Ann Martin - Kristy's Big Day

Nothing.

I gave them a few moments to recover. Then I broke the stunned silence by saying, "That's six hundred dollars all together."

Finally I got a reaction.

In a teeny-tiny voice, Claudia said, "One hundred and twenty dollars? With one hundred and twenty dollars, I could buy one hundred and twenty bags of peppermints. That's about a year's supply."

Everyone began to laugh.

"You could buy three hundred packages of Twinkles," said Stacey.

"Or one thousand two hundred jawbreakers," I said with a giggle.

"Four hundred packs of gum," suggested Dawn.

"Sixty cartons of ice cream," said Mary Anne.

"Ice cream," saidClaudia, "is one thing I've never been able to hide in my room."

There was another pause.

"You're serious about this, right?" Dawn asked me.

"Of course I'm serious," I replied. "Mom's in a real bind. We didn't figure on this happening.And with everyone coming from out of town. ..." I shrugged. "We have to do something."

"And your mom thinks we can handle it?" Mary Anne ventured timidly.

"Yes. So doI ," I said. "It works out to two or three kids for each of us. We can do that easily."

"But fourteen at once," said Mary Anne.

"A hundred and twenty dollars each," Claudia reminded her.

"What do you say?" I asked the members of the group.

I looked at Claudia. She nodded emphatically. I looked at Dawn and Stacey. They nodded, too.

"Mary Anne?" I asked.

She hesitated. Then she nodded as well.

"All right!"I cried. "Now look, you guys, we have somework to do. Nine to five means all day, every day next week. A couple of times I'm going to have to leave for dress fittings and wedding things, but otherwise we'll have to stay at my house with the kids. We better see if we have any jobs lined up next week. Mary Anne, can you check our calendar?"

Mary Anne opened the record book to the appointment section. "Let's see," she said. "This isn't too bad. Kristy, you're supposed to sit for Jamie Newton on Tuesday. I'm supposed to sit for JennyPrezzioso Wednesday evening. I can still do that, I guess. Stacey, you're supposed to sit for Charlotte on Thursday, and we have several things lined up for David Michael and for Karen and Andrew, but those aren't a problem because we're going to be sitting for them, anyway."

"Hmm," I said. "It isn't very good business, but we'll have to call theNewtons and theJohanssens and cancel.Unless . . ."I went on thoughtfully.

"What?" askedDawn.

"Maybe the kids could just come over to my house. What difference will one more make when we're already watching fourteen?"

"That's true," said Stacey.

I picked up the phone. "I'll call Mrs. Newton," I said, "then you call Dr.Johanssen ,Stace ."

I explained the situation to Mrs. Newton, who was not only understanding, but enthusiastic. She said she thought the experience would be good for Jamie. He was starting nursery school in the fall and needed to get used to other children.

Then Stacey called Charlotte's mother. "Dr.Johanssen ?" she said. "Hi, it's Stacey. Listen, I'm calling about next Thursday. I - what? . ..Oh . . . .Oh, sure. . . . No, it's no problem.Not at all. I'll see you some other time. Say hi to Charlotte. Okay. . . . Okay. . . . 'Bye." She turned to us with a smile. "Well, I got out of that one. Dr.Johanssen was just about to call us to cancel. Her schedule at the hospital got switched around, so she doesn't need me on Thursday."

"Great!" I said. "Does anyone have anything else to cancel?Dentist appointments?Claudia, art classes?"

They shook their heads.

"All right," I went on, "now we better do some planning for next week. First, let me tell you about the kids - their ages and stuff."

"I'm going to take notes while you talk," Mary Anne spoke up.

"Good idea. Okay, we'll start with my cousins. First, there are the Millers - Ashley, Berk, Grace, and Peter. Ashley is ... I think she just turned nine.Berk's about six."

"Boy or girl?" Mary Anne interrupted.

"Boy," I answered. "Grace is five, and Peter's three."

"Okay," said Mary Anne.

"Then there are theMeiners . Luke is ten, Emma is eight, I think, and Beth is about a year old."

"Okay."

"And then there are those kids of Watson's friend. I don't know anything about them. Maybe I better call Watson," I said.

Idialed Watson's number.

"Hello?" a small voice answered.

"Hi, Karen," I said. "It's Kristy."

"Hi, Kristy!Oh, guess what! Daddy took me shopping today. I got shoes for the wedding and they're very, very beautiful. They're black and shiny and they have a strap that buckles around my ankle."

"Oh, lucky girl!I can't wait to see them. I don't have shoes yet. Listen, Karen, is your daddy there?"

"Yes, he is. But Kristy, Ben Brewer's ghost broke a vase in the living room today. It was really scary."

Karen went on about the ghost for a while,then finally I was able to talk to Watson. When I got off the phone, I said, "All right. Watson's friends are theFieldings , and the kids are young. Katherine's the oldest. She's five. Patrick is three and Maura's two. Tony is the baby. He's only eight months old."

"Hmm," said Mary Anne. "Let me just add David Michael, Karen, and Andrew to my list." She scribbled away. Then she looked up. "Well, I count seven girls and seven boys, one ten-year-old, two six-year-olds, one nine-year-old, one eight-year-old, a four-year-old, one seven-year-old, two five-year-olds, two three-year-olds, a one-year-old, a two-year-old, and a baby - Tony."

"Gosh, it sounds like kind of a handful when you put it that way," said Dawn. She and the others began to look worried.

"But we'll manage," I said. "You know, maybe we should divide the kids into age groups, organize your list according to age, oldest to youngest."

Mary Anne began writing busily. "Okay," she said after a minute. Mary Anne's list looked like this:

Luke - 10 Katherine - 5.

Ashley - 9 Andrew - 4.

Emma - 8 Peter - 3.

David Michael - 7 Patrick - 3.

Berk - 6 Maura - 2.

Karen - 6 Beth - 1.

Grace - 5 Tony - 8 months.

"All right," I said. I borrowed Mary Anne's pen and drew four lines, one under Emma, one under Karen, one under Andrew, and one under Maura. "Look at this, everybody. Now we have five groups of kids, one group for each of us. The top group is the oldest kids, and the bottom is the babies. There are three kids in each group except the last. I think whoever has the babies will have her hands full with just two.Diapers and everything."

"We better decide right now who will be in charge of which group," said Dawn.

"Okay," I agreed. "Does anybody especially want the oldest kids?"

Stacey's hand shot up.

I wrote her name next to the top group. Then I asked, "Does anybody especially want the babies?"

Mary Anne raised her hand.

I wrote her name by the babies. Before I could ask who wanted David Michael's group, Claudia said, "I don't really care which kids I have. I like any age."

"Me, too," said Dawn.

"Me, too," I said. So I assigned Dawn to the six- and seven-year-olds, Claudia to the two-and three-year-olds, and gave myself Grace, Katherine, and Andrew. "Andrew feels most comfortable with me," I said. "And also on Tuesday, Jamie Newton will fit right into that age group, and I think he should be my responsibility."

"Hey!" said Mary Anne. "You know what we should do to help keep the groups straight? We should call them the red group, the blue group, or whatever we want, and make, like, red nametags for Stacey's kids, blue tags for Dawn's kids, or something. That way the children will know what group they're in, and we'll be able to spot our kids easily. It'll help us learn their names, too. Kristy, you know most of them, but the rest of us only know Karen, Andrew, and David Michael. And nobody knows theFieldings ."