Karen, Hannie and Nancy: The Three Musketeers

  For Dick Krinsley

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Summer Vacation

  2 Karen Brewer

  3 Nancy Dawes

  4 Hannie Papadakis

  5 The Three Musketeers

  6 The Doll Sisters

  7 Stoneybrook Playground

  8 Hop on Pop

  9 Homesick

  10 B-I-N-G-O

  11 The Secret Garden

  12 The Rainy Day

  13 The Big Dance

  14 Carnival Time

  15 Dapper Dan’s

  16 The Three Enemies

  17 Good News

  18 Big Sister

  19 Matthew or Dana

  20 Best Friends

  Activity Pages

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Summer Vacation

  I banged through the front door of Mommy’s house. I banged into the kitchen. I dropped my things all over the floor — pencils, papers, an old workbook, three flower erasers, two sticks of gum, a papier-mâché rabbit, and a folder full of paintings.

  It was the last day of school.

  I had cleaned out my desk.

  “Goodness, Karen,” said Mommy. She and Andrew were in the kitchen. They had been shelling peas. Now they were looking at my mess. (Andrew is my little brother. He is only four-going-on-five. I am seven. I am his big sister.)

  “I will clean it up. Don’t worry,” I told Mommy. Then I stood on a chair. I sang, “School’s out! School’s out! Teacher wore her bloomers out!” I smiled at Andrew.

  But he frowned. “What does that mean?” he asked. “What are bloomers?” He opened a pea pod and popped out the peas.

  “You know, I do not have any idea,” I said. “I just heard some big kids singing that today. I heard them sing something else, too. They sang, ‘No more pencils, no more books! No more teachers’ dirty looks!’ I do not like that song, though. Ms. Colman never, ever gave me a dirty look. She is much too nice.”

  I hopped off the chair. I began to scoop up my mess.

  I am Karen Brewer. I have blonde hair and some freckles. I have glasses. Two pairs. I wear my blue glasses when I read, and my pink glasses when I do other things.

  I have two best friends. Their names are Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis. They are a little older than I am. They are almost eight. Nancy lives next door to Mommy. Hannie lives across the street from Daddy and one house down. (My parents are divorced. They do not live in the same house anymore. But they live in the same town. Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I was born here.)

  Hannie and Nancy and I call ourselves the Three Musketeers. We are going to be best friends forever and for always. I had big summer plans for my friends and me. We were going to stay together as much as possible. We were going to spend every day together. (We are such good friends that we have matching friendship bracelets. I made Nancy’s, Nancy made Hannie’s, and Hannie made mine. They are gigundoly beautiful.)

  These are some of the things the Three Musketeers wanted to do over summer vacation: ride our bikes, roller skate, go to the playground, swim, do arts and crafts, and read, read, READ!

  We have ninety-one days of summer vacation.

  Hannie and Nancy and I were going to do something else together. Something exciting and extra-fun.

  We were going to take a trip.

  Not by ourselves, of course. Daddy and his family were going to spend two weeks at a lake. Daddy said I could invite friends along. So Hannie and Nancy were coming to the lake with me.

  Andrew was not bringing friends, though. That is because he is so young. He cannot even read yet. But he wants to learn. He is always saying, “Teach me! Teach me!”

  I am glad I can read. I am glad the Three Musketeers can read together sometimes. And I am especially glad to be one of the Three Musketeers.

  Karen Brewer

  My parents were not always divorced. They were married for awhile. They were married long enough to have Andrew and me. But after a few years, they decided they did not love each other enough to stay married. That was when they decided to get divorced. (Of course, they still loved Andrew and me.)

  Mommy and Daddy and Andrew and I had been living in a gigundo house. It was Daddy’s big house. He had grown up in it. When the divorce happened, Mommy moved out. She took Andrew and me with her. We moved into a much smaller house.

  Do you want to know something interesting? Mommy and Daddy got married again — but not to each other. Mommy married Seth Engle. He is my stepfather now. Daddy married Elizabeth Thomas. She is my stepmother now. I have two families.

