Karen's Secret

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 The Big Sister

  2 Big Sister, Little Sister

  3 Telephone

  4 Natalie’s Secret

  5 Heartbeat

  6 Telling Nancy

  7 What Is Wrong with Natalie?

  8 The Good Deed Doers

  9 Speech Lessons

  10 “S” Words

  11 Natalie’s Operation

  12 “You Told!”

  13 Good Girl, Bad Girl

  14 Karen’s Fault

  15 Down with Babies

  16 “I Have A Secret”

  17 “Say You’re Sorry”

  18 The Truth

  19 Nancy and Her Mother

  20 “Say Your ‘Esses’ ”

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  The Big Sister

  “I know!” I cried. “If the baby is a boy, you should name him George Washington Dawes!”

  I was in my room with my friend, Nancy Dawes. I was helping her think of a name for her new baby brother or sister.

  “That is perfect!” Nancy giggled. “Mommy and Daddy will love it!”

  “And if it is a girl, you can name her Karen Brewer the Second, after me,” I said.

  Well, now you know my name. It is Karen Brewer. I will tell you a few more important things about myself. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and some freckles. I wear glasses. I have two pairs. Blue for reading. Pink for other things.

  Nancy is one of my two best friends. She lives next door to Mommy’s house. (Hannie Papadakis is my other best friend. She lives across the street and one house down from Daddy.)

  Nancy is going to become a big sister in a couple of months. It is gigundoly exciting. I am a big sister already. I have a little brother, Andrew. He is four going on five. My adopted sister, Emily Michelle, is two and a half.

  “I still think Matthew is a great name for a boy. And Jilly for a girl,” said Nancy.

  “Just don’t name anyone Biff Bartholomew or April May,” I said. Those were the first names Nancy liked. She has changed her mind a zillion times since her mommy and daddy said she could name the baby.

  “Maybe I should not give the baby such a great name, anyway,” said Nancy.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Well, I am a little bit scared that Mommy and Daddy will like the baby better than me. Babies are cute,” said Nancy. “Were you scared when Andrew and Emily Michelle came?”

  “I don’t remember. I was only three when Andrew was born. That was a long time ago. And Emily Michelle was adopted and she lives with Daddy. That is different,” I explained.

  “What if the baby is really smart? Smarter than me. Or great at sports. Or a great actor. What if it does everything better than me?” said Nancy.

  “Don’t worry. Being a big sister is going to be fun,” I said.

  “Maybe,” said Nancy. “But I am not going to take any chances. I am going to make sure that Mommy and Daddy love me no matter how wonderful the baby is. From now on I am going to be so, so good. I will start by helping around the house.”

  “And when the baby comes, you can help take care of it. That will really make them love you. We can practice on Hyacynthia,” I suggested. (Hyacynthia is the special baby doll Nancy and I share.)

  “Good idea,” said Nancy. “I think I hear her crying.”

  Nancy picked up Hyacynthia. She was singing a lullaby when Andrew raced into my room. He did not knock first.

  “You are supposed to knock!” I yelled.

  “I forgot,” Andrew replied. “Mommy is making cookies. She said we can help.”

  “We will help you eat them later. We are busy now,” I said.

  “The cookies will be all gone by the time you get there. I am a cookie monster!” Andrew ran around the room flapping his arms. Then he flew out the door.

  Nancy had a funny look on her face.

  “Don’t worry,” I told her again. “Being a big sister will be fun. Really.”

  I do not think Nancy believed me.

  Big Sister, Little Sister

  I am a big sister. I am a little sister. I have a big house. I have a little house. Do you want to know why? I will tell you.

  A long time ago, Mommy, Daddy, Andrew, and I lived together in one big house here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I was a big sister with one little brother. I liked that just fine. But Mommy and Daddy were not happy. They loved Andrew and me. But they decided they did not love each other enough to live together anymore. So they got divorced.

