“No, Emily,” said Kristy, laughing. “It is ‘one-horse open sleigh.’ A sleigh. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Emily.
I stood up straight. I put my hand to my mouth. “Oh my gosh,” I said. “I have an idea! It is perfect! It is gigundoly brilliant! It will solve all the Stones’ problems!”
The One-Horse Open Sleigh
“Family meeting!” I yelled. I ran through the hall. “Family meeting! Come on, everyone! In the kitchen!”
Five minutes later my whole big-house family was gathered around the kitchen table. (Except for Nannie, who had decided to give Emily Michelle a bath.)
Kristy tapped her pencil against the tabletop. “Please come to order,” she said. I smiled at her. Kristy is so organized. All right,” Kristy said. “Karen?”
I stood up. “I have had a gigundoly brilliant idea,” I said. “Even more brilliant than a lot of my brilliant ideas.”
“Cut to the chase,” said Charlie.
I gave him a Look. “My idea is that we have a wintery sort of Christmas party for the Stones, to raise money. We could have games to play and refreshments to buy. But best of all, we would have sleigh rides — in a one-horse open sleigh!” I beamed at my family. They looked back at me.
“Sleigh rides?” asked Elizabeth.
“Yes,” I said. “During farm camp I saw an old sleigh in the back of the Stones’ little barn, the one that did not burn down. We can dust it off and use it. The Stones’ horse can pull it. It has been snowing so much lately. So the horse can pull the sleigh over the snow. And we can charge money. And give the money to the Stones to rebuild their barn. Ta-daaa!”
“Hmm,” said Daddy. “I have always wanted to go on a sleigh ride.”
“I bet a lot of other people have too,” said Kristy. “But the sleigh ride would not have to be the only attraction. We could have lots of fun things for people to do — a winter festival, right at the Stones’. We could have a snowman-building contest. And an ice-sculpting contest.”
“We could skate on the Stones’ pond,” said David Michael. “That would be fun.”
“I think this is a great idea,” said Elizabeth. “I like having it on the Stones’ property. That way they will feel like they are taking part, instead of taking charity. We should talk to the Stones right away.”
“It is a terrific idea,” said Daddy. “What can we do to help?”
“I could check the sleigh to see if we can really use it,” said Sam.
Kristy wrote that down on her pad of paper.
“I could help during the sleigh rides,” said Charlie.
Kristy wrote down, Charlie — help with rides.
“I could play music for people to skate to,” said David Michael. “If I borrow Charlie’s boom box.”
Kristy made a note. “I am sure he will lend it to you,” she said. Charlie nodded.
“You know, Mrs. Stone and I are on the board at the library,” said Elizabeth. “I bet the other board members would be happy to help out. I will ask them.”
“Maybe I could help advertise the festival,” said Daddy. “And I could help build booths or something.”
“What about me?” asked Andrew. “What can I do? I need a job.”
“You can help me decorate the sleigh,” I said. “And make other decorations to put around the farm. You are good at that.”
Andrew smiled.
“Good,” said Kristy. “I think we all have something to do. We can ask other people if they would like to help too. Everyone knows the Stones. I am sure lots of people will want to get involved.”
Daddy put his arm around me. “I am proud of you, Karen,” he said. “You too, Kristy. You are doing a good thing for our friends.”
I smiled. I liked the Stones, and I was very glad to be able to help them. Best of all, my whole family was helping too. Maybe this would be a good Christmas for the Stones after all!
Karen’s Plan
The Stones’ winter-festival idea got very big, very fast, very soon. First of all, Daddy took Kristy and me to the Stones’ farm to talk to them about it. I felt very sad seeing the empty, burned-out shell where their barn used to be.
But Mr. and Mrs. Stone were happy to hear my idea. They had to think about it a little, but they decided that they would like to hold the festival.
“I think old General Sherman could manage to pull the sleigh,” said Mr. Stone. (General Sherman is one of their horses.) “And if he got tired, maybe Ike could take a turn.” (Ike is another one of their horses.)
