by Judy Delton
“No I don’t,” Tim said.
“Ho, ho, ho!” Roger laughed. The other Pee Wees started laughing too.
At Tim.
And at Sonny.
Molly didn’t laugh. It was not too long ago that she believed in Santa Claus. Last Christmas she believed. Just last year. Molly felt sad. She wished she still believed in Santa.
But not the stork! Or the tooth fairy. Poor Sonny, thought Molly. He’s seven years old and he doesn’t know yet.
The Pee Wees finished their hot chocolate and ran over to Santa Land to wait for Sonny.
“We’re supposed to stay over there,” said Mary Beth.
“Mrs. Peters said don’t leave the area,” said Lisa. “Santa Land is still the same area.”
Molly didn’t know how big an area was, but Mrs. Peters would be back soon. Mrs. Betz too.
Sonny was waving to them. He waved again.
“Get in line,” he said. “You have to go to the end.”
“We aren’t going to talk to Santa,” said Lisa, giggling.
Just then a two-year-old tried to push Sonny out of line and get ahead of him. But Sonny wouldn’t move.
“That isn’t Santa, anyway,” said Lisa.
“It is too,” said Sonny. “Who do you think it is, the Easter bunny?”
“It’s a man dressed up in a red suit,” said Roger. “With a pillow in his shirt.” Roger patted his stomach.
“That’s a lie,” said Sonny. “It’s really Santa.”
The line was moving faster now. One little boy was crying too hard to talk to Santa. His mother had to take him away. Then another little girl had to go to the bathroom. So the line got shorter.
Sonny moved closer and closer to the front of the line.
“I’ve got a list in my pocket,” said Sonny. “I put an X by the stuff I want the most. A robot and a spaceship set. And a build-your-own-dinosaur kit.”
Roger was trying to drag Sonny out of line. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said.
But Sonny wouldn’t budge. “You guys aren’t going to get anything. Wait and see,” said Sonny.
Molly just shook her head.
Soon the baby ahead of Sonny was sitting on Santa’s knee. He pulled Santa’s whiskers. Santa bounced him up and down on his knee. “Have you been a good boy?” Santa asked.
The photographer in front of the castle took a picture of the baby with Santa. Snap! Flash! The baby blinked.
Sonny was next.
The other Pee Wee Scouts leaned on the wall of Santa’s castle and watched. Sonny marched right up to Santa. He climbed up on his knee.
“Ouch!” said Santa. “My leg is breaking!” But Santa was joking. “How are you?” he asked Sonny. “Have you been good all year?”
“Look how big Sonny looks!” shouted Rachel. “He’s too big for Santa’s lap.”
“I’ve been very good,” Sonny was saying to Santa. Then he named all the toys he wanted. He handed Santa the list.
“This is so you don’t forget,” said Sonny.
“That’s a big order,” said Santa. “But I’ll try to fill it.”
Flash! went the camera. The photographer handed Sonny one picture.
Then Sonny slid off Santa’s lap.
Santa patted Sonny on the head. Just like he patted the babies.
“Ho, ho!” Roger laughed. “Did he say he’d bring you a sackful of toys or a sackful of coal?”
“He said he’d try to bring me everything on my list. So there!” said Sonny.
“So there yourself!” roared Kevin.
By the time Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Betz came back, the Pee Wees were at the tables again.
“Did you have a good rest?” asked Mrs. Peters.
All the Scouts nodded.
“I talked to Santa Claus,” said Sonny proudly. “He’s going to bring me everything I want.”
Mrs. Betz smiled. She said, “We’ll put milk and cookies out for him and his reindeer on Christmas Eve.”
“Let’s sing a few more songs before we leave,” said Mrs. Peters.
The Pee Wees scrambled back onto the steps with their sleigh bells.
“Let’s sing ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town!’ ” shouted Sonny. It was Sonny’s favorite song.
Then they sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “The First Noel.”
Last of all they sang their new Pee Wee Scout Christmas song. At the end of it they sang the chorus twice.
