Ann Martin - Kristy And The Mothers Day Surprise

COME TO SUDSY’S CARNIVAL! it read. GAMES! RIDES! SIDESHOW ATTRACTIONS! REFRESHMENTS!

Carefully, Claudia read every word on the flier. The carnival would be in Stoneybrook on Mother’s Day weekend. It would be set up in a large parking lot that was near a playground not far from Claud’s house. It would have midway games, some rides, plenty of food (cotton candy, peanuts, ice cream, popcorn, lemonade), and even a sideshow. Claudia raised her eyebrows. Were there really bearded ladies and people who were half-man, half-woman or who could swallow fire or swords? She wasn’t sure. But she didn’t care. All she was interested in was finding out more about the carnival.

Jamie saw Claud looking at the flier. “The carnival,” he said sadly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Claud.

“I really really really really really want to go, but I can’t. Mommy and Daddy can’t take me.”

“Too bad, Jamie,” said Claudia.

“I know. I want to see that man. That one right there.”

Jamie reached up to touch a picture of a clown carrying a bunch of helium balloons.

“The balloon-seller?” Claudia asked.

Jamie nodded. “I would buy a yellow balloon. Maybe after that I would buy a green balloon for Lucy.”

“That would be very generous of you.”

“And then I would’play some games. I would win some prizes, like a whistle and a teddy bear. The bear would be for Lucy, too.”

Claudia smiled.

“But,” Jamie continued with a sigh, “I guess I can’t go. No clowns. No balloons. No prizes.”

Claudia gave Jamie a hug, and then poured him his glass of water.

“Thank you,” he said politely.

“You’re welcome. And Jamie, you never know.”

“What?”

“You never know about things. You can’t

be too sure. I remember once when I was six,

a big circus came to Stamford, and Mom and

Dad said our whole family could go. Only — a week before we were going to the circus, I

got the chicken pox.”

“Yuck.”

“I know. And when circus day came, I was much better but I still had spots, so I wasn’t allowed to go. Mimi took care of me while Mom and Dad and Janine went to the circus. Guess what, though. People liked the circus so much that it stayed an extra week, and Mimi and I went to it the next Saturday.”

“Really? Wow.”

Claudia suddenly realized that she shouldn’t get Jamie’s hopes up too much. After all, the

carnival was still sort of a long shot. So she said again, “You just never know, Jamie. I’m not saying you will go to the carnival. But it’s several weeks away. A lot could happen, right?

Right?”

“Oh, give me a comb . . .“

Jamie wasn’t listening. He and Claudia went back outside. Jamie played carnival again. Every now and then, Claudia tiptoed into the house and stood at the bottom of the stairs, listening for Lucy. The third time she did that, she heard baby sounds. Lucy almost always wakes up happy. She doesn’t cry. She just sits in her crib and talks to herself in words only she can understand.

Claudia poked her head out the back door. “Jamie!” she called. “Come on inside. I have to get Lucy up.”

Jamie came in and found Sesame Street on the television, while Claudia dashed upstairs. She opened the door to Lucy’s room slowly.

“Hiya, Lucy-Goose,” she said.

Lucy’s face began to crumple.

“I know. I’m not your mommy or daddy. I’m sorry. But it’s me, Luce. It’s Claudee.” (That’s what Jamie sometimes calls Claudia.)

Claudia puttered around Lucy’s room, not going too near her. She sang “The Eensy Weensy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus.”

Lucy began to smile. Claudia tickled her and changed her diaper, and she seemed to be okay. So Claud carried her downstairs. She could smell Lucy’s baby smell — powder and Pampers and soap and milk.

“Jamie, look who’s here!” said Claudia.

Jamie turned away from the TV. When he and Lucy saw each other, their faces broke into grins.

What a change from when Lucy first came home from the hospital, thought Claudia. Jamie wanted to send his sister back.

Claudia, Jamie, and Lucy played on the floor of the family room until Mrs. Newton came home at five-fifteen. Then Claudia raced to her own house for our Friday meeting. She couldn’t wait to get there. For once, she would be the one with a big idea, and if everyone liked it, she’d make a lot of people very happy — especially Jamie Newton, who just might get to go to the carnival and see the balloon-seller after all.

Chapter 5.

F or the second time in a row I arrived at our meeting early. There was a good reason for this. It was because I had begged Charlie to leave early. “Please, please, please take me over now,” I’d said. My next step would have been to kneel down and plead, but Charlie agreed to go.

I don’t know why I was so eager for the meeting. It wasn’t as if I had any news. I just wanted to get on with the plans for our Mother’s Day surprise.

Anyway, thanks to Charlie, I reached the Kishis’ just before Claudia came running home from the Newtons’. I could hear her calling to me as she dashed along the sidewalk.

“Hi, Claud!” I replied. I stood on her steps and looked across the street at the house that used to be mine. I’d grown up there. I’d learned to walk and ride a bike and turn cartwheels there. I’d gone off to school and watched my

father walk out on us and seen Watson come into our lives. I’d been away from that house for less than a year, but it seemed like a decade.

Time is funny.

Claudia raced up her walk and let me into her house. “You’re early again,” she said. “Do you have news?”

I shook my head.

“Well, I do! But I guess it’ll have to wait until the meeting starts, right?”

“Not necessarily,” I replied, since I was dying of curiosity, “but I guess you might as well. Then you can tell us all at once.”

Claudia and I were both a little disappointed, but at least we didn’t have long to wait before the meeting started. Mary Anne, Jessi, Dawn, and Mallory arrived on time, and I brought us to order immediately.

“The first piece of business,” I announced, “is that Claudia has some sort of big news. Claudia?” I said, turning to her.

“My big news,” Claudia began, shifting position on the bed, “is that I think I’ve found a place where we can take the kids on their outing.”

Five pairs of eyes widened. The room was absolutely silent.

Then I cried out, “Where, where, where?” I couldn’t help it.

“To a carnival,” Claud began. “See, I was sitting at the Newtons’ this afternoon, and on their refrigerator was a flier advertising something called Sudsy’s Carnival. It’s going to be in Stoneybrook the weekend of Mother’s Day. There’ll be all sorts of things kids will like — games, rides, even a sideshow. But the best thing is, guess where the carnival will be set up?”

“Where?” asked all the rest of us club members.

“In the parking lot near Carle Playground.”

“Oh, wow!” I exclaimed. “We can walk there easily!”

“Right,” said Claud. “And it seems like a nice, small carnival. I mean, it wouldn’t be overwhelming for the littlest kids, and we’d have an easy time keeping track of everyone.”

“I wonder how expensive a carnival would be,” said our treasurer. “Any idea what it would cost per kid?”

I looked at Claudia.

“It’s hard to say,” she replied slowly. “The flier didn’t mention a fee to get in — you know, the way you pay one big price to get into Funland, and then you can go on the rides as often as you want. I guess one fee wouldn’t make sense at a carnival anyway, since so much of it is games that you have to pay for