Authors: Nancy Krulik

A Katie Kazoo Christmas (12 page)

BOOK: A Katie Kazoo Christmas

10.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

Katie stood there for a minute, unable to move. She felt awful for Lauren. She also felt really guilty. After all, it was Katie who had made the mess at the gift-wrapping counter.

So it was going to have to be Katie who made things right again! She took a deep breath and walked right up to Lauren.

“Hi,” Katie said quietly.

Lauren looked sadly at Katie. “Oh, it’s you,” she said. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that Thimbles won’t be wrapping gifts anymore. They ran out of paper, and now I’m out of a job.”

“That doesn’t make me happy,” Katie assured her.

“I thought you said I was destroying the planet by wrapping gifts,” Lauren reminded her.

“It isn’t
your
wrapping that’s ruining the Earth,” Katie corrected her. “It’s the wrapping
paper
that’s doing it.”

“How can you wrap gifts without
wrapping paper
?” Lauren asked her.

Katie thought about that for a minute. Then suddenly, she got a great idea.

“I know where you can find plenty of paper and still save trees!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Come with me! Let’s get your job back!”

Chapter 11

An hour later, Katie was back in the food court. But this time, she was carrying a big present. It was wrapped in old, thrown-out newspapers. But it didn’t look like garbage. It looked fantastic.

Lauren had used the newspaper to make the package look like a palm tree. She’d attached tiny green and red bows to some of the newspaper leaves. They shimmered like Christmas lights on the tree.

The first people Katie bumped into in the food court were Jessica Haynes and her mom. “Did you see how they’re wrapping gifts at Thimbles now?” Katie asked Jessica. “They’re using recycled newspaper. This present is for my grandmother. It’s a poster of a roller coaster.”

“Why would they use old newspapers to wrap new presents?” Jessica asked.

Katie frowned. Jessica did not seem impressed. Neither did any of the other people sitting nearby. They all looked at Katie’s package strangely and then turned away.

Katie really wanted people to like her idea for wrapping paper. She wanted them to go back to the gift-wrapping counter at Thimbles and have Lauren wrap their gifts, too.

Things were
not
going the way Katie had planned.

But Katie Carew was not the kind of kid who gave up. “Thimbles is giving a present to planet Earth,” Katie told Jessica’s mom. “Wrapping paper is made from trees. You have to cut down a lot of trees to wrap gifts.”

Mrs. Haynes seemed interested. At least a little bit. So Katie kept talking. She held up her newspaper-palm tree present. “This way, they’re using paper twice,” she said. “That means fewer trees have to be cut down.”

Jessica didn’t seem to care about the trees. But she did like the way Katie’s gift looked. “Well, that is
kind
of neat,” Jessica said as she looked at the present in Katie’s hand. She ran her fingers over the palm tree’s newspaper leaves. “How did Lauren do that?”

“I don’t know,” Katie told her. “But she’s really talented. And you should see some of the other packages she’s wrapped. One has these tiny paper birds all over it. They’re made out of old comic strips. It’s very colorful.”

“I thought I heard Lauren had made a mess of things over at Thimbles,” Mrs. Haynes mentioned.

Katie sighed. It hadn’t been Lauren who had done that. It had been Katie. But, of course, she couldn’t tell Mrs. Haynes about her switcheroo. Mrs. Haynes never would have believed her anyway. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it hadn’t happened to her.

“Well, she’s doing a great job now,” Katie said.

Mrs. Haynes looked at the gift again. “It
is
interesting,” she said slowly. “A package wrapped like this would stand out under the tree.”

The woman at the next table looked over at Katie. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation,” she said.

Katie grinned. She was glad. In fact, she’d been talking extra loud so people
would
overhear.

“I think what Thimbles is doing is wonderful,” the woman continued. She looked around at all the paper plates and cups at the food court. “There’s too much waste in this mall. More stores should be recycling.”

