Knock, Knock. It was Granny.
“May I come in?” she asked.
I nodded. Granny sat on my bed and put her arm around me.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
“I do not like it when Grandad scolds me,” I said. “I do not want him to be angry with me.”
“He is not angry at you,” said Granny. “He is sad. He misses the farm. He feels bad that he cannot do the things he was once able to do. And today he just does not feel well. That is why he is acting cranky. He loves you very much. Do you understand that?”
“I guess so,” I replied.
I know that sometimes when I am not feeling well, I snap at my friends. But it does not mean I do not like them anymore.
“Why don’t you wash up and come have a snack?” said Granny. “You must be hungry.”
I washed up and went downstairs. Grandad was sitting at the kitchen table. A plate of crackers, cheese, and sliced apples was waiting for me. There was a cup filled with grape juice, too.
I told Grandad about my spelling test. I told him how I won dodge ball because I ran so fast. I told him quietly and I did not brag. I wanted Grandad to feel better. And you know what? I think he did.
“How about telling me some more about those dinosaurs?” said Grandad.
“Okay,” I replied. “I will even draw you pictures of them. They are big and scaly.”
I went upstairs to get paper and markers. It was going to be a nice afternoon with Grandad after all.
Helping Out
“Look how clean my teeth are,” said Andrew. He smiled a big, funny smile so I could see all his teeth. “And I got a brand-new toothbrush.”
“I know. You told me already,” I said.
Andrew and I were helping Mommy and Granny make dinner. Grandad was resting. Seth was at work.
Seth was still at work when we ate our dinner. He was still at work when it was almost time for bed. I was in my pajamas and brushing my teeth when I heard him come in. I spit out the toothpaste and ran downstairs.
“Hi!” I said. “We missed you at dinner. We made excellent meatballs and spaghetti.”
“I am sorry I missed meatballs and spaghetti. And I am even sorrier I missed being with you,” Seth replied. “I know I have been working very long hours these days.”
“How is it going at the shop?” asked Grandad.
“Not so well. I work and I work. But the way it is going, I will never have all my holiday orders ready on time,” Seth replied.
“Something has to be done,” said Mommy. “You need more help at the workshop.”
“You are right,” replied Seth. “But I do not have the money to hire someone right now.”
“I could stay home from school and help!” I said.
“Me, too!” said Andrew.
“Thank you, kids. But school is too important to miss,” Seth replied.
“I was thinking that I could help you more,” said Mommy. “I helped out for awhile when Ruth went to Canada to take care of her mother. Remember how well that worked out?”
(Ruth is the woman who runs Seth’s office.)
“You will not have to hire a baby-sitter this time, either,” said Granny. “Grandad and I are here. We would be happy to help out, too.”
“We would be more than happy. We would love it,” said Grandad.
The grown-ups started talking all at once. They seemed to have a lot to figure out. Finally Seth said, “Okay, then. We are all set.”
“What is all set?” I asked. They had been talking so fast, I could not follow them.
They took turns explaining the new arrangement. Mommy was going to help Seth full-time in his shop until Christmas.
“That way Seth can work more regular hours,” said Mommy.
Granny was going to run the house.
“I can cook, clean, and drive to the stores,” said Granny.
Grandad was going to be in charge of Andrew and me whenever we were not in school.
“You may have to play a little more quietly than usual. But I promise we will have fun,” said Grandad.
“I know lots of quiet things we can do,” I said. “We can read books together. We can make holiday decorations and cards. We can watch videos.”
“I want to watch Winnie-the-Pooh,” said Andrew. “I like Pooh and Piglet.”
“This is terrific,” said Seth. “Thank you, everyone.”
“It is time for bed now,” said Mommy. “We will come upstairs in a minute to say good night. Our new arrangement will start first thing tomorrow.”
I went to bed thinking about our new plan. I decided I was going to like it just fine.
The New Baby-sitter
Wednesday was the first day of our new arrangement. It went just fine. By Thursday I felt as though our family had been doing things this way forever.
Granny was out shopping for dinner when Andrew and I returned from school. Grandad was waiting for us with a snack. It was a plate of corn chips with cheese on top. I reached for a chip.
“Wait,” said Grandad. “It gets even better.”
As soon as we washed up, Grandad popped the chips into the microwave. The cheese melted and bubbled. When we ate our snack, the chips were crunchy and the cheese was warm and stringy. We had homemade lemonade to drink.
“Yum. This is the best snack ever,” I said.
“And it was easy,” replied Grandad. “I could make it while I was sitting down.”
“Let’s make some more,” I said. “Then Mommy, Seth, and Granny can have a snack when they come home.”
“Good idea,” said Grandad.
The snack really was easy to make. It did not take very long.
“Now what should we do?” I asked.
I did not have any homework. And it was raining outside, so Andrew and I could not go outside to play with our friends.
“I want to play tag,” said Andrew.
“I do not think that is such a good idea,” said Grandad. He looked worried.
I decided to help out. “That game is too wild,” I said. “We could knock something over.”
Grandad looked relieved.
“Let’s have a marching band. I will be the leader,” said Andrew.
