by Nancy Krulik
“You’d better hurry up,” Emma told her. “The kids’ part of the tournament is going to begin any minute now.”
“I’ll be right back. I promise,” Katie answered.
Luckily, the phone booth was empty when Katie arrived. Katie opened the door to the phone booth and stepped inside.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a quarter. But before she could put the coin in the phone, she felt a cool breeze on the back of her neck.
Katie gulped. She’d felt that breeze before. Lots of times.
Oh, no! That was no ordinary wind. It was the magic wind!
The phone booth was small and cramped. But that didn’t stop the magic wind. It still managed to circle wildly around Katie. She gulped and shut her eyes tight as the tornado swirled around her.
And then it stopped. Just like that. The magic wind was gone.
And so was Katie Carew.
Chapter 9
“KEEYAH!”
Katie jumped and opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a big man in a white karate suit with a black belt.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!” Katie screamed back at him. She was really scared.
The man leaped back and kicked his leg hard. He flipped around, took a running jump, and . . . bam! He broke a thick cement block in two.
The crowd applauded.
A boy seated near Katie on the hardwood floor looked over at her strangely. “Kevin, why did you scream like that?” he asked. “You know Mr. Thomas would never hurt you.”
Kevin? Katie gulped. She looked around. She was seated with a group of boys and girls. They were all wearing karate uniforms. But Kevin was nowhere to be seen.
Still, the boy sitting next to her had definitely said, “Kevin.”
Katie knew that could mean only one thing. She had become Kevin! Right before the tournament was about to start.
Just then, a dark-haired woman with a blue belt around her waist walked over to the group of children on the floor.
“Okay, white belts, you’re up first,” she told the kids. “Line up, bow to the judges, and get ready to break your pieces of wood.”
Katie watched as eight kids in uniforms with white belts stood up and walked to the center of the floor. They stood before the judges in two perfectly straight rows.
Everyone’s attention was on the white belts. Katie smiled. Now was the perfect time to sneak out of the gym! She had to find a place where she could be alone. After all, the magic wind only came when there was nobody else around. And Katie had to get the wind to turn her back into herself before it was Kevin’s turn to compete in the tournament!
Quietly, Katie got on all fours and began to crawl toward the doorway at the back of the gym. But before she could get very far, the boy next to her grabbed onto her yellow belt and tugged her back.
“What are you doing?” he asked her. “You can’t leave now. No one’s allowed to leave the gym once the tournament has begun. That’s the rule.”
Katie frowned. Sometimes rules really stank.
She watched as the grown-up black belts held up pieces of wood. The white-belt kids took turns punching and kicking at them.
Some of the white belts managed to break the wood. Others couldn’t do it. One little boy hit the wood with his fist. Then he grabbed his hand and started crying.
Ouch. That sure looked like it hurt.
Katie sighed. Kevin had said that breaking wood wasn’t hard, if you knew what you were doing.
Unfortunately, Katie didn’t know what she was doing at all.
This was so not good.
Chapter 10
Katie hoped that something—anything—would happen to keep the yellow belts from having to break their boards.
But nothing did. And a few minutes later, when the white belts were finished with their part of the competition, the woman with the blue belt walked over to the part of the gym where Katie and the karate students were sitting.
“Okay, yellow belts. It’s your turn,” she said. “Take your boards and line up. Don’t forget to bow to the judges before you break your board.”
There was no getting out of this now. Katie was going to have to get up there and kick her foot through the big piece of wood she was carrying.
She really didn’t want to do this. She just wanted to run away. But Katie couldn’t do that to Kevin. He had really been looking forward to this tournament.
Katie was going to have to break that board. Somehow.
Katie watched as the first yellow belt stepped forward. She figured that if she studied what the other kids were doing, and just copied them, she’d be okay.
The first yellow belt, a girl with long brown braids, bowed to the judges. Then she handed her board to a grown-up with a black belt. The black belt held up the board so the girl could break it.
The yellow belt looked steadily at the board. “KEEYAH!” she shouted as she kicked hard with her left foot. The board snapped in two.
Everyone applauded.
The girl with the long brown braids bowed to the judges, and went back to sit with the other kids.
The next yellow belt stepped forward. Like the girl before him, he bowed and handed his board to a grown-up with a black belt.
He stared at the board for what seemed like a really long time. Then . . . “KEEYAH!” The boy with the yellow belt let out a yell. He kicked the board, hard. It broke instantly.
Everyone cheered.
Uh-oh. It was Kevin’s turn now. Katie was going to have to get up there, in front of all those people, and the judges, and break the board. It didn’t matter that she’d never done anything like this before.
Slowly she stood up and walked toward the judges. She bowed clumsily. Then she handed the board to a black belt, just as she had seen the other kids do.