“I will help in any way I can,” said Mrs. Stone. “We cannot thank you enough for your wonderful idea.”
After that, Elizabeth asked people on the library board to help. They decided to take care of all the refreshments. One man said he would donate hot chocolate. Someone else said she would make doughnuts and cookies. People also signed up to bring hot apple cider, caramel popcorn, and other good things to eat.
Kristy kept track of everything in her notebook.
I asked everyone in Ms. Colman’s class to help too. One day during show-and-share time I stood in front of the class. I told everyone about our winter festival.
“It will be wonderful,” I told them. “We will try to earn enough money to rebuild the Stones’ barn. Does anyone here want to help?”
Right away Hannie and Nancy raised their hands. That is because we are best friends. Best friends always help each other. I smiled at them.
Ms. Colman stepped forward. “What do you need people to do, Karen?”
I was ready for that question. “We still need lots of decorations,” I said. “And we need posters telling people about the winter festival. We can hang those around town. Like in stores and stuff.”
“I think this would be a good class project,” said Ms. Colman. “With all of us working together, we can make lovely decorations and posters. Class, let’s take a vote. All those in favor of making decorations for the Stones’ winter festival, please raise your hands.”
Everyone in my class raised his or her hand!
“It is a great idea,” said Addie Sidney.
“I already know what I want to make,” said Chris Lamar.
“I went to farm camp there once,” said Bobby Gianelli.
“Good, class,” said Ms. Colman. “I like your holiday spirit. For the next two weeks we will work on winter-festival decorations and posters during art period. Now it is time for spelling. Please take out your spelling books and your worksheets.”
* * *
One week later my sleigh-ride idea had turned into a fabulous winter festival. Kristy had asked local stores to donate prizes for the snowman-building contest and the ice-sculpting contest. My class was working on decorations. Elizabeth had put up signs at the library and at her office so that people could donate things or offer to help. There were still tons of things to do, but we were on our way.
I had one important problem left, though: What could I give Hannie for Christmas and Nancy for Hanukkah? I had already made them friendship bracelets. What else would be special? I looked through my arts-and-crafts books for ideas. Hmm. I could make pencil holders out of orange-juice cans. Or I could make bookmarks out of cardboard and fabric. Or I could buy plastic headbands and decorate them.
I sighed. None of these ideas seemed good enough. I needed something extra special for the other two Musketeers. They were my very best friends. But I was stumped. Oh, well. I put away my arts-and-crafts books. I had two more weeks. I was sure I could think of the perfect gifts before then.
First Things First
When I walked into the kitchen a few days later, Kristy was on the phone.
“Yes, that’s right,” she was saying. “It would just be for a little while. Uh-huh. Do you want to ask your dad? Okay, I’ll hold on.”
I poured myself a glass of juice. Kristy put the phone on her shoulder. “I am talking to Mary Anne,” she told me. (Mary Anne Spier is one of Kristy’s friends. She is in the baby-sitting club that Kristy runs.) “Th
e Stones need shelter for some of their animals. The animals are too crowded in the little buildings on their property. So Mary Anne is asking her dad if they can take care of some of the animals for awhile.” (Mary Anne lives in an old house with a barn on the property.)
She shifted the phone back so she could talk. “Yes, I am here,” she said. “You can? Oh, great. Good. Okay, I will tell Mr. Stone.”
Kristy hung up.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“Mr. Spier has said they can keep some of the Stones’ animals, just temporarily,” said Kristy. “Now we have to fix up their barn for the animals.”
“Fix it up how?” I got a cookie to go with my juice.
“Well, they do not use their barn for anything now,” said Kristy. “It needs to be cleaned out. We have to put down fresh hay. I am going to ask our friends in the Baby-sitters Club to help me.”
“You forgot one thing,” I said.
“What?”
“Me!” I said. “I will help too.”
