Chapter Fourteen

Karen's Apprentice

On Tuesday morning, I was excited to invite Pamela over. Hannie and Nancy had never seemed interested in learning my ways so it was nice to have someone that did.

First I had to butter Mommy up so I could have a guest over. She might not say yes because she is very stingy about fun and only wants Andrew to have any.

I dressed up in yet another devil-like outfit. Well it was devil colored at least. I had on a red sun dress with black polka dots on the skirt, a black ribbon around the waist and a big lady bug embroidered in the middle of the chest. It was kind of a baby outfit but I added my black hoodie sweatshirt to complete the outfit by covering up the lady bug.

I danced merrily into the kitchen like I do every morning. Mommy was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Andrew was doing the same thing except his coffee was really a cup of chocolate milk and he was reading the comics. Mommy is addicted to coffee. It is quite ridiculous how much she drinks. She says it is because I wear her out.

"Good morning, family! Can I get anything for you?" I wanted to be extra helpful.

Andrew shook his head, "No, Karen. I am fine."

Mommy added, "Just get yourself some breakfast. We are almost finished."

I made myself a berry bagel with strawberry cream cheese on top. I put a few fresh strawberries on the plate and poured myself a glass of strawberry milk. A devil red breakfast just for me.

Andrew finished his milk and put his cup in the sink. Then he wandered out of the kitchen. Now was my chance to ask Mommy about Pamela coming over. Mommy was already clearing her spot.

"Mommy?" I asked her.

Mommy stuck her newspaper in the recycling bin next to the trash, "Yes Karen?"

"Mommy, I do not know if you noticed yesterday but Pamela Harding was feeling very sad. Her parents are busy with her big sister who does not listen to them and they do not have time for Pamela. They were fighting at Burger Castle and she felt left out. I was wondering if I could invite her over to play." I hoped Mommy would buy my story.

Andrew barged back in the kitchen, "Karen, you hate Pamela."

"Eavesdropper!" I stuck my tongue out at him, "Andrew you saw me playing with Pamela at Burger Castle. We are friends now."

Andrew giggled rudely, "If you say so, Karen."

I ignored him and looked at Mommy, "Please Mommy?"

Mommy stuck her coffee mug in the dishwasher, "I do not see why not Karen. Seth told me that Pamela seemed very sad. It is good of you to think of a friend instead of yourself for once."

I bounded over to the phone and dialed Pamela's number. Pamela answered right away, "Hello, Harding residence."

"Hi Pamela! It is me, Karen Brewer. Mommy said it would be find for you to come visit. Can you come over?" I was very excited.

"I will check with my mom really quick," Pamela informed me. It went quiet for a moment and then she came back, "Mom says she will bring me."

I was gigundoly happy, "That is great Pamela. Make sure to wear a red and black outfit. Devil colors."

"I will! See you soon, Karen." Pamela hung up.

I bounced in front of the front door for the entire twenty minutes it took for Pamela to arrive. I was just that excited. Mommy was vacuuming in the living room and did not even notice me but Andrew did.

"Karen, you are really acting crazy. You should calm down. At preschool if we act bouncy and crazy, Ms. Jewel makes us sit in the calming corner. I think we need a place like that for you." Andrew sounded just about as bossy as our step sister, Kristy.

"Pamela and I have a lot of plans today," I informed him in what I hoped was an important sounding voice.

"As long as they do not involve me, I do not care," Andrew left and wandered off in the direction of his room before I could respond.

My plans did involve him but I was not going to let him know that. Besides Pamela's mommy was pulling up into the driveway. Pamela got out of the car and waved goodbye to her mom. Then Mrs. Harding drove off.

I opened the front door to greet Pamela, "Hi! I am happy you could make it. I love your outfit!"

Pamela was wearing black denim shorts, a red t-shirt with a black tank top over it and a pair of black sandals. On her head, she had on a red and black stripped headband. It was the perfect outfit.

