Ann Martin - Jessi's Gold Medal

What do we do between phone calls? That's where the "club" part comes in. We're all good friends, so we never run out of things to talk about. We also try to think up new projects

— which mostly means listening to the projects Kristy thinks of.

As you can guess, Kristy can be bossy. But her suggestions are amazing. When anyone says the word "idea," I think, "Kristy." I can't help it. You know how a dry sponge soaks up water if you put it in a puddle? That's what Kristy's brain is like. It's an idea sponge. She soaks up ideas from the air, then squeezes them out at meetings. And usually they're really good. Like the time there was a group of kids who were too young to play on a soft-ball team. Kristy got them together and formed a team of her own. They're called "Kristy's Krushers."

Here's another example: Kid-Kits. They're simple, decorated boxes filled with stuff we scrounge up around our houses — old games, books, toys, art supplies, things like that. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? Wrong. You wouldn't believe how popular they are. Even kids with incredibly fancy toys love Kid-Kits. Leave it to Kristy.

Speaking of which, can you guess who thought of the idea of the Baby-sitters Club to begin with? Right. It came to Kristy a long time ago, on a day when her mom was frantically trying to get a baby-sitter. Back then, Mrs. Thomas was a single parent, raising

Kristy and her three brothers. Kristy watched her mom make phone call after phone call, and no one was available. Then, bingo! The idea sponge went to work. Why not have one central number, Kristy thought — like an agency with available baby-sitters? She started planning the Baby-sitters Club, and the rest is history.

In case you were worried, Kristy's mom isn't a single parent anymore. Let me explain. Ready to hear a real-life fairy tale? Here goes.

Once upon a time, Kristy lived with her dad and mom and her older brothers, Charlie and Sam. When she was about six, two things happened. First another brother was born (David Michael). Then Mr. Thomas decided to split. No explanations, no nothing. He just ran off to California. And divorced Mrs. Thomas, and married someone else. (Needless to say, Kristy doesn't like to talk about him, and I don't blame her.) Things got tough for awhile, but Mrs. Thomas managed to hold down a job and bring up four kids. Then, a few years later, she started dating this nice guy named Watson Brewer, who was also divorced and happened to have two kids of his own, Karen and Andrew. He also happened to be a millionaire and he lived in a mansion across town. Mrs. Thomas and Watson got married, the Thorn-

ases moved into the mansion, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Isn't that a romantic story? If s all true, too, especially the mansion part. It's huge! Now the Brewer/Thomas family includes Emily Michelle, adopted from Vietnam; Nannie, Kristy's grandmother; a dog; a cat; and two goldfish. Karen and Andrew live there only every other weekend, but even with them around there's still plenty of room in the house.

The mansion is pretty far from Claudia's house, but Charlie drives Kristy to our meetings (he's seventeen).

There's a good reason our meetings are at Claudia's. She's the only one of us who has her own phone. What's Claudia like? In many ways, the opposite of Kristy. While Kristy's super-practical, Claudia is a real artist. She can paint, sculpt, draw, and design jewelry. While Kristy's brimming with ideas, Claudia's brimming with . . . junk food! And I mean brimming. She has stuff hidden in every nook and cranny. Ring Dings, Milky Ways, pretzels, chips — if it's bad for you, she has it. And she loves to share it with us. (As you can guess, BSC meetings are not dietetic.) Another way she's different from Kristy is in style. Kristy's short and tomboyish, and she usually

dresses in jeans or sweats with running shoes. She hardly ever wears makeup, and she lets her long brown hair hang straight. Claudia, on the other hand, has probably never even heard of the word plain. To start with, she's gorgeous — long, silky black hair and big, almond-shaped eyes (she's Japanese-American). Her skin has not one blemish, even with all that junk food. And the way she dresses makes her look even more stunning.

At that meeting, for example, she was wearing these sharply creased, pastel-green, cuffed shorts; a wild Hawaiian shirt tied at her waist, with vibrant colors that perfectly picked up the green; and sandals with crisscrossing ankle straps to her knees. Her hair was swept to one side and held in place with a long, fake-flowered barrette that looked like a Hawaiian lei.

And, as usual, she was scrounging around under her mattress for some new treat. "Let's see, they're in here somewhere," she said, pulling out a Nancy Drew book and throwing it aside. By the way, those books are her other addiction. She has to hide them and the junk food because her parents don't approve of either. (They're very strict, and it doesn't help that Claud's sister, Janine, is a real live genius who does everything right.)

"Here they are!" Claudia cried out, pulling a bag of malted milk balls from under her pillow. "Who wants some?"

Claudia is our vice-president, mostly because it's her room and her phone. She doesn't really have official duties, like, say Mary Anne.

Mary Anne is our secretary. She keeps the record book, which has a list of all clients' addresses and phone numbers, plus a detailed appointment calendar. As soon as a client calls, Mary Anne checks to see who is available. That means she has to keep track of all the sitting jobs and all of our schedules — my ballet classes, Claudia's art classes, Mallory's orthodontist appointments, any family trips . . .it's enough to make your head spin. But for Mary Anne, it's easy. She's incredibly organized. I think she picks that up from her dad, who is a neatness freak. (No one knows what Mary Anne's mom was like, because she died when Mary Anne was little.)

Maybe her mom was caring and shy and sensitive. That's the way Mary Anne is. She cries at anything — sad movies, deaths of famous people . . . Dawn says she once almost cried when she saw an abandoned Christmas tree in someone's garbage last January. That is sensitive!

Guess who is best friends with Mary Anne

the Shy one? Kristy the Loud Mouth (don't tell Kristy I said that). They even look alike. Mary Anne is petite and has brown hair and brown eyes. She's not a tomboy, though, and she dresses with a kind of neat, preppy style. She used to look much different — little-girl clothes and pigtails, right up through seventh grade. That's because Mr. Spier took a long time to realize Mary Anne had a mind of her own. Thank goodness he remarried. That really loosened him up, and Mary Anne was "allowed" to grow up. In fact, she's the only one of us who has a steady boyfriend. His name is Logan Bruno and Mary Anne thinks he looks exactly like her favorite movie star, Cam Geary.

Oh, I didn't say who Mary Anne's dad remarried: Dawn Schafer's mom! That's another romantic story. Mr. Spier and Mrs. Schafer both grew up in Stoneybrook. They used to date, but they ended up marrying other people. The Schafers lived in California for years, but then Dawn's parents divorced. Mrs. Schafer moved back to Stoneybrook with Dawn and her younger brother Jeff (Jeff's not here anymore; he decided to move back to California with his dad). They moved into this big, old farmhouse that was built in the 1700s. (Know what? It was once a stop on the Underground Railroad, which was an escape

route to the North for African-American slaves.) Then Mrs. Schafer and Mr. Spier met again, realized they still loved each other, and got married! Mary Anne and her dad moved into Dawn's house — and they lived happily ever after.

Dawn has this long, blonde (almost white) hair, blue eyes, and freckles. She's a real individual, and does what she wants to do. Like eating only health foods — vegetables, fruits, tofu, whole grains, sprouts. She never even gets tempted to eat Claudia's candy. I mean it. Instead, she'll eat whole wheat, unsalted sesame crackers or some other gross thing. To tell you the truth, she has the perfect diet for a ballerina, but I could never stick to it. I mean, I watch my weight, but give me a juicy hamburger over a tofu salad anytime.