Free Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst by Lois Lowry Page A

you can play with it."
    Anastasia unzipped Nicky's snowsuit. Her mother had taken Mrs. Coletti into the living room.
    She eased the top of the snowsuit down over Nicky's firm little shoulders. She lifted Nicky into a chair and began to maneuver the thick snowsuit legs over Nicky's shoes—Nicky's black patent leather shoes.
    That's weird, thought Anastasia. Black patent leather shoes?
    Finally she pulled the entire snowsuit off, revealing Nicky's two bare, sturdy legs and a short plaid dress that was hiked up in back, exposing ruffled underpants.
    "I'm gonna get that train," announced Nicky. She jumped down from the chair and ran into the living room.
    "Sam," said Anastasia in astonishment to Sam, who was hiding in a dark corner of the hall, "Nicky Colletti is a
girl!
"
    "Yeah," said Sam. "Big fat ugly Nicky Coletti."
    Anastasia took Sam's hand and went into the living room. Her mother was pouring tea for Mrs. Coletti, who was talking nonstop. Nicky was on her hands and knees, pushing the train around the room.
    "You got stuck with one of these big old houses, I see," Mrs. Coletti was saying. "I'm lucky; I've got a raised ranch. I've got your four-bedroom, family-room, two-and-a-half baths."
    "Rrrrrrrrrrr," said Nicky in a loud voice, "train wreck, coming up." She was aiming the train for the coffee table. Anastasia cringed and waited for Mrs. Coletti to tell Nicky not to smash the train into the table.
    Crash. The table remained intact, though the teacups rattled. But Sam's engine was dented, and the little smokestack fell off.
    Mrs. Coletti glanced down. "You shouldn't get those cheap cardboard toys," she said. "I always get Nicky the real sturdy toys: your Playskool and your Tonka."
    "Rrrrrrrr," roared Nicky. She took the plate of cookies, tilted it, and emptied it into one of the train cars. Then she headed for the dining room with Sam's train. "Train wreck number two!" she bellowed, and they heard a crash, and the sound of cookies hitting the floor.
    Mrs. Krupnik took a deep breath. "More tea, Shirley?" she asked politely.
    Sam was sitting beside Anastasia on the couch, listening intently to the noise in the dining room. His chin was puckered, as if he might cry.
    "In a new house, like mine," Mrs. Coletti went on, "you
don't get all the dust like you have here. Of course you get your modern heating system. See this?" She reached behind her and ran one finger over the top of the radiator. "With your modern heating system you don't get any of this dust."
    Mrs. Krupnik smiled a tight-lipped smile and sipped her tea. "We wanted an older house," she said, "because of the space. This house has room for me to have a studio here, so that I can work at home."
    "Oh, you
work?
"
    Mrs. Krupnik nodded.
    "My mother's an illustrator," Anastasia said. "She does the illustrations for books."
    "I'm lucky," said Shirley Coletti smugly. "I never had to work."
    "Mom doesn't
have
to work," said Anastasia. "She works because she's good at it. She likes to work."
    "I have a real artistic sister," said Shirley Coletti, pouring herself some more tea. "She does her own Christmas cards every year? Last year she did Santa Claus holding a martini glass. You know, you could tell, because it had an olive in it? Then inside it said, `'Tis the season to be jolly, Ho Ho Ho.'"
    Mrs. Krupnik smiled politely. The dining room was quiet. They could hear Nicky's "rrrrrrr" from some distance; apparently Nicky had headed toward the kitchen.
    "Anastasia," her mother said, "maybe you could go and check—"
    "Maybe it didn't say 'jolly.' I think it said "Tis the
season to be
merry.
' They were real cute, anyway," said Shirley Coletti.
    There was a terrible crash from the kitchen. Anastasia jumped up.
    "Nicole Marie Coletti!" yelled her mother. "Whatever you're doing, cut it out! Or I'll whip the living daylights out of you!"
    The kitchen was empty when Anastasia reached it. But Sam's train was there, its red caboose flattened. Nicky had apparently stood on the