Karen's School Bus

by Ann M. Martin

  “Sure. No problem,” said the driver. “By the way, which one is Karen? Karen, can you raise your hand?”

  I held my hand up a teeny, tiny bit. I could hear the giggling at the back of the bus getting louder and louder.

  “ ’Bye, Karen,” said Daddy. “Have a good ride to school.”

  As soon as the doors closed, the big kids started teasing me.

  “Is there a Karen on the bus?” said Hadley. “I don’t think so. But we do have a Barf-Face!”

  “Barf-Face can’t get on the bus without her daddy,” said another kid. “What a little baby!”

  “I think she needs a rattle,” said Hadley.

  Then they all sang, “Baby, baby, stick your head in gravy! Wash it off in bubble gum and send it to the Navy!”

  When I got to school, I could not think about my work. All I could think about was the bus ride home.

  “Karen, are you all right?” asked Ms. Colman. “You do not seem to be paying attention today.”

  “Sorry,” I said.

  At recess, I sat with Hannie and Nancy at the jungle gym on the playground.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Nancy. “You know they are going to be mean again this afternoon.”

  “Maybe I will put cotton in my ears. Then I will not have to listen to them,” I replied.

  But at the end of the day, something wonderful happened. Ms. Colman was not able to walk me to the bus.

  “I am sorry, Karen. I have a meeting to go to this afternoon. Will you be okay getting on the bus by yourself?” said Ms. Colman.

  “Oh, yes,” I replied. “I will be fine.”

  I will be more than fine, I thought. I will be great! I walked to the bus stop in case someone was watching. Then I slipped away and ran all the way home.

  I got to my block just as the bus was pulling up.

  I decided that I was never going to ride that bus again.

  No More Bus, Yippee!

  When I woke up Thursday morning, I made an Important Announcement.

  “I am not going to ride that bus,” I said to Moosie.

  I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth.

  “I am not going to ride that bus,” I said to my toothbrush.

  I said it to my cereal. I said it to my glass of orange juice. Finally I said it to Daddy and Elizabeth.

  “Don’t you want to go to school?” asked Elizabeth.

  “Oh, yes. I want to go to school. I just do not want to ride the bus anymore,” I said.

  “We cannot let you walk to school again,” said Daddy. “It is too far.”

  Nannie was in the kitchen. She was giving Emily her breakfast.

  “I would be happy to drive Karen to school,” said Nannie. “Emily can come with us. She always enjoys going for a ride.”

  “Thank you, Nannie! Thank you!” I said. “Is it okay? Can Nannie drive me to school?”

  Daddy and Elizabeth looked at each other.

  “We will try it for awhile,” said Daddy. “We will see how it goes.”

  I was so happy. I ate every bite of my breakfast. Then I called Hannie to tell her the good news.

  “I hope you do not mind,” I said.

  “No. The big kids do not bother me when I am by myself,” Hannie replied. “I am happy for you.”

  Nannie drove me to school in the Pink Clinker. I sat in the back with Emily. We played the whole way.

  From then on, I had fun at school every day. That is because I was not worrying about the bus.

  On the next Thursday we started to make the signs for our Cake Walk. I made up a very good sign. It was shaped like a cake. The words looked like they were written in icing. Here is what my sign looked like:

  “That is wonderful,” said Ms. Colman. “Have you decided what kind of cake you are going to bake?”

  “I am going to bake a circus cake. It will be very beautiful,” I said.

  “I am sure it will be,” said Ms. Colman. Then she added, “I am glad you are feeling better these days, Karen.”

  On the ride home with Nannie and Emily, we planned my circus cake.

  “I would like it to be white with pink icing,” I said. “Maybe it could have different colored sprinkles, too. The circus has lots of colors.”

  “Cowns?” said Emily.

  “Clowns are a good idea,” I said. “Nannie, do you think we could draw a clown face on the top of my cake?”

  “Of course we can,” Nannie replied.

  A clown on my cake. No more bus. Yippee!

