Karen's Promise

by Ann M. Martin

  Nannie was going to be very mad.

  Shopping

  Guess what? I did not have a chance to tell Nannie about candy for my class that afternoon.

  I rushed home to help her. But Nannie did not want me in the kitchen. She said there were too many cooks the day before. Today Sam and David Michael were helping. Nannie wanted Kristy and me to go shopping for some decorations for the baskets.

  Oh goody, I thought. (I do love to cook, but I also love to shop.)

  Kristy looked happy too. (She does not enjoy cooking very much.)

  “Here,” said Nannie, handing Kristy a list of things to buy and some money. “You can probably find most of these supplies at a candy store.”

  “Really?” Kristy sounded surprised.

  “Oh yes. Candy makers often sell decorations and supplies.”

  “Cool,” said Kristy as she put on her jacket.

  I wanted to go to Polly’s. (That is a famous, old-fashioned candy store in downtown Stoneybrook.) But Kristy said it was too far away for us to walk.

  “You know,” I said as I skipped along beside Kristy, “I will really miss you if I move to Chicago.”

  “I will really miss you too, Karen. Are you moving for sure?”

  “No. But I may have to, because I promised Andrew we would stay together, no matter what.”

  “Oh,” said Kristy in a quiet voice. “I did not know about your promise to Andrew. That was a big promise, Karen.”

  I stopped skipping and looked down at the sidewalk. (I knew it was a big promise. I did not want to think about it.)

  “Cheer up,” said Kristy, grabbing my hand. “Let’s forget about Chicago this afternoon.”

  I thought that was a great idea. And you know what? We had the best time shopping. First we went to a candy store that had baskets full of four-leaf clovers and leprechauns in the window for St. Patrick’s Day.

  “Does Nannie want to decorate her baskets like that?” I asked.

  Kristy looked at the list. “I do not think so,” she said.

  In the store, Kristy asked the man behind the counter for colored foil, candy cups, cellophane, and ribbon.

  I walked around the store. The woman at the cash register asked me if I wanted a free sample.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Choose the one you would like.”

  I looked at all the candy behind the counter. I saw chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate strawberries, peanut bars, lemon drops, almond bark, caramels, and peppermints.

  “Um, I will have a chocolate-covered strawberry, please,” I said politely.

  It was not bad. But Nannie’s Chocolate Magic is much better. (That is Nannie’s special chocolate coating for dipping fruits. She invented the recipe and won an important cooking contest with it too.)

  Next we went into a store that sold a little of everything. “Nannie said we could be creative,” said Kristy, waving her list. “She needs some things to put in the baskets with the candy. Now, what would be good to put in the baskets for the hospital?”

  Hmmm. I was thinking. “What about mugs?” I suggested.

  “Too expensive,” said Kristy.

  We bought lollipops, colored bows, and leaves made from fabric.

  “Nannie is going to have the prettiest baskets ever,” I said as we were walking home.

  Kristy smiled at me. “Definitely,” she said.

  No Extras

  “What did you buy?” asked David Michael when he saw our bags.

  “Lots of good stuff,” said Kristy, opening one of her bags to show him.

  Nannie barely glanced at us when we came in. She seemed frazzled. (That is a word Sam says a lot.) When I looked around the kitchen, I saw why. Sam and David Michael were at the sink cleaning up a big bowl of something that looked like glue.

  “We ruined a batch of chocolate by adding cornstarch instead of flour,” Sam explained.

  “I accidentally handed Sam the cornstarch,” said David Michael. “It looks a lot like flour.”

  I thought David Michael was very careless in the kitchen. But I decided not to say anything. Instead, I asked Nannie if she wanted to see what we had bought.

  Nannie did not answer. She looked up and rubbed her eyes. “Oh, my goodness, what time is it?” she asked.

  “Quarter to six,” answered Kristy, looking at her watch.

  Nannie sighed. “So late, already. I have not finished making these coconut bars. And it is already dinnertime.”

