Karen's Big Fight

by Ann M. Martin

  It was Daddy’s turn next. He looked around the table before he answered. “I am thankful for my health,” he answered.

  I was thankful for Daddy’s health too. He had a heart attack last year. But he was better now, thank goodness.

  “I am thankful my family is around me this Thanksgiving,” said Nannie. Then she looked at me. “You know, one of my friends just lost her brother,” Nannie continued. “Imagine the sad Thanksgiving she must be having.”

  Yipes, I thought. It must be awful to lose a brother. I could not imagine my life without Andrew, Sam, Charlie. Or David Michael.

  I had to admit, I would really miss David Michael if anything happened to him. I hoped nothing ever would.

  I looked at David Michael. He was wolfing down some rolls the waiter had just brought to our table. He looked the same as always. I waved to him, but he ignored me. Some things never change.

  A Truce?

  It was Sunday. We had been home for a whole day. And I had hardly seen David Michael at all. (Except at dinner, when he sat at the other end of the table.)

  “Nannie, have you seen David Michael?” I asked.

  Nannie looked up from her baking. “No,” she answered.

  “Daddy, where is David Michael?”

  Daddy looked at me over his newspaper. “I don’t know, Karen.”

  “Charlie, do you know where David Michael is?”

  Charlie finished tying his shoelaces. “No. I haven’t seen him all morning.”

  I sighed. Ever since Thanksgiving dinner, I had decided to be nicer to David Michael. I was sick of fighting with him. But David Michael was still mad at me. He would not talk to me much in New York. And on the train ride home, when I offered him my seat, he sat in another car. (Boo and bullfrogs.)

  I finally found David Michael sorting through the mail. He looked kind of nervous.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Oh, hi,” answered David Michael. He did not look too happy to see me.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to see if there’s a letter from Stoneybrook Academy.”

  “Oh,” I answered. That made sense. “Is there one?”

  “No, but it should come soon.”

  Poor David Michael. He was very worried about having to change schools.

  On Monday I came right home from school. I did not even meet Hannie in the backyard. I wanted to see if David Michael had heard anything from Stoneybrook Academy.

  “The mail has not come yet, Karen,” Nannie said.

  Suddenly David Michael rushed through the door. “Guess what,” he said to Nannie, Emily Michelle, Sam, and me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Heather, the girl playing Winnie-the-Pooh, had to drop out of the play,” David Michael began. “And I have her part — the lead. I just can’t switch schools now.”

  “So who is going to play Piglet?” I asked.

  “Another boy who knows that part. But I am the only one besides Heather who knows Pooh’s part,” said David Michael.

  Just then Kristy came in with the mail.

  “No letter from Stoneybrook Academy,” she announced.

  David Michael looked only a little relieved. “It will come soon,” he said.

  * * *

  After dinner I decided to talk to David Michael alone. I found him in his room, studying his lines.

  “Uh, David Michael,” I began.

  David Michael looked up from his script. He seemed surprised to see me.

  “I’m really glad about your new part in the play,” I said.

  “Me too,” said David Michael. He looked down at his script again.

  “Um,” I said. “Look, I am tired of being mad at you.”

  David Michael looked up. “You are?”

  “Yes. And I want to help you stay at your old school.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. I have an idea.”

  An Idea

  My idea was very simple. “All you have to do,” I told David Michael, “is talk to Daddy and your mom. You have never told them you do not want to go to Stoneybrook Academy. You should at least do that.”

  “But will they listen to me? They love Stoneybrook Academy. They really want me to go there.”

  “You have to try to make them understand. Just talk to them.”

  “I don’t know,” said David Michael, shaking his head.

  I sighed. “I will go with you,” I said. “Why don’t we talk to them right now?”

  David Michael just looked at me. “Okay,” he finally said, putting down his script.

  We found Daddy and Elizabeth in the den.

  “We have something to tell you,” I blurted out. Then I gave David Michael a look that said, Talk.

  “Um,” David Michael began. “You know … uh, Mom and Watson …”

  “Just tell them the way you told me,” I suggested.

  David Michael took a deep breath. “I just wanted to tell you I do not want to change schools. I really like Stoneybrook Elementary. All my friends are there.”

  Daddy and Elizabeth looked very surprised. “You don’t want to go to Stoneybrook Academy?” Elizabeth repeated.

  “No,” David Michael said. “Especially not now. I do not want to give up the lead in Winnie-the-Pooh.”

  “Yes, and you know how much David Michael loves acting,” I said.

  Daddy nodded. He looked thoughtful.

  “If I changed schools,” David Michael said, “I could not be in Play-by-Play anymore.”

  “But your schoolwork would improve more at Stoneybrook Academy,” said Elizabeth.

  “He has been doing better and better at his own school all fall,” I said.

  “Hmm,” said Elizabeth. “We thought David Michael could improve even more at Stoneybrook Academy. But maybe he could stay at Stoneybrook Elementary and we could find a tutor for him.”

  “Really?” asked David Michael. His eyes shone.

  “Really,” said Elizabeth.

  I could not resist giving David Michael the thumbs-up sign.