On the way home, Tracy said, “Someone should tell Sonny the truth. Everybody laughs at him. We don’t want babies in the Pee Wee Scouts.”
“Someone should tell him,” agreed Molly. “But not me.”
CHAPTER 4
A Gift for Mrs. Peters
Molly had a lot of shopping to do. Christmas shopping. She wanted something special for Mrs. Peters. But what?
She had the Kindness Coupons for her mom and dad.
She got her grandma some flower seeds at the drugstore.
She bought her grandpa two of his favorite candy bars. With nuts.
She wanted to get Mary Beth a blue barrette to go with her new blue sweater.
But what could she get for Mrs. Peters?
When Mary Beth came over to play, Molly said, “What are you getting Mrs. Peters?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t think of anything. Roger’s giving her baseball cards.”
“That’s dumb,” said Molly.
“He said she likes baseball. And she can chew the gum.”
Roger’s idea was no use to Molly.
Mrs. Peters would like something that was more personal. Something the Pee Wees made themselves.
Molly and Mary Beth sat down to think. Molly looked at the pictures hanging on her living room wall. Pictures of Molly when she was little. And of her relatives. Mrs. Peters would like pictures. Pictures of the Pee Wee Scouts.
“I know!” shouted Molly. “Let’s make a Pee Wee Christmas tree!”
She ran and got a big sheet of green paper from her room. And her first-grade class picture. All the Pee Wee Scouts were smiling in the picture.
“The Pee Wees will be the ornaments!” she said.
Mary Beth looked doubtful. But she began to cut out the Scouts’ faces.
Snip, snip, snip.
Nice and round.
Molly cut out a tree. A big green tree.
“Now!” she said. “We’ll paste us on, for ornaments.”
When all the pictures were on the tree, Mary Beth said, “It’s beautiful!”
But Molly frowned. “It needs something else,” she said. “Something more colorful. Like lights.”
“We hang Christmas cookies on our tree,” said Mary Beth.
“They are too big for this tree,” said Molly.
Both girls saw the answer at the same time! There on the table in front of them was a dish of small mints. Tiny mints. In shiny bright paper. All different colors.
“That’s it!” said Molly. She ran and got some Scotch tape. Then they taped the bright little mints all over the branches between the pictures. For lights.
“That’s just what it needed,” said Molly.
“Let’s take it over to her right now!” said Mary Beth.
The girls got their coats on and started for Mrs. Peters’s house. The tree was hard to carry. The wind blew it back and forth. Flap, flap, flap. It was big.
Just as they turned the corner of the block, they saw a black and white puppy coming toward them. When he saw the girls, his tail began to wag.
“I wonder whose dog that is,” said Mary Beth.
“I never saw him before,” said Molly. “He’s wearing a blue collar.”
Mary Beth patted his head and the puppy thought she wanted to play. He jumped up and licked her hand. “Down!” said Mary Beth. “Down, boy!”
Now the puppy was more excited. He began to bark. “Yip! Yip! Yip!”
He ran in circles around the girls. Molly held the tree over her head.
“He th
inks you have something for him!” shouted Mary Beth.
The puppy leaped in the air. His tail was wagging.
“Run!” shouted Mary Beth.
But when Molly began to run, the puppy ran in front of her, barking and jumping. The wind began to rip the branches on the Christmas tree.
“He smells those mints!” said Mary Beth. “He wants one!”
The puppy nipped at the tree branches. He tore at the pictures. The mints began to fall off. Some pictures of the Pee Wees fell off too.
The puppy’s tail was wagging fast now.
“He’s eating the paper and all,” moaned Mary Beth. “He’s going to eat the whole tree.”
Sure enough, the puppy ate the mints. Then he ate two pictures. Then he ate a green branch of the tree.
The girls sat down on the curb. They felt like crying. The puppy was still tearing at the tree. There were only a few scraps of green paper left.
“Our present,” cried Molly. Two tears rolled down her cheeks.
“All that work,” said Mary Beth. She cried a little bit too.
The girls looked at the puppy. He had some green paper hanging out of his mouth. Then they looked at each other.