* * *
On Saturday morning Charlie drove Kristy and me to Mary Anne’s. Mary Anne, her father, and her stepmother live in an old farmhouse near the edge of town. The house was fixed up, but the barn was not. I had been in it plenty of times. Usually it is a place for people to get together. Not animals.
“Gee,” I said, looking at it. Stalls lined both sides, but they were cobwebby. Dusty bales of hay were lying around, but they would not be good for the animals to eat. They were too old.
Kristy pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. “Let’s get started, everyone! Mary Anne and I will move these old hay bales out of here. Claudia and Karen, you can start sweeping. Jessi, Mallory — once Claudia has swept out a few stalls, you can start laying out fresh hay and water.”
Ha! And people think I am bossy! I found a broom and started sweeping.
It took us nearly all day to get the barn ready for the animals. We took a break at lunchtime. Mary Anne’s stepmother fixed us all-natural turkey hot dogs on whole-wheat buns. They were okay.
We worked until almost dinnertime. Kristy walked through the barn and made an inspection. It looked great. The stalls were clean. There was fresh hay and water. There were also bags of sheep chow and goat chow, and oats for the horses. We were ready.
* * *
The very next day Charlie drove Kristy and me to Mary Anne’s house again. We were there in time to help Mr. Stone deliver the animals. He had to make several trips. We put Ollie and Elvira into one big stall so they could keep each other company. General Sherman got his own stall. So did Ike. There were three more goats and two more grown-up sheep in other stalls.
“I sure do appreciate this,” Mr. Stone told Mr. Spier. He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief. Moving animals is hard work. “They were getting mighty cramped in our little barn and in the greenhouse. I know they’ll be happier here.”
“It is no problem,” said Mr. Spier. “We are happy to keep the animals for you, for awhile.”
“We’ll be making a decision very soon,” said Mr. Stone. “One way or the other.”
What did he mean by that? I wondered. He knew we were going to have a winter festival. Soon he would have enough money to rebuild his barn. Or … maybe he was unsure about that. Maybe he thought we would not make enough money for a new barn. I kicked the toe of my boot through the snow. We just had to raise enough money. We just had to.
In the meantime, at least I would not have to worry about Ollie anymore. He was all cozy in his new stall. And I would visit him whenever I could.
The Sleigh
Now that the animals were comfortable, it was time to take care of a very important item: the sleigh.
After school one day, Charlie, Sam, and I went to the Stones’. We found the sleigh in the back of their little barn. It was covered with dust and old hay and cobwebs.
“Yuck,” said Charlie. “Well, let’s get started.”
With brooms and brushes we cleared off most of the mess. Then Mrs. Stone gave us buckets of hot water. We squirted in dish-washing liquid. With the hot, soapy water, we scrubbed that whole sleigh, inside and out. It was hot, messy work. Outside the barn it was snowing again and cold, but we were toasty warm.
You know what? When we were done, the sleigh looked better, but it did not look great. We all gazed at it. Then I sat down on a hay bale. I was hot and wet and tired. My clothes were filthy, and my hair had cobwebs in it. And looking at that sleigh made me want to cry.
It was clean, but that was all. It still looked old and worn out. The seats were split, and stuffing was coming out. The sides were scratched and rusty. The sleigh runners were dull. It did not look Christ-massy. It did not look fun. It did not look all jingle-bellsy.
“What are we going to do? It looks terrible,” I wailed. “The festival is in ten days. We have already sold lots of tickets saying we will have fabulous sleigh rides, but our sleigh is not fabulous. It is yucky.” I put my head down on my arms.
“Hey,” said Sam. He patted my head. “It will be all right, just you wait.”
“Yeah,” said Charlie. “Now that it is clean, we can see what we are dealing with. Right, Sam?”
“Yes,” said Sam. “Like, I can see that we need to paint the sides.”
“I need to sand the runners and polish them, and wax them up for the snow,” said Charlie.
“We need new seat covers,” said Sam. “And Karen? You will have to make lots of decorations for the sleigh. The kind you are famous for.”
