Ann Martin - Mary Anne Saves The Day

The phone rang again. "Hello, the Babysitters Club," I said.

"Hi, Mary Anne. It's Mrs. Newton again. I forgot to ask you whether you and Kristy and Claudia and Stacey want to come to Jamie's fourth birthday party. It's in about two weeks, and I'd like you girls to be there as helpers as well as guests. We've invited sixteen children, so I'm going to need lots of help."

"Sure!" I exclaimed. "I mean, if we can make it. It sounds like fun. I'll have to call the other girls."

Mrs. Newton gave me the information about the party, and I began to call the club members. Luckily, Stacey wasn't home, so I left a message with Mrs. McGill for Stacey to call Mrs. Newton.

One down, two to go. I didn't want to call Kristy a third time, but I didn't want to talk to Claudia in person, either.

I flipped a coin. Claudia.

I walked slowly downstairs and found her drinking tea from the special cups with Mimi.

"Claud?" I ventured.

Claudia put her cup down and covered her ears with her hands. "HMM, HMM, HM-HM." She closed her eyes and hummed loudly. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

I glanced helplessly at Mimi.

Mimi reached across the table and touched Claudia lightly on the arm. That was all it took for Claudia to act human again. She opened her eyes and uncovered her ears.

"Mrs. Newton wants all the members of our club to be helpers at Jamie's fourth birthday party," I said. I told her when it was. "Do you want to go?"

"Yes," she replied coolly. "I'll go."

"Fine," I answered just as coolly.

But I was beginning to wonder how fine an idea it really was. How could the four of us

help out at a party when we wouldn't even -talk to each other? Nevertheless, I returned to Claudia's room to call Kristy for the third time.

"What is it?" she asked crossly.

I told her about Jamie's party.

Kristy sighed. "Oh, all right. I'll go, too."

"Don't strain yourself," I said. "I can call Mrs. Newton and tell her you're busy."

"Don't you dare!"

"I was just trying to help out."

"Oh, sure."

We hung up again.

It was almost six o'clock by then, but I received two more Baby-sitters Club calls. The first was from Mrs. Prezzioso, wanting me to sit for Jenny. I checked our record book, saw that I was free, and told her I'd be glad to sit.

The second call was from Mrs. Pike, the mother of the eight kids. The Pikes are good customers, even though they usually just need a sitter for Claire and Mar go and the younger children. The older ones can take care of themselves. However, Mrs. Pike's call was not one of her usual ones.

"Hi, Mary Anne," she said. "Listen, Mr. Pike and I have been invited to a cocktail party over in Levittown. It'll be an early evening — we'll be back by nine — but we don't want to leave the kids alone while we're out of town,

so we need someone to sit for all of them. Actually, we need two someones."

"Okay," I said. We'd done that before — sent two sitters over to the Pike brood.

Mrs. Pike gave me the information and I said I would call her back in a few minutes when I had found out who else was available. I checked our record book. I couldn't believe it.

The only person free was Kristy.

I didn't bother to sigh or get nervous. I just picked up the phone and dialed.

Kristy answered.

"Hi, it's Mary Anne again," I said in a rush. "The Pikes need two sitters on Friday while they go to a party in Levittown. You and I are the only ones free. We'd be sitting for all the kids. Do you want to do it?"

"With you?"

"Yes."

"Not really."

"Fine. I'll get Dawn Schafer to sit with me. I don't want to let Mrs. Pike down."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I'll have to."

"Mary Anne Spier, for someone who's so shy, you sure can be — "

"What? I can be what?"

"Never mind. I'll sit with you."

"We'll have to be mature about it, you know."

"Look who's talking."

"I'm serious, Kristy. We don't want the Pike kids telling their parents that we were righting or anything."

"I think that would be impossible."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not speaking to you."

"Good," I said. I hung up on her. Then I noted our job in the record book and called Mrs. Pike back.

I was not looking forward to baby-sitting with Kristin Amanda Thomas.

Chapter 9.

Kristy's wrong. Imagination isn't all it takes. It takes a good fight, too. You have to be pretty

mad at a person in order even to think about doing what we did at the Pikes' that evening.

Before I go into what happened, though, let me say a little about the Pike kids. The most interesting thing is that three of the kids are triplets — Byron, Adam, and Jordan — identical boys. (Kristy and I can tell them apart, though.) They're nine. The oldest Pike is Mal-lory, who's ten, and is usually a big help to baby-sitters. After the triplets come Vanessa, who's eight; Nicholas (Nicky), who's seven; and Margo and Claire, who are six and four. They're quite a brood. Actually, they're really good kids, but their parents have raised them liberally (according to my father), and without batting an eye, they do things I'd never dream of. For instance, Claire sometimes takes off her clothes and runs around the house naked. No one pays a bit of attention. After a while, she just puts her clothes back on. Also, although each of the kids has to be in bed at a specific time, none of them has to turn out the light and go to sleep until he or she feels like it. As long as they're in bed, they can stay up as late as they want. And they don't have to eat any food they don't like.

Kristy and I showed up at the Pikes' at five o'clock on Friday afternoon. We showed up separately, of course. Actually, I have to admit

that I'd sort of been tailing Kristy all the way to the house. Since the Pikes don't live too far from Bradford Court, we were walking to their house, and I wasn't far behind Kristy. I had to go very quietly so she wouldn't know I was there. Once she turned around suddenly and I had to duck behind a bush so she wouldn't see me. When we reached the Pikes', I hovered around the end of their driveway while Kristy went inside. I waited until the door had closed behind her. Then I rang the bell.

Mr. and Mrs. Pike were in a rush. Mrs. Pike let me in hurriedly and she and her husband started giving Kristy and me instructions. They were gone almost before I knew it. As soon as they left, the kids surrounded Kristy and me. They like baby-sitters.

"What's for dinner?" asked Byron, whose hobby is eating.

"Cold fried chicken or tuna sandwiches," Kristy replied.

"Can I have both?"

"No," Kristy said.

"Yes," I said.

"I don't like chicken or tunafish," Margo complained.

"Then make yourself a peanut butter sandwich," suggested Mallory.

"Okay," agreed Margo.

"When do we eat?" asked Byron.

"Six o'clock," I answered.

"Six-thirty," said Kristy.

"Can I watch cartoons?" asked Claire.

"Can we make an obstacle course in the living room?" asked Jordan, speaking for the triplets.

"Can I just read?" asked Vanessa, who's quiet. "I'm in the middle of The Phantom Toll-booth."

"Can I color?" asked Margo.

"Can we start a baseball game?" asked Nicky.

"Can I help make dinner?" asked Mallory.

"Yes, no, yes, yes, no, and yes," I replied.

The kids laughed. Kristy scowled.

"Let's do something together," said Adam. "There are ten people. We could do something with teams, five on a team."

"Hey, Kristy," I said, suddenly inspired. "How about putting on a play?"

Kristy pretended not to hear me.

It was my turn to scowl.

"Mallory," I said, "tell Kristy it would be fun to put on a play."

"Kristy," Mallory began, "Mary Anne says — Hey, how come she didn't hear you, Mary Anne? She's not deaf."