Suddenly Molly began to laugh.
Then Mary Beth laughed.
“Ho, ho,” said Molly. “Merry Christmas, puppy!”
“He looks so funny,” said Mary Beth.
“Bad dog!” cried Molly. She wanted to cry more, but all she could do was laugh.
“It wasn’t his fault,” said Mary Beth. “He thought the special present was for him.”
CHAPTER 5
Snowballs and Angels
The next day the girls went shopping. Mary Beth got Mrs. Peters two hankies with a P on each one. Molly got her a geranium plant that would have red flowers in the spring.
“They are wonderful!” Mrs. Peters said when the girls took the gifts to her house. She gave them both warm hugs. “These are very special gifts because they are from you,” she said.
On the way home, soft snow began to fall. It was getting dark early and Christmas lights twinkled in windows. A man on the street corner was ringing a bell. He was dressed like Santa.
“We should go caroling tonight,” said Mary Beth. “It’s a perfect night to carol.”
“We could go to Mrs. Harris’s house!” said Molly.
“And my grandma’s,” said Mary Beth.
“We need lots of us,” said Molly. “It sounds better with lots of people singing.”
When the girls got to Molly’s, they told Mrs. Duff their plan. “I’ll come too!” she said. “And I’ll call Mrs. Noon and Mrs. Baker.”
Before long there were lots of Pee Wees who wanted to come. And lots of moms and dads.
Mrs. Peters said she would come and bring the bells.
Tim brought his little brother. “He can’t sing, but he can ring bells,” said Tim.
It must be fun to have a little brother, thought Molly. Especially at Christmas. Molly hated being an only child at Christmas. Rachel was an only child too. But she liked it. And Sonny was an only child. All the other Pee Wees had brothers and sisters.
The Pee Wees sang as they walked up and down the snowy streets. They stopped in front of houses that were lit up, and sang.
“Come in,” said one man, who walked with a cane. “Come in and sing for me.”
It was fun to go to different houses. The man said his name was Mr. Judd.
He showed them pictures of his family. His piano was filled with pictures. “I’m all alone now,” he said. “And you came to cheer me up.”
The Pee Wees sang “Frosty the Snowman.”
And “Jingle Bells.”
And their own Pee Wee Scout Christmas song.
Then Mr. Judd gave them each a candy bar.
“I’ll bet they are from Halloween,” whispered Kevin. “Left over.”
“Come again,” said Mr. Judd as the Pee Wees went away.
The snow was falling softly now as they walked and sang.
Rachel taught the Pee Wees a Hanukkah song. They sang that too.
My Dreidel
I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay,
And when it’s dry and ready,
Then dreidel I shall play.
O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
I made it out of clay,
O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
Now dreidel I shall play.
“That is very pretty,” said Mrs. Peters. “We all learned something new tonight.”
The Scouts sang at Mrs. Harris’s house. “Merry Christmas!” she said. She gave them some hot chocolate.
They sang at Mary Beth’s grandma’s house. And at Tracy’s uncle’s.
Then the Pee Wees began chasing one another through the piles of snow. Roger scooped up a handful of snow and made a snowball. He threw it at Patty. Patty scooped up some snow and threw it back. They chased each other around the corner.
“Hey, Patty cake, baker’s man, throw me a snowball as fast as you can!” shouted Roger. He dashed away from her.
Patty ran after him with a snowball. Soon all the girls were throwing snow at Roger.
“I think Roger likes Patty,” whispered Lisa to Molly.
“All the Pee Wees like each other,” said Molly. But she knew what Lisa meant. She meant that Patty was Roger’s girlfriend.
“He likes her best,” said Lisa.
Now Roger was washing Patty’s face with snow.
Lisa is right, thought Molly. Roger does like her best. Patty is cute. And nice. No wonder Roger likes her.
Molly felt shy around Patty now. She wondered if any boy would ever like her that way. And think she was cute. And wash her face with snow.
“Boy, I’m tired,” said Tim, falling down on purpose in a big snow pile.
