Ann Martin - Kristy's Big Day

Meanwhile, Mary Anne was walking the babies. The arrangement in the stroller had lasted about two minutes. Then Beth wanted to get out and walk. At first that seemed like a good solution, but Beth wasn't very steady on her feet yet, and toddled along slowly, often losing her balance and sitting down on the sidewalk. After ten minutes, they hadtraveled about six feet.

Thanks to the wagons, Claudia and I were

havingsomewhat better luck, even though every few seconds one of us would have to turn around and call out, "Keep your hands in the wagon!" or, "Don't dangle your feet over the side!"

On the way to the library, we stopped at theNewtons ' house.

"Hi-hi!"Jamie shouted when he saw us.

We introduced him to the other kids - and then realized there was no room for him to sit down. Three kids in a wagon was already a tight squeeze.

"Hey," said Claudia, "you know what we need? We need a wagon watcher. The wagon watcher walks beside the wagons. When he sees anybody sticking their hands and feet outside of the wagon, he gets to trade places with that person, and that person is the new wagon watcher."

Claudia's idea was great. None of the kids wanted to be caught by the wagon watcher, yet they all wanted a chance to be the wagon watcher (except for Maura, who was really too little to understand the game). So we rolled cheerfully to the library, stopping eight times to switch kids, and arrived exactly one minute before the start of story hour.

Now, while we were on our way to the

library, and Mary Anne was inching along with the pink group, and Stacey was taking Luke, Ashley, and Emma to the brook, Dawn was walking the three bluebirds to the elementary school playground. This might seem like an easy job, and in fact it started out that way, but Karen Brewer always seems to make things more interesting than usual.

Tuesday was no exception.

"You know what?" she said, as she, Dawn, David Michael, and Berk reached the end of our street.

"What?" asked David Michaelwarily. He had heard enough stories about witches and ghosts from Karen to be suspicious whenever she said, "You know what?"

"Yesterday when I got home, this big kid on my street said that at seven o'clock tonight, an army of Martians is going to attack the earth."

"Martians?" yelped David Michael.

"Tonight?" cried Berk.

"That's just a story, a joke," Dawn told them.

"No, it's true," Karen insisted. "This was a big kid. He's in eighth grade. He told me that a lot of people know about this, but they just don't want to believe it. Only the ones who believe will be safe, because they'll be able to hide in time."

"Hide where?" asked Berk.

"Underground," said Karen.

"In a hole?" said David Michael.

"I'm not sure," replied Karen slowly. "The kid didn't say."

"Karen, you know this is all just silly stuff, don't you?" asked Dawn.

"No," said Karen firmly."No way. This is not silly stuff."

"There are no such things as Martians," Dawn told Berk and David Michael.

David Michael looked like he wanted to believe her, but he said, "I've seen Martians on TV."

Dawn noticed then that all three kids kept glancing up at the sky.

"Do you believe everything you see on TV?" asked Dawn. "Do you believe that Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse are real?"

"No," said David Michael, "but there might be Martians."

"Yeah," agreed Berk. "There might be Martians."

"There are no Martians," Dawn repeated, exasperated.

"Are, too," said David Michael, Karen, and Berk at the sametime.

"I wonder what will happen," my brother went on quietly.

"You wonder what will happen when?" Dawn asked him.

"When they land."

Dawn threw her hands in the air. There was no point in arguing.

"They're going to fight us," Karen said fiercely.

"Martians have ray guns," Berk added."Ray guns and spray guns."

"Spray guns?" repeated David Michael, alarmed.

"Yeah.They spray stuff on you so you can't move. Then they just pick you up and put you in their flying saucer and speed you away to Mars."

"Are they coming in flying saucers tonight, Karen?" asked David Michael.

"Hundreds of 'em," Karen answered."All shiny and silvery."

David Michael searched the sky so long that he tripped and fell on his knees. "I thought I saw one!" he said breathlessly as he stood up. "Now it's gone."

They had almost reached the playground. Dawn tried to distract her group. "Hey, look at this!" she said, pointing to a poster that was tacked to the fence surrounding the school-yard." 'Arts and crafts today. Puppet-making

contest.' A contest, you guys! Wouldn't you like to enter? I wonder what the prize is. ... You guys?"

"Huh?" The three bluebirds were looking at the sky.

"I wonder if you could hide in your basement," David Michael whispered. "That's underground."

"Can I stay at your house tonight?" Berk asked my brother. "I don't know if the motel has a basement."

"Berk!"Dawn cried. "David Michael! Karen! Enough!" She thought about telling them they weren't allowed to discuss Martians anymore, but decided that was too mean.

She led them through the gate and into the playground.

A handful of children were playing on the swings and seesaws and monkey bars. A big group was seated around a table that was covered with paints, scraps of felt, glue, scissors, buttons, and all sorts of trimmings.

"How about making puppets?" Dawn suggested desperately. "Let's at least find out what the prize is."

The three kids looked at each other. Karen leaned over and whispered something to David Michael and Berk.

"Hey, no secrets!" said Dawn. Karen finished whispering and the boys nodded their heads.

"We'd rather swing," said Karen.

"All right," Dawn agreed uncertainly. "You go ahead. I'm going to see about the contest."

Dawn found the playgroundcounselor at the arts and crafts table. She asked her about the contest and about what other activities were coming up. She thought Stacey might want to bring Emma, Luke, and Ashley to the playground later in the week.

Their conversation was interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek. Dawn whirledaround, afraid one of the bluebirds was hurt. Instead, a little girl came tearing across the playground and threw herself at thecounselor .

"Fran!Fran!" she cried.

"Tina, what's wrong?" Thecounselor picked Tina up and gave her a hug.

"Martians!"Tina managed to sob.

Uh-oh, thought Dawn.

"Martians!" exclaimed Fran. "What do you mean, honey?"

"They're coming! Tonight! They're going to take us away!"

That was all Dawn needed to hear. She turned around and marched across the school-yard. Karen and my brother and cousin were

atthe swings, all right, but they weren't swinging. They were surrounded by an awed bunch of kids.

Dawn reached them in time to hear Karen saying, ". . . hide underground."

"Like in your basement," David Michael added.

The other children were looking at them with fear in their eyes. One boy was wiping tears away. Suddenly, he turned and ran.

"Where are you going?" another boy shouted after him.

"Home!"

"I'm coming with you!"

"Me, too!" chorused the others. The entire group fled toward the gate to the playground.

"Karen Brewer ..." Dawn warned.

Karen looked up guiltily."Yeah?"

"I do not want you scaring the other kids with that story."

"But we have to warn them. They have to be ready for the attack." Karen was quite serious about that.

"Right," said Berk and David Michael.

"Wrong," said Dawn. "Now come over to the arts and crafts table and forget about the Martians."

Dawn settled her charges with Fran and the other kids. They began to work busily. She

washelping Berk put a nose on his puppet when she heard a crashing noise behind her. She looked around and saw a branch falling from a tree nearby.