Ann Martin - Kristy's Great Idea

Andrew giggled. "You got it? That's funny!"

Andrew and Karen and I played hide-and-seek until it was time for Andrew's nap. Then

Karen and I sat on the back porch and read Little Toot and The Snowy Day and The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. We were halfway through The Little Engine That Could when Watson came home.

"How is she?" I asked. I wasn't sure what to call Watson's ex-wife. I didn't even know her name.

"At home and on her feet," he replied. "Or at any rate, on her foot. She's okay. But you guys," he said to Karen, "are going to stay with me for the rest of the weekend so Mommy can rest, okay?"

"Goody!" said Karen.

"How did everybody get along?" asked Watson.

"Fine," I answered. Suddenly I felt shy.

"Daddy, I like Kristy," Karen announced. "I don't mind if she's going to be our stepsister."

Watson smiled, but I blushed. "Well, I'm glad everything went so well," he said.

"Does she have to go home now?" asked Karen.

"Well, she won't be able to if Andrew is asleep. Is he napping?"

"He went down about —" I checked my watch — "almost an hour ago."

"Hmm," said Watson. "I don't really want

to wake him up. Do you want to call your mom and have her pick you up?"

"I better not," I said. "She probably won't want to leave David Michael."

"Do you mind waiting? Andrew shouldn't sleep more than another half hour or so."

"I don't mind." And I didn't. I really didn't. While we waited for Andrew, Watson took turns playing checkers with Karen and me. He won every game. I was glad because if he'd let me win, it would have proved he was trying too hard to make us feel like one big happy family.

Later, as Watson was driving me home, Karen said, "Kristy, I wish you were our big stepsister, right now."

"Well," I said, "how about if I be your babysitter instead?"

"Thaf s okay," said Karen.

"Yeah, that's okay," echoed Andrew.

I glanced at Watson. He was sneaking a look at me, too. We smiled at each other.

That night after Mom had gotten David Michael to sleep, she came into my room. I was writing up my experience at Watson's in the Baby-sitters Club Notebook.

"So," she said, "now that we have a moment to ourselves, tell me how everything went at

Watson's. I'm sorry that was thrown at you today, but maybe it worked out for the best."

I was glad Mom wasn't saying, I told you so.

"It went okay," 1 said. "Andrew and Karen are cute. Andrew hardly ever talks, though. Karen says the divorce upsets him."

"It does upset him," Mom said, "but he's also got a big talker for an older sister. He almost doesn't need to speak."

"Karen sure is a big talker," I agreed. "I think she's really smart."

"She is. She just started kindergarten, and her teacher is already thinking of putting her in first grade after Christmas."

"Wow," I said.

"Kristy, would you baby-sit for Watson's children again, if he needed you?"

"I already told Karen that since I couldn't be her stepsister yet, at least I'd be her babysitter."

My mother looked pleased,

"Mom?" I asked. "What will happen when you and Watson get married? I mean, if you get married. Would Andrew and Karen live with us? Would we all live in Watson's house? It's so big."

"Does it bother you that there are no arrangements yet?"

"Yes," I replied. "I like to know what's going to happen."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything definite, honey."

"Can you tell me something wndefinite?"

Mom smiled. "Well, first of all, Watson's custody arrangements probably won't change, so wherever we live, Andrew and Karen won't live with us. They'll only visit. And right now, it looks as though we might move to Watson's, simply because there's more space."

"But I don't want to move!"

"Kristy, I said 'might.' "

"Okay."

"Time to get ready for bed now. Good-night, sweetheart."

" 'Night, Mom."

On Monday at our next meeting of the Babysitters Club, everyone seemed to be back to normal. And most of us had news.

"Guess what!" Mary Anne said, in between phone calls.

"What?" Claudia and Stacey and I said.

"Dad and I hardly talked to each other all day Saturday, but on Sunday, I decided to go ahead and try reasoning with him about the money I earn, since I figured I didn't have anything to lose. I told him I'd be earning a lot of money through the Baby-sitters Club, and I asked him if I could spend half of it any way I wanted — if I promised to put the other half in the bank. And he said yes! So if we have the party, I can go!"

"Great!" I cried. "Hey, that's wonderful! You really stood up to your dad."

"Yeah. . . ." Mary Anne looked embarrassed, but I knew she was pleased with herself.

"I have some good news, too," Claudia said. "I caught up on almost all of my homework, and I got a B-minus on those ten math problems. And last night I had a talk with my parents. I told them I wasn't Janine and they said they knew that. Then they said I had to start setting aside time for my homework every day. At first I thought Dad was going to say no more baby-sitting, but instead he said an hour or so after dinner would be all right, and he and Mom and Janine and Mimi would help me. That cuts into my TV time, but I'd rather give up TV than art or baby-sitting and the club." Claudia reached under her mattress and pulled out some licorice sticks, which of course she passed around and of course Stacey refused.

"Well, that's good," said Mary Anne. "I'm proud of us, aren't you, Claudia?"

"Yeah," said Claudia.

I wanted to tell my good news about sitting for Watson's kids, but I was more curious about Stacey and why she had done what she did.

"So, Stace," I said brightly. "How was your weekend? How was New York?"

"Oh, it was fine. I went shopping at Bloom-ingdale's and bought this." She indicated the plaid wool pants she was wearing, which were held up with bright red suspenders. "I got a matching hat, too."

"Nice," I said. "How were your friends?"

"Fine." Stacey was picking at a piece of fuzz on her pants, carefully not looking at the rest of us.

"It must have been fun to spend so much time with them."

"Yeah."

"You know, the strangest thing happened on Saturday morning," I said. As usual, I couldn't help it. I was dying to say what I knew. There would be no stopping me, despite the fact that Claudia was sending me an urgent telegram with her eyes. Shut up, they were saying. Don't do this. But it was too late, even though I knew it was going to cause problems. Even though I knew that Claudia still considered Mary Anne and me babies, and Stacey sophisticated, and therefore was going to protect Stacey and whatever she was up to.

"Mary Anne saw you come home with your parents on Saturday," I said. "How come you made your mom say you stayed in New York?"

Stacey's head jerked up, her eyes flashing. She looked like she wanted to kill Mary Anne

or me or possibly both of us. "Are you accusing my mom of lying?" she cried.

I thought for a moment. "I guess so."

Stacey stood up, hands on her hips. "Kristy, you — you — "

See, the thing is, right then, if Stacey wanted an "out," she had one. She could have blamed the whole thing on her mother by saying her mother was punishing her that weekend or something, and boy, weren't parents awful. But she didn't do that. She just blew up. And she didn't give any reason for why she and her mom were lying, which, Mary Anne said later to me in private, only proved that Stacey (and her mother) were covering something up.

Anyway, Stacey stood in Claudia's room, glowering at me. "I can't believe you just said that, Kristy. You're such a baby."

"You don't have any tact at all," added Claudia, immediately jumping to Stacey's defense, as I had known she would.