“You made an angel!” said Tracy to Tim. “Look, you made an angel in the snow!”
All the Scouts lay down in the snow to make angels. They moved their arms up and down to make wings. Even some of the moms and dads made angels. Big mom and dad angels!
“It’s a whole angel family!” shrieked Rachel. “Pee Wee angels and all their relatives!”
“I’m going to make horns on mine,” said Roger. With his hands he made two horns on his angel.
“Not on mine you don’t!” yelled Patty. But it was too late. Roger dashed over to Patty’s angel and made horns on hers too.
“It’s a devil now!” cried Patty.
Before long the Pee Wees were all rolling in the snow, and the angels disappeared.
As they started for home, they heard the tinkling of a bell. Not their own bells.
“Look!” shouted Sonny. “It’s Santa! In front of the store!”
Dr. Meyers and Mrs. Ronning put some money in Santa’s red kettle.
“Thank you, and Merry Christmas,” said the Santa.
“Do you remember me?” asked Sonny. “I’m the one who gave you the long list in the mall.”
Santa smiled at Sonny. He looked different to Sonny.
The Pee Wee Scouts burst into laughter.
Suddenly Molly felt bad, laughing at Sonny. She always laughed at him with the rest of the Scouts. It was no fun to be laughed at. She knew how bad it felt.
Molly believed in Santa just last year. She felt awful when people had laughed at her for it.
She wanted to protect Sonny. He had to find out the truth so that people wouldn’t laugh at him.
“Someone has to tell Sonny the truth,” said Molly to Mary Beth. “Everyone thinks he’s a baby.”
“Who?” said Mary Beth. “I don’t want to tell him. He’ll get mad.”
“Then I’ll have to,” said Molly bravely. “But not right now.”
Mad or not, Molly had to save Sonny. Or else he’d still believe in Santa when he was in high school! Then everyone would really laugh.
If no one else would tell him, Molly would just have to do it herself. She didn’t want to. And she didn’t know how.
But she knew she had to stop Sonny from being such a baby. She had to save him!
CHAPTER 6
Scouts to the Rescue
On Christmas morning, Molly’s grandma and grandpa came over early. The whole family opened their gifts together. Her grandma and grandpa liked their gifts. They gave Molly big hugs. Christmas hugs. And her mom and dad liked their coupons.
“Now!” said Mr. Duff. “I will have some help around here.”
Molly laughed.
Her mom said, “I can’t wait to have my breakfast in bed.”
Molly got a music box from her parents. It played Brahms’s lullaby when the cover was lifted.
She got a scarf and mittens from her grandma. “I knit them myself,” her grandma said.
She also got a Barbie doll and clothes. And a miniature sewing machine to make her dolls some more clothes. And a new board game.
Christmas was fun! Everything was so shiny and new. The lights on the tree sparkled brightly. Smells of the Christmas dinner cooking filled the house.
“Why don’t you ask Rachel over for Christmas dinner?” said Mrs. Duff to Molly. “Rachel’s family doesn’t celebrate Christmas. It would be fun to share the day with her.”
Rachel was not Molly’s best friend. Sometimes she made Molly mad. But Molly liked her sometimes.
Molly ran to the phone.
“Really?” said Rachel. “I’ll come right over!”
Rachel was at the door in no time. “It smells so good in here,” she said. “We’re just having sandwiches at our house.”
Rachel rubbed her stomach.
Before dinner, Molly and Rachel played Molly’s new board game. Rachel won twice and Molly won once.
It was fun to share Christmas with Rachel! It was like having a sister. There were no games you could play alone. And Rachel was a good player.
At dinner there were candles on the table. And lots of good food. Rachel had two helpings of dressing and gravy. And two pieces of pumpkin pie. Molly’s grandpa told stories of his Christmases long ago.
After dinner the girls played some more. They colored and cut paper dolls. Molly’s dad took pictures with his new camera. Then he took a Christmas nap.
Molly’s grandpa and grandma dozed off on the sofa. But Molly and Rachel ate Christmas cookies and fruitcake and ribbon candy.