Ann Martin - Mary Anne And The Zoo Mystery

Kristy nodded. "Why don't we divide into two groups? You take your kids to the neighbors around your house, making sure to hit Burnt Hill Road and Elm Street. And I’ll take my group over to Bradford Court, Fawcett Avenue, and Kimball Street."

Vanessa found two baskets, and the kids carefully divided up the buttons, six in each.

Then Byron, Margo, and Claire went off with Kristy, while Mallory took Vanessa and the rest of the boys with her.

"Hold it!" Kristy shouted when Mallory and the others were halfway across the lawn. "We haven't settled on a price for the buttons." "One million dollars!" Claire cried. Mallory looked down at the basket. "A dollar?"

"No." Byron crossed his arms stubbornly. "They're worth more than that." Mallory shrugged. "Five dollars?" As usual, Kristy was the one with the best idea. "I know. We'll say, These are on sale for a suggested donation of five dollars. If you can't afford that, we'll take less. If you'd like to give more, that would be wonderful, too.' " "Excellent!" Adam cried, pumping his fist in the air. "They'll probably give us ten!"

The kids raced out of the yard with their baskets, looking like Halloween trick-or-treaters heading for their first house. Kristy and Mal made sure they guided their charges toward a few surefire wins.

Mallory and her group stopped at the Braddocks' house first. Haley answered the door. She already knew about the Free Babar campaign and hurried to find her mom.

When Mrs. Braddock appeared, Matt was also by her side. She signed to him that we

were selling the buttons and that he could pick one. He pointed to Margo's and chuckled, signing something too quickly for Mal to understand. His mother translated. "Matt says he wants to buy that one because it looks like a dog with big ears."

Mal was glad Margo wasn't in her group. She knew her sister would have been mortified.

The kids knew how to sign, "See you later." They shouted good-bye to Haley, who called back, "Next time you make buttons, let me know. I draw great elephants."

While Mallory's group headed for the Prezziosos' house, Kristy led her group to Bradford Court. Mrs. Newton was happy to buy a badge.

"Look!" Vanessa pointed at the money they received. "She gave us a ten-dollar bill."

Adam and Nicky gave each other high-fives. "Score!"

Then while Mallory's group hit tine Perkinses' house, Kristy's went to the Marshalls' and the Mancusis'.

"This is amazing," Margo cried as she skipped down the street. "Everyone is giving more than five dollars. With all this money, Babar will be free in no time."

Kristy checked her watch. "We have time

for one more house and then we need to head back home."

"The Johanssens!" Nicky raced up the walk and pushed the doorbell. Kristy and the others hurried behind him, the kids calling, "Wait for us, Nicky. We have the buttons."

Nicky put his ear against the door. "They're home. I can hear footsteps and voices."

The kids, their best sales-pitch smiles plastered on their faces, struck a group pose in .front of the door. Kristy stood behind them, her face frozen in a smile, too.

That smile disappeared the moment the door opened. Charlotte was standing in the Johanssens' foyer. And behind her, much to Kristy's surprise, was her baby-sitter.

"Stacey!" Kristy gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Baby-sitting," Stacey replied. "What does it look like?"

"But — but you're not part of the club anymore," Kristy spluttered. "How can you babysit?"

"Dr. Johanssen asked me to sit, that’s how." Stacey stared Kristy in the eye.

"But the Johanssens are our clients," Kristy continued.

Stacey shrugged. "I guess they realized what a special relationship Char and I have, so they called me first."

There was a lot Kristy wanted to say to Stacey, but she didn't, mostly because the kids were right there. Instead she said, "Well, I guess we can't prevent you from taking jobs — "

"I guess you can't," Stacey cut in. "Besides, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to work on our biology project. I've decided to observe Carrot."

Carrot is Charlotte's schnauzer. At the mention of his name, he came racing to the door, barking.

"See?" Stacey gestured toward Carrot. "I guess I'll write down that he barks when strange people come to the door."

That did it. If Kristy wasn't seeing red before, she was now. She told me later that if she'd been a cartoon character, steam would have shot out of her ears.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Kristy and Stacey glared at each other, fighting back what they really wanted to say. Finally Charlotte broke the tension.

"What’s in the basket?" she asked, stepping out onto the porch.

"A Free Babar button," Nicky replied. "Want to buy one?"

"Sorry, Nicky," Stacey said, in a much warmer voice than she'd used with Kristy. "Neither Charlotte nor I have any money.

Why don't you come back later when the Johanssens are home?"

"Fine with me." Kristy was already off the porch and walking down the sidewalk. "Come on, kids. Time to head back."

" 'Bye, Charlotte!" the kids shouted. " 'Bye!"

"See you later," Charlotte called back.

Neither Stacey nor Kristy said good-bye to each other. They were both too mad.

Chapter 7.

"Everyone wants to study either the gorillas or the monkeys," I pointed out to Alan on Friday. We had just arrived at the zoo and were standing near the primate enclosure. "We should pick animals that are different."

Alan narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. "Is Logan's group studying the gorillas?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But that’s not why I want to observe a different animal. It’s because I talked to Hannah Toce and Emily Bernstein and both of their groups will be watching Mojo and James, too."

Alan nudged Howie. "I think Mary Anne wants to let her boyfriend win."

"I do not," I said huffily. "1 want to win. That extra credit would mean as much to me as it would to Logan. Maybe more."

Science is not one of my strong points, even though I really like it. Logan, on the other

hand, is a natural at it. He rarely studies for tests.

"I think it would be good to do something really different, like choosing three different types of animals — one from the water, one that flies, and one that lives on land — and calling our report Fur, Feathers, and Fins."

"I want to study Mojo and James," Howie said, stubbornly folding his arms across his chest. His face, which is covered in freckles, grew redder and redder as we talked.

The three of us were still arguing when Logan, Dawn, and Claudia arrived. They'd been at the front gate gathering brochures about the special exhibits at the zoo.

"I see you all are getting along quite nicely." Logan smirked as he, Claudia, and Dawn passed by.

"This is a private meeting," Alan shot back. "Do you mind?"

"Well, ex-cuuuuuuse me," Logan replied. Then he turned to Dawn and Claudia and drawled, "That’s my idea of a fun meeting — yell at each other and turn red in the face."

Logan's remarks were starting to get on my nerves. I turned to Alan and said in a voice that I hoped Logan would overhear, "Ignore him, Alan. We have to do things our own way."

Alan took a couple of deep breaths and then turned to Howie. "I agree with Mary Anne about Mojo and James. I mean, look, all the kids are watching the gorillas. And I think the fur/ feathers, and fins idea is great — with one change."

"What's that?" I asked, pleased that things were going more smoothly.

'Instead of fins, why don't we call it flippers?" Alan suggested. "That way we can study the seals. They're a lot of fun to watch."

'Tine with me." I took my spiral notebook out of my backpack and wrote the words Fur, Feathers, and Flippers at the top of the page. It was now official.