A Katie Kazoo Christmas Read Free Page B

drove home from the mall that evening. “We haven’t moved in fifteen minutes.”
    Katie looked out the window. There were cars for as far as she could see. That was very strange. Usually the trip from the mall took only ten minutes. But they’d already been in the car for almost half an hour.
    Katie felt bad for her mom, who had been working so hard all day. She just wanted to go home and put up her feet. But she was stuck in traffic instead.
    “I know how to cheer you up,” Katie told her. She began to sing. “Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la.”
    Mrs. Carew loved Christmas carols. She couldn’t resist singing along. “’Tis the season to be jolly,” she chimed in. “Fa la la la la la la la la.”
    Katie and her mom kept singing their favorite carols. It was a good thing they knew a lot of them. They sang “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as well as “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and “The Little Drummer Boy” before they finally turned the corner onto their own street.

    “Oh my goodness! Look at this,” Mrs.
    Carew exclaimed. “All this traffic was coming from our block!”
    It was true. There were a lot of cars driving down their street. Crowds of people were walking on the sidewalks. Many of those people had cameras. They were taking pictures of Mr. Brigandi’s house and the Derkmans’ house.
    “We have tourists on our block,” Katie said, amazed. She remembered what it was like to be a tourist. After all, she’d been one during her European vacation. But she’d taken pictures of palaces, churches, and art museums. She hadn’t taken photos of people’s homes. “This is so weird,” she added.
    There were so many people standing outside the Derkmans’ house that Mrs. Carew had to honk her horn several times to get them to move away from the driveway so she could pull her car in.
    Mrs. Carew scrambled out of the car. “Let’s just get inside,” she said, hurrying into the house. Katie followed close behind her mother.
    “Arooo. Arooo.” Katie heard Pepper’s cries the minute her mother opened the door.
    “Pepper, what’s wrong?” Katie asked. She bent down and petted his little head.
    “Ruff ! Ruff !” the chocolate-and-white cocker spaniel barked.
    “He’s been barking ever since the Christmas lights went on next door,” Katie’s father said. “He’s not happy about all the strangers in the neighborhood.”
    “I think he’s trying to protect the house,” Katie told her father. “That’s his job.” She smiled at Pepper. “You’re a good boy,” she told him.
    Pepper rubbed up against Katie and wagged his brown, stubby tail.
    “These crowds are really loud,” Mrs. Carew said. “This whole Christmas decorating thing is getting out of hand.”
    “I know,” Katie’s dad agreed. “First the Derkmans put up those elves. Then Pete Brigandi came home and built a maze of giant plastic candy canes on his lawn. He’s letting kids walk through the maze. It’s brought people from all over the place to our block.”
    Katie frowned. She felt kind of responsible for that. If she and Suzanne hadn’t told Mr. Brigandi about the Derkmans’ new decorations, he never would have built the candy-cane maze.
    “If these people don’t go home soon, we won’t get any sleep,” Mrs. Carew said. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The store is going to be very busy with last-minute shoppers. I need my rest.”
    “Aroo!” Pepper barked in agreement. “Ruff !”
    Katie sighed. Christmas was supposed to be a time for peace on Earth. But there wasn’t any peace on Katie’s block tonight!

Chapter 8
    The smell of Christmas cookies filled the air in Katie’s house on Christmas Eve. All the kids in Katie’s cooking club were gathered there, baking cookies and then wrapping them in pretty green or red cling wrap.
    “George, stop eating all the cookies,” Miriam Chan said.
    George shook his head. “You can get rich by eating snacks, you know,” he