Grandad looked worried again.
“A band is too noisy,” I said. “Grandad could get a headache.”
“I have an idea,” said Grandad. “Who would like to go on a peanut hunt?”
“Me!” said Andrew.
“Me, too. But I do not think we have any peanuts,” I said.
“No problem,” said Grandad. “We can draw some.”
We found paper and markers and drew peanuts. They were pretty silly. We made them all different colors and put funny faces on them.
“You two go upstairs, while I hide the peanuts,” said Grandad.
A few minutes later, he made believe he was blowing a trumpet.
“Toot-toot-toot! The peanut hunt is about to begin!” he called.
Andrew and I ran downstairs to look for paper peanuts. Whenever we got close to one, Grandad told us we were getting warmer. If we walked away, he told us we were getting colder. This was a very good game to play. We were having fun without running or making noise. And Grandad got to sit while we played.
“Karen, you are warm,” said Grandad.
I took another step.
“Warmer,” he said.
I kept taking steps in the same direction.
“Warmer. Warmer. Hot. Hot. Hot!” said Grandad.
“I found a peanut!” I said.
Then Andrew found one. Then I found another. Soon we had found all the peanuts. Grandad gave us a penny for each one. Then he taught us a silly peanut song.
“Oh, a peanut sat on a railroad track. His heart was all a-flutter. Along came the five-fifteen. Uh-oh, peanut butter!”
Grandad was laughing. He was not cranky or sad. He was happy. And so were we.
A Change of Plans
Every day Andrew and I spent with Gr
andad was fun.
Granny helped baby-sit sometimes. But mostly she was too busy running errands and taking care of the house.
Mommy went to work with Seth. They even worked on Saturday and Sunday. Now that Mommy was helping at the workshop, Seth could come home for dinner. He was about a hundred times happier. We all were.
“This dinner is delicious,” said Seth.
“It sure is, Granny,” I said. “More lasagna, please.”
It was Monday night. We were eating vegetable lasagna and salad. Andrew and I had helped Granny make the salad.
“When will it be Thanksgiving?” asked Andrew. “My teacher told us, but I forgot.”
“Thanksgiving is on Thursday,” Mommy replied. “That is only three days away.”
Seth turned to Granny and Grandad.
“How do you feel about staying in Stoneybrook?” he asked. “Are you sure that is what you want to do? If not, we will make a reservation for you in New York.”
“Thank you, but we still think it best if we stay here,” said Granny.
“What will you do for Thanksgiving?” asked Mommy. “You have been working so hard helping us out. We want you to do something nice.”
“Oh, we will,” said Grandad. “Granny promised to make me a turkey with all the fixings, didn’t you?”
“I certainly did,” said Granny.
“But who will eat it with you?” I asked.
Grandad looked around the room. “Why, Midgie and Rocky can each have a taste. If they behave themselves, that is,” he replied.
“What else will you do?” asked Mommy.
“Maybe Grandad will take me to the movies,” said Granny. “Or we can rent one. We will read. And we enjoy playing checkers.”
“We might even have a peanut hunt,” said Grandad.
I could tell he was trying to be cheerful. But I was starting to feel bad about Granny’s and Grandad’s staying home alone. Their plans did not sound very exciting. On Thanksgiving it is nice to be with lots of people.
“Will you excuse us for a minute?” said Seth. “Lisa, will you help me in the living room?”
Mommy and Seth went to the other room. I could hear them whispering. Then they came back.
“Kids, we know that you were looking forward to our trip to New York. We know that it would be a lot of fun. But we think that staying home will be fun, too,” said Seth.
“If we stay here, the six of us can have a lovely Thanksgiving meal together,” said Mommy.
“Oh, no,” said Grandad. “You must not cancel your plans. We told you we will be fine.”
“We know you will be fine. But we will not be. We do not think we could enjoy our trip if we leave you behind,” said Seth. “But we know we will have a good time if we are here together.”
“But … but,” I said.
I did not finish my sentence, though. Even Andrew knew enough to keep quiet. Granny and Grandad looked so pleased. We did not want them to feel bad.
“If you are really going to stay, I will buy a great big turkey tomorrow,” said Granny.
“We are staying in Stoneybrook,” said Mommy. “And that is final.”
Shopping
On Tuesday, Granny invited me to go to the supermarket with her to buy our turkey.
“How big is our turkey going to be?” I asked. I was pushing our shopping cart into the store.
“There will be six of us. So our turkey should be at least six pounds,” Granny replied.
“Will there be enough for Midgie and Rocky? Will there be enough for leftovers? I love leftovers,” I said.
“We better get a seven-pound turkey just to be safe,” Granny replied.
On the way to the meat section we passed the fruits and vegetables.
“We need cranberries for cranberry sauce. And we should get sweet potatoes, too,” said Granny.
“The potatoes are over here,” I said.
I led Granny to the potato bin. Only three potatoes were left. They looked pretty banged up.
“Oh, my. Thanksgiving is only a day and a half away. There is not much left to buy,” said Granny. “Let’s see if we can find those cranberries.”
The cranberries were completely sold out. Boo.
