Ann Martin: Kristy And The Snobs

"We can't," I told her, pushing her and Linny ahead of me into the library. "Now go straight

to the front door. But don't run. You might fall."

The kids obeyed. On the way to the door, though, we passed Myrtle's box and in one swift movement, Linny stooped down, picked up the turtle, and kept on going. I didn't say anything.

As soon as we were out the front door, I cried, "Now you can run! Go right to the sidewalk, but don't run into the street."

Hannie and Linny ran, their legs pumping up and down. Myrtle was clutched between Linny's hands. Halfway across the lawn I dared to look back at the house. That's funny, I thought. I couldn't see even a wisp of smoke. I stopped. I sniffed the air. I didn't smell smoke, either. The house looked fine.

"Linny! Hannie! Stay where you are!" I called to them. They were standing on the sidewalk. Hannie was crying.

I was trying to decide whether it would be safe to approach the house with Sari in my arms, when I heard loud laughter from the Kilbournes' house. Shannon was in her front yard, doubled over. "Fake out! Fake out! Made you look!" she screeched.

I put Sari down and marched over to her. "Are you saying there's no fire?" I asked.

Shannon was laughing too hard to answer me.

So I stuck my tongue out at her and stomped away. I felt like a fool.

I calmed Hannie and Linny down, and then we found Noodle (who'd been napping under a bed). By then, Mrs. Papadakis was due home, so we never did hold the pet fashion show.

Of course, I had to tell Mrs. P. what had happened, since the false alarm was all Hannie and Linny could talk about. Mrs. P. became very angry, put her hands on her hips, and said, "I'll have to have a talk with Shannon before she sits again." But I didn't feel much better about the situation. All I wanted to do was get back at Shannon. The question was how?

The idea came to me early that evening, and I have absolutely no idea where it came from. One moment, I didn't know what to do about Shannon Louisa Kilbourne. The next moment, this great idea was in my head.

I got out a phone book, found the number of a diaper service, and dialed it.

"Mr. Stork's Diapers," said a pleasant-sounding man.

"Hello," I said. "I'm sorry to be calling so late, but this is sort of an emergency. My mom is sick, so we're going to need diaper service

for my baby sister for about two weeks, starting tomorrow morning, if possible."

"Of course," replied the man. "Name please?"

"Shannon Kilbourne."

"Address?"

I gave the man the Kilbournes' address. When I went to bed that night, I was smiling.

And the next morning, I was delighted with what I saw from one of the guest bedrooms at the front of our house. It was the Mr. Stork truck. It pulled into the Kilbournes' driveway, and even from across the street I could hear bells jangling out "Rock-a-Bye, Baby." Then a man dressed as a stork dumped a huge package of diapers on the Kilbournes' front steps and drove off.

I was nearly hysterical.

Gotcha, Shannon! I thought.

Chapter 5.

Mary Anne loves to sit "for the Perkinses now that she's gotten used to the fact that they live in my old house. Lucky for her such a nice family moved in. Even luckier that a new baby is on the way. Mary Anne is really excited. I know she's helped Mrs. Perkins paint the room and pick out curtain material - although the baby isn't due for several more months.

She's excited, and Myriah and Gabbie are, too. What the Perkins girls didn't realize was that not everybody would share their feelings.

As soon as Mrs. Perkins left on that Thursday, Jamie Newton came over to play. Myriah took him by the hand and said, "Come look at the baby's room. It is so, so beautiful. Mommy and Gabbie and I have been working very hard." She pulled Jamie up to the tiny room that used to belong to David Michael. Mary Anne and Gabbie followed.

"Oh, it looks great now!" Mary Anne exclaimed as they stood in the doorway. "You finished painting it."

"And one curtain is up, but Mommy's still hemming the other one."

"I didn't help my mommy with Lucy's room," said Jamie.

"How come?" asked Gabbie.

Jamie shrugged. "Just because."

"Well, we're helping," said Gabbie.

"You've been working hard," said Mary Anne, stepping inside the room.

"Look in the drawers," Myriah said to Mary Anne, "and you'll see what we did."

Mary Anne opened the drawers of the bureau to find piles of neatly folded sleepers and undershirts and jumpsuits.

"We washed everything that was in the box in the attic," Myriah told her. "And I folded all those clothes."

"Boy, I guess you're almost ready for this baby."

"Almost," agreed Myriah, "except for one important thing."

"What?" asked Mary Anne.

"We need a name for the baby. You want to hear the names Mommy and Daddy like? They like Sarah or Randi-with-an-'i' for a girl, or John Eric or Randy-with-a-'y' for a boy. But they haven't decided."

"What do you like?" I asked.

"I like Laurie for a girl, but I can't think of any good boys' names."

"I want to name it Beth," spoke up Gabbie.

"Laurie and Beth are both very pretty names," said Mary Anne. She glanced at Ja-mie. He was scowling.

"You know what I wanted to name my baby?

I wanted to name her Stupid-head."

"Stupid-head!" cried Gabbie. She looked crushed. "Nah-nah and a boo-boo. That is so, so mean."

"It is not," said Jamie. "I'm going home."

Gabbie marched out of the room. "I'm going to take a nap," she called crossly to Mary Anne.

"Wow," said Mary Anne to Myriah. "Gabbie sounds really mad."

"She must be upset about what Jamie said. We love our baby, even thought it isn't here yet."

"I'm glad you feel that way," said Mary Anne.

"How can Jamie be so mean?"

"I don't think he's being mean. He was jealous when Lucy was born. He used to be the baby of the family. Then everything changed for him. I think he felt a little scared."

"Now Gabbie feels bad," said Myriah.

"I know," agreed Mary Anne.

Myriah looked thoughtful. "Let's do something nice to make her feel better."

"That's a good idea," said Mary Anne. "Like what?"

"I'm not sure."

Myriah and Mary Anne sat down on the floor of the baby's room.

"What are some things Gabbie likes to do?" Mary Anne asked.

"She likes to color."

"What's something special that she can't do every day?"

"Go on rides at Disney World."

"Not that special. Something we could do this afternoon."

"I know!" said Myriah. "She likes tea parties. She likes to give tea parties for her dolls, but sometimes it's a big pain because she wants to get dressed up first, and dress her dolls and teddies, too."

"Well, let's have a tea party, then!" exclaimed Mary Anne. "I'll go downstairs and set it all up. We'll have juice and cookies. You and Gabbie get dressed up, and then dress up the dolls and animals. ... I don't think Gab-bie's really taking a nap, do you?"

"No way," replied Myriah.

So Mary Anne ran downstairs and found Gabbie's tea set in the playroom. She set eight places around the kitchen table. Then she put a cookie at every place, and filled the tiny teacups with Hawaiian Punch. She folded napkins and even grabbed a vase of flowers from the living room and put them in the middle of the table.

"Myriah! Gabbie!" she called from the bottom of the stairs. "Tea time!"

"We're not ready yet!" Myriah called back.

Mary Anne ran upstairs to see what was going on. In Gabbie's room she found Myriah wearing a pink party dress with white tights and shiny Mary Jane shoes. But Gabbie had had a different idea about getting dressed up. She was wearing one of her mother's slips, a necktie belonging to her father, a feather boa, a straw hat, sunglasses, and snow boots.