8 Ch8-Getting Ready for the Holiday Pageant

Chapter 8 Getting Ready for the Holiday Pageant "Buenos dias!" Miss Holly said a few days later. That means "good day" in Spanish. There were red and green balloons and streamers all over the hallways. Spanish Christmas music was playing. And Miss Holly had that basket of fruit on her head again.

Everybody was excited about our first rehearsal for the big holiday pageant. Every- body except the boys, that is. When we got to the language lab, Miss Holly was up on a ladder taping little plants to the walls. "What's that?" asked Neil the

nude kid. "It's mistletoe!" said Miss Holly. What a dumb name. Missiles blast into outer space. How can a missile have a toe? They should definitely get a new name for that plant. Miss Holly told us that when two people are standing under mistletoe, they're supposed to kiss. Eww! Yuck! Disgusting! I'm not kissing anyone. And I'm sure not going to kiss anyone just because some plant told me to. Mistletoe is creepy. I'm not going anywhere near that stuff. Miss Holly told us that besides Christmas and Hanukkah! there is another

holiday people celebrate in December. It's an African American holiday called Kwanzaa. Ryan got all excited, because that's the holiday his family celebrates. Miss Holly asked him to tell us about it. Ryan told us that Kwanzaa means "first fruits," and it celebrates the harvest of the crops. It starts the day after Christmas and lasts seven days. Each day you light a candle in this candleholder called a kinara. Then somebody will say "Harambe" which means "Let's pull together" in Swahili. It wasn't fair. Christmas only lasts one day. But Kwanzaa lasts seven days and Hanukkah lasts eight days. Man, I wish I

was black or Jewish. Ryan told us that on kuumba, the sixth day of Kwanzaa, they have a big feast called karamu. They eat fried okra, veg- etable stew, squash, peanut soup, and sweet potato pie. Yuck! Ryan will eat any- thing. If I had to eat that stuff, I'd die. But other than eating that yucky food, Kwanzaa sounded cool. Ryan taught us a Kwanzaa song called "Kuumba," and Miss Holly said it would be perfect for the hol- iday pageant. Then Miss Holly told us that we were going to have to wear costumes and memorize lines. The holiday pageant was sounding lamer and lamer. She also said she needed to pick kids for the

speaking parts. All the girls got excited. "Oooh, can I be the sugar plum fairy?" begged Andrea. "Oooh, can I sing the dreidel song?" begged Emily. "What about you boys?" asked Miss Holly. "Which speaking parts do you want?" "We don't want any speaking parts," I announced. "That's right," agreed Michael and Ryan. "I won't force you to take a speaking part," Miss Holly said, "but you do have to be in the pageant. You three boys will be the stage crew." "Stage crew?" I asked. "What's that?"