Karen's Gift

by Ann M. Martin

  My drawings did not look exactly like the real dogs. But they were cute and I liked them. And I drew five leashes down to the palm of my papier-mâché hand.

  I turned to Natalie and wagged my hand.

  “Woof! Woof!” I said.

  “That is so cool,” said Natalie.

  “I like your hand too,” I replied.

  I looked at Hank’s hand. He was drawing a few different things. I saw a baseball, a car, a kite, and a dog. I was not sure why.

  “What are you drawing?” I asked.

  “I am drawing things I like to do with my dad. We play catch. We go for rides in his car. Last week we flew a kite. And we walk our dog, Jake, together every morning,” said Hank.

  “It looks good,” I said.

  Hmm. Hank’s hand gave me an idea. I had not told him that I was bringing Daddy to our party. I had just told him we had a new guest who would be a surprise. Now I had an idea about how to make the surprise even better.

  That afternoon, after I walked Duke and Astrid, I made a secret phone call. It was to Hank’s house. I dialed his number. The phone rang once. It rang twice. Hank answered. Boo. I did not want to talk to Hank. I did not want him to know I was calling. I had to use a phony voice. I tried to sound like a salesperson. I talked loud and fast.

  “Good evening! Is this the Reubens’ residence?” I said.

  “Um, who is calling?” said Hank.

  “I need to speak with the head of the household,” I replied.

  “Just a minute,” said Hank.

  He put Mr. Reubens on the phone.

  “Hello?” said Mr. Reubens.

  I switched back to my regular voice.

  “Hi, this is Karen Brewer calling, but I do not want Hank to know. It is a surprise,” I said.

  Mr. Reubens played along.

  “Yes, I see,” he replied.

  “Thank you, Mr. Reubens,” I said.

  I explained why I was calling. I told him that Daddy was coming to the Mother’s Day party. I asked if he could come too.

  “I think Hank would be really happy if you were there,” I said. “Neither of us thought about asking our fathers to the party.”

  “Yes, that sounds excellent,” said Mr. Reubens. “Just give me the details and you can sign me up.”

  I told him to be outside school at two o’clock.

  “I will tell Daddy to meet you there,” I said. “That way you can come in together.”

  “Thank you for calling,” said Mr. Reubens.

  I had done it. I had invited guests for me and for Hank. Now all I needed to do was think of presents for Mommy and Elizabeth. This was going to be the best Mother’s Day ever!

  Party!

  On Friday, Ms. Colman helped us put our papier-mâché hands on the display board. At the end of the day, we would be allowed to take them home. I was glad. There was someone I wanted to give my hand to on Sunday.

  We were all so excited that we could hardly get through the day. We started setting up for the party right after lunch. The first guests began to arrive at quarter to two.

  “Who is our guest going to be?” asked Hank. “Can you tell me now?”

  “No way! You will see soon enough,” I replied.

  I was busy talking to some of the other guests when I saw Daddy’s face at the door. Mr. Reubens was beside him. Hank was talking to Ricky and did not see them.

  “Excuse me, but you have a visitor,” I said to Hank.

  Hank looked up. A huge smile spread across his face. He ran to his dad and hugged him. I was right behind him.

  “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Mr. Reubens,” I said. “What do you think of the surprise, Hank?”

  “I think it is great,” Hank replied. “Thanks, Karen.”

  I did not see much of Hank after that. He was busy making sure his dad got to talk to everyone at the party. I could see he was proud of his dad. That made me happy. This had turned out to be a good surprise.

  Hank was not the only one who got a surprise at our Mother’s Day party. My whole class got a surprise from Ms. Colman.

  First Mr. Simmons walked in. (He is Ms. Colman’s husband.) He was carrying their baby, Jane. Beside him was an older woman. She looked very familiar.

  “Class, I know you have met Mr. Simmons and Jane before,” said Ms. Colman. “Now I would like you to meet my mother, Dorothy Colman. She has come from Chicago to visit us.”

  That was it! The woman was Ms. Colman’s mother. I had met her at Ms. Colman’s wedding. (I had been one of Ms. Colman’s flower girls.)

  Ms. Colman invited her own mother to our party.

  “Hi,” I said. “Do you remember me? I was a flower girl in Ms. Colman’s wedding.”

  “Of course I remember you, Karen,” said Ms. Colman’s mom. “You are not easy to forget. In fact, you remind me quite a bit of my daughter when she was your age.”

  “I do?” I said. “How?”

  This was very exciting. I could not believe that Ms. Colman was like me. I wanted to hear all about Ms. Colman when she was my age.

  “She had lots of energy, just like you,” said Ms. Colman’s mom. “And when she spoke too loudly in the house, I had to remind her to use her indoor voice.”

  So that is where Ms. Colman got the idea! She had needed reminding too.

  Ms. Colman stepped up to us then. “Hi, Mom. Are you telling stories about me?” she said.

  “Of course I am!”

