today,” exclaimed Leslie.
“Sorry,” I replied. “Too late.”
“Yeah, too late!” called Hannie and Nancy.
Then the Three Musketeers stuck out their tongues at the Milky Ways.
The Wild Thing
“Kristy is here! Kristy is here!” called Andrew. He ran to the front door.
I was ri
ght behind him. Together we flung the door open. We were ready to work on our Halloween costumes.
I had just one little problem. I still did not know what I wanted to be.
Andrew and I jumped all over Kristy.
“Can you make me into a train?” asked Andrew.
“Can you help me decide on a costume?” I asked.
Mommy smiled at us. “They are all yours, Kristy,” she said. “Good luck.”
Andrew and I led Kristy into the playroom.
“Okay,” said Kristy. “First, Andrew, can you bring me The Little Engine That Could? And now, Karen, let’s think about your costume. You know, Andrew had a very good idea. He decided to be a character in a book he likes. Maybe you could do that, too.”
That was a good idea. “Hmm. I could be Paddington Bear,” I said. “Or Charlotte the spider or Willy Wonka or the Cat in the Hat.”
“Or Doctor Dolittle or Clifford the Big Red Dog,” added Kristy.
“Or — or, wait! I know!” I cried. “I’ve got it! I will be a Wild Thing from Where the Wild Things Are. That will be a great costume!”
“Terrific,” agreed Kristy.
“I bet it will be the best in the class,” I went on. “I bet it will be better than Pamela’s.”
Kristy eyed me, but she did not say anything.
Andrew returned with his book then, and I went looking for Where the Wild Things Are. When I had found it, Andrew and Kristy and I turned the pages of the books.
“You guys do not choose easy costumes, do you?” said Kristy.
“No, but we choose fun ones,” I replied.
Kristy grinned. “I guess that is true. Now, let’s see. Andrew, how can we turn you into a train?”
“Maybe with cardboard boxes,” said Andrew.
“Yeah, we could attach a train of them behind him, and then Andrew could wear one big one around his middle, and that would be the engine!” I exclaimed. “And for me … hmm. How are we going to make me look furry? And I will need horns, I think.”
Andrew and I could not wait to begin working on our costumes.