Don't Be Such a Turkey!

by Nancy Krulik

  Katie didn’t really care about the dress, either. But even Suzanne’s bragging couldn’t put her in a bad mood today. She had so many things making her happy. There was no better place to be on Thanksgiving than Cherrydale!

  “Mom!” Katie shouted as she ran into the house later that afternoon. “I have amazing news!”

  Aroo! Ruff! Katie’s dog, Pepper, came running as soon as he heard Katie’s voice.

  Katie bent down and scratched her chocolate and white cocker spaniel under his chin. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “You’ll get to hear the exciting news, I promise.”

  Katie’s mom hurried out of the kitchen to greet her. “Hi there, Kit Kat,” she said. “I’ve got something exciting to tell you, too.”

  Katie smiled broadly. Wow! Two surprises in one day! How awesome was that?

  “You go first,” Katie’s mother told her.

  “Okay,” Katie said excitedly. “I just found out that on Thursday, we’re going on the most amazing field trip ever! We’re visiting a Pilgrim village. Well, not a real one. That would be impossible. But a village that’s just like one the Pilgrims lived in. The whole fourth grade is going.”

  “Wow!” Mrs. Carew exclaimed. “That is exciting. Isn’t it, Pepper?”

  Aruff! Pepper barked happily at the sound of his name.

  “Now, what’s your surprise?” Katie asked her mom.

  Mrs. Carew smiled. “We’re going to New York City!”

  “To see cousin Emily?” Katie asked excitedly. Emily was her favorite cousin.

  “Yep,” her mom replied. “And Aunt Alison and Uncle Charlie, of course.”

  Katie giggled. Emily was only a teenager. Of course she still lived with her parents.

  “We’re going to be leaving a week from Wednesday, right after school,” Katie’s mom said. “It’s all set. I just finished making the arrangements.”

  Katie stopped smiling. Had she heard her mom right? “Next Wednesday?” she asked nervously.

  “Yep,” Katie’s mother replied.

  “But that’s the day before Thanksgiving,” Katie told her mom. “We can’t go then. If we do, I’ll miss the bonfire. And if we’re in New York, I won’t get to go to the high-school Thanksgiving Day football game.”

  “No, I guess not,” Katie’s mom said. “Thanksgiving here is wonderful. But this year we’ll be doing something different. It’s going to be great.”

  Katie frowned. She couldn’t believe her mother thought that going to New York for Thanksgiving was going to be great. Katie certainly didn’t think so. She thought it was going to be rotten.

  Suddenly, she didn’t feel very thankful anymore.

  Chapter 4

  “You know, Jeremy, you’re not the only one who’s feeling bad around here,” Suzanne said as she plopped her tray across the table from Katie and Jeremy.

  Katie looked at Suzanne with amazement. Had she really noticed that Katie was unhappy, too? Wow! That was very un-Suzanne of her.

  “I’m absolutely miserable!” Suzanne told the kids.

  Katie sighed. Never mind. Suzanne was still Suzanne.

  “Why are you unhappy?” Emma W. asked Suzanne.

  “Because my mother is making me wear last year’s overalls to the corn shucking,” Suzanne told her.

  “So what?” Jeremy asked her. “You get all messy at a corn shucking.”

  “You really do,” Emma W. said. “Last year I had corn silk in my hair when I got home.”

  “That’s nothing,” Kadeem said. “I had it in my underwear. And I have no idea how it got there.”

  The kids all giggled. All except Katie, that is. Just hearing the kids talking about shucking all the corn for the bonfire made her even sadder.

  “That’s because you, Kevin, and George were making it rain corn silk all over the place while we did the work,” Suzanne reminded Kadeem.

  “We still shucked plenty of corn,” Kevin said. “We just had fun while we did it.”

  “It’s not like you worked hard, Suzanne,” Jeremy reminded her. “I remember you spent the whole time talking about your hair.”

  “I’ll bet you this year I shuck more corn than you do,” Suzanne said.

  “I doubt it,” Kevin told her. “Don’t forget Jeremy is an athlete.”

  “He plays soccer,” Suzanne reminded him. “What’s he going to do? Shuck corn with his feet?”

  “He’s also a boy,” Kevin said.