  Mommy moved with Andrew and me to a little house. (It is not too far from Daddy’s house.) Then Mommy met Seth Engle. They got married. Now Seth is my stepfather. He is very nice. So are Midgie, his dog, and Rocky, his cat.

  We all live together in the little house. At least, that is where Andrew and I live most of the time. Oh, I forgot to tell you about Emily Junior. She is my very own pet rat. She lives with us, too.

  After the divorce Daddy stayed at the big house. (He grew up there.) Then he met Elizabeth Thomas. They got married. Now Elizabeth is my stepmother. She has four children. They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. They are all older than me. (That is how I got to be a little sister.) I will tell you about them. David Michael is seven, but an older seven than me. Sam and Charlie are so old they are in high school. Kristy is thirteen. She is one of my favorite people in the whole world. (She is a wonderful baby-sitter, too.)

  Then Emily Michelle joined the family. I got to be a big sister all over again. I told you that Emily Michelle is two and a half. And that she is adopted. But I did not tell you that she came from a faraway place called Vietnam. Mostly I like Emily Michelle a lot. That is why I named my rat after her.

  There is one more person at the big house. Nannie. She is Elizabeth’s mother. That makes her my stepgrandmother. She helps take care of Emily Michelle when Daddy and Elizabeth are at work and everyone else is at school.

  There are lots of pets at the big house, too. Shannon is David Michael’s Bernese mountain dog puppy. Boo-Boo is Daddy’s crabby cat. Crystal Light the Second is my goldfish. And Goldfishie is Andrew’s fish.

  Andrew and I live at the big house every other weekend, on some holidays and vacations, and for two weeks during the summer.

  I have special names for Andrew and me. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (I thought of those names after my teacher, Ms. Colman, read us a book called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.) Andrew and I are Two-Twos because we have two of lots of different things. Two mommies and two daddies, two cats and two dogs, and even two houses. Plus, we have two sets of clothes. (At the big house and the little house. That is so we do not have to carry much when we go back and forth between our houses.) We have toys and books at each house. I have two bicycles. Andrew has two tricycles. I have two stuffed cats: Moosie lives at the big house. Goosie lives at the little house. I even have two pieces of Tickly, my special blue blanket. (I had to rip Tickly in half because I kept leaving Tickly at one house or the other. I need Tickly to go to sleep.)

  Well, anyway, now you know how I got to be a big sister two times. And a little sister four times. And you know how I became a two-two.

  Telephone

  Rain, rain, go away! Come again another day!

  “Class, it is raining too hard to go outside. So we will have our recess indoors,” said Ms. Colman.

  Boo. I like going out at recess. I need to go out at recess. Ms. Colman says I have a lot of energy. She says it is good for me to run around. Also, I get to use my outdoor voi
ce at recess. (That is my loud voice.)

  Ms. Colman was writing at the blackboard. She was writing the names of games. Seven-up. Twenty Questions. Telephone. Recess was going to be fun after all. I love second grade! I love Ms. Colman!

  “Raise your hand if you would like to play Seven-up,” said Ms. Colman. “Twenty Questions? Telephone?”

  “Ring! Ring!” I shouted.

  “Indoor voice, please, Karen,” said Ms. Colman.

  “But it is recess,” I explained.

  “We are still indoors, and I will still get a headache if you shout,” Ms. Colman replied.

  I did not want to give Ms. Colman a headache. So I raised my hand. I wiggled my fingers. “Ring, ring!” I said in a very high — but not very loud — voice.

  We divided into groups. I will tell you who was in my group for Telephone. Hannie and Nancy. (We are the Three Musketeers. We like to do everything together.) Ricky Torres. (He is my pretend husband. We both sit in the front row because we wear glasses.) Natalie Springer. (She sits up front and wears glasses, too.) Bobby Gianelli. (Sometimes he is a bully.) Pamela Harding. (Too bad. She is my best enemy.) Leslie Morris and Jannie Gilbert. (They are Pamela’s friends.)

