The Disaster

I was standing at our front door.

My heart was going thumpety-thumpety-thumpety-thumpety. It felt as if it might jump right out of my chest.

I rang the bell.

While I waited for someone to open the door, I noticed something about our yard. It did not look all that neat. I did not think Daddy or Nannie had weeded anything. Also, some papers had blown onto the grass. They were just lying there. Our doormat was dirty. And a bunch of Emily’s toys were cluttering up the driveway. Plus the Junk Bucket was parked where anyone could see it.

Oh, well. My big-house family must have spent the morning getting fixed up. And also fixing up the inside of the house. It probably looked gorgeous. I smiled at the thought.

I heard footsteps at the door. It was flung open by Sam. I could not believe what I saw.

“Sam!” I gasped. “What are you — ”

Sam interrupted me. “Oh, it’s you, Karen. How come you are ringing the bell? You do not have to ring the bell at your own house.”

“Sam, my gosh — ”

“Oh, it does not matter. Come on inside. The judge from the contest is here. He got here a few minutes ago.”

What judge from the contest? How could that be? I made that up, didn’t I? Yikes, what if we really were finalists in the contest? What if the contest people had loved my entry, and I had been chosen from those thousands and thousands of people?

Oh, my goodness! I was going to Hawaii after all! I could learn to hula, and I could wear a lei and see a volcano. I could bring Hannie and Nancy with me.

But something was wrong. Sam. Sam was wrong. That was what I had started to say when he opened the door for me. Sam was not wearing his tuxedo. He was not dressed up at all. He was wearing the same grubby outfit he had been wearing at breakfast. Jeans with a hole at each knee, and a shirt that he’d ripped the sleeves from so it would be cooler, and sneakers that fwap-fwapped when he walked, because the rubber soles were coming apart from the tops of the shoes. His hair looked as if it had been combed with an electric toothbrush. And his hands were dirty.

I grabbed Sam by the tail of his torn shirt. “Where is your tux?” I whispered. I slammed the door closed behind me.

“I didn’t have time to find it,” Sam replied. (He did not sound sorry about that.) “Nannie did not have a chance to weed, either.”

“I could tell.”

“And my mom did not make it to the beauty parlor. And Emily is not quite dressed yet. And Andrew tried to give himself a haircut.”

Uh-oh.

“Oh, well,” said Sam. “I guess it could be worse.”

I did not see how.

Sam led me into the living room. My big-house family was there. So was a tall man wearing a suit. Right away, I saw that he was the only one wearing a suit. Daddy was in his old Saturday outfit. Charlie’s clothes looked as bad as Sam’s. Andrew was still wearing his pajamas. Emily was wearing a saggy diaper and a T-shirt.

I did not look so hot myself.

Even so, I said to the man, “Hi. I am Karen Brewer. And this is my beautiful family.”