  Mr. Wilson’s Promise

  It was a happy Saturday. Every day that I did not have to get on the bus was happy. I had not been on the bus for one whole week and two whole days.

  I hurried out of bed and down to the kitchen.

  “Hi,” I said. “What is everybody doing today?”

  Kristy had a baby-sitting job. Sam and Charlie were playing touch football with their friends. David Michael was meeting Linny. Even Andrew and Emily had plans. Nannie and Elizabeth were taking them to buy shoes.

  “I have some errands to do in town. Would you like to come with me?” said Daddy.

  “Sure!” I replied. I love going to town with Daddy. Sometimes we stop to have lunch. Then I feel like a grown-up Lovely Lady.

  “I would like to stop at the hardware store,” said Daddy. “I need a few gardening tools.”

  Hardware stores are fun. The shelves are always filled with interesting things. Daddy went straight to the tools. I was going to look at the paints. I love all the different colors. On the way, I found a basket of tiny sponges. A sign said the sponges grew sixteen times bigger when wet. This was truly amazing.

  The sponges were three for one dollar. I was wondering if Daddy wanted to buy some. Then guess who stopped right in front of me. It was my school bus driver.

  “Hi. You are Karen, right? I have not seen you on my bus lately,” he said.

  “No, you have not,” I replied. “I do not like your mean old bus.”

  “Why not?” asked the driver. He looked surprised. And a little worried, too.

  “Every time I get on your bus, the big kids tease me. They are meanies,” I said.

  I told him everything that happened to me, starting with the very first day.

  “And I will never get on that bus again!” I said.

  “I am sorry, Karen. I did not know you were having such a hard time,” said the bus driver. “I was so busy driving I did not know what was happening behind me. If you want to ride the bus again, I promise things will be different. I will make some changes.”

  Just then Daddy came over, carrying his basket of gardening tools.

  “Hello, Mr. Brewer. I don’t know if you remember me. I am Jack Wilson, Karen’s school bus driver,” he said. Mr. Wilson shook Daddy’s hand.

  “We started driving Karen to school,” said Daddy. “She was not happy on the bus.”

  “Yes, Karen told me,” said Mr. Wilson. “I promised her I will make some changes. Do you think I could get your phone number? I will call to invite Karen back on my bus very soon.”

  Daddy gave Mr. Wilson our phone number. I wondered if Mr. Wilson would keep his promise. I was not too sure.

  The Circus Cake

  There was flour and sugar everywhere. Most of it was in the bowl where it belonged. The rest of it was on the table, on my fingers, and in my hair.

  It was Friday afternoon. Tomorrow was the Fall Festival. Nannie and I were in the kitchen baking our cake.

  “It says in the cookbook that we have to beat in three eggs,” I said.

  “That sounds like a good job for you,” said Nannie. “I will turn on the oven.”

  We finished making the batter. Then we poured it into three pans and put it in the oven.

  While it was baking we made French Cream Filling to put between the layers. We made Fluffy Pink Frosting to spread on top.

  Suddenly everyone started coming into the kitchen. That is because the cake smelled so delicious.

&nbs
p; “That smells great,” said Sam. “Will it be ready soon?”

  “It is not for us. It is for my Fall Festival tomorrow,” I said.

  “Can I have some frosting?” said David Michael.

  “No way!” I said. “We need it for the cake.”

  Emily came in dragging her teddy bear behind her.

  “Candy for Teddy?” she said.

  “Nannie, help!!” I cried.

  “All right, everyone please leave the kitchen. Karen and I have work to do,” said Nannie.

  “That is right. I am an important baker. I must have privacy when working,” I said.

  When the cake was baked and cooled, Nannie and I piled the filling between the layers. Then we spread the frosting and put on colored sprinkles.

  “Is it time to make the clown, Nannie?” I asked.

  “It is time,” Nannie replied.