  These are the people in the little-house family: Mommy, Seth, Andrew, and me. The pets are Rocky and Midgie, Seth’s cat and dog, and Emily Junior. She’s my rat. I live at the little house most of the time. I like my little-house family.

  The rest of the time I live at Daddy’s with my big-house family. Andrew and I live there every other weekend, on some holidays and vacations, and for two weeks during the summer. These are the people in my big-house family: Daddy, Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s kids, Nannie, Emily Michelle, Andrew, and me. Elizabeth’s kids are Sam, Charlie, David Michael, and Kristy. They are my stepbrothers and stepsister. Sam and Charlie are in high school. David Michael is seven like me. And Kristy is thirteen. She is a very good baby-sitter. I just love Kristy. Nannie is Elizabeth’s mother, so she is my stepgrandmother. And Emily Michelle is my adopted sister. Daddy and Elizabeth adopted her from a country called Vietnam. Emily is two and a half. She does not say much yet, but she is learning to talk. (I named my rat after her.)

  Also at the big house are some pets. Boo-Boo is Daddy’s mean, old cat. You have to be careful with him. He scratches. Shannon is David Michael’s puppy, and he is very sweet. He licks me with his tongue. I call that puppy-kissing. Crystal Light the Second and Goldfishie are two goldfish. They belong to Andrew and me. They do not do much. Mostly, they swim and eat and garble their mouths around.

  I have special names for my brother and me. I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. (Once, my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. That’s where I got the idea for our names.) Andrew and I are two-twos because we have two of so many things. Two houses, two families, two mommies, two daddies, two cats, and two dogs. Plus, I have two best friends. And I have two bicycles, one at each house. (Andrew has a tricycle at each house.) I have clothes and books and toys and games at each house. I even have two stuffed cats. They look just the same. Moosie stays at the big house, Goosie stays at the little house. This is nice because Andrew and I do not have to pack much when we go from one house to the other.

  Of course, I do not have two of every-thing. I do not have two rats, so I miss Emily Junior when I am at Daddy’s. Also, I miss my little-house family. But then when I am at the little house, I miss my big-house family.

  I hardly ever miss my best friends, though. The Three Musketeers are together forever. All for one and one for all!

  Nancy Dawes

  Hello, my name is Nancy Dawes. Really, it is Nancy Jane Dawes, but no one ever calls me Nancy Jane. Not even my parents. (I am not sure why they bothered with that extra name.)

  I am seven and three quarters years old.

  I live with my mother and father here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. There are no other people in my family. I mean, no other people who live in our house. I do not have even one brother or sister, which is a shame.

  I do have two best friends, though. They are Karen Brewer and Hannie Papadakis. Hannie is seven and three quarters years old, like me. Karen is younger. She just turn
ed seven. Hannie and Karen and I are the Three Musketeers. We go to school together. We go to Stoneybrook Academy.

  Hannie and Karen are lucky. They have brothers and sisters. Hannie has one of each. Karen has two sisters and four brothers. She does not get to live with all of them all the time, though. That is because she’s a two-two.

  This is what I look like: light brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles. If I had a sister, I wonder if she would look like me. Would a brother look like me? Karen and her brother Andrew look very much alike. But Hannie does not look like either her sister or her brother. She looks a little like her father, though.

  The second floor of my house is the bedroom floor. We have three bedrooms. The big one is for Mommy and Daddy. The middle-sized one is mine. The small one does not belong to anybody. Sometimes guests sleep in it. Sometimes Mommy sews in it. Sometimes Daddy writes letters in it. But a bedroom should belong to someone. Like a baby. Like my baby brother or sister. Then I would not have to be an only child.

  Do you know what? I do not have any grandmas or grandpas, either. (My family is kind of small.) But I do have a friend I call Grandma B. Grandma B is really old. She lives in Stoneybrook Manor where a lot of other old people live. She is a very good friend of my family’s. Grandma B even spends holidays with us, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and Passover. She does not seem like most old people to me. She likes to listen to music and dance. Sometimes she sings.

