A Katie Kazoo Christmas (3 page)

“But I don’t have that sweater in
pink
,” Katie heard Suzanne tell her mother.

“Your red one is just fine,” Mrs. Lock answered.

“Mom, you don’t understand,” Suzanne moaned. She turned slightly and noticed Katie standing there. “Tell her, Katie. Tell her how badly I need this pink sweater.” She pointed to a fuzzy, pink turtleneck sweater in the window of the shop.

“It’s the same as your red one,” Katie said.

Suzanne frowned. “Whose side are you on?” she demanded.

“I . . . well . . . I mean,” Katie stammered, not knowing what to say. She didn’t want to get in the middle of a fight between Suzanne and her mom.

“Suzanne, I’m tired,” Mrs. Lock said. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee and sit for a few minutes.

“Why don’t you and Katie go shopping for a little while? I’ll meet you later.”

“Fine.” Suzanne reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a sheet of notebook paper. Both sides were completely covered with words. “Here,” she said, handing the paper to her mom. “This is my Christmas wish list. Just in case.”

Mrs. Lock smiled weakly. “Thank you for your help, dear,” she said. “Now run along.”

“So what’s on your wish list?” Suzanne asked Katie as they wandered off together.

Katie shook her head.
Wish list
? No way! Katie didn’t make wishes anymore! She knew too much about what happened when wishes came true.

It all started when Katie had been in third grade. She’d had a really awful day. She’d lost the game for her football team, ruined her new pants, and burped in front of the whole class.

That night, Katie had wished she could be anyone else but Katie Carew. There must have been a shooting star overhead or something when she made that wish, because the next day, the magic wind came.

The magic wind was a wild, forceful tornado that circled around only Katie. The magic wind was so powerful that every time it came, it turned Katie into somebody else! Switcheroo!

The first time the magic wind came, it turned her into Speedy, her third-grade class’s hamster. She’d spent the morning gnawing on chew sticks and trying to escape from Speedy’s cage.

But that had been better than the time she’d turned into Lucille the lunch lady and had to spend the whole day dishing out stinky food to kids in the cafeteria. And she had started a food fight and almost gotten Lucille fired.

Another time the wind turned Katie into mean old Mrs. Derkman. That had been awful. Katie didn’t want to be strict with her friends. But when she was nice, they wouldn’t even listen to her. Katie was amazed. She had no idea Mrs. Derkman’s job was so hard.

And then there was the time she’d turned into T-Jon, one of the singers in her favorite band, the Bayside Boys. She’d made such a mess of things that time, the band had almost broken up.

In fact, any time Katie turned into someone else, she caused them—and herself—a whole lot of trouble. That was why Katie didn’t make wishes anymore. Wishes were dangerous.

“I don’t have a Christmas list,” she told Suzanne finally. “My parents usually get me great stuff without my having to ask for anything.”

“You’re lucky,” Suzanne told her. “My parents need all the help they can get.”

“I’m hungry,” Katie said after she and Suzanne had been shopping for a while. Katie was carrying two bags. One had Pepper’s present in it. The other held a little toy roller coaster. Katie had bought that for her grandma. Katie’s grandmother loved roller coasters. “You want to go to the food court?” she suggested.

Suzanne grinned. “I have an idea. How about we get something at Cinnamon’s Candy Shop?”

“Ooh, yummy!” Katie squealed. “I love her gingerbread!”

“I can’t believe my mom didn’t want me to have that pink sweater,” Suzanne moaned as the girls turned and headed toward the candy store. “It would have been the perfect thing to wear to the Christmas Extravaganza.” She looked at Katie. “You’re so lucky. It doesn’t matter what
you
wear Christmas Eve. You’re just going to put an apron over it anyway when you serve food at the shelter. But I have to look good. So many people will be seeing my outfit.”

Katie frowned. It wasn’t like Suzanne was going to be onstage at the Extravaganza. No one was going to be looking at her. “Suzanne, you don’t have any Christmas spirit,” Katie told her.

“How can you say that?” Suzanne demanded. She pointed to her reindeer-shaped earrings. “See. I do too have spirit.”