  Ms. Colman and her mother told the class lots of funny stories. She was not the only one who had stories to tell. Mothers and fathers and cousins and friends were at the party. Everyone had stories. And everyone had a great time.

  The Perfect Presents

  I had not had much time to think about the presents I wanted to get for Mommy and Elizabeth. And now it was Saturday. Nannie was taking David Michael, Andrew, and me downtown to shop. We piled into the Pink Clinker. (That is the name of Nannie’s old car.)

  “Does anyone know what they are buying?” asked Nannie. “If not, we can just browse.”

  We voted to browse. We started off at Bellair’s department store. The bracelet and scarf I liked were both gone. I did not see anything else I wanted to buy. Neither did David Michael or Andrew.

  We passed a bookstore. Mommy and Elizabeth like books a lot. But I did not know what they had already read.

  We passed a flower shop. Lots of cute things besides flowers were for sale. But none of us saw anything we wanted to buy.

  Then we passed a stationery store.

  “I need to buy a card,” said David Michael.

  So we went inside.

  “I found what I want!” said Andrew. “Look!”

  We all looked where he was pointing — at a shelf of cross-eyed bears. They came in different colors. They looked pretty silly to me. But I did not say a word.

  “Those are lovely,” said Nannie. “Which colors would you like to get?”

  “The red one and the green one,” said Andrew.

  “You picked very nice ones,” said Nannie.

  I still did not know what to get. But I found some very pretty wrapping paper. It was pink with purple flowers. Then I found a funny card for Mommy. On the outside it said, What is the best thing about Mother’s Day? When I opened it, two hands popped out holding the word You!

  I got a different card for Elizabeth. The outside said, Thank you for being so special. The inside said, Happy Mother’s Day. I decided I would draw hearts and flowers around the words.

  But I could not just give Mommy and Elizabeth cards and wrapping paper. I had worked so hard to make money to buy presents. What was I going to buy? Then I saw them. The perfect presents.

  They were near the checkout counter. They were the prettiest planners I had ever seen. They were much prettier than the one I had bought for myself. One was decorated with white roses. The other looked like a patchwork quilt. Mommy and Elizabeth each had such busy schedules. I was sure these were presents they could use.

  I took out all the money I
had earned. Then I added a little bit of the money that Daddy had lent me. I handed it to the cashier.

  “These are lovely,” she said when she was putting the planners into a bag. “You have very good taste.”

  “I know,” I replied. “Thank you!”

  Happy Mother’s Day

  I wanted to leave the gifts out as long as possible so I could look at them. So I did not wrap them until Sunday morning.

  Then I went downstairs to help get ready for our brunch. When I walked into the dining room, Daddy was there putting flowers on the table.

  “Good morning!” he said.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked.

  “Nannie and Elizabeth went out for a walk. Sam, Charlie, and Kristy went to the store for food. And David Michael and Andrew are still upstairs,” said Daddy.

  “I will be right back!” I said.

  I ran upstairs. I had wrapped one other gift. It was for Daddy. This seemed like a good time to give it to him. I went downstairs again and put it on the desk in his office. Then I ran back to the dining room.

  “Daddy, could you please come into your office for a minute?” I said.

  Daddy looked puzzled, but followed me to his office.

  “Happy Mother’s Day!” I said.

  “Why, Karen, you do not have to give me a gift,” said Daddy.

  “I did not have to. But I wanted to. This would not have been such a happy Mother’s Day for me without your help,” I said. “I wanted to thank you.”

  Daddy opened his gift.

  “It is the hand you made at school. Thank you so much. I love it!” said Daddy.

  He put it right on top of his bookcase.

  “I will look at it and enjoy it all the time,” said Daddy. “And now I would like to give a present to you.”

  I looked around the office. I did not see anything wrapped up in gift paper.

  “My gift to you is a raise in your allowance,” said Daddy. “You have been working very hard to make money to do nice things for other people. It is good to work to earn money. But you need to leave time for other things. You need time for homework. And you need time to have fun with your friends.”

  I felt gigundoly proud and grown-up. I felt that I had earned the raise in my allowance.

  “Thank you, Daddy,” I said.

  “I would like you to promise me something,” said Daddy. “I would like you to promise that you will always come to me when you need help, no matter what it is.”

  “I promise,” I replied.

  “Then it is a deal. I have a promise and you have a raise,” said Daddy.

  We shook hands to seal our deal. Then we heard a car door slam.

  “That must be your brothers and sister with the food. Come on, we have a lot to do before Nannie and Elizabeth get back,” said Daddy.

  David Michael and Andrew must have heard the car door too. They were both heading downstairs to help. Soon Nannie and Elizabeth would return. They would find a beautiful room filled with balloons and flowers and good food. They would have lots of presents to open. And they would get lots of hugs.

  Later, Andrew and I would visit Mommy and Seth.

  It was going to be a happy Mother’s Day for sure.

  About the Author

  ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.

  Copyright © 2000 by Ann M. Martin

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  First edition, 2000

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-06298-4