  “So what? Girls can do anything boys can!” Suzanne exclaimed. “And better. We’ll prove it. This year, I think we should have a contest. The girls against the boys. To see who can shuck the most corn.”

  “Oh please, don’t make me laugh,” Kadeem said.

  “We’re not laughing,” Mandy butted in.

  “Not one bit,” Emma W. agreed.

  “Then you’re on!” Jeremy exclaimed. “Boys against girls.”

  “We’re going to beat you,” Suzanne told Jeremy. “Aren’t we, Katie?”

  Katie didn’t know what to say. She hated when she was caught in the middle between her two best friends.

  “I’m not going to the corn shucking,” Katie told Suzanne quietly.

  “What do you mean?” Suzanne asked. “We always go to the corn shucking together.”

  “Not this year,” Katie said. “I can’t go to the bonfire or the football game. We’re going to New York for Thanksgiving.”

  “When are you leaving?” Suzanne asked.

  “Next Wednesday, right after school,” Katie told her.

  “But we shuck the corn on Tuesday night,” Suzanne said. “You’ll still be here then.”

  “Yeah,” Katie agreed. “But I ...”

  “Come on, Katie. We need your help,” Suzanne said. “We need all the girls we can get if we’re going to beat the boys.”

  “Please help us, Katie,” Emma W. said. “We don’t want to have to listen to the boys bragging all the way until next Thanksgiving.”

  “And if they win, you know that’s what they’ll do,” Suzanne said. She shook her head angrily. “I really hate when people brag.”

  That made Katie laugh. No one bragged more than Suzanne.

  “Okay,” Katie said finally. “Count me in.”

  Chapter 5

  “Hey, Katie, do you want to come over and kick around a soccer ball?” Jeremy asked after school that afternoon.

  Katie opened her mouth to say “sure.” But before she could squeak out a sound, Suzanne grabbed her and pulled her by the elbow.

  “Katie can’t go with you today,” Suzanne told Jeremy. “We’re having a team practice.”

  “What team?” Katie and Jeremy asked at the exact same time.

  “The girls’ team,” Suzanne said. “We’re going to have to practice a lot if we’re going to beat you boys at shucking corn.”

  “How do you practice shucking corn?” Jeremy asked Suzanne.

  “It’s a team secret,” Suzanne said. “I’m definitely not telling you.”

  “Are you going to tell me?” Katie asked.

  “As soon as we get to my house,” Suzanne assured her. “Now come on. We girls are all waiting for you.”

  Katie didn’t know what to say. She wanted to go play soccer with Jeremy. But she had promised to be on the girls’ corn-shucking team. And a promise was a promise.

  “Sorry, Jeremy,” Katie apologized. “Maybe we can play soccer tomorrow.”

  “We’re probably having team practice then, too,” Suzanne told Katie. “So I wouldn’t make any plans.”

  Katie was not happy as she walked off with Suzanne. She really hated being caught in the middle between her two best friends. But once again, that was exactly where she was.

  “What’s with all the baby dolls?” Zoe Canter asked as the girls followed Suzanne into her room later that afternoon.

  Suzanne was carrying a huge pile of her baby sister Heather’s dolls in her arms.

  “Husking is kind of like undressing corn,” Suzanne explained as she plopped the
dolls onto the floor. “So we’re going to practice undressing these dolls until we can do it really fast.”

  “That’s stupid,” Mandy said. “There aren’t any snaps or zippers on corn husks.”

  “True,” Miriam Chan agreed. “And corn doesn’t have arms or legs, either.”

  “Corn only has ears,” Emma W. said. “Get it? Ears of corn?”

  Katie laughed. Emma W. really did know some funny jokes. “Good one, Emma,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Emma W. answered. She looked down at the pile of dolls. “Are you sure Heather isn’t going to be upset that we’re using her dolls for our practice?” she asked Suzanne. “My little brothers get really mad when anyone plays with one of their toys.”

  “Heather won’t care,” Suzanne said. “She’s got lots of toys. And besides, she’s a girl. So she would probably want us to use her dolls so our team can win.”

  Katie wasn’t so sure about that. Suzanne’s baby sister wasn’t even two years old yet. She doubted she understood about girls’ teams and boys’ teams.