“You should eat your lunch at Louie’s instead of at the food court,” Katie told her. “He’s stopped using paper plates. He’s saving trees, too. And his pizza is really yummy!”

“What a great idea!” the woman exclaimed. “You know, you should tell everyone about how Thimbles and Louie’s are doing their part to help the planet.”

Katie smiled. That was exactly what she planned on doing!

Chapter 12

“What beautiful presents!” Mrs. Carew exclaimed as Katie placed two more gifts under the tree later that evening. Inside one of the beautifully wrapped boxes was a scarf for her mother. The other held a big coffee mug for her father.

“I wrapped them myself,” Katie told her mom. “Lauren showed me how to make the little birds. They’re called cranes.”

“You know, lots of people had newspaper cranes on their presents today. You wouldn’t believe how many people came by with packages from Thimbles,” Mrs. Carew said. “They loved the way Lauren was wrapping gifts in recycled newspapers. I don’t know how she came up with such a wonderful idea!”

Katie smiled. She knew where Lauren had gotten the idea. But she wasn’t telling.

“Wow, the snow is really coming down,” Katie’s father said as he looked out the window. “It’s going to be good sledding weather tomorrow!”

Just then, the phone rang. Katie leaped up to get it.

“Hello,” Katie answered.

The person on the other end didn’t say hello back. He just screamed excitedly.

“Guess what? I got it!” he shouted into the phone.

Katie laughed. It was Jeremy. And she didn’t have to ask what “it” was. She knew it was his snowboard.

“Not so loud,” Katie said, holding the phone away from her ear.

“Oh, sorry,” Jeremy said. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

“It’s okay; I have another ear,” Katie joked.

“I’m just so excited!” Jeremy exclaimed. “I can’t believe I have my very own snowboard.”

“I think that’s great,” Katie told him. And she really meant it. She wasn’t jealous of Jeremy at all. She was happy for him.

“And it’s snowing outside right now!” Jeremy continued.

“I know. My dad said it’s going to be great sledding weather tomorrow,” Katie told him.

“Sledding or
snowboarding
,” Jeremy added. “That’s why I’m calling you. Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve. And your mom is working during the day.”

“Only until three o’clock,” Katie explained. “I’m going to the mall with her. I guess I’ll hang out at Louie’s or something until she’s finished with work.”

“But my mom said you can come over
here
tomorrow morning instead,” Jeremy explained. “Then we can both try my new snowboard.”

“Wow! I’ve never been on a snowboard before,” Katie said.

“Me, neither,” Jeremy admitted. “We can learn together.”

“Are you sure you want to share your new present with me?” Katie asked him.

“Sure,” Jeremy said. “That’s what the holidays are about.”

Katie looked over at the gifts under her tree. She was pretty sure that the small box in the corner had a new computer game in it.

“I think I’ll have some presents to share with you, too,” she told him. “I’ll find out on Christmas morning.”

“Cool,” Jeremy said. “So you’ll come over here tomorrow?”

“Hold on,” Katie said. Then she shouted into the living room. “Mom, can I go to Jeremy’s tomorrow morning instead of the mall?”

“Sure,” Mrs. Carew agreed. “As long as his mother doesn’t mind.”

“I can come!” Katie told Jeremy happily.

“Cool. See you tomorrow,” Jeremy said.

After she hung up with Jeremy, Katie walked back into the living room. The tree was brightly lit. The room smelled like pine needles and Christmas cookies. And there was so much snow falling outside. Everything seemed so Christmassy.

Suddenly, Katie didn’t care about the crowds in the mall and all the lines she’d had to wait in all day. That was part of Christmas. Just like wrapping gifts, baking cookies, spending time with friends, and singing Christmas songs.

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly,” she began to sing.

“Fa la la la la, la la la la,” her parents chimed in.

“AROOOOO!” Soon, even Pepper was singing.

Katie gave her dog a big hug. She smiled at her parents. There was a lot of love in her living room. That was the best Christmas present she could have . . .

And it didn’t need any gift wrap at all!