Mommy blew her nose. Then Daddy gently placed Boo-Boo’s box in the deep hole. Andrew and I put our poem on top. Sam and Charlie filled the hole in with dirt. Then Seth hammered in a small wooden cross that he had quickly made. (Seth is an excellent carpenter.) A cat face was carved on it, and Boo-Boo’s name, and the years that he was alive. Daddy thanked him.
Then we all spread fresh, soft, white snow over everything, to make it look pretty again.
Boo-Boo’s funeral was over. I held Mommy’s hand and Andrew’s hand. We stood quietly for a few moments.
Then it was time to go inside, warm up, and get ready for Thanksgiving. Allison would be here soon! Maybe she would cheer me up.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Allison and her mother arrived right on time. I had changed into a corduroy party dress, with white tights and shiny black shoes. Allison had dressed up too, but she was not wearing a movie-star dress. It was not gold or silver. It did not have fake fur or jewels sewn on it. She looked normal.
“Hi!” I said. “Thanks for coming.”
Mrs. Hunter had brought a cake for dessert. Nannie thanked her and led her into the kitchen.
“How did the funeral go?” asked Allison.
“It was awful,” I said. “But it was good too.”
“I know,” said Allison. “I can imagine it. Do you feel too sad to play?”
“No,” I said. “Playing is just what I need.”
The big house had never been so hectic or so noisy. It was great. I introduced Allison and her mom to Mommy, Seth, and Andrew. Then Kristy, David Michael, Allison, Andrew, Emily Michelle, and I played hide-and-seek downstairs. (Emily Michelle is not very good at hiding. And she always gives herself away. But we helped her.)
Soon the smells of the delicious food were too much to bear. Mommy, Elizabeth, Nannie, Seth, and Daddy started bringing bowls and plates and trays and platters out of the kitchen and into the dining room. In the dining room were the big table for grownups and teenagers and a smaller table for us younger kids. On our table was a gigundoly fancy tablecloth, and fancy napkins, and good china and everything. It looked beautiful.
Allison and I took our plates and lined up to be served.
“This is so wonderful,” said Allison, looking at all the food. “Last year for Thanksgiving my sister and daddy flew to London to be with me and Mom. Room service in our hotel sent up a meal, but it was not the same. They did not have real Thanksgiving food. This is much better.”
I smiled at her. A big star thought my family was special. I sometimes wanted to be a big star, and Allison Hunter, a big star, sometimes wanted to be me. It was very satisfying.
We all ate a lot, because that is what you do on Thanksgiving. When I looked at the grown-ups’ table, everyone was smiling and talking nicely together. Daddy and Elizabeth and Mommy and Seth do not always enjoy being together. But today everyone was happy.
After we finished firsts, we had seconds, and then even thirds. Then we all decided to lie around in the family room until we could face dessert. After awhile, Allison sat up and said, “Oh! I almost forgot. I have a surprise for you.”
Allison’s Surprise
Well. There is nothing I like better than a good surprise.
“What? What is it?” I asked.
Allison went into the hall and took a small package out of her backpack. It was a videotape.
“This is a very, very rough edit of what we have filmed so far on I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” she said. “It is not at all what the final movie will look like. But I thought you would like to see the scenes that you were in.”
“Oh, my gosh!” I said. “We will be the first people to see it! Thank you, Allison!” This was so great. Months from now, people would line up to see the new Allison Hunter movie. And I would already have seen it. I wished Hannie and Nancy could see it too.
The tape was not as long as a real movie, only about forty minutes. But we saw some scenes that showed Allison getting lost, and we saw her family looking for her. It was very funny, but sometimes it was sad too, for instance, when Allison realized she was lost, and she started crying, all alone, on a park bench.
Her tears looked totally real. I felt sorry for her.
“You are a very good actress,” I whispered to her. This time she grinned at me.
Then we saw some of the Stoneybrook shots.
“Look! There is Karen!” cried Kristy.