"Thank you, Karen," Pamela stepped inside, "What do we do first?"

"We find out where my sneaky brother went. He was here pestering me and now he has gone to hide. We will have to find him. I think he might be in his room. It is this way." I started off towards Andrew's bedroom with Pamela behind me.

Sure enough Andrew was in his room. He was playing with his big wooden train table. Seth had built the table for him and then made the mistake of hiring Claudia Kishi to paint it. From a distance it looked like average train table scene with roads, trees and water but when you got close you realized that crazy Blobbia had manager to incorporate a lot of candy into it. The were rocks shaped like gum drops, chocolate bark trees, cotton candy cherry blossom trees and a soda pop river. Either that or she is just a really terrible artist. It was not really important.

Andrew had not spotted us yet. Pamela whispered, "What do we do?"

"Watch and learn," I whispered back. I scampered back to my room and came back with some hand puppets that were different animals. I put a bear on one hand and a alligator on the other. I handed Pamela a lion and a wolf.

"Huh? What are we doing with puppets?" Pamela looked confused.

I smiled but did not respond. Instead I made the puppets peek around Andrew's door frame so that if he looked he would only see the puppets and not me. I started to quietly do my tiger growl. Pamela began to copy me. Gradually we started growling louder and louder.

Andrew looked up from his trains. He had heard us and he did not look happy at all, "Karen, I know that is you!" Andrew started running towards us.

"Come on, we have to out run him!" I grabbed Pamela and we ran to the backyard.

Andrew was right on our tails. Pamela and I ducked into the playhouse expecting him to be right behind us but we were surprised. Andrew stopped on the porch and started screaming, "Mommy! Mommy!"

Mommy ran out on the porch, "Andrew what is wrong?"

Andrew mustered up some tears, "Mommy, Karen and Pamela made puppets growl at me and now they are hiding in the playhouse."

Mommy gave Andrew a quick hug, "Karen and Pamela come here please."

I winked at Pamela and whispered, "See how easy that was?

"You are right," Pamela said.

Mommy yelled, "I meant it, Karen. Get over here now."

I stomped over to Mommy, "Yes Mommy?

"Karen, your friend just barely arrived and you are already back up to your old tricks again. I thought you promised me that you would be nicer to your brother." Mommy picked up Andrew and hoisted him onto her hip even though he is too big.

I tried to explain, "Mommy, Andrew is overreacting. It was just a few puppets that we made growl. It was a bear, a wolf, a lion and an alligator. These are all animals that growl."

"Not at your little brother. It is not okay to make him cry or to scare him," Mommy snapped.

"I am sorry, Mommy. We will be nice to Andrew now. Come on Pamela. Let us find something else to do other than puppet show." I started for the backdoor but fat old Mommy stood in my way.

"Actually Karen, you are going to go to your room for several reasons. First that you were mean once again to Andrew. Second, you lied to me that you were sorry for all the mean things you have done to Andrew and told me you would try harder. Third, I feel like the only reason you invited a friend over is so you could have someone to help you gang up on Andrew. Not okay at all. Pamela, we are going to call your mom and let her know what happened. I do not think she will be happy with you either." Mommy sounded really annoying and mean so I kicked her as hard as I could then I ran upstairs to my room before she could say anything else to me.

I sat on my bed with Emily Junior in my lap and fed her a rat treat, "Andrew will not get away with this. All we did was make some funny animal sounds. We did not touch him. He ruined my day and now my apprentice has to go home."

I put Emily away. A few minutes later I heard car pull up. I peeked outside. It was Mrs. Harding. I saw her ring the doorbell then a moment later, I saw Pamela come outside. Her mom was yelling at her. I could tell because she had the same meanie mo look on her face that Mommy gets when she is mad. I saw Mrs. Harding go to the front door and Pamela to the back. Pamela looked up just then and saw me. She smiled, waved and gave me a thumbs up sign before climbing into the car. Well, maybe things were not ruined after all.