The Holly Joliday Read Free

with its very own version of a well-known song.”
     
    Judy took a deep breath. Everyone sang:
     
    “Number One Day of Christmas,

My
tutu
gave to me

A par-rot in a palm tree!”
     
     
    Judy smiled and pushed the hair out of her eyes.
     
    “Number Two Day of Christmas,

My
tutu
gave to me

Two pink flamingoes

And a par-rot in a palm tree!”
     
     
    “Mary had a lit-tle lamb!”
sang Cookie. The audience cracked up.
     
    “Quiet, Cookie,” Frank warned, shaking his finger at her.
     
    “Number Three Day of Christmas,

My
tutu
gave to me

Three boogie boards,

Two pink flamingoes,

And a par-rot in a palm tree!”
     
     
    “Mary had a lit-tle lamb!”
sang Cookie, bobbing her head. The audience laughed even harder. For eleven whole verses, as soon as Class 3T sang
“parrot in a palm tree,”
Cookie squawked,
“Mary had a little lamb.”
     
    “Twelve ukuleles,

Eleven ice cubes melting,

Ten fish a-leaping,

Nine hula dancers,

Eight Santas surfing,

Seven sharks a-swimming,

Six flip-flops flapping,

Five gol-den pineapples!

Four flower
lei
s,

Three boogie boards,

Two pink flamingoes . . .

And a par-rot in a palm tree!”
     
     

     
    Class 3T sang its heart out on the last verse. Just as the audience prepared to clap, Cookie sang out,
“Maria tenía un pequeño cordero!”—
“Mary had a little lamb” in Spanish! The audience went wild. They roared. They stood up and clapped. They yelled
encore
!
     
    “Mele Kalikimaka!”
shouted Class 3T, and they all took a bow before the curtains closed.
     
    “Cookie! Bad girl!” said Frank behind the curtain. “Get down here. Right now!” He held out his arm.
     
    “Lit-tle lamb!”
sang Cookie, ruffling her feathers. But she would not come down out of the palm tree.
     
    “All that practicing and she ruined the show!” said Frank.
     
    “No way!” said Judy. “Everybody loved it. Cookie was the star of the show.”
     
    “They think we planned it that way!” said Rocky.
     
    “How does Cookie know ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb,’ anyway?” asked Judy.
     
    “She listens to Dog Cat Radio on the Internet,” said Frank. “My mom leaves it on to keep our pets company when we’re not home, and they play animal songs all day. They have a Spanish hour, too.”
     
    Mr. Todd stepped into the spotlight once more. “Thank you, Cookie the parrot, for celebrating diversity with us tonight!” Cookie bobbed her head up and down, like she was taking a bow.
     

     
    “And now, for our grand finale, the second-graders will perform ‘The Night Before Christmas.’”
     
    “That’s Stink’s class,” said Judy to Rocky and Frank. “Let’s go sit in the audience so we can watch. Mrs. Dempster is reading the poem, and the kids are acting it out. Stink’s the mouse. And his part’s right near the beginning.”
     
    The lights went down. The audience got quiet. The curtain opened.
     
    “’Twas the night before Christmas,”
read Mrs. D. in a hushed voice. She was sitting in a big armchair at the front of the stage. A second-grader walked onstage, holding up a cardboard moon attached to a stick.
     
    “When all through the house . . .”
Mrs. D. continued. Three more second-graders dragged a cardboard house onstage.
     
    “Not a creature was stirring . . .”
read Mrs. D.
“Not even a mouse.”
     
    The whole audience got super still. Not a cell phone was sounding, not even a cough.
     
    “Where’s Stink?” Judy whispered. “That’s his line.”
     
    “Not even a
mouse,
” Mrs. D. read again, a little louder.
     
    “Oh, no!” Judy whispered. “Stink missed his cue!”
     
    The audience fidgeted. Chairs squeaked. Feet shuffled.
     
    “MOUSE!” Mrs. D. said again, practically shouting this time.
     
    “Where is he?” asked Judy. Before Mrs. D. could say
mouse
again, someone — or something — burst onstage in a flash of white.
     
    Frank Pearl leaned forward, trying to see. “Is that Stink?”
     
    “I thought you said he was a