  “We will help,” said Kristy. “I can give Emily her supper and put her to bed for you.”

  “And we can help you make dinner,” said Elizabeth, who had just come into the kitchen. She was still carrying her briefcase. Elizabeth is very organized, like Kristy. She set down her briefcase and put a big pot of water on the stove for spaghetti.

  Emily Michelle was eating graham crackers with Andrew underneath the kitchen table. Cracker crumbs were everywhere: in their hair, their clothes, all over the floor and kitchen chairs.

  “Andrew,” I said. (I tried to say his name like Mommy does when she is mad.)

  “Oh, Emily,” said Kristy, shaking her head.

  “We were playing house,” said Andrew.

  “You were making a mess,” I said. I helped Kristy clean it up. So did Andrew.

  “Did you taste some of Nannie’s chocolate?” I asked Andrew while we were sweeping. (It is a good thing there are a lot of brooms in the big house.)

  “No, I did not,” said Andrew. “David Michael said there was not enough for us to taste.”

  “He’s right,” said Sam, who was drying the mixing bowl. “Between what David Michael and I tasted or ruined, there was barely enough left for Nannie’s cooking.”

  Darn, I thought. At this rate there will not be any extras for my class.

  I looked at Nannie. She was busy washing some big mixing spoons. This was not a good time to tell her about the candy I had promised to my class. I did not know when would be a good time.

  I had a lot of problems.

  An Accident

  The next day at school, I was hoping no one would ask me about the candy. But of course everyone did. I had not even sat down when Ricky asked me where his candy was. That reminded Natalie to ask about hers. Then while Ms. Colman was teaching us fractions, I received a note. It read:

  I did not answer their silly note. They would have to be patient. For heaven’s sake.

  “Nannie is very busy right now. You will have to wait for your candy,” I politely told all the kids who asked. I had to tell Ricky twice because he asked twice.

  * * *

  That afternoon I went right home to talk to Nannie. She was wrapping bars of chocolate with gold foil. Kristy was playing with Andrew and Emily Michelle in the small kitchen. Sam was separating eggs. Charlie was using the electric mixer. It made so much noise, no one could hear me.

  “CAN YOU STOP THE MIXER?” I shouted to Charlie.

  “WHAT?”

  “I HAVE TO TALK TO NANNIE!” (No one even told me to use my indoor voice.)

  “LATER,” shouted Charlie. “WE HAVE TO FINISH WHIPPING THESE EGG WHITES.”

  I went outside to play ball with Hannie. When I came back, Sam and Charlie were talking to Nannie. They did not want to be interrupted.

  I sighed. It seemed as if I would never have the chance to ask Nannie about candy for my class.

  * * *

  “Have you talked to Andrew yet?” Nancy asked me one afternoon when we were skipping rope in Hannie’s backyard.

  “Um, no,” I admitted.

  “Are you going to Chicago?”

  “I do not know.” I tripped and became tangled in my jump rope. I did not want to think about Chicago. I just wanted to play with my friends.

  “Oh, Karen, you promised us you would try to stay in Stoneybrook,” said Hannie.

  “I know,” I replied. Skip, skip, skip. “I will talk to Andrew.” Skip, skip, skip.

  “When?” asked Nancy. She had stopped skipping rope. />
  “Soon,” I said. Skip, skip, skip.

  * * *

  At school the kids asked me about Nannie’s candy almost every day. Only Hannie and Nancy did not. That is because they are my best friends. And they knew I had not talked to Nannie yet. They also knew Nannie was overworked.

  “I told you, Nannie is very busy. You will have to wait for your candy,” I repeated to Pamela and Jannie at recess.

  “You say that almost every day,” said Pamela.

  “That is because Nannie is still busy,” I said firmly as I walked away.

  That afternoon I tried again to talk to Nannie. She was stirring a large vat of chocolate on the stove. Sam and David Michael were in the kitchen with her. Kristy was playing with Andrew and Emily Michelle in the family room. As usual, everyone looked as though they had too much to do. David Michael was stirring something (and spilling a lot of it), and Sam was chopping walnuts.