  We had four tubes of colored frosting. It took a long time to make the perfect circus clown. I squeezed on red frosting for the clown’s nose and mouth and cheeks. I squeezed on blue for the eyes. I squeezed on yellow hair. I trimmed the cake with green squiggles.

  When it was done, Nannie clapped for my cake.

  “It is spectacular,” said Nannie. “You should be very proud.”

  It really was the most beautiful cake ever. It looked like a real bakery shop cake.

  I was busy admiring my cake when the phone rang.

  “Karen, it is for you,” said Elizabeth.

  I washed my hands. (I did not think anyone wanted a frosted telephone.)

  “Hello?” I said.

  “This is Jack Wilson, your bus driver,” said the voice at the other end. “I have worked out plans for changes on the bus. If you will ride the bus on Monday, I think you will be pleased.”

  “I do not know if I want to ride the bus again,” I said.

  “I promise that if there is any teasing I will stop the bus,” said Mr. Wilson. “And that is only one part of my plan. If you ride the bus, you will be surprised to see what else I have done. Will you ride with us on Monday?”

  “I will have to think about it,” I said.

  “Well, I hope I will see you,” said Mr. Wilson.

  I thanked Mr. Wilson and hung up the phone. I had some serious thinking to do.

  But I would start thinking later. It was time to take a picture of my beautiful circus cake.

  Setting Up

  Yippee! It was Saturday. The Fall Festival would begin at noon.

  Ms. Colman’s class was going to meet at school at ten o’clock to set up.

  Daddy drove Hannie, me, and my circus cake to school.

  “Please watch out for bumps, Daddy,” I said. “I do not want the cake to get ruined.”

  “Karen! Hannie! We are over here,” called Nancy.

  It was a sunny day, so the festival was being held out on the playground.

  “Now that we are all together, we can make our Cake Walk circle,” said Ms. Colman. “I drew the outline and numbers on the ground this morning with chalk. Now we need to cover the chalk with masking tape.”

  Making the Cake Walk game was gigundoly fun. I love getting down on the ground and crawling around. Only I did not watch where I was going. I bumped heads with Bobby the Bully.

  “Hey, watch out!” I started to shout. Then I remembered how he protected Nancy from the big kids on the bus.

  “Sorry I bumped into you, Bobby,” I said.

  “That is okay,” said Bobby. (Sometimes he can be nice.)

  Pamela Harding, my best enemy, was hogging the tape. But we were having too much fun to fuss. I did not yell or anything. I just waited my turn.

  When we finished, our Cake Walk circle looked just like the picture I drew on the blackboard. We used the cake signs we made in class. We hung them over a long table covered with red crepe paper. We lined the cakes up in their boxes. Our booth was finished.

  “Feel free to walk around and look at the other booths,” said Ms. Colman. “We will meet back here a few minutes before noon.”

  I walked around the playground with Hannie and Nancy. We saw lots of games we wanted to play.

  “Look!” I said. “There is Hadley Smith. Her class has the dunking booth. I wonder if you-know-who will take a turn in the dunking seat.”

  Hannie and Nancy each got big grins on their faces. But I am sure I had the biggest grin of all.

  The sign said twenty-five cents a turn. I had three dollars to spend. I did the math problem in my head.

  “There are twelve quarters in three dollars,” I said. “If Hadley Smith sits in that seat, I will have twelve chances to dunk her.”

  Fall Festival

  The playground was filling up with guests. Both my families were there. I love when my two families get together. For a while I can pretend I have one great, big family. Then instead of being Karen Two-Two, I am just plain Karen for a day.

  “Karen, your cake is gorgeous,” said Mommy. “Did you make that all by yourself?”

  “Nannie helped a little with the baking. But the clown is all mine,” I said.

  I could hear people talking about my cake when they walked by it. They were all saying nice things. Maybe they would try extra hard to win it because it was so beautiful.

  At noon, our principal rang a bell and made a little speech.

  “Welcome to our Fall Festival,” she said. “We are trying to raise money to buy new books for our school library. We appreciate your coming here today to help us out. Have a wonderful time everybody.”

