Read Online All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lynn Austin
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can go with her,” Mommy said, “but you have to take Poke and JT.”
“Mommy, no!” I wailed. “I won’t have any fun if I have to drag them all over town with me.”
“Well, someone has to take them. They’re too little to go trick-ortreating by themselves.”
“Can’t you or Daddy or Uncle Leonard take them?” I didn’t think it would require much make-up to dress up my uncle as Frankenstein.
“Fine,” Mom said in a voice that told me it wasn’t. “Your brothers don’t have to go trick-or-treating this year. But you’ll have to share all your candy with them when you get home.”
I took the boys.
May Elizabeth dressed up as a fairy princess in a long, glittery gown with feathery wings on her back. She wore a rhinestone tiara on her golden curls and carried a magic wand with silver streamers. Mommy said that the boys and I could dress up as hobos, but I didn’t see a whole lot of difference between our costumes and the way we usually dressed. Poke and JT didn’t care about costumes, anyway—they were after the free candy. They each carried a paper bag to collect their loot, but they walked up and down the streets eating the candy as fast as people handed it to them, scattering a trail of Milky Way and Tootsie Roll wrappers behind them like dead leaves. JT had three lollipops sticking out of his mouth at the same time. They gorged themselves until their faces turned green.
We saved May Elizabeth’s house for last because her mother was going to give us hot cocoa and a ride home. We rang the doorbell as if it was any other house, and May and I stood giggling on the doorstep as we waited for our treats. Poke was suspiciously tranquil.
“Trick or treat!” we chorused when Mrs. Hayworth opened the door.
“Oh, my! Who do we have here?” she asked. She was pretending to be surprised, but a moment later her expression changed to genuine shock as Poke leaned inside the doorway and threw up on her gold shag carpeting. JT, who mimicked everything Poke did, promptly threw up alongside him. May Elizabeth screamed.
I closed my eyes, wishing May could wave her magic fairy princess wand and make me disappear.
Chapter
7
D id you write up your list for Santa, yet?” May Elizabeth asked a few days before Christmas vacation. Nearly four months had passed since school had started, and amazing as it seemed, we were still best friends.
“No… not yet,” I mumbled. She must have noticed that I quickly ducked my head, and she knew me well enough by then to know that I was avoiding the question.
“What’s wrong, Kathy?”
“Santa Claus doesn’t come to our house.” I gave what I hoped was an indifferent shrug so she’d know I wasn’t asking for pity. “Uncle Leonard called him a fraud and the creation of greedy capitalists, so I think Santa’s mad at us.”
“Santa doesn’t get mad, silly. He only cares if you’ve been naughty or nice.”
“Yeah, well, my brothers were born naughty,” I said hopelessly. “They would have set the hospital nursery on fire if they could have gotten their tiny little fingers on some matches. The word nice isn’t in their vocabulary.”
“But you’re nice, Kathleen.”
I shook my head. Santa seemed to avoid our whole neighborhood every Christmas. I had always figured that there weren’t enough “nice” kids on the block for him to put his sleigh and reindeer at risk. Danny Reeves would have climbed up on the roof of the house as soon as Santa’s back was turned and hijacked his bag of toys. And Charlie Grout would probably make reindeer burgers out of Dasher and Dancer.
“Well, you never know…” she said, giving me her dimpled smile. “Maybe he’ll come this year.”
I wasn’t holding my breath.
I had been attending Sunday school regularly with May, and I decided to go to the Christmas program with her on the Sunday night before Christmas. She played baby Jesus’mother, Mary, in the pageant—a wonderfully poignant and dramatic performance.
“Mommy, no!” I wailed. “I won’t have any fun if I have to drag them all over town with me.”
“Well, someone has to take them. They’re too little to go trick-ortreating by themselves.”
“Can’t you or Daddy or Uncle Leonard take them?” I didn’t think it would require much make-up to dress up my uncle as Frankenstein.
“Fine,” Mom said in a voice that told me it wasn’t. “Your brothers don’t have to go trick-or-treating this year. But you’ll have to share all your candy with them when you get home.”
I took the boys.
May Elizabeth dressed up as a fairy princess in a long, glittery gown with feathery wings on her back. She wore a rhinestone tiara on her golden curls and carried a magic wand with silver streamers. Mommy said that the boys and I could dress up as hobos, but I didn’t see a whole lot of difference between our costumes and the way we usually dressed. Poke and JT didn’t care about costumes, anyway—they were after the free candy. They each carried a paper bag to collect their loot, but they walked up and down the streets eating the candy as fast as people handed it to them, scattering a trail of Milky Way and Tootsie Roll wrappers behind them like dead leaves. JT had three lollipops sticking out of his mouth at the same time. They gorged themselves until their faces turned green.
We saved May Elizabeth’s house for last because her mother was going to give us hot cocoa and a ride home. We rang the doorbell as if it was any other house, and May and I stood giggling on the doorstep as we waited for our treats. Poke was suspiciously tranquil.
“Trick or treat!” we chorused when Mrs. Hayworth opened the door.
“Oh, my! Who do we have here?” she asked. She was pretending to be surprised, but a moment later her expression changed to genuine shock as Poke leaned inside the doorway and threw up on her gold shag carpeting. JT, who mimicked everything Poke did, promptly threw up alongside him. May Elizabeth screamed.
I closed my eyes, wishing May could wave her magic fairy princess wand and make me disappear.
Chapter
7
D id you write up your list for Santa, yet?” May Elizabeth asked a few days before Christmas vacation. Nearly four months had passed since school had started, and amazing as it seemed, we were still best friends.
“No… not yet,” I mumbled. She must have noticed that I quickly ducked my head, and she knew me well enough by then to know that I was avoiding the question.
“What’s wrong, Kathy?”
“Santa Claus doesn’t come to our house.” I gave what I hoped was an indifferent shrug so she’d know I wasn’t asking for pity. “Uncle Leonard called him a fraud and the creation of greedy capitalists, so I think Santa’s mad at us.”
“Santa doesn’t get mad, silly. He only cares if you’ve been naughty or nice.”
“Yeah, well, my brothers were born naughty,” I said hopelessly. “They would have set the hospital nursery on fire if they could have gotten their tiny little fingers on some matches. The word nice isn’t in their vocabulary.”
“But you’re nice, Kathleen.”
I shook my head. Santa seemed to avoid our whole neighborhood every Christmas. I had always figured that there weren’t enough “nice” kids on the block for him to put his sleigh and reindeer at risk. Danny Reeves would have climbed up on the roof of the house as soon as Santa’s back was turned and hijacked his bag of toys. And Charlie Grout would probably make reindeer burgers out of Dasher and Dancer.
“Well, you never know…” she said, giving me her dimpled smile. “Maybe he’ll come this year.”
I wasn’t holding my breath.
I had been attending Sunday school regularly with May, and I decided to go to the Christmas program with her on the Sunday night before Christmas. She played baby Jesus’mother, Mary, in the pageant—a wonderfully poignant and dramatic performance.
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