Goats for Christmas by Jacqueline Kelly

Author:Jacqueline Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Mother smiled at this rare moment of peace between her children. Which was wrecked five minutes later when Lamar sneaked up behind me and yanked on my braid for no good reason. Between goats and brothers, I could barely call my hair my own. I turned to slap him, but he ducked out of the way.

Mother rubbed her temples and said, “You two stop bickering; you’re giving me a headache. Why can’t you get along for once? All I want for Christmas is for everyone to get along.”

I could see she didn’t feel well. I thought how it must feel to be a mother hen watching two of her chicks peck at each other all the time. All the time. No wonder she got sick headaches. And suddenly I knew what my present to her would be: I vowed I would get along with Lamar, at least for the holidays. I would ignore his pillish behavior. I would be a good sister to him, even if he stayed a bad brother to me.

“Mother,” I said, as nice as pie, “I’m sorry. I promise to get along with Lamar for all of Christmas. You’ll see.”

“Huh?” said Lamar. “What are you talking about? Is this some kind of trick?”

“No, it’s not a trick. We’ll call a truce. It will be our Christmas present to Mother. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”

Mother smiled through her pain. “That would be lovely, Calpurnia.” She turned to my brother. “What do you say, Lamar?”

I could see him thinking like mad, looking for some kind of trick or trap. But there was none, unless you counted the trick of kindness or the trap of peace.

“Will you do that, Lamar?” said Mother. “For me?”

What could he say? He had to say yes; of course he did. He scuffed his boot in the carpet.

“Okay,” he said, and he even sounded like he halfway meant it.

We had been at each other’s throats for so long that at first I couldn’t think of any way to be nice to him. But finally I came up with something. Harry played the piano, and as we sang carols, I realized that of all of us, Lamar sounded the best. Funny, I’d never noticed this before.

“You sound really good,” I told him. “You’re the best singer in the family.”

He didn’t say anything or even smile. But at least he didn’t scowl, so that was some progress. Finally he nodded a grudging thanks. And you know what? That simple nod made me feel pretty good.

After supper I offered him the leftover half of my gingerbread man.

“Here you go,” I said. I smiled at him and I meant it. His eyes grew big. “What’s wrong with it?” he said.

“There’s nothing wrong with it.”

He inspected it closely. “Did you drop it on the floor? Did the dog lick it? Did you spit on it?”

“Eww, no. There’s nothing wrong with it, Lamar. I’m just trying to be nice. I thought I’d share it with you, that’s all. I know how much you like gingerbread.

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