Tis the Season by Ann M. Martin

Author:Ann M. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2007-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Ruby had had a long day. The chorus rehearsal lasted for two hours. But Ruby’s spirits were high, and when she ran through the front door of the Row House at 5:15, she was singing loudly, “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt! His name is my name, too!” (Ruby was a little tired of Christmas songs.) “Whenever we go out, the people always —”

Ruby slammed the door shut behind her and came to a halt in the front hallway. Sitting in the living room were Min, Flora, and a woman Ruby recognized more from photos than from memory. She was tall, like Ruby’s mother had been, and dark-haired and dark-eyed, also like Ruby’s mother, but she was dressed in clothes that Ruby had never, ever seen her mother wear — tight faded jeans and a loose filmy top studded with things that looked like tiny mirrors, black lace-up boots, and lots of large jingly jewelry.

“My goodness,” the woman said to Ruby. “That was quite an entrance.”

Ordinarily, Ruby liked to make an entrance, but what her aunt Allie had just said didn’t sound like a compliment, so Ruby lowered her backpack to the floor, hung up her coat, and approached the living room quietly. She held out her hand. “Hi, Aunt Allie,” she said. “I’m Ruby.”

“So I gather.” Ruby’s aunt stood up and shook her hand.

A brief silence followed. Finally, Ruby said, “We’re very glad you could change your plans and join us for the holidays.”

“Why, thank you,” replied Aunt Allie.

“Well,” said Min, standing up, “I’ll go start dinner.”

“I’ll help you,” said Aunt Allie.

“Come upstairs with me, Ruby,” said Flora.

Flora fairly sprinted up the stairs to her room, and Ruby followed her.

“She’s awful!” exclaimed Flora, as soon as she had closed her door. “Just awful! She has no sense of humor, I don’t think she likes kids, and she seems kind of complainy.”

“Complainy? How?” asked Ruby.

Flora made a face. “The bus was too hot, and Needle and Thread was too crowded, and she needs to work — she’s on a deadline — but if she can’t access the Internet here, then she’s in big trouble.”

“What makes you think she doesn’t like kids?” asked Ruby nervously.

“She’s hardly talked to me, and this afternoon I gave her a welcome card I made and she thanked me for it, but she studied it like she was looking for mistakes or something. Also, I overheard her ask Min if we have savings accounts so we can deposit her Christmas presents in them.”

“Money to put into our savings accounts?” wailed Ruby. That was the most boring present imaginable. But maybe that would just be Aunt Allie’s main present; maybe there would be others as well.

“And I bought her a pen for Christmas,” continued Flora, “a nice pen, which I guess she won’t use if she’s so concerned about her computer. I have to say, it’s a little hard to be in the holiday spirit right now.”

Ruby and Flora turned up at the dinner table that night in very bad moods.

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