  Still, Suzanne was now the team captain—although no one was really sure how that had happened. They hadn’t taken a vote or anything. She’d just sort of taken over. And, as team captain, Suzanne was in charge.

  “Okay, everybody, grab a baby doll,” Suzanne said. “And when I say go, you start undressing it.”

  “Aren’t you going to practice, too?” Emma S. asked Suzanne.

  “No,” Suzanne said. “Somebody has to watch the clock to see how long it takes.”

  “How come you get to be the clock watcher?” Becky Stern asked her.

  “Because it’s my room and my clock,” Suzanne said. “And I’m the captain. You don’t argue with the captain.”

  Becky sighed, but she didn’t say anything. What would be the point?

  “Okay,” Suzanne said. “On your marks. Get set. Go!”

  Katie started to unsnap the little pink snowsuit her baby doll was wearing. It wasn’t easy. There were tiny snaps, and the doll’s arms and legs didn’t move very well.

  She was so focused on undressing her doll that Katie didn’t notice Heather toddling into the room. None of the girls did—until she let out a really loud scream.

  “Mine!” Heather shrieked.

  The girls all looked up.

  Heather walked over to Miriam and grabbed the doll out of her hand. “Mine!” she shouted again.

  “Heather, get out of here,” Suzanne said. “This is my playdate.”

  But Heather didn’t leave. Instead, she walked over to Zoe.

  “Mine!” Heather shouted again. She pulled so hard on the doll’s feet that one of the legs broke off. “Waaahhhhh!” she cried out. “Dolly broke!”

  “Now look what you’ve done,” Suzanne shouted at Heather.

  “Waaaahhhhhh!” Heather cried even louder.

  Mrs. Lock came running into the room. “What’s going on in here?” she asked Suzanne.

  “Heather is ruining our team practice,” Suzanne told her mother.

  “Why do you have all her dolls?” Mrs. Lock asked.

  “We need them to get used to undressing corn,” Suzanne explained.

  Mrs. Lock stared at the pile of doll clothes on Suzanne’s floor. She listened to Heather wailing. Then she took the broken doll from Zoe’s hands.

  “Practice is over,” Mrs. Lock told Suzanne. “Clean up this mess, and put the dolls back in Heather’s room.”

  Mrs. Lock bent down and scooped Heather up in her arms. Then she popped the doll’s leg back where it belonged, and handed it to Heather.

  “Now your doll’s all better,” Mrs. Lock said.

  Suzanne’s little sister stopped crying immediately.

  Suzanne looked down at the mess on her floor. It was going to take a long time to clean everything up. “My mom always takes Heather’s side,” she muttered under her breath. But she started picking up the doll clothes, anyway.

  Apparently, in Suzanne’s house, her mom was the captain. And like Suzanne said, you don’t argue with the captain.

  Chapter 6

  “I am not going to cut my nails,” Suzanne shouted at Jeremy as they stood outside school on Thursday morning. The fourth grade was waiting for the field trip bus to arrive.

  “You have to,” Jeremy said. “Having long nails makes it easier for you to open the corn husk and pull it off.”

  “It does not,” Suzanne said.

  “Yes it does,” Jeremy insisted.

  “Then why don’t you grow your nails longer,” Suzanne demanded.

  “I don’t have time to grow my nails by next Tuesday,” Jeremy said. “And besides, I’m a boy. Boys don’t have long nails.”

  “Your loss,” Suzanne said. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned her back on Jeremy.

  Katie frowned. She was really sick of her best friends fighting. They’d been at it the entire week—ever since their bet. Apparently, even though it wasn’t okay for the teammates to argue with their captains, it was just fine for captains to argue with each other.

  But that didn’t mean Katie had to listen. The minute the first bus arrived, she hurried on and made sure she got a seat next to Emma W. Mandy and Miriam were across the aisle.

  “I can’t wait until we get to the Good Morrow Village,” Katie told Emma W. “I heard you get to see people making candles.”

  Emma W. said, “Lacey went to this place when she was in fourth grade. She said she got to do some weaving. And she told me not to miss the glassblowing.”