  “Nannie, can I talk to you?” I asked.

  Nannie did not even turn around.

  “I am very busy, Karen.” Nannie sounded tired. (I missed my talks in the kitchen with Nannie, when the two of us were making candy together.) “By the way, I just found out that Ms. Colman’s fund-raiser is on the same night as the hospital’s,” added Nannie.

  “It is?” I said.

  “Yes. I almost did not accept Ms. Colman’s order when I heard that. But I hate to turn away business when I am just getting started.”

  “This means,” said Sam as he handed the nuts to David Michael, “things are going to be even crazier around here.”

  Nannie nodded grimly and turned around to give instructions to Sam. And to tell David Michael to be more careful. Andrew raced into the kitchen to ask if anyone had seen his Frisbee. Kristy was right behind him. I am not sure what happened after that, because I was looking at Andrew. But suddenly Kristy screamed.

  The hot vat of chocolate had been turned over. “Get out of the way!” Kristy cried.

  Luckily Nannie did. The vat made a loud thud as it fell. We stared at the thick pools of chocolate that were streaming down the stove and covering the floor.

  Time-out

  At first no one moved (except to step out of the way of the chocolate).

  “Time-out,” called Nannie. She turned off the stove.

  “What is going on in here?” asked Daddy as he hurried into the kitchen. “I heard some screaming. Is everyone all right?”

  “I accidentally knocked over the vat when I turned away from the stove,” said Nannie. “I was trying to do too many things at once. No one is hurt.”

  “That is good,” said Daddy. He side-stepped a stream of chocolate.

  Nannie grabbed a mop. Sam and Daddy found cloths. Kristy filled up a big bucket of water and handed Andrew and me some sponges. We worked and worked. I think I must have emptied ten pails of chocolate water. When the floor and stove were clean, Nannie suggested we all sit down at the kitchen table and talk. By now Charlie and Elizabeth had returned home too.

  “Things are just too crazy around here,” said Nannie when we were sitting down.

  That is for sure, I thought. But I did not say anything. Everyone nodded, though, which meant they thought so too.

  I looked at my big-house family. Almost everyone seemed tired and grumpy. Making chocolate was more work than any of us had imagined. Kristy had had to give up some baby-sitting jobs. Sam was missing baseball practice, and I was not getting to play with Hannie and Nancy very much.

  Nannie was telling us how much she appreciated all the help we had given her. But we needed to slow down and be more careful about what we were doing.

  I looked at David Michael when Nannie talked about being more careful. Then I remembered I had spilled salt and sugar the day before. Worse than that, I had added salt when I should have added sugar. Nannie was right. We were all working so fast that we were not paying attention.

  “I took on too much business too quickly,” Nannie was saying. “But I cannot cancel any orders on such short notice.”

  “So,” said Elizabeth, “we, as a family, need to organize ourselves.”

  “Right,” said Kristy. Everyone had a lot of ideas about that. Here are some things we decided:

  1) Nannie would have only two helpers in the kitchen at any time. Elizabeth made up a list of when each of us would work.

  2) People could not go racing into the pantry all day long to ask Nannie questions. She needed to concentrate.

  3) Daddy and Elizabeth would cook all the family meals until Nannie’s orders were filled.

  4) Charlie would be available to do the food shopping.

  5) We would forget about cooking anything more tonight and go out to dinner. (Everyone really liked that idea.)

  New York, San Francisco, or Chicago

  On the day of our presentation I had butterflies in my stomach. I had spent so much time helping Nannie that I did not feel ready. Luckily, Natalie, Ricky, and Nancy were going to give the presentation with me, so I would have to talk for only a few minutes. I just hoped I had enough to say (though that is not usually a problem for me).

  The first report was about New York. Omar talked about the city’s early history. Leslie told us about Central Park. And Pamela went on and on about the great department stores. I felt a little jealous that I was not giving that part of their presentation, because I love to shop in New York City too. Then Hank finished up with a gigundoly cool imaginary trip on the subways.

