Ann Martin - Dawn On The Coast

I was the one who first discovered Nicky's hiding place. And when I found him, we had had a pretty good heart-to-heart.

"You miss Dawn?" Kristy asked.

Nicky nodded. "Will she be back soon?"

"At the end of the week," Kristy said.

Nicky heaved a big sigh.

"I don't know if I can last," he said.

Kristy laughed and gave him a hug.

"Come on," she said. "We better get going."

Back at the Pikes' house, things were as hectic as before. The only difference was, Mrs. Pike had come home.

"There's my Nicholas," she smiled.

She gave her son a quick kiss on the cheek and kneaded his slumping shoulders.

"You didn't get a haircut/' Kristy noticed.

"No time/' said Mrs. Pike. "Guess I'll have to call you again."

She paid Kristy and Mallory and left to check the backyard.

Hearing about the Pikes and reading Kristy's postcard got me thinking about the Baby-sitters Club and all the other big jobs we take on. "No job too big, no job too crazy" — that should be our motto. A lot of times it even seems the more chaotic, the more fun. In a way, I'm kind of proud of that. Whenever a problem has cropped up, we've pulled a solution from somewhere, out of our hats if we had to.

Listen to me. I sound like a testimonial.

Of course, the P.S. on Kristy's card helped. So Nicky Pike missed me, huh? Well, what do you know. . . . The truth was, I sort of missed him, too.

Chapter 13.

A lecture on humor? Oh, give me a break. How could Mom be falling for Trip-Man? That was exactly the problem with him. He'd be just the type to go to a lecture about humor. That's because he has no sense of it himself. Compare him with Dad. Dad is fun and funny. The Trip-Man is a bore.

I got the postcard from Mom on Wednesday, and no, I still hadn't made up my mind what to do. That wasn't the only postcard that came for me in the mail. There was also one from Jessi.

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Well, what a haul in the mail. You can see why it was hard for me to make up my mind. My mom's postcard got me all agitated, but that got me thinking. I certainly did feel involved in the whole Trip-Man thing. I wanted to run right back to Connecticut so I could keep my eye on the situation. Did I want the Trip-Man marrying my mother? Moving into our farmhouse? No way!

Then, of course, Jessi's postcard ... I never thought of it before, but she and I really were in very similar situations. Of course, Jessi went back to a neighborhood where everyone is black, and I went back to one where everyone is ... well, blond. I thought of all my friends in the Baby-sitters Club. We all were very different — our backgrounds, the way we look, our interests. There was something very nice about that. Maybe Mary Anne doesn't read all the ghost stories that I happen to like, but

what did that matter? And Claudia — she does eat a lot of junk food, all right, but she draws beautifully. I remembered the slumber party they had given me before I left. I pictured Claudia sitting on her sleeping bag, sketching Jessi, whose legs were stretched long, like a real ballerina's. This sounds corny, but the scene was like an advertisement for the U.N. or something. Different kinds of people with different interests, all getting along beautifully. (Okay, getting along most of the time.)

I headed over to Sunny's to spend the afternoon. I decided to talk with her about my dilemma.

"Dawn!" she squealed when I told her. "You're going to stay in California!"

"I didn't say that," I said defensively. "I said I was thinking about it."

"What's there to think about?" said Sunny. She picked up the California/Connecticut list that I had brought along with me. "It's all right here on paper. The vote is in."

"It's not that simple," I said. "Different things on the list have different weights."

"Okay," she said, looking down the list. "Your dad and Jeff. They balance your mom."

Well, sort of. How could I ever rate something like that?

"And the We V Kids Club balances the

Baby-sitters Club," Sunny went on.

"Maybe not," I said carefully.

"Dawn, you told me yourself that you love how relaxed the club is here."

"Yeah."

That's what I said, but what I thought was the We V Kids Club is not really as busy or as involved or active somehow as the Babysitters Club. Of course, I couldn't say that to Sunny's face. Instead, I just sort of shrugged my shoulders.

"Okay, another item," said Sunny. "Sunny (and others) versus Mary Anne (and others). I guess that balances, right?"

"Right," I said, halfheartedly. Was Sunny really as good a friend now as Mary Anne was? And really, I had five other friends in the Babysitters Club. Six, counting Stacey. I was much closer with all of them than I was with Jill and Maggie. Same with the kids I baby-sat for. Did Clover and Daffodil balance out all the kids in Stoneybrook? The Pikes, Jamie and Lucy Newton, the Perkins girls, Kristy's brothers and sister . . .

"Okay," said Sunny. "Here we go. The sun. The beach. Healthy foods. An organized household."

One by one she ticked off all the pros for California.

"Dawn, it's obvious. You're a California girl," she said.

"I know."

"And a California girl belongs in California."

I felt my face tighten. All of a sudden I didn't feel like discussing the subject anymore.

"You know what?" I said. "Let's drop this. I think it's better if I think about this whole thing myself."

"Okay," said Sunny. She looked a little taken aback.

That evening, when I went home for dinner, Dad was waiting to talk to me.

"Well, Sunshine," he said. "Is the verdict in?"

"Oh, Dad, not yet," I moaned.

Dad wrinkled up his forehead in concern.

"I know it's a big decision," he said, "but you're scheduled to fly back on Saturday. If you're really thinking about staying, I'll have to talk with your mother, well, the latest by tomorrow. We'll have to cancel the plane reservation, make other arrangements."

"Can I let you know tomorrow?" I asked. "Just one more day?"

Dad paused a long time.

"Oh, Sunshine," he said. "I don't want to influence your decision. You know what I would love, but there're many considerations

here. Take the night to decide, but I really do have to know by tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks, Daddy," I said. I gave him the biggest hug ever.

Dad threw his arm around me and we walked into the kitchen to sit down for yet another terrific meal. The sun was streaming in through the skylight and the terra cotta tiles were cool and sparkling under our feet. (Mrs. Bruen had just given them one of her good moppings.)

After dinner Jeff and I helped with the dishes and then Dad brought a deck of cards out back. The three of us sat down at the picnic table for a game of Crazy Eights.

From where I sat I could see Clover and Daffodil next door, running around their yard barefoot, playing tag. I could smell the smokey scent of grilled fish coming from the barbecue of our other neighbors. A soft breeze rustled the skirt of my sundress against my warm, bare legs.

It'd be nice if Mom were here, I found myself thinking. If she were a part of things, playing cards with me, puttering around the patio. And wouldn't it be great if the doorbell rang and it was Mary Anne, just dropping by for a visit. What I wanted was to be able to share all the things I loved with all the people I loved. I imagined Nicky Pike out here holing up in a

new, California hiding place. Maybe in the crawl space between the bushes. Maybe in the cave down by the creek.

That night, as I lay in bed, I made my decision. I knew what I had to do, where I had to be. I fell asleep hugging my pillow. I slept the whole night soundly, undisturbed.

Chapter 14.

Thursday I woke up after Dad had already gone to work. I spent the day riding bikes with Jeff and came home to Nicky's funny note. Of course, I knew what I was going to do and by that point I was bursting to tell.