  Here is how you play Telephone. Everyone stands in a line. Whoever goes first whispers something to the next person. The next person whispers it to the next, and so on. The last person says the sentence out loud. And you know what? The sentence is almost never the same as when it started. It gets mixed up along the way.

  Ms. Colman wrote a sentence on a piece of paper. She handed it to Hannie. Hannie was going to go first. We had picked numbers from a shoe box on Ms. Colman’s desk. I was number seven. That was a good number. By the time the sentence got to me, it would be extra silly.

  Psst-psst-psst-psst. I could hear Hannie’s voice. She was whispering to Ricky. But I could not hear the words.

  Psst-psst-psst-psst. Ricky whispered to Nancy. Nancy whispered to Natalie. Natalie whispered to Pamela. Pamela whispered to Bobby.

  Finally it was my turn. Bobby whispered the secret sentence to me. Psst-psst-psst-psst.

  “Amy’s name is Harry and her hubby’s name is Sal!” I shouted.

  Oops.

  “Ka-ren!” cried Jannie. “You were not supposed to say the sentence out loud. You were supposed to whisper it to me.”

  “Now I don’t get a turn,” moaned Leslie.

  “Blarin’ Karen strikes again,” said Bobby. “The sentence was supposed to be a secret till the end. But Blarin’ Karen can’t keep a secret.”

  “I am very sorry I ruined the game. But you do not have to call me names,” I shouted.

  Everyone in the room turned to look at me and my group.

  “Um, Ms. Colman,” I said in my best indoor voice. “May we have another sentence please?”

  Natalie’s Secret

  “See you tomorrow!” I called to Nancy, when Mrs. Dawes came to pick her up.

  Nancy and I usually ride home from school together. But Mrs. Dawes was going to the obstetrician. (That’s the special doctor for women who are going to have babies.) Nancy was going with her mother.

  “See you tomorrow!” I called to Hannie, when her mother arrived.

  “ ’Bye, Ricky!” I called.

  “ ’Bye, Terri and Tammy!” I said. (Terri and Tammy are twins.)

  Soon Natalie and I were the only ones left. We were waiting for our mommies to come. Natalie kept pulling up her socks. When she was not pulling up her socks, she was chewing on her nails. I could tell she was upset.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” replied Natalie.

  “Are you sure? You do not look very happy,” I said.

  “It’s a secret,” said Natalie.

  “You can tell me your secret!” I tried not to sound too excited. But it was hard. Secrets are cool.

  Natalie shook her head. “I do not think I want to tell you,” she said. “I do not think it would be a secret anymore if I did.”

  “I won’t tell anyone. I promise,” I replied.

  “I do not think so,” said Natalie.

  “Cross my heart and hope to die!”

  “No,” said Natalie.

  “I know I told the Telephone secret. But that was different. It was a game. I would never tell anyone’s real and true secret,” I promised.

  “Well,” said Natalie.

  “Puh-lease!” I begged.

  Natalie took a deep breath. Hurray! She was going to tell me her secret. She leaned over and whispered in my ear.

  “Psst-psst-psst-psst.”

  “What?” I said. “I couldn’t understand you.”

  “Psst-psst-psst-psst,” Natalie repeated.

  “What about a test? Can’t you just say it out loud?” I asked. “No one else is here.”

  Natalie looked around. Then she said, “The principal says I have to take a special test. I don’t know what the test is for. Maybe it is because I’m dumb. Maybe they are going to put me in another class.”

  Poor Natalie. This was gigundoly sad news. I wanted to make her feel better.

  “Maybe it is a test for something good,” I said.

  “Like what?” asked Natalie.

  “Like … like … um,” I said. I always have good ideas. But my mind was blank. What kind of test could be good? I thought hard. But I could not think of a single one.

  “Remember your promise,” said Natalie. “I do not want the rest of the kids to know about this.”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” I said. “Scout’s honor.”

  “But you are not a scout,” said Natalie.

  “Then Karen Brewer’s honor,” I said. “That is just as good.”

  Honk! Honk! Our mommies arrived at the exact same time.

