Ann Martin - Hello, Mallory

"Yup. Come on inside." I figured that a washing machine could only be in a laundry room or a basement, and I knew the Newtons didn't have a laundry room, so I showed the man to the cellar.

I had just turned on the light for him when the phone rang. Still holding Lucy, I dashed upstairs to answer it. As the voice on the other end was telling me she'd dialed a wrong number, I looked out the kitchen window into the backyard — just in time to see Jamie tumble off one of the swings.

" 'Bye!" I said hurriedly to the woman on the phone. "Okay, Lucy-Goose. Hang on. We're going for a ride!"

I tore outside and ran to Jamie, who was crying loudly. When I reached him, I set Lucy carefully on the grass.

"Where do you hurt?" I asked Jamie.

"My kneeeee!" he wailed, pointing to his right knee.

I rolled up the leg of his jeans. "Surprise!" I said. "What do you know, Jamie? No scrape. Just a bump, I guess." (His knee looked fine.)

Myriah and Gabbie crowded in for a look at the wound. The three of them began comparing stories about injuries. Jamie stopped crying.

I rocked back on my heels and started toward Lucy, who was sitting happily in the grass.

"Good job," said a voice behind me.

I jumped.

"Sorry," said Claudia. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I got back here just in time to see how you handled all this. You did fine. I guess you showed the repairman where the machine is?"

"Sure, no problem," I said casually, but I was shaking inside. Thank goodness she thought everything had gone well. "Jamie's — Jamie's fall was an accident," I added quickly. "I mean, I had to go inside with the Ace repairman and —"

"Don't worry about it," said Claudia. "Accidents do happen. We all know that. Even the best baby-sitter can't prevent every accident."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well," said Claudia, "we'll have to make a

there s any doubt

a lot! That's great!"

"Goo-goo/' agreed Lucy.

Claudia and 1 laughed. I thought about Jessi. I was posmv would become a club member too _

n«b member. That sounded fantastic. ,

We had made it.

About the Author

ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.

Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks are Bummer Summer, Inside Out, Stage Fright, Me and Katie (the Pest), and all the other books in the Babysitters Club series.

She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.