As Katie stepped back from the board, she caught a glimpse of her friends. They were all in the stands watching her. The pressure was really on now! Katie’s hands were shaking. Her heart was pounding. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Just kick hard, Katie told herself. Kick as hard as you can.
Katie stared at the wood. Then she lifted her leg, leaped up high, and kicked hard.
“Keeyah!” she yelped.
BAM! The next thing Katie knew, she was sitting on the ground. And it wasn’t her foot that hurt her. It was her rear end. Katie had completely missed the wood.
Instead, she’d gone flying through the air and landed on the hard floor.
It was a really strong leap. She’d flown pretty far. In fact, that would have been a really great long jump. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a track meet. It didn’t matter how far you jumped if you didn’t break the board.
For a minute, there was silence in the gym. And then, suddenly, Katie heard George’s loud laugh coming from the bleachers.
“Some champion,” George shouted.
Oh, no! Katie had ruined everything for Kevin!
Tears began to form in her eyes. But Katie refused to let George see her cry. That would just make things worse for Kevin.
She had to get out of there!
Quickly, Katie turned and ran toward the door at the back of the gym.
Chapter 11
Katie stood alone in the lobby outside the gym. She wiped the tears from her eyes. That had been just awful. She’d been so embarrassed.
She was also amazed. Karate was hard to do. Really hard! Kevin had made it seem so easy. Of course, that was because he practiced a lot.
Now Katie understood why Kevin had to spend so much time working on his karate. He’d given up everything for it—the track team, soccer, even his best friend.
Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She knew right away that this was no ordinary wind. The magic wind was back!
Sure enough, a second later, the breeze had turned into a tornado. It circled around Katie wildly, lifting her up and spinning her around in midair.
And then it was gone. Just like that.
Katie Carew was back.
And so was Kevin. He was standing right next to her. But he had no idea how he had gotten there.
“What happened?” he asked Katie. “Why are we out here?”
“Well,” Katie began nervously. How was she going to explain this?
“After the board-breaking competition,” she began, “you, I mean, I . . . uh, er . . .”
“The board-breaking competition. Oh man,” Kevin interrupted her with a groan. “Now I remember. I missed the board. I mean, I think I did. I’m not really sure. It’s all kind of fuzzy.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” Katie told him.
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t know how I could have done that. I never miss the board.”
“Everybody makes mistakes,” Katie told him.
“Not me. I’m always right on target. But not today,” Kevin said sadly. “Of all days for me to mess up. Now I’ll never be a champion.”
“Well, you could still get a medal,” Katie told him.
“They don’t give you a medal for missing the board, Katie,” he told her impatiently.
“I know that,” Katie answered. “But there are two other events. You still can get a medal for sparring, or for doing your karate moves.”
“They’re called forms,” Kevin said quietly.
“Okay forms,” Katie repeated. “You know those really well. You should go back in there and show everyone.”
Kevin shook his head. “No way. I’m done with karate. I quit!”
Now Katie felt really terrible. Kevin had loved karate—until she ruined it for him. She couldn’t let him quit. She just couldn’t.
“Kevin, you’ve got to go out there. And you’ve got to win a medal,” she told him.
“Why?” Kevin asked her.
“Because you can’t let George think he was right! He’ll brag about it forever,” Katie told him. “And being around someone who brags all the time is really awful.”
Kevin blushed. “I guess I acted kind of stuck-up this week,” he admitted.
Katie shrugged. “Kind of. But it’s okay. You were just excited about the tournament.”
“Yeah,” Kevin said with a frown. “I thought I would win.”
“You could still win something,” Katie told him. “Besides, it’s not about winning.”
“Sure it is,” Kevin insisted.
“No way,” Katie said, shaking her head. “It’s about doing something you love. It’s about getting better and better at karate. Medals aren’t important.”
“I sure would like to have one, though,” Kevin murmured.
“You’re not going to get one standing here,” she pointed out. “You’ve got to go in there and try.”
Kevin nodded. “I guess you’re right,” he agreed. “Besides, I can’t make a bigger fool out of myself than I already have.”
“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Katie assured him. “You know this stuff. Just do what you’ve been showing us all week.”
Chapter 12
“Wow, Kevin, your silver medal is huge,” Jeremy said. The tournament was over, and the kids were all standing around Kevin in the gym lobby.
“It’s heavy, too. You want to feel it?” Kevin asked. He lifted the medal from around his neck, and handed it to Jeremy.
“You really beat up that other yellow belt,” Manny said.
“I didn’t really beat him up,” Kevin said. “That’s not the point of sparring. You’re just supposed to show how well you can defend yourself. I guess I did better than he did.”