  I waved good-bye with one hand. I covered my mouth with the other. I wanted to show Natalie what a good secret-keeper I was going to be.

  Heartbeat

  Ding, dong!

  I was upstairs in my room at the little house when the doorbell rang.

  “I hope it is for us,” I said to Goosie.

  Guess what. It was for us. It was Nancy.

  “Hi, Karen. I just got back from going to the doctor with Mommy. It was amazing,” said Nancy.

  I just love amazing stories. “Tell me what happened,” I said.

  “Well, first the doctor weighed Mommy. Then she listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a stethoscope. The doctor let me and Mommy listen, too. It was neat,” said Nancy.

  “What did it sound like?” I asked. I wanted to know everything — in case I decided to be a mother some day.

  “It sounded kind of like this: glub-glub, glub-glub,” said Nancy.

  “Cool!” I said. “What else?”

  “I got to see a picture of the baby on a screen. I saw its head. And I saw its fingers and toes. There is a real baby in there,” said Nancy.

  “It won’t be in there long,” I said. “It is going to be out here pretty soon.”

  “Maybe the baby likes being in there. Maybe it will decide to stay,” said Nancy.

  “I do not think your mommy will let it,” I replied.

  “When the baby comes, everyone will be very busy. They will forget all about me,” said Nancy sadly. “I better start doing good deeds around the house very soon. I have to be the best, most helpful daughter ever. Maybe then they won’t forget me.”

  “I will do good deeds with you!” I offered. “Let’s make a list right now.” I found a purple pencil and a piece of paper.

  “This is great!” said Nancy. “The first thing I will do is clean my room. Mommy and Daddy will like that.”

  That did not sound like much fun to me, but I wrote it down. I decided to let Nancy do that herself.

  “We can fluff up all the pillows in the house,” I said. “Then your mommy will be comfortable when she sits down.”

  “Good idea,” said Nancy. “And I can dust. That way Mommy won’t sneeze. I think maybe it hurts her tummy when she sneezes.”


  I added “Fluff the pillows” and “Dust the house” to the list.

  “There are always piles of laundry to be folded,” said Nancy.

  “I am not very good at folding,” I told her.

  “Me neither. We can remind Daddy to do it,” said Nancy. “That is his job.”

  “That will be very helpful,” I said. I wrote it down.

  “Karen! It’s time for dinner,” called Mommy.

  “I guess I better go,” said Nancy. “I’m going to start doing these good deeds as soon as I get home.”

  I gave Nancy the list. She folded it and put it in her pocket. When she was gone, I started feeling proud.

  “Hey, Goosie, listen to this,” I said. “I knew Natalie’s secret. But I did not tell it to Nancy. That is pretty good.”

  I could tell Goosie wanted to say something to me. I held him up to my ear.

  “What? You want me to tell the secret to you? No way,” I said. “Natalie’s secret is safe with me.”

  Telling Nancy

  It was Wednesday morning. I had finished copying our new spelling words. (I am very good at spelling, by the way.)

  I turned around to wave to Nancy. She sits in the back row with Hannie. Only Hannie was home with a cold.

  “If you have finished copying the words, Karen, you may read until the others are ready,” said Ms. Colman.

  Oh, good, I thought. I took out my book. It was called The Witches, by Roald Dahl. This was a very good book for me to read. That is because a witch lives next door to Daddy’s house. Her name is Morbidda Destiny and …

  “Attention, students. Will Natalie Springer please report to the nurse’s office?”

  Wow! A special announcement had come over the P.A. system for Natalie. I knew Natalie’s test was today. But I did not know it was going to be in the nurse’s office. Natalie looked upset. I do not think she knew it was going to be in the nurse’s office either.

  Uh-oh. What kind of test could they give in the nurse’s office? A medical test. That’s what kind. Maybe Natalie was sick.

  After she left, I tried to read my book. I read the same page about six times. I could not keep my mind on the words. All I could think about was Natalie. Poor, poor Natalie.