“We better hurry and get our turkey,” I said. “We do not want anyone else to buy the last one.”
I raced to the meat department. Granny had to run to keep up with me. There was not a single turkey in sight.
We looked everywhere. Finally Granny found two tiny ones buried under some packages of chicken wings.
“We cannot buy these turkeys. They do not look fresh at all,” said Granny.
“Then what will we eat?” I asked.
“The chicken wings look nice,” said Granny. “And there are plenty of them.”
“But I like turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving,” I said.
Granny thought for a minute. Then she said, “This is what we will do. We will bake the chicken wings. We will arrange them in the shape of a turkey. We will put our stuffing in the center.”
“Cool!” I said. “We will have a chicken turkey. No one else in Stoneybrook will have one of those. No one else in the whole world will have one.”
We bought every chicken wing in the store. Then we walked up and down the aisles looking for Thanksgiving things to eat. Here is what we ended up with: canned cranberry sauce, canned lima beans, canned sweet potatoes, a box of stuffing mix, two frozen pumpkin pies, a roll of chocolate chip cookie batter, and a turkey-shaped cookie cutter. (I wanted a chocolate turkey, but they were all gone. Chocolate chip turkey-shaped cookies were the next best thing.)
“We did very well considering what was left,” said Granny.
When we got home the telephone was ringing. It was Nancy. She did not sound happy.
“Our Thanksgiving dinner was canceled,” she said. “We are not going to Massachusetts after all. We will not get to see our friends. And we have nothing to eat but the cranberry sauce and the two vegetables we made.”
“I am sorry about your plans,” I said. “We are not having turkey either. The good ones were all gone.”
When Mommy and Seth came home, I told them about Nancy’s plans. Mommy and Seth told Granny and Grandad. The grown-ups started talking all at once just the way they had before. When they finished, Mommy called Mrs. Dawes.
“I heard your plans were canceled,” she said. “You are welcome to join us if you do not mind having chicken wings on Thanksgiving.”
I crossed my fingers and hoped Mrs. Dawes would say they did not mind. Guess what. She did! It looked as if Thanksgiving might turn out better than we thought.
Karen’s Idea
On Wednesday I got to have a chocolate turkey after all. Ms. Colman gave each kid in the class a turkey wrapped in gold foil.
“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,” she said.
I told you Ms. Colman is nice.
School let out early because of the holiday. It was a sunny day. At home, Andrew and I ate a snack. Then we went outside to play with the kids in the neighborhood.
I thought about something. I had just realized that if we had still been going on our trip to New York, we would probably be leaving that very minute. And tomorrow morning we would have been watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
I was looking forward to our big Thanksgiving dinner at home. But I was sad we were not going to see the parade. We could watch it on TV. But a TV parade is not the same as a real, live parade. Then I got an idea.
“Hey, everyone!” I cried. My friends gathered around me. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and none of us are going to the Macy’s parade,” I said. “I think we should have our own Thanksgiving Day parade right here. All in favor raise your hands and say, ‘Turkey.’ ”
“Turkey!” my friends replied.
Seven hands flew up in the air. They belonged to Andrew, me, Nancy, Bobby, Alicia, Kathryn, and Willie. I was sorry the Barton kids were not around. They are the new kids on the block. There are five of them. Th
ey were spending the holiday with friends from their old neighborhood.
“I want to get dressed up for the parade,” said Alicia. “I want to be a Thanksgiving princess.”
“I have party hats at home,” said Nancy. “I can bring them for everyone.”
“Great,” I replied. “Balloons are important, too. Does anyone have twenty-foot-tall Disney balloons with helium in them?”
No one did. Some kids had leftover birthday balloons. Bobby had balloons from Halloween with “Boo!” written on them.
“If we attach them to long sticks, they will look like they are flying in the air,” said Kathryn.
“We need to have floats, too,” I said.
“I can bring my red wagon,” said Willie.
“And Midgie could ride in it,” said Andrew. “We could even make her a pilgrim hat.”
Everyone had good ideas. I had one more important question to ask.
“Who should be the leader of the parade? I think it should be the person who thought of the parade in the first place,” I said. “All in favor raise your hand and say, ‘Karen.’ ”
The hands did not go up very high. And no one said my name very loudly. But nobody said I could not be the leader. So that meant I could be.
Thanksgiving Morning
“Gobble, gobble, gobble,” said Andrew. “Wake up, Karen. It is Thanksgiving!”
It was Thursday morning. Andrew was standing at the door to my room. I am usually the first one out of bed. But I had stayed up late the night before. I was thinking about our parade and trying to write a Thanksgiving poem.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Andrew,” I said.
I could hear pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. I jumped up, got dressed, and ran downstairs. I did not want to miss anything important.
Grandad was resting in his room. I gave him a Thanksgiving hug. Then I asked him a Thanksgiving riddle.
“What is smarter than a talking turkey?” I said.
“I give up,” replied Grandad.
“A spelling bee!” I said.
Grandad thought this was very funny. I left him laughing and went into the kitchen. Mommy, Seth, and Granny were already cleaning and cooking.