The Thanksgiving Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

friendship, and I just thought that it would be nice to have him here …”
    â€œWell, think again before you come up with another damn fool idea like that!” he shouted.
    â€œJames!” said Grandma.
    â€œMiss Thompson said …” I went on.
    â€œI don’t give a damn what Miss Thompson said!”
    â€œJames!” said Grandma again. “Your language!”
    â€œThat man cheated me out of hard-earned money,” my father shouted, “And my daughter wants to invite him here to dinner!”
    â€œBut Miss Thompson said that Thanksgiving …”
    â€œTell Miss Thompson to have him for dinner then,” he shouted. “Boiled! And don’t you ever mention the name Rehnquist to me again!”
    He had made a dumb move while he was busy yelling at me, so I reached over and jumped three of his checkers and got one of mine into the king row. He took one look at what I had done and got up out of his chair.
    â€œI don’t want to play anymore,” he said angrily, and left the room.
    I looked at Grandma, and she just gave me a sympathetic smile and shook her head silently as if to say, “You should know better by now.”
    She was right. It was silly to have tried something that imaginative on Dad. I pondered it while I put the checkers away. I was thinking about Marble Cake too, and I got another brilliant idea. I would spring this one on Carla Mae. She was usually a lot more receptive to my brilliant ideas than Dad was.

Chapter Six
    The next day in school, I plotted just the right moment to approach Carla Mae. I decided I would try her when we were working on the mural again at the end of the day. First we had to rehearse our special Thanksgiving radio play, which we would do for the grade school assembly the next day.
    Several of us had done research in our history books about the first Thanksgiving, and had written the play together. When we were ready, the actors took their places behind a folding screen at the front of the classroom. Our “director,” Joseph Tilton, sat back there with us, sound effects ready.
    I was cast as Betsy, a Pilgrim woman; Cora Sue was Mrs. Carver; Jimmy Walsh was Deacon Carver; Billy Wild was Squanto the Indian and Tom Matthews had a dual role as the announcer and a sailor. When we were ready, Miss Thompson went to the old radio sitting on her desk and pretended to turn it on. As she tuned it in, we began our “broadcast”:
    A NNOUNCER (in deep resonant voice): “From the heart of the busy metropolis of Clear River, Nebraska, crossroads of the world, we bring you (dramatically) ‘Great Moments in History’! Today—‘The First Thanksgiving.’ The year is 1620; the place, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.”
    Joseph then made sound effects of a storm at sea by doing his impression of the wind whistling and by jiggling a big piece of cardboard to imitate thunder. That sent the class into a fit of giggles, and Miss Thompson had to quiet them down so we could get on with our broadcast.
    B ETSY (sounding sick): “Oh … this Mayflower is a terrible ship! I’ve been seasick for months! Where’s your husband, Mrs. Carver?”
    M RS . C ARVER: “The Deacon is over there by the rail, praying for land.”
    S AILOR: “Land Ho!”
    M RS . C ARVER: “His prayers have been answered!”
    B ETSY: “Oh, look! What a beautiful cape!”
    M RS . C ARVER: “And what a lot of cod there are in the water!”
    B ETSY: “Why don’t we call it Cape Cod?”
    M RS . C ARVER: “Husband, how can we get ashore without getting wet?”
    D EACON: “We can step out on that rock there. It looks pretty solid.”
    B ETSY: “I think we should call it Plymouth Rock, after us, the Plymouth Company!”
    D EACON: “Look, some of the natives have come to greet us!”
    Joseph pounded on a tom-tom for the appropriate sound effects.
    S QUANTO: