Amy's Very Merry Christmas Read online

  “I think we can,” Mrs. Cooper said. “I just have a few more questions for Dr. Purvis.”

  Amy’s mom and Mrs. Cooper strolled away to have a chat. Amy and Liz moved to Simone’s side. They all looked down at Snowy and Alfie.

  “Have you had a chance to hold them yet?” Amy asked Simone.

  Simone shook her head no. “Could I?” she asked eagerly.

  “Of course!” Liz said. She opened the cage and gently picked up Snowy. Amy reached in and picked up Alfie. Simone sat down on the barn floor so the girls could put the guinea pigs in her lap.

  They crawled on and around Simone as she petted them. Snowy sniffed Simone’s shoe. Alfie tried to climb into her pocket. Amy giggled. “They seem to like you already!” Amy said.

  Simone beamed. “They do, don’t th—ah-CHOO!”

  “Bless you!” Amy said.

  “Thank you—ah-ah-ah-CHOO!” Simone said, sniffling. “Um, do either of you have a tissue?”

  Amy hurried to grab a box of tissues off a shelf. By the time she got back, Simone had sneezed three more times—and was rubbing her eyes. “Ugh. Why are my eyes so itchy all of a sudden?” Simone said.

  “All of a sudden?” Amy repeated, feeling a pang of worry. “You don’t have a cold or anything?”

  Simone shook her head, then sneezed again.

  Something was not right here. The sneezing, the itchy eyes. . . . And now Amy noticed a few red blotches on Simone’s neck and face.

  “Hey, Mom!” Amy called. “And Mrs. Cooper! Come here!”

  Dr. Purvis and Mrs. Cooper rushed over. Meanwhile, Simone looked nervously at Amy. “What is it?” Simone said. “What’s the matter?”

  Amy took a deep breath. “I’m not positive,” she said. She looked at her mom. “But I think Simone might be allergic to guinea pigs.”

  A Glimmer of Hope

  Amy wasn’t sure who was more disappointed: Liz and herself, or Simone. She and her mom decided they just couldn’t adopt Snowy and Alfie. Simone looked very sad as they left. She sneezed all the way out the door.

  Dr. Purvis gave Amy and Liz a quick hug. “Don’t worry, girls,” she said. “We will find the right home for them.” As she headed for the door, she said, “Oh, by the way, I cleaned the cage this morning. So you don’t have to do that.” Then she went back to work at the clinic.

  Amy and Liz were left alone in the barn. Amy sighed. “So I guess the guinea pigs just need to be fed,” she said. She took the food bowl and Liz took the water bottle.

  “Which one of us should call Ellie and Marion?” Liz asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Amy said glumly. “They will want to know what happened.”

  The girls heard a bark and then a voice from the doorway say, “What did happen?” It was Ms. Sullivan with Rufus. The dog bounded over and circled Amy and Liz, his tail wagging.

  “We were so close, Ms. Sullivan,” Liz explained. “Snowy and Alfie almost had a home in time for Christmas. But it didn’t work out.”

  “And tomorrow is Christmas Eve,” Amy added sadly.

  Ms. Sullivan put an arm around Amy. “Oh well,” Ms. Sullivan said. “I’m not really sure guinea pigs celebrate Christmas, anyway.”

  Amy and Liz couldn’t help but laugh.

  Then they all watched as Snowy and Alfie snuggled together in a corner.

  “At least they have each other,” Ms. Sullivan said quietly.

  Amy looked up at Ms. Sullivan’s face. She looked a little sad. Her face was scrunched up kind of funny. Ms. Sullivan turned her head away from Amy. She buried her face in her arm.

  Oh, no, thought Amy. Is Ms. Sullivan . . . crying? She does have the holiday blues! “Ms. Sullivan, are you okay?” Amy asked.

  “Ah-CHOO!” Ms. Sullivan sneezed loudly into her sleeve. She pulled a tissue out of her sleeve. “Yes, dear,” she said, dabbing at her nose. “I’m fine. But I don’t love this new pine bedding. Something about it is making me sneeze.”

  Amy froze. “What new pine bedding?” she asked.

  Ms. Sullivan pointed to the wood shavings lining Snowy and Alfie’s cage. “Your mother brought it this morning,” she said. “And every time I’ve come in here today, I’ve started sneezing!” Ms. Sullivan shrugged. “Maybe we can switch back to the old stuff. Sometimes new is not improved, you know!”

  Amy and Liz looked at each other. Smiles spread slow and wide across their faces. Amy could tell they were both thinking the same thing.

  “Maybe Simone’s not allergic to the guinea pigs . . . ,” Amy began.

  “Maybe she’s just allergic to the bedding!” Liz finished.

  If they were right, they were going to give one little girl the best Christmas present ever!

  Snowy and Alfie Go Home

  The look on Simone’s face was even happier than Amy had imagined. Simone was holding Snowy in her arms. Right next to her, her mom was holding and petting Alfie.

  And Simone wasn’t sneezing!

  Amy, Marion, Ellie, and Liz stood watching—and smiling—in the front hall of Simone’s house. It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

  “Wow, I can’t believe it was the bedding that was making Simone sneeze!” Marion said.

  Amy and Liz had told Ellie and Marion everything that happened at The Critter Club the day before. And Dr. Purvis had called Simone’s mom.

  “I’m so grateful you girls figured it out!” Mrs. Cooper said.

  “Me too!” Simone exclaimed.

  Amy laughed. “Well, I’m just happy we turned out to be right,” she said. “And Snowy and Alfie look pretty happy about it too.”

  “By the way, we already changed their bedding,” Liz added, holding up the cage. “This kind is made from paper, so it shouldn’t make Simone sneeze.”

  Liz placed the cage, which the girls had decorated with a big bow, under the Christmas tree. Simone put Snowy inside so she could give each of the girls a hug. “Thank you soooo much!” she cried.

  “You’ve made our Christmas very, very merry,” Mrs. Cooper added.

  “Well, you’ve made ours merry too,” Amy replied.

  “Thanks for giving Snowy and Alfie a home,” Liz said.

  “Happy holidays!” Ellie called as the girls walked out the front door.

  Marion added, “Enjoy your first Christmas with your furry family members!”

  The next morning, Amy still felt all warm and fuzzy. Maybe it was the brand-new robe and cozy pink slippers from her mom. They were super comfy! Maybe it was her cat, Milly, sitting on her lap, or the hot cocoa Julia had made, or the fire in the fireplace.

  Maybe it was all of those things—plus being with her family on Christmas morning. It had been a great holiday so far. Amy’s dad, Julia, and Chloe had arrived early that morning. They’d had a big, yummy breakfast in front of the fire.

  Then they had opened presents. Chloe had made Amy a pretty beaded necklace, which Amy put on right away. Julia and Amy’s dad had given her a stack of new books they knew she’d been wanting. She couldn’t wait to start reading them! And Amy had loved watching her family open their presents from her: poems for each one of them.

  Of course, Amy’s holiday cheer also had to do with Simone and the guinea pigs. She thought about them spending their holiday together, and it made her so happy.

  There’s only one thing that could make this Christmas even better, Amy thought to herself.

  Beep, beep, beep! The oven timer called out from the kitchen. Amy breathed in deeply.

  “Do you smell that, Milly?” she said to her cat. “They’re ready!”

  Amy gently put Milly down on the floor. Then she hurried into the kitchen to check on her top-secret project.

  A Christmas Surprise

  “Ready?” Amy whispered to her friends.

  Ellie, Liz, and Marion nodded. “Ready!” Ellie whispered, and she reached for the doorbell. The four girls were standing on the front steps of a house on the edge of town.

  Ding, dong! They heard the doorbell echoing inside, then a dog bar
king loudly. The girls giggled.

  “She’s going to be so surprised!” Liz whispered.

  They stood silently, straining to hear. Then came the sound of footsteps getting louder and louder. The door swung open and . . .

  “Merry Christmas, Ms. Sullivan!” the girls sang out together.

  As Rufus jumped happily around the girls, Ms. Sullivan stood frozen to her spot. She looked completely shocked.

  “H-hello!” she stammered. “Merry Christmas to you! But . . . now, girls, I told you not to worry about me! Surely you have places to be on Christmas Day!”

  Ellie nodded. “Yes, we do,” she said. “But we only have one place to be right now, and that’s here!”

  “With you!” added Liz.

  “That’s right,” said Marion. “It was Amy’s idea, but we all agreed. If you weren’t coming to us for Christmas—or for Chanukah—we were coming to you.”

  Amy blushed a little bit and shrugged. “Holidays are for spending time with the people you care about,” she said. Then she held up a shopping bag. “And for gingerbread cookies! Mom and I made them!”

  Ms. Sullivan gasped. “Ginger­bread? My favorite!” She smiled, touched that Amy had remembered. “What a lovely idea,” Ms. Sullivan said. “Thank you.” Then she opened the door wide. “Well, come in, come in. I’ll put on the teakettle and get some plates!”

  Rufus sniffed the cookies and wagged his tail.

  “Oh, Rufus,” Amy said, petting him. “Ms. Sullivan, I think we’re going to need an extra plate!”

  Read on for a sneak peek at the next Critter Club book:

  Ellie and the Good-Luck Pig

  Ellie checked her sparkly red watch. “Ms. Sullivan,” she said, “what time are they coming again?”

  Ms. Sullivan laughed. “Like I said the last time you asked—any minute!”

  Ellie sighed. “But that was at least two minutes ago!”

  This time, Amy, Liz, and Marion laughed, too. The four girls and Ms. Sullivan were in front of The Critter Club, the animal shelter they ran in Ms. Sullivan’s barn. They were waiting to welcome Plum, their newest animal guest.

  “Do we have the food ready for her?” Marion asked.

  Amy nodded. “My mom says Plum eats all kinds of fruits and vegetables.” Amy’s mom was veterinarian. She helped out a lot with the animals at The Critter Club. “She also said they are very social animals. We should make sure one of us can come play with her every day.”

  Liz knelt down to pet Ms. Sullivan’s dog. “I wonder what you’ll think of Plum, Rufus.”

  Just then, Rufus started to bark, but not at Liz. He was barking at the road. Everyone looked that way. A pickup truck was just pulling into Ms. Sullivan’s driveway.

  “She’s here! She’s here!” Ellie exclaimed. She jumped up and clapped. They’d had all kinds of animals at The Critter Club: kittens, bunnies, turtles, even frogs. But never an animal like Plum!

  The pickup truck came to a stop in front of the barn. A smiling young lady with short dark hair hopped out. “Hi, girls! Hi, Ms. Sullivan!” she said.

  “Hi, Anna!” they all replied.

  They had met her the day before when she’d come to check out The Critter Club. Ellie felt so happy and proud that Anna had decided it was a good place for Plum—at least for the time being.

  Anna walked around to the back of the pickup. “So are you ready to meet Plum?” she asked.

  “Yes!” the girls cried.

  Ellie could see the top of a large metal crate in the back of the truck. Anna climbed up and brought it down to the ground.

  Inside was the cutest, pinkest little pig Ellie had ever seen!

  “Plum!” Ellie squealed. She knelt down beside the crate and peered between the slats. “I’m so excited to meet you!” Plum began to make her own high-pitched pig squeals. She turned around and around in a circle. “And you seem excited to come out!” Ellie added.

  “I’m so glad you offered to find a home for her,” Anna said as she opened the crate. “Plum has had only our tiny backyard to roam in. She needs more space!”

  All of a sudden, Plum rocketed out of the crate. In a flash, she was off. Rufus chased her, barking playfully. The two of them ran around and around the barn. Anna, Ms. Sullivan, and the girls looked on and smiled.

  “Yep!” said Ellie. “Space is one thing we definitely have at The Critter Club!”

  The next day, Ellie, Liz, Marion, and Amy sat together at lunch. It was a Monday at Santa Vista Elementary, where the girls were in the same second-grade class.

  “Busy weekend, huh?” Ellie said as she unpacked her lunch.

  The girls had spent Sunday afternoon playing with Plum. They had also helped Ms. Sullivan start to dig Plum’s wallow—a mud hole for her to roll around in. Then Ellie had run off to audition for a play at a local kids’ theater.

  “How did your audition go?” Liz asked.

  Ellie got goose bumps on her arms. “I think it went really well!” she said hopefully. “I tried out for the lead. A lot of other kids did, too. But maybe I have a shot?”

  Liz squeezed Ellie’s arm. “I bet you’ll get it!” she said.

  Amy shared some news from her dad, a newspaper editor. “He’s going to put an ad in the paper about Plum,” Amy said. “Maybe someone will read it and want to adopt her.” All the girls agreed that was a great idea.

  Liz told her friends about a painting she had worked on over the weekend. “It’s going to be a birthday present for my aunt.” Liz gasped. “I just remembered! She loves pigs! I am totally going to get Plum into the scene somehow!”

  Callie Barkley loves animals. As a young girl, she dreamed of getting a cat or dog of her own until she discovered she was allergic to most of them. It was around this time that she realized the world was full of all kinds of critters that could use some love. She now lives with her husband and two kids in Connecticut. They share their home with exactly ten fish and a very active ant farm.

  Marsha Riti is an illustrator based in Austin, Texas. Her premiere picture book is The Picky Little Witch. She likes to take long walks, stopping frequently to pet neighborhood kitties.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster • New York

  CritterClubBooks.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Callie-Barkley

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Marsha-Riti

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon edition September 2014 • Copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Laura Roode

  Jacket design by Laura Roode

  Jacket illustrations by Marsha Riti

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Barkley, Callie. Amy’s very merry Christmas / by Callie Barkley ; illustrated by Marsha Riti. — First edition. pages cm. — (The Critter Club ; #9) Summary: As Christmas nears, Amy and her friends in the Critter Club try to find a home for two adorable guinea pigs. [1. Christmas—Fiction. 2. Guinea pigs—Fiction. 3. Animal shelters—Fiction. 4. Pet adoption—Fiction.] I. Riti, Marsha, illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.B250585Aq 2014 [Fic]—dc23 2013042295


  ISBN 978-1-4424-9532-6 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9531-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9533-3 (eBook)