Ann Martin - Mallory On Strike

to sit in her room all day and get a bigger allowance."

I listened to my brothers and sisters talk and wondered if it were possible for an entire family to have a screw loose. It sure sounded like it from their conversation.

I hurried through breakfast, then excused myself from the table, saying pointedly, "I'll see everyone tonight."

"Poor Mallory," I heard Claire murmur as I left the room. "She's striking. No cartoons, no toys, no fun."

Once I was in my room (and Vanessa was out), I sat down at my desk and started to write. Several times I heard footsteps and whispering outside my door, but everyone respected my wishes.

I worked on my story for hours, fine-tuning every word. It was wonderful. Finally I felt like a real writer.

Chapter 12.

I had no idea that my parents were going out or that they had called Mary Anne and Dawn to baby-sit. Plus, I was so busy concentrating on my story that I didn't hear the doorbell ring.

"Do you think something awful has happened to Mal?" Mary Anne asked Dawn, as they waited for someone to answer the door.

"I don't think so." Dawn flipped a strand of her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. "Mrs. Pike would have said something."

My father opened the door then. "Hi, girls! Thanks for coming on such short notice. Mrs. Pike and I got a call from the Stoneybrook Library. They've scheduled an emergency board meeting."

"I hope nothing terrible has happened to the library," Mary Anne said, as she stepped inside the house.

"Oh, it hasn't burned down or anything like that," my father assured her, as he slipped on his coat. "We think they may be in some sort of financial trouble."

Mary Anne and Dawn nodded sympathetically. They didn't know what to say. It's hard to understand how a library operates, or where it gets its money, or any of that complicated stuff.

"Mallory is up in her room," my father said.

"She's here?" Dawn gasped. "You mean, you need three sitters?"

My father chuckled. "No, no. Mallory's working on her story in her room and asked that she not be disturbed, which is why Mrs. Pike suggested I call you."

My mother hurried out of the kitchen, tucking a packet of tissues into her purse. She thanked Dawn and Mary Anne for coming to help, then handed them a sheet of paper.

"This is where we'll be for the next two hours," she explained. "There's pizza, juice, and fruit in the fridge." She ticked off her list of reminders on her fingers. "The boys know they can't bring their bow and arrow set into the house. Mar go has been given strict instructions not to play with my makeup. Vanessa has a slight cold and should stay quiet, if possible."

"How do you remember all that?" Dawn asked in amazement.

My mother slipped a scarf over her head and sighed. "Practice."

Just as my parents were going out the door, my mother called, "One more thing. The kids told me to tell you two that you're it."

She shut the door behind her and Dawn turned to Mary Anne. "We're it?"

Mary Anne nodded. "The kids must be hiding."

She was answered by a flurry of giggles from the living room.

"I was wondering where everybody was," Dawn said, tiptoeing out of the hall. Then she sang in a high, mysterious voice, "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

More giggles answered Dawn, who pointed toward the couch. Mary Anne nodded, then pointed to the closet. "Gee. I wonder if they all ran away from home."

"Maybe they were kidnapped," Dawn said loudly.

"I hope not," Mary Anne replied, putting her hand on the closet door. "Then we'd be all alone and have to eat that pizza by ourselves."

She pulled open the closet door just as Dawn looked behind the couch. Both girls shouted, "Gotcha!"

They were answered by shrill war whoops from the triplets, who sprang out of the closet, wearing feathered headbands. Nicky and Margo leaped from behind the couch, waving cowboy hats.

"Aieeee!" Adam bellowed. "You're our prisoners!"

"No, they're our prisoners," Nicky said,

wrapping his arms around Mary Anne's knees.

"But we were here first," Byron said, grabbing Dawn's wrist.

"Were not," Nicky shouted.

"Were too!" Jordan grabbed Dawn by the other wrist.

Mary Anne clapped her hands above her head. "You were both here at the exact same moment."

Margo looped an imaginary rope around Dawn and Mary Anne. "Then you're all of our prisoners."

"Yeah!" the boys cried, patting their hands on their mouths and hopping around in a circle like cartoon Indians. Vanessa wandered in during their war dance and settled into an armchair with a book.

"Let's throw them in the dungeon!" Jordan said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh, no!" Mary Anne cried, playing along with their game. "Please don't do that. It would hurt."

Nicky scratched his head. "Then let's freeze 'em."

"Freeze 'em?" Vanessa commented from her chair in the corner. "Nobody freezes prisoners."

"Do, too." Nicky put his hand on his hips and glared at his sister.

Ill

"They do not," Vanessa answered stubbornly.

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure, I'll bet you a million dollars."

"Hold it," Mary Anne ordered. "I think we have a small problem."

The kids stopped arguing and turned their attention to Mary Anne, who asked Dawn, "How many Pikes do you count?"

Dawn spun slowly in a circle as she counted. "Six."

"And how many are we supposed to be watching today?" Mary Anne asked.

"Seven." Dawn's blue eyes widened. "Oh, no! We've lost —" She glanced quickly around the room. "Claire."

This was especially upsetting since Claire is the youngest of all my sisters and brothers and needs looking after the most.

"Okay, everyone," Mary Anne ordered. "Spread out and find Claire. The second you do, bring her back to the kitchen."

"Do we get a reward?" Nicky asked.

Dawn and Mary Anne exchanged looks. Finally Dawn said, "Yes. Pizza."

"Oh, boy!" Byron whooped. "Let's go." He ran out of the room with the other triplets following him.

"I'll look in the bedrooms," Margo said, racing for the stairs.

"Fine," Dawn said. "But keep out of your mother's makeup, okay?"

Margo hesitated, then puffed out her lower lip. "Okay."

Vanessa put down her book and got up from her chair. "I'll check out back."

"I'll look out front," Mary Anne said, "and Dawn, you wait here in case one of the other kids finds her."

"I'll go with you," Nicky said, tucking his hand in Mary Anne's.

Dawn kept telling herself not to get nervous. The kids had been playing a game of hide-and-seek; maybe Claire was still hiding. Then again, maybe she wasn't. Dawn peered into the kitchen. No sign of Claire. She was just about to go upstairs when she heard a piping sound, like singing. She stopped and listened. The sound was coming from the stairs leading down to the rec room.

"Playmates, come out and play with me, and bring your dollies three, dee dee dee dee dee dee," a high, little voice sang, slightly off-key.

Dawn peered around the corner. Sitting on the top step was Claire, holding two clothespins in her hand. She danced them on her leg as if they were dolls.

"Hello, there," Dawn said gently. "Who are your playmates?"

Claire held up the clothespins. "This is Tilly and this is Milly."

"What are their last names?" Dawn asked.

"Silly-billy-goo-goo."

"Would you like to invite Tilly and Milly for a snack? We're having pizza."

"That's their favorite," Claire declared with a grin. She got up and followed Dawn into the kitchen.

Dawn remembered that Mary Anne and the rest of the Pikes were still on their search-and-rescue mission, so she called out the front door, "It's okay! I found her."

Mary Anne relayed the message to the backyard. Then, after removing four pairs of muddy shoes (the kids had all found the one mud puddle and made sure they jumped in it), she led Nicky and the triplets into the kitchen for pizza.