“Christmas isn’t just about reindeer and Santa Claus and presents, you know,” Katie insisted. “It’s about being nice, and helping people, and . . .”

“Sure, sure, sure,” Suzanne interrupted. “But everybody likes presents. And you have to admit that it’s fun seeing all the pretty lights and decorations.”

Katie didn’t know what to say. Suzanne was right. She did like presents and lights. But that didn’t make the way Suzanne had been acting any better.

“Look, even Mrs. Derkman agrees with me,” Suzanne continued. She pointed toward the hardware store. At that very moment, the teacher was walking out of the shop with a pile of Christmas lights in her arms. Mr. Derkman followed behind her, carrying a family of plastic elves.

“Hello,” Mrs. Derkman called out to the girls.

“Hello, Mrs. Derkman,” Katie said.

“Wow, look at all those lights!” Suzanne exclaimed. “Your house is going to be the most beautiful in the whole neighborhood.”

“That’s the idea,” Mrs. Derkman said. “In our old neighborhood, we were the only house that put up lots of decorations.” She stopped for a minute and sighed. “Of course, that’s different now.”

“You mean Mr. Brigandi’s house?” Katie said.

“Yes,” Mrs. Derkman said. “Although I think his decorations are so tacky. Ours are much more tasteful.”

Katie looked at the bright red and green elves Mr. Derkman was carrying in his arms. They looked kind of tacky, too.

“I noticed that your parents put up very few lights,” Mrs. Derkman mentioned to Katie.

“We always decorate our house the same way,” Katie said. “Blue and white lights on our trees and around our window sills.”

“Very traditional,” Mrs. Derkman replied. “But maybe you’d all like to try something new this year. I’d be glad to give your parents some lessons on the fine art of Christmas decorating.”

Decorating lessons? Somehow Katie couldn’t imagine her parents taking lessons on how to decorate. She wondered if Mrs. Derkman would make them write a term paper on the proper way to hang a wreath or something.

“I think they like our house the way it is,” Katie said.

“I’m just letting you know I’m here if you want some help,” Mrs. Derkman replied.

“Uh, Snookums?” Mr. Derkman interrupted.

“Yes, Freddy Bear?” Mrs. Derkman replied.

Katie tried hard not to laugh. The Derkmans’ pet names for each other were
so
mushy.

“These elves are getting very heavy. I think we need to head to the parking lot,” Mr. Derkman said.

“Okay, dear. Let’s go.” Mrs. Derkman looked at the girls. “I’ll see you both tomorrow night. It’s Christmas Eve, the night of the big contest.”

“I won’t be there,” Suzanne told her. “I’m going to the Cherrydale Christmas Extravaganza.”

“Sorry you’ll miss all the fun,” Mrs. Derkman said. “You’ll have to come by and see our trophy one day.”

Katie sighed. Mrs. Derkman was so certain she would win the contest. Maybe she shouldn’t be so confident. After all, she had some pretty stiff competition at Mr. Brigandi’s house.

“Come on, Katie,” Suzanne said as soon as the Derkmans had gone. “Let’s get going to Cinnamon’s. I can’t wait to try the gingerbread!”

Katie followed Suzanne into the store.

“Hi, girls,” Cinnamon said, greeting Katie and Suzanne as they came through the door. The candy-store owner was dressed in a red dress with white trim. She had on a red-and-white Santa hat.

“Hi, Cinnamon,” Katie answered.

“Have you girls come in for a treat?” Cinnamon asked.

“Of course,” Suzanne replied. “Do you have any more of your home-baked gingerbread cookies? We really love them.”

“I think there may be a few in the back,” Cinnamon said. “Let me go check.”

As Cinnamon went into the back room to look for the cookies, Katie and Suzanne wandered around the store. Cinnamon’s Candy Shop always smelled good. But this year it smelled doubly delicious. Katie took a deep breath. The sweet scent of chocolate mixed in the air with nutmeg, gingerbread, cinnamon, and minty candy canes.

“I love it in here,” Katie said. “It smells just like Christmas.”

Just then, a tall man with gray hair popped out from behind the candy canes. “I know what you mean,” he told Katie. “I wish I could bottle this smell and cover my whole house with it.”