A Katie Kazoo Christmas (11 page)

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Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: A Katie Kazoo Christmas
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“Oh, never mind!” the woman with the doll said. She grabbed her gift and stormed away from the gift-wrapping counter.
“I’m sorry,” Katie apologized sadly. She struggled to unwrap herself.
“I’m glad
she’s
gone,” the man said. He hoisted the huge vacuum-cleaner box onto the counter. “Here. This is for my wife. Could you wrap it?”
Katie stared at the giant vacuum-cleaner box. “Um, well, I could try,” she said.
“That pretty silver-and-gold paper would be nice,” the guy continued. “My wife said she wanted something silver or gold for Christmas this year.”
Katie had a feeling the man’s wife had meant silver or gold jewelry, not a vacuum cleaner wrapped in silver-and-gold paper. But she went and pulled the silver-and-gold paper from one of the rollers, anyway.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t figure out how to get the paper to stay where it belonged. No matter how much tape she used to hold the paper together, it kept tearing.
Katie worked for a really long time to make the gift look pretty. But in the end, it looked like a tall mountain of silver-and-gold wrapping-paper scraps held together with several rolls of tape.
Still, it was covered. Quickly, Katie grabbed a silver bow and slapped it on top.
“Here you go, sir,” she said, handing the gift back to him.
“What a mess!” the man declared. “This doesn’t look nice at all!”
He ripped off all the paper. Then he placed the bow back on the top of the gift. “There. That’s better,” he said as he walked away.
Katie sighed. She could have done
that
.
Things got worse the longer Katie worked at the gift-wrapping counter. She was making a mess of things. She’d used up almost all the paper on the rollers and had gone through mounds of tape. But none of the gifts she had wrapped looked pretty. People were very disappointed.
Katie had to admit that she would have been disappointed if she’d gotten one of those gifts, too. There was something wonderful about getting a present that was wrapped up all pretty and nice. It made Christmas morning extra special.
Katie finally understood. Christmas wrapping paper wasn’t a waste after all. It was a really special part of the holiday.
A part of the holiday she had ruined.
Chapter 9
Just then, a little man with a long nose and tiny glasses walked up behind Katie. He was wearing a badge on his jacket. It read, “Department Manager.”
“What is going on here?” he demanded loudly.
Katie jumped. For a little man, he sure had a big mouth.
“Well, I . . .” Katie began.
“What a mess!” the manager interrupted. “And why are we all out of paper?”
“You see,” Katie said, “there were all these weird gifts. Vacuum cleaners and baby dolls and . . .”
“This is just terrible,” the department manager snapped. “It’s the worst thing that could happen . . . ever!”
Katie could think of a lot worse things that could happen. But, of course, she didn’t say that to the department manager.
“Lauren, go on your break now!” the manager told her angrily. “I’m going downstairs into the storeroom to get more paper.”
Katie didn’t need to be told twice. She turned and raced from the gift-wrapping counter.
As Katie hurried to get out of Thimbles, she saw lots of angry customers with badly wrapped gifts. They were all glaring at her.
Things weren’t much better out in the mall. Lots of the people there recognized Lauren. And they all seemed to have heard about the mess she’d made at Thimbles.
Katie hated being stared at. She wanted to get away from all these people. But to do that, she would have to leave the mall and go outside.
Katie wasn’t supposed to leave the mall without her mother. That was a
big
rule.
“There she is,” Katie heard a woman in a blue hat say. She pointed right at Katie. “That woman made a total mess out of the gift I got my grandmother. She should be fired.”
Tears started to stream down Katie’s cheeks.
“Rules, schmules!” she shouted as she ran for the exit.
Katie finally found a place where she could be totally and completely alone. It was a small alleyway behind the food court, near the Dumpsters. Nobody hung out there, ever. All that old, moldy, half-eaten food smelled too bad.
But Katie didn’t care. The disgusting smell wasn’t nearly as awful as the way people inside were treating her.
Katie plopped down on a huge pile of old newspapers wrapped up in a clear plastic bag. It wasn’t fair. She had tried her best to make those presents look nice. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t know how to wrap gifts. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t
really
Lauren.
It was all the magic wind’s fault!
At that very moment, Katie felt a familiar breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She knew right away that it wasn’t just an ordinary breeze.
The magic wind was back!
And it was getting stronger. Within seconds, it was whipping wildly around Katie. The tornado spun her around, faster and faster—like a crazy spinning top.
And then it stopped. Just like that.
The magic wind was gone.
And Katie was back!
Chapter 10
Katie didn’t wait around near the Dumpsters. Instead, she raced back into the mall.
It felt good not to be breaking her mother’s rule anymore. It also felt good to be able to walk past the stores without anyone giving her a dirty look or yelling at her. After all, no one was mad at Katie Carew.
But plenty of people were still very angry at Lauren. The gift-wrapper was sitting all by herself in the food court, sipping a soda, and trying hard not to cry. But every now and then a tear would sneak out from the corner of her eye.
Katie began walking over to Lauren’s table. She wanted to make her feel better. But before Katie could reach her, the department manager reached her table. And boy, did he look angry!
“There’s no wrapping paper left in the storeroom!” he shouted at Lauren. “Which means Thimbles will not be wrapping any more gifts this holiday season! A lot of people are going to be disappointed. And it is all your fault!”
Katie gulped when she heard that last part. She knew it wasn’t Lauren’s fault at all.
“But, Mr. Snickering, I didn’t . . .” Lauren began. Then she sighed. “Or maybe I did. I don’t know what happened this morning.”
“I do,” Mr. Snickering told her. “You made a mess of our gift-wrapping counter. And since we have no more gift wrap, we have no need for you.
You are fired
!”
“But, Mr. Snickering,” Lauren pleaded, “there must be
some
gift wrap left in the store that we can use.”
Mr. Snickering shook his head. “There’s no paper anywhere.”
“But I need this job,” Lauren pleaded.
“Well, find some gift wrap, and you can have your job back,” Mr. Snickering replied as he walked away. “Otherwise, don’t come back to the store.”

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