  “In any case,” Daddy said, “we will put off making any decision until after Christmas. That way David Michael can star in his play. And we will all have a chance to think this matter over more carefully.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “And we will talk to David Michael before we make any final decisions.”

  “Cool,” said David Michael. “Thank you.” He looked relieved.

  * * *

  “Thank you, Karen,” said David Michael as we walked back upstairs. “Thanks for helping me talk to Mom and Watson about this.”

  “It was nothing,” I said modestly. “Can we be friends now? I am tired of all this fighting.”

  “I am too,” said David Michael. “I guess I was jealous because you always do so well in school. And I was having so much trouble.”

  Wow. I had never heard David Michael admit that before.

  “But,” David Michael said, “I was really mad when you made so much fun of me for playing Piglet.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know that was mean. I guess I was jealous of you too. Everyone is so proud of you. I sometimes feel left out, since Andrew and I do not always live here.”

  David Michael nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He looked as if he really understood.

  “You know,” I said, smiling, “I might want to be an actress when I grow up.”

  David Michael smiled too. “Would you like to help me practice Pooh’s lines?”

  “Sure,” I answered.

  Opening Night

  It was the opening night of David Michael’s play. Andrew and I were at the little house with Mommy and Seth. But Mommy said I could still go to the play with my big-house family.

  I was very excited. Charlie and Kristy were picking me up in the Junk Bucket. And I was all ready.

  Ding-dong.

  “Kristy and Charlie are here,” I called to my little-house family. I rushed to open the door.

  Mommy, Seth, and Andrew stoo
d on the steps and waved good-bye to us. (Andrew was not going to the play because it ended way after his bedtime.)

  “Tell David Michael to break a leg,” Mommy called.

  “Mommy, what do you mean?” I asked.

  “That means wish him good luck,” Seth explained. “It’s what people say in the theater.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  The play was being performed in the auditorium at David Michael’s school. When we arrived, the parking lot was full. So was the auditorium.

  “Mom and Watson are sitting near the front,” Kristy said. “They are saving seats for us.”

  “Thank goodness,” I said. I did not see many empty seats. Luckily, we found my big-house family. Everyone was there except Emily Michelle (and the pets, of course).

  “Who is staying with Emily?” I asked.

  “Stacey,” answered Kristy. (Stacey is in the Baby-sitters Club with Kristy. She is very nice.)

  I started reading my program. “Look how big David Michael’s name is,” I whispered loudly.

  “Shh, Karen, the play is about to start,” said Kristy.

  The lights dimmed and the curtain rose.

  David Michael was the first one onstage. He wore a light brown wool bear costume, and he sang:

  The more it snows

  (Tiddely pom),

  The more it goes

  (Tiddely pom) …

  Cool. It looked as if real snow were falling.

  Soon Piglet, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin came onstage too. Piglet’s costume was shiny and pink, but he did not look very funny. He just looked like a pig (which was how he was supposed to look).

  I was proud of David Michael. He spoke clearly. He never mixed up his lines. (Piglet did.) And he sang better than anyone else.

  When the curtain went down, I clapped and clapped for David Michael. He had to bow four times before the audience stopped clapping. I saw Nannie and Elizabeth trying not to cry. (Why do grown-ups cry when they are happy?)

  We met David Michael after the show. He was still wearing his Pooh costume. Daddy patted him on the back. Elizabeth hugged him. Then I hugged him, too.

  “You were really good,” I said. “Gigundoly good.”

  Snow and Stars

  Right after David Michael’s show, it began snowing. Two nights later, it was snowing again. I sat in my room reading The Boxcar Children. It was about four orphans who lived all by themselves in a boxcar in the woods.

  “I wonder what the Boxcar Children do when it snows this much?” I asked Goosie.

  “Karen, telephone!” Mommy called.

  “Coming!” I called back.

  “Hello?” I said when I picked up the phone.

  “Hello, Karen. It’s David Michael. The letter from Stoneybrook Academy arrived.”

  “What does it say? What does it say?” I shrieked.

  “I’ve been accepted into third grade, beginning next fall.”

  “Are you going to go?”

  “No. I do not think so. I talked to Mom and Watson. I am going to work with a tutor at Stoneybrook Elementary. If I keep my grades up, they said I could stay at my school.”

  “Great!” Even though David Michael and I were friends now, I was still relieved he was not going to be in my class.

  “I’m really happy,” said David Michael. “Now I do not have to worry about leaving Play-by-Play. You know, we are putting on The Wind in the Willows next. I am going to try out for the part of Toad.”

  I muffled a giggle. I imagined David Michael with a big head, no neck, bulging eyes, and webbed feet. “I really hope you get the part,” I said.

  “Thanks, Karen,” said David Michael. We talked a little more. It felt good to be friends again.

  I put down the phone and walked back to my room. But I was too excited to keep reading. Christmas was coming. I wanted to make David Michael a special present. Maybe I could make him a Christmas-tree ornament in the shape of a star. After all, he was the star of his play.

  Someday I might be a star, too. And David Michael and I could star on Broadway — together!

  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 © 1996 by Ann M. Martin

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  First edition, 1996

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-05951-9