  The students and guests all started walking around looking for games to play and things to buy. I had the first shift at our booth. It was my job to start and stop the music. This was a very important thing to do.

  Ms. Colman asked Natalie to hold up her cake. It was drooping a little to one side. But that was no surprise. Natalie’s socks are always drooping, too.

  Addie was the announcer.

  “Who would like a chance to win this tasty chocolate cake?” she asked.

  Four kids and two grown-ups gave Ricky one dollar each. He put the six dollars in the class money box.

  “All right, listen up!” I called. “The Cake Walk is about to begin.”

  I pressed the start button on the tape recorder. The song was “All Around the Mulberry Bush.”

  I let it play a little while, then pressed the stop button.

  “Everyone freeze!” I called.

  Hannie picked a number from our number box.

  “The winning number is ten!” said Hannie.

  “I won! I won!” said Liddie Yuan.

  Natalie handed Liddie the chocolate cake.

  “I hope you enjoy it,” said Natalie.

  Audrey’s strawberry shortcake was next. Five people played the game.

  Nine people played the game to win Ricky’s brownie cake.

  “Karen, your cake is next,” said Ms. Colman.

  I held it up so everyone could see it.

  “Who would like a chance to win this beautiful circus cake?” said Addie.

  I could hardly believe it. Eleven kids and four grown-ups paid one dollar each to win my cake. That made fifteen dollars!

  The winner was a lady I did not know.

  “My grandchildren will love this!” she said.

  After our cakes were sold, the Three Musketeers walked around the festival together.

  We bought hot dogs and juice. I played water-balloon basketball and won a pinwheel. We had our fortunes told. My fortune said There is a happy surprise in store for you soon.

  We were about to play Pin the Tail on the Dinosaur. But there were shouts coming from the fifth-graders’ dunking booth. I turned to see what all the noise was about.

  Guess who was in the dunking seat. Miss Hadley Smith.

  Splash!

  “Step right up and dunk a fifth-grader,” called a boy in Hadley’s class. “Three tries for twenty-five cents.”

  I hurried to get in line. I had to dunk Hadley. I just had to.

  �
��Here is my quarter,” I said when my turn came.

  Suddenly there was a crowd at the dunking booth. It was mostly kids from the bus. There was lots of giggling and whispering all around me.

  The boy running the booth gave me three softballs. He pointed to a target with colored circles.

  “All you have to do is hit the big red circle in the center,” he said.

  I looked at Hadley. She stuck her tongue out at me. I did not have to stick my tongue out at her. That is because I had three balls in my hand. As soon as I threw one of them right, Hadley would be a silly-soggy fifth-grader.

  I pulled my arm back. I aimed for the red circle. I threw the ball. Oops. I missed the red circle and hit the yellow one.

  I tried again with the second ball. Oops. I missed the red circle and hit the blue one.

  On the last try, I hit the yellow circle again.

  I could still hear the kids cheering. And do you know what? They were cheering for me.

  “Go, Karen!” called one of the little kids. “Do not give up.”

  “Dunk her in the water!” called a first-grader.

  “I want to try again,” I said to the boy.

  I handed over another quarter. The boy handed me three more balls.

  I threw the first ball. I missed the red circle and the blue one. Boo and bullfrogs.

  “Go, Karen, go!” called Nancy.

  “Think about the bus rides,” called Hannie.

  That did it. I pulled back my arm. I looked straight at the red circle. I threw the ball.

  I did it! I hit the red circle!

  SPLASH! Hadley went down in the tub of water.

  The kids were laughing and cheering.

  “So there, Miss Hadley Smith,” I said.

  Hadley stood up. She was soaked. Her cheeks were red. She was just a silly-soggy fifth-grader. Hadley Smith did not look like such a big shot now.

  I was ready to ride the bus on Monday.

  Mr. Wilson’s Surprise

  When I woke up on Monday morning I felt one little butterfly in my stomach.