Susannah May Farmer felt like an astronaut in a spacesuit. She had on warm clothes, a thick snowsuit, a scarf, and a hat. Now she was trying to bend over far enough to get her boots on, and it wasn’t easy. She finally shoved her foot into the second boot, then stood up and took a deep breath. “Whew! I need an oxygen tank!”
Michael Arthur Patterson was so excited he almost forgot to be careful as he hurried toward the stairs that led from his family’s apartment to the florist shop below. He could hear his father coming up the steps. “Dad! Dad!”
“That’s amazing! You tricked them!” Susannah leaned closer to smell the strong, sweet odor.
MacKenzie Isabelle Evans had a pen pal! Clutching her first letter from her new friend, she raced out her back door to go and show Joseph.
“Can we have one of those baby parties when they get back?” he asked suddenly. “You know, one of those parties to give the baby presents?”
MacKenzie Isabelle Evans slammed shut the fat book on her lap. She slid out of the big overstuffed chair by the wood stove. The book slid to the floor.
“Nothing’s the matter!” Mac hollered. “Just come over! I just got the best Christmas present in the world! I can’t even believe it!”
“What’s the matter with you?” Mac demanded. “This is the third game you’ve said you don’t want to play!” She ticked the games off on her fingers. “First, we played Dominoes and you quit. Then we played Go Fish, and you said it was a silly game. Now you don’t want to play Checkers. What do you want to do?”
