Ann Martin - Kristy And The Mothers Day Surprise

“A wonderful one.”

The phone rang then. We could hear it through the open kitchen window. A moment later, Watson called, “Elizabeth? This is an important one.”

My mother leaped to her feet like an Olympic athlete and dashed inside.

I went back to my sister and brothers.

“How are you guys doing?” I asked. I asked

it before I saw the scowls on the kids’ faces.

“He is a klutz,” said David Michael with clenched teeth, pointing to Andrew.

“Am not.”

“Are too, you little wimp. And you’re Watson’s favorite.”

“No, he isn’t,” cried Karen indignantly. “Daddy loves us both the same.”

“What about me?” David Michael threw his bat angrily to the ground.

Karen and Andrew did the same thing. Softballs, too.

“Well, I guess it figures,” my brother went on. “Of course he loves you guys more than ~me. He’s your real father. He’s just my step.”

“Your mom loves you more than us,” spoke up Andrew, to my surprise. “She’s our step.”

“Hey, hey, HEY! What is this talk?” I cried. “Everybody loves everybody around here.”

“No,” said David Michael. “Sometimes Thomases love Thomases more, and Brewers love Brewers more.”

Karen sighed. “I’m tired of this. Let’s play ball again.”

The kids picked up their bats. They forgot their argument for awhile.

But I didn’t.

LJc~~T~!

VVe11, it’s finally happened!” I announced.

“What?” asked Claudia, Jessi, Dawn, Mary Anne, and Mallory.

We were holding a meeting of the Babysitters Club, and the last of the RSVPs for the Mother’s Day surprise had just been phoned in. I gave the news to my friends.

“We can get a total count now,” I said. “That was Mrs. Barrett. Buddy and Suzi can come on the outing. They were the last kids we needed to hear about. Mary Anne?”

Mary Anne had opened the record book to a page on which she was listing the kids who’d be coming to Sudsy’s with us. “Ready for the total?” she asked.

The rest of us nodded nervously. “Okay, just a sec.” Mary Anne’s pen moved down the page. Then, “It’s twenty-one,” she announced.

“Twenty-one! That’s perfect!” I cried. “Seven

sitters including Stacey, so three kids each. We can manage that.”

“Sure,” said Dawn.

“We can help each other out,” added Claudia.

“Read us the list, Mary Anne,” I said. “Let’s see exactly what we’re dealing with here.”

“Okay.” Mary Anne began reading, running her finger along the list. “Claire, Margo, Nicky, and Vanessa Pike.” (Vanessa had surprised everyone by immediately agreeing to come.) “Becca Ramsey; David Michael Thomas; Karen and Andrew Brewer; Jamie Newton; Jackie, Shea, and Archie Rodowsky; Jenny Prezzioso.” (I tried not to choke.) “Mynah and Gabbie Perkins; Matt and Haley Braddock; Charlotte Johanssen; Nina Marshall; and Buddy and Suzi Barrett.”

“And who couldn’t come?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” said Mary Anne, turning to another page in the record book, “the Arnold twins, Betsy Sobak, the Papadakises, and the Delaneys.”

I nodded. “Okay. I was just curious.”

Ring, ring.

Dawn reached for the phone. “Hello, Babysitters Club,” she said. “Yes, hi, Mrs. Arnold. . . . Oh, we’re sorry, too. The twins

would probably love Sudsy’s. .. . Yeah. Yeah. . . . Okay, on Tuesday? I’ll check.

I’ll call you right back.”

We arranged for Mal to sit for Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold (can you believe their names?) on Tuesday afternoon. Then we went back to our work.

“I guess we should make up groups of kids for the outing,” said Claudia. “That worked well before.”

Once, our club had sat for fourteen kids for a whole week. We kept the kids in groups according to their ages. It was really helpful. And we had done the same thing when Mary Anne, Dawn, Claudia, and I had visited Stacey in New York and taken a big group of kids to a museum and to Central Park.

“The only thing,” spoke up Mary Anne, “is that I’m not sure we should group the kids by age. I think we should group them, but, well, Matt and Haley will have to be in the same group, even though Matt is seven and Haley’s almost ten now. Haley understands Matt’s signing better than anybody.” (Matt is deaf and communicates using sign language.)

“And,” I added, “I think Karen and Andrew should be in the same group, and David Michael should be in a different one. Andrew

is really dependent on Karen, and lately the two of them have been having some problems with David Michael.”

“And Charlotte and Becca have to be together,” added Jessi. “Becca won’t come if she can’t be with Charlotte.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Keep Jenny away from the Braddocks,” said Dawn.

“And Nicky away from Claire,” added Mallory.

“Boy, is this complicated,” commented Claudia.

“I know,” I agreed. “But we can do it. Let’s try to draw up some lists. Let’s just see how far we get. Everyone, make up seven lists and then we’ll compare them.”

Mary Anne passed around paper and we set to work. We were interrupted four times by the telephone, but at last everyone said they had done the best they could.

I collected the papers. I looked over the groups my friends had come up with. I said things like, “No, that one won’t work. Matt and Haley aren’t together.” Or, “Oh, that’s good, that’s good, that’s — Nope. We’ve got Claire and Nicky together.”

“I’ve got an idea,” said Dawn after awhile. “Why don’t you cut out all the groups, all

forty-two of them, sort through them, and try to find the seven best?”

“Okay,” I agreed. Claudia handed me a pair of scissors. “But I think I’ll need some help.”

Every single club member got down on her hands and knees. We spread the lists on the floor, examined them, and shuffled them around.

“This is a good one,” said Jessi. “This is a good one,” said Claud. Finally we had chosen seven good lists. We counted the kids. Twenty-one. We checked the kids against Mary Anne’s list. Nina Marshall showed up twice; Shea Rodowsky was missing.

“Darn it!” I cried.

We started over. Finally, finally, finally we had seven lists that worked:

Kristy Claudia

Karen Brewer Mynah Perkins

Andrew Brewer Gabbie Perkins

Shea Rodowsky Jamie Newton

Mary Anne Dawn

Jenny Prezzioso Suzi Barrett

Claire PikeNina Marshall

Margo Pike Archie Rodowsky

Mallory

Matt Braddock Buddy Barrett

Haley Braddock D. M. Thomas

Nicky Pike Jackie Rodowsky

Stacey

Charlotte Johanssen

Becca Ramsey

Vanessa Pike

“Well,” I said, “we’ve got all the necessary combinations — Matt and his sister are together, so are Charlotte and Becca, Jenny is separated from the Braddocks, and that sort of thing. There are some good combinations here, too. Like, Jamie and the Perkins girls are together, and they’re friends. And I think Jenny will work out okay with Claire and Margo, don’t you, Ma!?”

“Yeah, that should be all right.”

“But,” I went on, “there are some odd combinations here, too. Not bad, just odd. For instance, Shea Rodowsky is with Karen and Andrew. Shea is nine. He’s a lot older than they are. But where else could we put him?”

The six of us leaned over to examine the lists.

“I don’t really see any place,” said Dawn after a moment. “Claudia’s group, Mary Anne’s,

and mine are too young. Stacey’s is all girls. Jessi’s is perfect the way it is. Mallory’s would be good because the kids are all boys, but they’re younger than Shea, too. Besides, I wouldn’t mind separating Shea and Jackie.”