  I like to do those things, too. I plan to be an actress one day. I think Karen and I might star in something together. Like maybe The Nancy Dawes Show. Hannie could be in it, too, if she wanted.

  My house is an extra-quiet place. No brothers or sisters or grandparents. And for a long time: no pets. We did not even have a fish. Once, a moth flew into my bedroom. I named him Bob, but he did not stay. But now I have my first pet. He is a kitten named Pokey! Hannie and Karen each have several pets. Karen has a rat of her very own. At her father’s house, she has a goldfish, too. Plus, a dog and a cat live at her mother’s house, and another dog and cat live at her father’s. Hannie and her brother and sister have three pets.

  My house is the quietest one I know. But a baby would take care of that. And I could take care of a baby. I am sure I could learn how to change diapers and stuff. A nice name for a little boy would be Biff Bartholomew. A nice name for a little girl would be April May.

  Did I say that I love my parents very, very much? Well, I do. I do not even care that they are quiet people who like a quiet house. They are the best, best mommy and daddy, and I am glad they are mine. I wonder if they would let me change my name to Rodelia, for when I am an actress.

  Hannie Papadakis

  Hey, it’s me, Hannie Papadakis! Do you know what kind of name Papadakis is? It’s Greek. So I am Greek. But I was born here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. And my parents were born in the United States. But my grandparents, all four of them, were born in Greece. I have never been to Greece, but maybe someday I will go there. Someday when I am a world traveler and I am on my way to Italy and China.

  Hannie is not my real name. My real name is Hannah. I like Hannie better — even though Hannah is spelled the same whether you start at the beginning or the end, whether you spell it forward or backward. Always the same. H-A-N-N-A-H. My mother says not many names are like that. I can only think of three others. Eve, Ava, and Otto. (There must be more.)

  I have an older brother and a younger sister. My brother is Linny. He is nine-going-on-ten. (Oh, by the way, I am seven-going-on-eight.) Linny is usually a nice brother, except that sometimes he teases. My sister is Sari. She is two-going-on-three. She used to be a sweet little baby. Now she is a PAIN IN THE NECK. She is always coming into my room and messing up my stuff. I yell at her, but then she comes back and does it again.

  Our family has three pets. They are a dog, a kitten, and a box turtle. Their names are Noodle the Poodle, Pat the Cat, and Myrtle the Turtle. Myrtle was our first pet ever. (She might be a boy, but we are not sure.) Then we got Noodle. And then we got Pat.

  Guess what. I am a Musketeer. I have two best friends, and we try to stick together, so we call ourselves the Three Musketeers. My friends are Karen Brewer and Nancy Dawes. When Karen stays at her father’s house, she lives across the street from me. Mostly she is at her mother’s house, though. And her mother’s house is right next door to Nancy’s. Karen and Nancy are lucky. I wish I lived nearer to them.

  I am glad summer vacation is here. I do not like school too much. I would rather be with my friends and play outdoors. Nancy likes school, and Karen loves school, but not me. Here are the things I like to do: play tag, swim, ride my bike, run races, read. Karen and Nancy and I all like to read.

  A few days ago, Mommy took Linny and Sari and me to the library. I sat on the floor in the children’s room. I looked and looked and looked. After a long time, I chose ten books. That is the most you can check out at one time. This summer I am going to try reading the books by an author named Carol Ryrie Brink. I found two of her books. They are Baby Island and Caddie Woodlawn. I am going to read another book called Sarah, Plain and Tall. (It is by someone named Patricia MacLachlan.) And I am going to read some of the stories about Paddington Bear. Karen likes those books. They are by a man named Michael Bond.

  Since I like to read, maybe I will be a writer when I grow up. (It is too bad I cannot be a reader. I do not think you can earn money just by reading.) I think I will be a writer who travels around the world. When I get tired of that, I will swim in the Olympics. I will win gold medals. Then I will stop to write a book about being an Olympic swimmer. After I finish the book, I will be a gardener for awhile and then a painter. Then I will build two houses. One for me, and one for someone else. (I do not know who.) Then maybe I will write another book or two.

