Angels, Angels, Everywhere =Melody fell back on the ground an waved her arms and legs in big arcs. When she jumped up, there was a perfect angel in the snow. "Watch out," she hollered to her friend =Eddie. "You almost trampled one of my angels." It was a few weeks before Christmas. =Melody and =Eddie and their friends =Liza and =Howie were on the =Bailey School playground playing in the fluffy snow. Other kids had built a snowman and =Eddie was in the middle of bombarding them with snowballs packed extra hard. "How do you expect us to have a decent snowball fight," =Eddie grumbled? "There are angels everywhere." Double Dare "Don't do it," =Melody said. "It's too dangerous." =Howie nodded. "Especially in this snow. Those branches will be icy." =Eddie held his head up high. "I have to," he said. "=Ben double dared me." "That means =Ben is twice as dumb," =Melody said. "And if you climb that tree, you'll be two times dumber than he is!" =Eddie thought about that for a moment. But he wasn't very good at math so he decided to ignore his friend. "Get out of my way," =Eddie said. "I'm going to set the =Bailey School record for tree climbing!" =Eddie kicked through the snow until he reached the giant oak tree on the playground. The tree was usually their favorite meeting place, but today it looked like a monster stretching all the way up to the sky. The Mall "Hurry up," =Eddie said! "I want to get a good seat to watch someone get karate chopped!" "Sounds good to me," =Melody yelled. "Last one there is a frozen booger." The kids raced up =Smith Avenue to the mall. Garlands full of twinkling colored lights crisscrossed the mall entrance. =Melody pointed toward a huge crowd gathered near a giant Christmas tree. "I guess the karate demonstration has started." "Neat," =Eddie said, doing a karate chop in the air. "Let's go see someone get their head knocked off." "That's disgusting," =Liza said. "I don't want to watch that." Mr =Mason "=AngelaMichaels is the best karate expert ever," =Eddie told his friends on their way to school on Monday. "Kee-yaw," =Eddie yelled, kicking a little snow with his boot. "Watch it, kid," shouted Mr =Mason from his porch! "I just shoveled that sidewalk!" "Sorry," =Liza said quickly, grabbing =Eddie's arm and pulling him toward the school. "I wasn't hurting the sidewalk," =Eddie grumbled when they got to the crosswalk. "He's just an old grump." "He's so mean =SantaClaus probably doesn't even visit him," =Melody said. "Mr =Mason scares me," =Liza told them. "He practically bit =Eddie's head off just for kicking a little snow." Angel with a Mission =Eddie looked over at the playground, but =Melody's snow angels had been trampled long ago. Not a single one was left. "I guess it's too bad your angels are smooshed, but it's nothing to get upset about." "I'm not talking about snow angels," =Melody said. Liza patted her friend on the back. "Then what in the world are you talking about?" "Nothing in this world," =Melody said. She pointed to the fluffy cloud floating overhead. "I'm talking about something from up there!" =Melody led her friends away from the street and behind a giant snowman. Then she whispered, " I believe =AngelaMichaels is an angel," she said. "A guardian angel!" Spying on an Angel "The only mission an angel would have is to knock sense into your head." =Eddie laughed. Then he pretended to karate chop the air in front of =Melody's nose. "Laugh all you want," =Melody warned. "But I'm going to prove =AngelaMichaels is an angel." Then =Melody tromped through the snow to the doors of =BaileyElementary That afternoon when school was over, she didn't wait for her friends. "Where are you going," =Liza yelled? "To talk to an angel," =Melody called over her shoulder. =Liza, =Howie, and =Eddie hurried to catch up with =Melody. "You can't just walk up to the new crossing guard and ask if she's an angel," =Howie said. Perfect Job for an Angel =Howie and =Liza tiptoed across Mr =Mason't backyard. They stooped low when they went by a window. They found =Eddie and =Melody crouched under the giant evergreen tree in the front yard. They peeked around the low hanging branches and watched Miss =Michaels blow her whistle to stop traffic. "She's the prettiest crossing guard =Bailey City ever had," =Howie whispered. "She has golden curls," =Melody said, just like an angel should." "But she's not an angel," =Eddie said. "I told you, angels aren't crossing guards." "Crossing guard is a perfect job for a guardian angel," =Melody said. "She even has a golden halo." Mr =Mason's Dinner Mr =Mason pushed his cap back and squinted at the kids. His gray eyebrows came together in a bushy arch. He stuck his wrinkled face down close to the branches. "This is it," =Liza squealed and hid behind =Melody! "We're going to be the meatballs for Mr =Mason's spaghetti," =Eddie said! "What kind of trouble are you up to in my yard," Mr =Mason shouted? "W -- we're sorry," =Howie stuttered. "We didn't hurt your yard." Mr =Mason grabbed =Howie by the coat collar and pulled him out from beneath the branches. "I have half a mind to call the police," Mr =Mason growled. Angel Cookies "It looks as if =Huey is the one who needs a friend," =Eddie said, motioning across the street. =Ben and =Huey were both standing in the soccer field. At least =Ben was standing. =Huey was sitting on the frozen ground, staring up at =Ben. "Is =Ben picking on poor =Huey," =Liza asked? "I think =Ben is using =Huey for karate practice," =Howie told them. =Ben kicked his foot all around =Huey. "Kee-yaw," =Ben yelled, doing karate chops in the air over =Huey's head! "We better help," =Melody said, "before one of those karate chops hurts =Huey." "If we go over there," =Eddie told her, "=Ben will just use us for target practice. And I , for one, don't feel like getting broken in two like one of those stacks of wood at the mall." Ma'am Yes, Ma'am The five figures shouted loudly, "Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am!" "I thought angels were quiet," =Eddie teased. "These obviously flunked peacefulness in heaven." "They aren't angels," =Howie said. "They're Miss =Michaels' students." Miss =Michaels stepped out from behind the white-clad students and motioned to =Howie, =Melody, =Liza, and =Eddie. "Welcome," she said. "Please take off your shoes and slip on those white uniforms hanging on the wall." The kids followed directions and bounced over to Miss =Michaels. The stood in line facing her. "Karate," Miss =Michaels said," if full of discipline. To be an expert, you must have control of your mind and body." The Nicest Thing "This has got bo be the stupidest thing we've ever done," =Eddie complained the next afternoon. "And we've done some pretty stupid things." =Melody shook her head. "It's the nicest thing we've ever done." "I'm too sore to be nice," =Eddie grumbled. =Eddie, =Melody, =Howie, and =Liza were on their way to Mr =Mason's house. =Melody and =Howie each carried a plate of homemade Christmas cookies. =Eddie and =Liza carried snow shovels. =Howie shuddered. "Besides, it won't be nice when Mr =Mason stomps us into little bits of bite sized kid pellets." =Liza giggled. "Mr =Mason may be a grouch, but I don't really think he'd eat a kid for lunch." A New Guard =Eddie tried to catch a fat snowflake on his tongue while =Howie and =Melody waited for =Liza to catch up. It was early Wednesday morning and they were on their way to school. "I can't believe we spent the entire evening decorating Mr =Mason's yard," =Eddie complained as soon as =Liza joined her friends. "And all he did was eat cookies." =Howie nodded. "He didn't even share." =Melody smiled and kept walking down the sidewalk. They were almost at the corner when she said, "We didn't bring the cookies for ourselves." "I think it's nice that we decorated his whole yard," =Liza said.