  “Glassblowing?” Katie asked. “What’s that?”

  “It’s when someone uses a pipe to blow air into melted glass,” Emma W. said. “It’s how they used to make bowls and vases and stuff back then.”

  “Are you girls practicing your finger exercises?” Suzanne shouted from her seat three rows back. She began moving her pointer fingers up and down, and in and out.

  “It would be nice if Suzanne would stop exercising her tongue,” Mandy whispered across the aisle to Katie and Emma W. “I am so sick of hearing about this corn-shucking contest.”

  “What else did Lacey say we should see at the village?” Katie asked Emma W., trying to change the subject back to the field trip.

  “She said to make sure we visit the Wampanoag village,” Emma W. told her. “Some of the kids in her grade actually got to help hollow out a log to build a canoe.”

  “That sounds really cool,” Kevin said.

  “I know,” Emma W. said. “Maybe we’ll even get to go canoeing while we’re there.”

  Jeremy heard them talking. “I think they should send Suzanne off in a canoe,” he said. “Up a creek without a paddle.”

  The boys all laughed.

  “I heard that! You just want me gone because then you’ll win the contest,” Suzanne told Jeremy.

  “That’s not it,” Jeremy said. “I’m just sick of hearing your voice.”

  Katie wanted to plug her ears. Everything about this Thanksgiving was turning out all wrong! The only thing she’d been looking forward to was this field trip. And if Suzanne and Jeremy didn’t stop their fighting, that was going to be ruined, too.

  Chapter 7

  “Prithee be careful,” a woman in a long gray dress and white bonnet said as Katie walked along a muddy path at the Good Morrow Village. “We have had much rainfall as of late and the road is slippery.”

  Katie looked at the woman and smiled. She loved her voice. It sounded almost like she had an English accent, which made sense since the Pilgrims were from England.

  “By what name are you called?” the woman asked Katie.

  “I’m Katie,” she answered. “What’s your name?”

  “I am Patience Mitchell,” the woman in the gray dress said. She pointed to one of the little wooden houses just up the hill. It had a thatched roof and a white fence. There was a small flower garden in front. “That is my home.”

  Katie nodded and grinned. She knew that wasn’t true. This woman was an actress playing
the part of a Pilgrim named Patience Mitchell. It was kind of like a game all the actors played. So Katie played along with it. It made it much more fun.

  “Hi, Patience,” Katie said.

  Just then, Kadeem came running over to Katie and Patience. “Excuse me. Where’s the bathroom?” he asked Patience.

  Patience looked at him curiously. “You wish to bathe?” she asked.

  Kadeem shook his head. “No. I gotta go,” he told her. “Bad.”

  “Oh,” Patience said. “Well, we Pilgrims use chamber pots for that. But visitors may go to the gray wooden building up this hill and to the left.”

  “Thanks,” Kadeem said as he raced up the hill as fast as he could.

  Katie thought about asking what a chamber pot was. But it sounded kind of gross. So she changed the subject.

  “What do you do here in the village?” she asked Patience.

  “I spend a great deal of my day making corn-husk dolls for the children,” Patience said. “Prithee, come visit my home. My mother will be grinding corn while I make my dolls. Perhaps you will even help us bake cornbread in our hearth.”

  Katie didn’t know what to say. Patience was very nice. However, right now the last thing Katie wanted to think about was corn husks. So she just said, “I’ll try and stop by.”

  “I do hope so,” Patience said. She gave Katie a small curtsy. “And now I must return to my home. Pray, remember me.”

  Katie watched curiously as Patience walked off. Pray, remember me. What a strange way to say good-bye.

  “Katie, wait up!”

  Katie saw Emma W. and Mandy walking toward her.

  “What do you want to see first?” Katie asked the girls.

  “I’m not sure,” Emma W. said. “There are so many places to go.”

  “Mr. G. said we could go wherever we wanted, as long as we all met for lunch at 12:30,” Katie said. “We don’t have to stick together as a grade.”

  “I just want to be someplace where Suzanne can’t find us,” Mandy told Emma W. and Katie.

  “We could go to one of the houses and watch a Pilgrim woman do some embroidery,” Emma W. said. “Or maybe visit the place where they make horseshoes.”