Read Horrible Harry and the Holidaze Online

Authors: Suzy Kline

Horrible Harry and the Holidaze (5 page)

BOOK: Horrible Harry and the Holidaze
9.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Harry and I immediately tried bowing to each other on both knees. Mary and Ida bowed to each other on one knee.
“After children bow, old relative give gift.”
“The next time I visit Grampa, I'm bowing to him,” Harry said.
Miss Mackle put her hand over her heart.
“We also fly kite on New Year,” Mrs. Park continued. “I bring one.” We all looked at the white kite Song Lee's mother unfolded. It had a hole right in the middle and streaks of red, blue, and green on it. “It is shield kite,” she said.
Song Lee peeked at us through the hole. When we saw her eyeball, we all laughed.
At activity time, we took turns playing
yut
and eating rice cakes that Mrs.
Park had steamed in beef broth.
Then Miss Mackle said we could take Song Lee's shield kite out to the playground. Boy, were we all flying high that sunny, windy day!
Secret Santas
T
he last week of school in December we did activities about Christmas. I didn't know lots of Lebanese people celebrated Christmas, but they do. ZuZu's mother brought in a
buche de Noel.
It was a Christmas log cake. The chocolate icing was like the bark of a tree, and the powdered sugar was the snow. It was delicious!
We also made wreaths out of pine-cones, decorated a class tree, and made up our own lyrics to songs like “Jingle Bells.”
Holidays! Holidays!
They're for me and you!
Christmas, Kwanzaa,
Three Kings' Day,
and Ha-nuk-kah too-oo!
 
But my favorite Christmas activity was the last one we did. Secret Santas. Miss Mackle brought out her glass jar that always sits on her desk. It had pieces of folded paper inside. Each paper had one class name written on it. “I want you to pick a name from this jar so you can be the Secret Santa for that person,” she said.
“Instead of buying a gift, though,” the teacher continued, “I want you to choose a white elephant from your house, wrap it up, and give it to that person.”
ZuZu was the first to ask. “What's a white elephant, Miss Mackle?”
“Anything used that is still good,” the teacher explained. “Like a puzzle with all the pieces. Or a toy that isn't broken but that maybe you don't play with anymore. A book you've read that you are willing to part with. White elephants are things like that.”
“I get it!” Sid exclaimed. “I think I'll give my family white elephants this year too. I've got lots of them in my room.”
Miss Mackle laughed. “The price is right!”
“I know what I can do!” Harry blurted out.
Mary made a face. “It will be something horrible! I know!”
Harry cackled.
ZuZu raised his eyebrows. “Harry gives horrible gifts?”
Everybody nodded.
“Okay boys and girls. Let's begin!” the teacher announced.
Sidney went up and picked a name first. We all knew who it was. He looked right at Mary. “Darn,” he said. “I wanted ZuZu's name. I have something made in France at home. His Lebanese Christmas cake was French. He even knows some French, like me.”
ZuZu blushed. I think he liked the attention though.
“Remember what I said,” Miss Mackle said holding up one finger. “It's a secret.”
At recess, Harry and I raced over to the Dumpster and told each other who we had.
“I have Dexter,” Harry said.
“I have Song Lee,” I said.
“Want to trade names?” Harry whispered. “I have a white elephant that only Song Lee will appreciate.”
“Can we?” I whispered back.
“Why not?” Harry said. “Nobody needs to know. We'll keep it a secret.”
Harry and I did a pinky finger shake, which meant we would not tell a soul. Not even his grampa.
“Okay,” I said firmly, “our Secret Santas are a sealed secret now!”
The day before vacation everyone brought wrapped gifts to class. We were pretty excited to find out who our Secret Santas were.
Miss Mackle wore a red dress with a holly corsage from ZuZu, and a headpiece that had reindeer antlers from Harry. She had red-and-green striped candy canes for everyone.
While we licked our peppermint treats we watched each other open up our Secret Santa gifts one by one.
“ZuZu,” Miss Mackle said, drawing his name from the jar. “Here's your secret Santa present!”
He unwrapped the Christmas paper carefully, folded it, and even saved the ribbon. When he opened the card it said,
Song Lee's face turned red.
ZuZu unwrapped the gift. “Oh, JouJou will love these! Thank you,
Song Lee!”
We all stared at the white elephant gift. It was a stack of three colored pet bowls.
Mary's turn was next. “I know this is from Sidney,” she groaned. But as soon as she unwrapped the white elephant, her face lit up. “ I love it!”
We all leaned forward to see what came out of the tissue paper. It was the doll Sidney had found in his Three Kings' cake.“I thought I should share the good luck,” Sid said. “Like that Christmas song says, ‘Good will towards men'!”
ZuZu smiled. “That's a really nice gift, Sidney,” he said.
Mary jumped up and down. “Thank you! Thank you!”
When I opened my Santa gift from Ida, I found a real kufi. The hat was made out of fabric, not poster paper. “Wow!” I put it on my head right away.
“It belonged to my uncle,” Ida said. “He said I could give it to you.”
“Thanks, Ida!” I replied adjusting my
kufi.
I felt kind of cool.
Everyone had to wait until the last Secret Santa present was opened to find out what Harry gave Song Lee. I noticed ZuZu was leaning forward to watch her unwrap the gift. He was really curious what kind of horrible gifts Harry gave.
When she lifted the surprise out of the box, she held up a jar filled with green stuff. The hand-printed label said:
As soon as she opened the lid, a terrible odor filled the room.
“It smells!” Dexter said.
“It stinks!” Sid said.
“It's holiday slime!” Harry said. Then he flashed his white teeth. “It's putrid. That's what Grandma says. I love that word.”
“It's a horrible gift!” Mary groaned.
“Eeeeyeeew,” everyone groaned as Song Lee poured a little into the palm of her hand. It landed like a solid puddle. When she put some between her fingers and rubbed it, the slime turned to powder. “Thank you, Harry,” Song Lee said. “I remember you made green slime in class last year with cornstarch and water.”
“Yup! But this is a special batch I made last summer. Mom let me keep it in one of her leftover Bell jars in the basement. All I had to do was add a little more water.”
“No wonder it smells so bad!” Mary gasped. “It's been fermenting for five months!”
ZuZu cringed. “Your holiday slime is horrible, Harry.”
“Well,” Miss Mackle chuckled, “ it is a festive green for Christmas.”
Song Lee didn't moan or groan like everyone else. She just giggled. “I like it, Harry. It's stinky fun.”
“I knew you'd be the only one who would appreciate it,” Harry said.
I just smiled.
Harry was back and as horrible as ever!
Holiday Resources
Brady, April A.
Kwanzaa Karamu: Cooking and
Crafts for a Kwanzaa Feast.
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda
Books, Inc., 1995.
 
Carlson, Lori Marie.
Hurray for Three Kings' Day.
New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1999.
 
Chocolate, Debbi.
A Very Special Kwanzaa.
New
York: Scholastic Inc., 1996.
 
Chocolate, Deborah M. Newton.
My First Kwanzaa
Book.
New York: Scholastic Inc., 1992.
BOOK: Horrible Harry and the Holidaze
9.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Rift by Kay Kenyon
Mercenary's Woman by Diana Palmer
Timescape by Robert Liparulo
Twisted Minds by Komal Kant
Molly by M.C. Beaton
One Against the Moon by Donald A. Wollheim
After the Collapse by Paul Di Filippo
Power by Theresa Jones