  Next we heard about San Francisco from Hannie, Addie, Bobby, and Audrey. They talked about how it started as a Spanish mission. They also told us about the great earthquake and the Golden Gate Bridge and other stuff. Yikes. Our turn was next.

  Natalie took her notes to the front of the room and began. She explained that Chicago is an American Indian name and that the city started as a trading post and fort. When she sat down, Ricky told how the railroads helped make the city grow. He also talked a lot about Chicago’s buildings. He was making Chicago sound very interesting. I was beginning to think I would like to visit it and see the buildings Ricky was talking about. But I still was not sure I wanted to live there for six whole months.

  After Ricky finished, it was my turn. As soon as I started reading from my notes I felt better. I talked about the Great Fire of 1871, how it started in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn and spread very fast because of wind (Chicago is called the Windy City) and because most houses, buildings, sidewalks, and even streets were made of wood then. Thousands of people lost their homes and hundreds died, but the city was soon rebuilt and steps were taken to prevent any more big fires.

  Instead of not having enough to say, I went on a little too long. Nancy had to rush her talk on the museums to keep our group within our time limit. Then the last two groups gave their presentations on Philadelphia and Seattle. I was so relieved to be done with our report that I did not listen very closely.

  The presentations were over. But I still had to talk to Nannie about the candy I had promised my class. And decide about Chicago. Boo and bullfrogs.

  Nannie’s Plan

  As soon as I got home, I went to the kitchen to talk to Nannie. For once, no one else was with her. She was at the stove, stirring a pot of chocolate. I sat down calmly. (I was careful not to break Rule #2.)

  “Nannie,” I said, “I need to talk to you.”

  “What about?” Nannie was smiling. “Are you worried about something?”

  “Sort of. You see, I was talking to the kids at school, and …”

  “Yes? What about?”

  “Well, I was telling them about the candy we are making, and …”

  “And?” Nannie did not look up from the stove.

  “And, um, some of them really wanted to have a little of it to taste.” I was feeling more and more ashamed. Just then the timer rang. (Whew.) Nannie lifted the pot off the hot burner and onto a cold one. Then she looked at me. “What did you tell them, Karen?”

  I looked down. “I promised them I would bring in some chocolat
e. Only a little, just to taste.”

  “How many kids did you promise this to?” asked Nannie, her hands on her hips.

  “Well, most of the class,” I said. I felt as if I were about to start crying.

  “That would mean the whole class, since it wouldn’t be fair to leave anyone out. Karen, you know how busy I am. I can barely keep up with the orders I have. I do not have time to make extra chocolate.”

  I began to cry a little. I could not help it. “I am sorry, Nannie. I will tell them they cannot have any. They will be mad. But that is all right. It is my fault. I should have asked you first.”

  Nannie put her hand on my shoulder. “Oh, Karen. Maybe we can find a way to make a little something for them. It is out of the question until the big jobs are finished, but if your friends can wait …”

  “Oh, Nannie, really?”

  “Really. If you help me every day with my orders. Then, when I am done, the two of us can make some chocolates for your class.”

  “Nannie, that would be wonderful!” I said, hugging her around the waist. “Could we make candy baskets for them?”

  “Not baskets for everyone, but maybe a few baskets to share.”

  “That would be great! I will give up playing with Hannie and Nancy until your orders are filled. I will not even talk to them on the phone. I will help you every afternoon and on weekends.”

  “And you will listen carefully to everything I tell you to do,” added Nannie.

  I nodded.

  “And,” said Nannie, “when I already have two helpers in the kitchen, you will wash the dishes and not distract my helpers.”

  I nodded again.

  “Okay. Go wash your hands and put on my spare apron. You can start by measuring out some sugar for me.”

  * * *

  Nannie and I worked very hard. It is a good thing I was helping every afternoon. Even though Nannie had two helpers in the kitchen every day, there was always something for me to do.