Mysterious Tea Set by Corey Ann Haydu

Author:Corey Ann Haydu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Alma and Del looked everywhere, but they didn’t see any Christmas trees.

“Where do you keep your Christmas decorations?” Alma asked Uncle Marcus.

“Good idea, Alma!” Del exclaimed. Alma beamed. She was getting better and better at being a teacup detective, and she straightened her back and lifted her chin with detective pride.

“Oh, we don’t have any here. Tío Ramon is the king of Christmas. He decorates for all of us. Won’t let us touch the ornaments or lights or anything,” Uncle Marcus said, shaking his head.

“The king of Christmas?” Alma practically screamed.

“Well, that’s what he calls himself.” Uncle Marcus sighed.

The girls sprinted upstairs, so fast they could barely breathe when they arrived at Tío Ramon’s door. He and his wife, Aunt Dominique, were passing a crying Baby Richie back and forth, with lots of shushing and rocking.

“Oh, um, hi?” Alma said very quietly. She didn’t know if maybe a loud voice would make the baby cry more.

“Alma! Del! Come in!” Aunt Dominique said.

“We could come back another time when Richie is a little, um, happier,” Alma said.

“No, no, he’ll calm down soon, I’m sure. Maybe one of you would like to hold him?”

Del and Alma exchanged a look. Neither of them knew anything about babies. Especially not crying babies. They wanted to hold their newest little cousin, but they also wanted to wait until he was sleeping, maybe. Sleeping babies seemed much easier to handle.

“We’re actually here on a mission,” Del said.

“A mysterious mission,” Alma added.

“Ooooo, how exciting!” Aunt Dominique said. “I love a good mystery.”

“Well, this one is about teacups,” Alma explained. “Do you like mysteries about teacups?”

“Not the teacups,” Tío Ramon said. “Not again.”

“Again?” Del asked. “You’ve heard about teacups before?”

“Oh, ages ago. I don’t even remember the details. My mother told us all about a tea set once—some big mistake, some broken, lost something-or-other. I don’t know. I wish I remembered more but, well, hard to remember much of anything these days.”

Alma wondered why a baby made it so hard to remember things, but when Baby Richie cried even louder, she almost forgot why they were here to begin with.

“Do you remember if you have one of the mystery teacups?” Alma asked.

Tío Ramon shrugged. “Who knows what we have around here,” he said.

“We heard you’re the king of Christmas,” Del blurted out. “And we wondered if maybe it might be with your Christmas decorations.”

“The king of Christmas,” Tío Ramon repeated. “That’s me. You girls want me to decorate your homes this year too? I know you usually just have a wreath out front, but maybe you’d like a singing Santa or my snowman with blinking lights instead? Something more magical.”

Alma smiled. Abuelita would never let that happen. But Alma loved how magic was a little different for everyone. “Maybe,” she said. “But for now can we just check out the boxes?”

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