It was the shopping scene downtown. People walked past Allison, not paying attention to her. Allison looked lost and sad. Then I saw the Three Musketeers. We walked past Allison, laughing and talking. To tell you the truth, we stuck out. We did not blend into the scene like the other people did.
Then there was a scene of Allison in a train station, trying to make a phone call. She did not have enough change. She cried again.
Then we saw the sledding scene. The camera focused mostly on Allison. In the background, I could see Hannie, Nancy, and me performing tricks on our sleds. Once again, we stuck out. I hated to think it, but we looked silly. My plan had backfired. I was sure that these scenes would be edited out of the movie. I was kind of relieved. I realized I did not really want millions of people to see me acting that way.
“Hams R Us,” Charlie said with a snicker.
“Okay, Charlie, enough,” said Elizabeth.
The very last scene was the big one with all the fake snow, shot on the day that we first missed Boo-Boo. Allison walked up to our doorway and rang the bell. We saw her do this from many different angles, over and over.
“Sorry,” said Allison. “They did not edit this part down yet.”
“Hey, look!” said Andrew. “Look in the upstairs window!”
In this shot, we saw the whole front of our house. We all looked at the row of upstairs windows, where Andrew was pointing. And there, sitting in one of the windows, was Boo-Boo. He was looking out at the yard.
“That is the day we were looking for him,” I said. “If he was sitting in a window, how come we did not see him?”
“Maybe he just sat there for a minute, then went in the back of the closet,” suggested Kristy.
The TV screen went blank. The tape was over.
“It was very nice to see Boo-Boo one last time,” said Daddy. “Thank you, Allison.”
“Yes, thank you,” I said. “The movie looks like it will be great. And everyone can see Boo-Boo again.”
“Yes,” said Allison, smiling.
Allison and her mom stayed with us through the evening, when we had leftover turkey sandwiches and more dessert. It was wonderful. When they left, Allison promised to write to me, and I promised to write back. I was glad to have a new friend.
Later, Mommy, Seth, and Andrew left also. In the morning I would pack up anything I needed and move to the little house for awhile.
Life was back to normal.
I Am Thankful For …
“Is this everything?” asked Kristy the next morning.
I looked around my room at the big house.
“Yes, I think so,” I said. “I need to take this cardboard box and this suitcase. Everything else can stay here until I come back.”
Kristy leaned down and hugged me. “I will see you very soon,” she said. “Because I am going to baby-sit for you and Andrew next Wednesday night.”
Kristy and her friends have a baby-sitting business. I love having Kristy baby-sit for us.
Kristy left to tell Daddy I was ready. I sat on my bed and looked around one last time. This was the longest I had been at the big house since Mommy and Daddy had gotten divorced. It had been fun, even though I had missed Mommy, Andrew, and Seth so much. But I was happy to be going back to the little house. I had missed my little-house room and my little-house stuff. Also, sometimes it is peaceful and restful at the little house. It is never peaceful or restful at the big house. But it is always exciting and noisy and fun.
Pumpkin leaped up onto my bed then.
“ ’Bye, Pumpkin,” I said, trying to sound
cheerful. “I will miss you, but I will see you soon. I always come back.”
I thought about the list of things I am thankful for, the list Ms. Colman had asked us to write. I had not been able to read my list out loud. And on Thanksgiving Day, there had been so many people and so much commotion that we had not shared our thanks with one another.
I decided to make a new list. I sat at my desk and took out a sheet of paper. Then I carefully wrote:
I kept writing until Daddy called me to go to Mommy’s house. The list went on and on.
About the Author
ANN M. MARTIN is the acclaimed and bestselling author of a number of novels and series, including Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), A Dog’s Life, Here Today, P.S. Longer Letter Later (written with Paula Danziger), the Family Tree series, the Doll People series (written with Laura Godwin), the Main Street series, and the generation-defining series The Baby-sitters Club. She lives in New York.
Copyright © 1998 by Ann M. Martin
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, 1998
e-ISBN 978-1-338-06068-3
Karen's Movie Star Page 5