  Daddy says I need to concentrate. Mommy says my mind flits around like a butterfly. It never thinks the same thought for very long. I cannot help that. Anyway, I am glad my mind flits. If it did not, I might get bored. Karen’s mind flits around sometimes, too. So does Nancy’s. Maybe that is one reason we are the Three Musketeers.

  Do you know what? I really wish my family had an ice-cream maker.

  The Three Musketeers

  Here is a good thing about summer: You do not have to wear too many clothes. In the summer I can get dressed in a flash. Underwear, shorts, shirt. If I am not going to leave my yard, those are the only clothes I have to put on. (If I am going to leave the yard, then I have to put on sandals, or maybe socks and sneakers.)

  I can get dressed in about ten seconds.

  On the first whole day of summer vacation, I wore a pair of red shorts and my new blue T-shirt with the tropical fish on the front. I asked Mommy to time me while I got dressed.

  “Okay!” I called to her when my clothes were laid out.

  “Go!” said Mommy.

  “Stop!” I called when I finished dressing.

  “Eight seconds!” said Mommy.

  “Yes! A new record! This summer I am going to see if I can beat that record. I will try to dress in seven seconds.”

  “Karen?” said Andrew. He poked his head in my room. “What are you going to do today?” He was still in his pajamas. He has not set a dressing record that I know of.

  “Play with my friends,” I said.

  “Play what?”

  Hmm. Good question. We could do so many things. We could play tag and statues. We could sit in the yard and wait for the mail truck and the ice-cream truck. We could go to Melody Korman’s house. (Melody has a swimming pool.) We could ride our bikes. We could go to the playground. We could paint pictures.

  “Huh, Karen?” said Andrew.

  “I am not sure yet,” I told him. “I better call Nancy and Hannie. Then I will decide.”

  I stood in the kitchen and dialed Hannie’s number. I watched an ant crawl across the floor. It crawled over my foot. I could hardly feel it. “Hannie?” I said when she picked up the phone. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what?”r />
  “Our first summer day together. The Three Musketeers.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Can you come over right away?”

  “I think so.” (Hannie has to ask someone to drive her to my little house. Nancy can walk, since she lives just next door.)

  “Great. I’ll see you soon,” I said. “And bring your doll.” Then I telephoned Nancy. “It’s me! Can you come right over? Hannie is on her way.”

  “Yup,” answered Nancy. “What are we going to do today?”

  “I am still deciding. Maybe you better ride your bike over, just in case. And bring your doll.”

  I hung up the phone. I looked around for the ant, but it was gone.

  I sat on our front steps with my doll. I watched Nancy ride her bike out of her garage next door. I watched her ride it down her driveway, along the sidewalk, and up our driveway. She parked her bike by the fence.

  “Hi, Musketeer!” she called. She took her doll out of her bike basket.

  “Hi, Musketeer!”

  Nancy sat next to me on the steps. We waited for Hannie.

  “I broke my dressing record today,” I said. “Eight seconds.”

  “Cool.”

  Soon Hannie arrived. Her mother dropped her off.

  “Yea! The third Musketeer is here!” I said. “Okay, you guys. Get ready for today. We are going to be very busy. We have a lot to do.”

  “Karen, it is vacation,” Hannie reminded me.

  “I know. Now pay attention, Musketeers.”

  The Doll Sisters

  My alarm clock looks like a cat. It makes three different sounds: purr, growl, meow. You can set it to the sound you want. Usually, I set it to meow. Then the clock wakes me up by saying, “Meow, meow, meow!”

  On the first day of summer vacation I did not need my meow-clock. I did not need Mommy to rap on my door and say, “Nancy! Time to get up!” All I needed was the sunlight. When it shone through my window, it woke me up gently. I lay in my bed and thought about the Three Musketeers. I wondered what Karen would plan for us to do.