I lifted my head. I sniffled and wiped my eyes. I looked at the sleigh and squinted. I could almost see it painted, with new seat covers and shiny runners. I could almost imagine my beautiful decorations. I looked at my two big brothers.
“Really?” I said. “Do you think it will be okay?”
Charlie smiled at me. “I think it will be gigundoly okay.”
* * *
So that is what we did. Sam and Charlie painted the outside of the sleigh with shiny red paint. Once it was painted, it looked practically brand-new. Charlie sanded the rust off the runners. He painted the tops black, and waxed the undersides so they would glide smoothly over the snow.
Now for the seats. Elizabeth helped us find new fabric. It was in a red-and-green Christmas print. Together we tacked the new fabric to the old seats. I bounced on the front seat. It was pretty comfortable. Last of all we polished the metal trim on the sleigh. Now the sleigh had shiny brass fittings. I could see my face in them.
Then Andrew and David Michael and I went to work. We glued jingly gold bells onto wide red ribbon. We tied the red ribbons all over the sleigh. Daddy gave us a bunch of evergreen branches. We wove them into garlands and fastened the garlands onto the sleigh. It looked very beautiful. Last of all, Charlie rigged up a little battery pack. David Michael and I borrowed strings of tiny white lights from Daddy. We carefully fastened the white lights onto the garlands. The lights plugged into the battery pack.
We were done. Sam, Charlie, Elizabeth, David Michael, Andrew, and I stepped back to admire our work.
“It is truly beautiful,” said Elizabeth.
“That is the best-looking sleigh I have ever seen,” said David Michael.
“You better believe it,” said Sam.
“I cannot wait to ride in it,” said Charlie.
“It looks magical,” said Andrew. “It looks like Santa’s sleigh.”
“Yes, it does,” I agreed. I felt very happy. We had turned a yucky old worn-out sleigh into a beautiful Christmas sleigh. With the red paint and the bells and the garlands and the twinkly little lights, it looked just like something Santa would ride in. “But for goodness sake, do not tell Emily Michelle that!”
Karen’s Christmas Tree
The next morning at breakfast Andrew said, “Everyone is worrying about the Stones’ barn. Everyone is working on the winter festival. But no one is working on us.”
“What do you mean, honey?” asked Elizabeth.
“It will be
Christmas soon, right here in this house,” said Andrew. “But we do not have any decorations. We do not have presents. We do not have a tree or Christmas lights.”
I looked up from my waffle. Thank heavens Emily Michelle hadn’t come downstairs yet.
“Andrew is right,” said Kristy. “I am glad we have been helping the Stones. But we should make sure we are ready for our own Christmas.”
“Thank you for reminding us, Andrew,” said Daddy. “I know — I will stop working early today. Anyone who wants to go with me to pick out a Christmas tree, be ready at four o’clock.”
“Yea!” said Andrew.
“Yea!” I said.
“And while you are gone, I will take out our decorations,” said Nannie. “Emily Michelle will help me.”
“Good,” said Elizabeth. “Then tonight after dinner, we can all help decorate the house and the tree.”
I smiled across the table at Andrew. He smiled back. I felt excited about everything.
* * *
“This one,” I said, pointing. We were at the Christmas-tree lot. Andrew and David Michael and I could not agree on which tree to buy. I wanted the very tallest one. Andrew wanted the very fattest one. David Michael wanted the one that was the darkest green.
“No, this one,” said Andrew. He rubbed his mittened hands together. His breath came out as little puffs of smoke. We were getting cold.
“You guys, come see this one over here,” said Daddy. He led us through rows and rows of Christmas trees. They smelled very fresh and green. Finally he stopped in front of a particular tree.
“I like this one,” said Daddy. “It is not as tall as yours, Karen, and not as fat as yours, Andrew, and not even as green as yours, David Michael. But it has a beautiful shape. It looks just right to me.”
I looked at it. Andrew looked at it. David Michael looked at it. We walked around the tree to inspect every side.
Finally we decided.
“It is just right,” said David Michael.
“It is perfect,” said Andrew.