Ann Martin: Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery

Claudia does have a couple of flaws. (Don't we all?) One, she is a major junk food addict. I'm not kidding. She stashes cookies and candy bars all over her room. And two, although she is very smart, schoolwork is Qau-dia's nemesis. She can paint a picture of douds soaring over a summer landscape with her eyes dosed, but ask her to diagram a sentence and she freezes up completely. At one point her parents were so concerned about her falling behind in her studies that they asked her to consider quitting the BSC. It was awful. Fortunately, Claudia pulled her grades up so she didn't have to quit. But we understand that, for Claudia, homework has to come first. Stacey McGill, who is a real math whiz, was our first treasurer. She and Claudia are a lot alike. Both have the absolute coolest dothes — not because they're rich and can afford to buy a million outfits, but because they have a real sense of style.

Claudia will go to a used clothing store and buy an old black vest, a beat-up derby, and an old-fashioned collarless shirt for a few dollars. Then she'll add some lace and beads to the vest to make it extra funky. She'll make a sequined headband for the derby and belt the big white shirt over some wild leggings and voild! She looks like a million dollars.

Stacey's style is just as cool, but a little more sophisticated and sleek. I think it comes from the fact that she lived in New York City for such a long time. She grew up there. Stacey also acts a little more grown-up than the rest of us because she's had to deal with some serious problems in her life, the biggest one being her diabetes. Stacey's body can't process sugar, so she has to give herself daily shots of insulin. Can you imagine sticking yourself with a needle? Ew! I just couldn't do it.

Stacey and Claudia used to be best friends. Unfortunately, Stacey's no longer in the club, which makes me sad just thinking about it. I mean, we have all been such close friends and have gone through so much together, it just doesn't feel right for her not to be in the BSC. Here's what happened: A number of us have boyfriends. Kristy has Bart Taylor (though she would never officially call him her boyfriend). Bart is this boy in the neighborhood who coaches a softball team for kids, like

Kristy's team, the Krushers. And as I said, I have Logan. Well, Stacey's seeing this guy named Robert Brewster, but her attachment to him is different. She decided that he meant more to her than the BSC or any of our friendships did, so she quit our dub. Before she did, a lot of harsh words were said by everyone, which I think ,we all regret. (I know I do.) But one of the things Stacey said that really sticks in my mind is that she felt we were too babyish for her. That hurt. I hope we can work it out someday, but for now, Stacey is not in the club. So Dawn, who's usually our alternate officer (that’s the person who takes over the duties of an officer who can't make a meeting), is now serving as dub treasurer, which she winces at because math is not her strong suit.

I was voted dub secretary because I have the best handwriting in the group and because I am a very organized person. Believe me, you have to be organized in order to do this job. You see, I keep track of everyone's schedules — when they go to ballet dass, or a Frendi dub meeting, or to the orthodontist. I know when Kristy's Krushers hold their practices, and when Claudia's art class has an exhibition.

Besides knowing all of our personal schedules, I schedule every single baby-sitting job. When a client calls, we jot down the important information — who, when, where, how many

children, and so on — and then I check the record book to see which of our club members is free. If the record book were wrong, things could get pretty crazy. This may sound like bragging, but I'm proud to say that I have never made a mistake.

Mallory Pike and Jessica Ramsey joined our dub later and are the BSC's junior officers. We call them that because they are eleven and in the sixth grade, and they're not allowed to baby-sit at night, except for their own families.

Besides being best friends, they are totally horse crazy. They love horse movies, The Black Stallion and Black Beauty being among their favorites, and horse books, especially the ones written by Marguerite Henry. Neither of them has ever owned a horse, but they dream about it.

Both girls have special talents and big dreams for the future. Mal would like to be a children's book author and illustrator someday. (She's off to a good start, too, having won best all-around fiction for the sixth grade on Young Authors' Day.) Jessi, with her beautiful long legs and graceful body, is a ballet dancer. She's danced leading roles in several productions and hopes to dance with a major company like the New York City Ballet one day. I'm certain she'll do it, too.

Though they have a lot in common, Jessi

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and Mal are also very different. First of all, Jessi is black and Mallory is white. Jessi has two siblings: Becca, who's eight and a half, and her baby brother Squirt (his real name, John Philip Ramsey, Jr., is awfully big for such a little guy).

Mallory has seven brothers and sisters. Mallory is the oldest (she's eleven), followed by the triplets, Byron, Adam, and Jordan, who are ten. Then comes nine-year-old Vanessa, eight-year-old Nicky, Margo, who's seven, and last, but certainly not least, five-year-old Claire. They all have reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, and three of them — Mallory, Vanessa, and Nicky — wear glasses. (Mal longs to trade in her frames for a pair of contacts, but her parents say she has to wait until she's older.)

I think I've covered everyone except Shannon Kilbourne, who has taken over Dawn's old job of alternate officer. Shannon lives across the street from Kristy. When those two first met, they didn't like each other at all. Kristy thought Shannon was a big snob, but it was all a misunderstanding. Kristy soon found out that Shannon was very nice, and that she was also a great baby-sitter. She invited Shannon to become an associate member of the BSC, like Logan. Despite her heavy involvement with activities at her school, Shan-19

non has been doing a lot of filling in lately — first, when Dawn was in California, and now, with Stacey out of the dub.

Speaking of Stacey, Claudia and Dawn were having a pretty intense discussion about her. I don't know how they got from Babar to Stacey and Robert, but in the course of a half hour we usually manage to talk about lots of things, as well as take calls from clients, which is our main reason for meeting.

"Oh, Stacey saw me, all right," Dawn was saying. "She started to wave but then she looked away really fast."

Kristy looked cross. "I guess we should probably think about a permanent replacement."

"Oh, not yet," Claudia pleaded. "Let’s give it a little more time. I mean, we're okay, aren't we?"

Everyone looked at me, probably because I'm the one who does the scheduling. "We're fine," I said. "Especially since Shannon has made herself available to help out more. She doesn't get to every meeting, but she gets to most of them."

Shannon gave us a reassuring smile. "I'm here whenever you need me."

There was a collective sigh of relief. None of us even wanted to think about replacing Stacey. It was too uncomfortable.

"Okay!" Kristy dapped her hands together. "Back to Babar. Why don't we talk to our charges about the Babar campaign this week? Find out if they're interested."

"Why don't we do a survey?" I suggested.

"I could divide up the client list in no time."

Kristy gave me a thumbs-up sign. I pulled

some paper out of the back of the record book,

and started writing furiously.

"I've got a ton of schoolwork tonight," Claudia said with a moan, gesturing to the stack of books on her desk. "My calls may have to wait till tomorrow."