“Yeah, well, the guy who won the gold medal did better than you did,” George reminded him.
Katie sighed. She couldn’t believe George was starting another fight.
But Kevin had had enough sparring for one day. “I guess so,” he agreed with George. “But I’ll get him next time.”
“Yay!” Katie cheered Kevin, before George could say anything else.
“Can I try on your bronze medal?” Becky asked Kevin. “The one you got for doing your karate forms?”
“Sure,” Kevin said. He lifted the other medal from around his neck. “Just don’t drop it.”
“I don’t know what everybody’s making such a big deal about,” George grumbled. “It’s not like this is the Olympics or anything.”
“It’s still pretty cool,” Jeremy told him. “You’ve never won anything like this before.”
George frowned.
“Yeah, but maybe he will,” Kevin said. “I mean, he could win a track medal, if he tries hard enough.” Kevin was really trying hard to be nice.
“And if he ties his shoelace tighter,” Jeremy said with a laugh.
George blushed. “I’m not letting that happen again. I’m getting Velcro sneakers for track.”
“Are you going to wear your medals to school?” Andrew asked Kevin.
Kevin almost nodded. Then he looked over at Katie. He shook his head instead. “Nah. That would be like bragging. It’s just good knowing I won them.”
At that moment, Mrs. Camilleri walked over to where the kids were. “Do you all want to go out for ice cream to celebrate?” she asked them.
Of course everyone did. Even George. He never gave up a chance to have ice cream.
“Hey, George, will you show me how you suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone?” Kevin asked.
“You want me to teach you something?” George asked. He sounded surprised.
Kevin nodded. “Every time I try it, the ice cream spills all over my shirt. You’re the champion of ice-cream-cone-sucking.”
George grinned. “Yeah, I guess I am. Too bad they don’t give medals for that. I’d definitely get a gold medal. Or at the very least, a chocolate-chip-mint one!”
Katie giggled. It was good to see George and Kevin getting along again.
“Hey, George, do you want to practice running the relay with me at recess tomorrow?” Emma W. asked him. “Maybe you and I could try again at next week’s track meet.”
“Um, well, I . . .” George seemed kind of embarrassed. He and Emma didn’t hang out together very much.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Kevin said. “And I’ll time you guys. I could be like your coach. That way, I could help the team, even though I’m not on it anymore.”
“Great idea!” George said. “I’ll let you use my new stopwatch.”
“Cool,” Kevin said.
George turned to Katie. “You want to practice, too, Katie Kazoo? You could work on your long jump.”
“Sure,” Katie said happily. She was so glad everybody was friends again.
About a half hour later, Katie was sitting on Suzanne’s bed. Suzanne was happily eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream. Mrs. Camilleri had dropped Katie off at Suzanne’s house with a whole pint of it.
“So then, Kevin turned and kicked this kid really hard, right in the stomach,” Katie told Suzanne. “It was a good thing they both had all this padding on. I didn’t know Kevin was so strong.”
He only won a silver medal, though, right? Suzanne wrote on her pad.
Katie rolled her eyes. “A silver medal is a huge deal, Suzanne,” she said. “You don’t have any medals.”
Suzanne shrugged.
“It’s a cool medal. You should see it. It’s really heavy, too. Kevin let us all try them on,” Katie continued.
Suzanne looked a little sad. You know, she wrote, this is the first time you knew about something before I did. I’m usually the one who knows about everything that’s going on.
Katie thought about that. It wasn’t exactly true. Suzanne didn’t know about the magic wind. She didn’t know that Katie had turned into people like Jeremy, Lucille, Mr. Kane, and one time, even Suzanne herself.
But Katie sure wasn’t going to tell her that. She couldn’t! Besides, Suzanne already felt bad enough. Why let her know that there were plenty of things going on that she had no idea about?
I’ll be back after I have my tonsils out. Then things w
ill go back to normal, Suzanne wrote.
Well, sort of normal, Katie thought. As normal as things can be when there’s a magic wind around!
Tomato Sauce
Here’s the recipe for the yummy tomato sauce Katie and her friends in the cooking club cooked up. Make some yourself, and then pour it over your favorite pasta.
Make sure that you, like Katie, have a grown-up around to help with the chopping and cooking.
This recipe makes 4 servings of sauce.
You will need: 1 carrot, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery with the leaves still on, chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
5 basil leaves, torn
2-3 ripe medium tomatoes, skinned, drained, and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Here’s what you do: 1. Sauté the carrot, onion, celery, and garlic in a saucepan with olive oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add the basil leaves and then the tomatoes. Stir.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Simmer the sauce on low heat for about half an hour, until the sauce thickens.
5. Serve over your favorite pasta.
