Ann Martin: Claudia And The Sad Goodbye

"What are they for?" asked Carolyn Arnold.

"Those balloons — after we blow them up — will be the puppets' heads. Well, the forms for the heads," I said. "Then we'll cover them with papier-mâché, then — "

"Claudia! My Claudia!" called a voice.

It was Mimi. She was standing at the top of the steps to the basement. What was she doing there? She wasn't even supposed to be out of bed.

"Mimi!" I called back. "Don't try to come down the stairs." Where was the rest of my family? I knew Mom was at the grocery store. But what about Dad and Janine? Why weren't they keeping an eye on Mimi?

"Don't come down," I said again, but it was too late. Mimi was already halfway down the stairs, and not even holding onto the banister. Had she simply forgotten. how teetery she could be?

"Why can't she come down?" asked Myriah.

There was ho time to answer her question. Mary Anne was dashing up the staircase to Mimi.

It seemed easier to help her the rest of the way down than to try to turn her around and get her back upstairs. So that's what Mary Anne did in her gentle, understanding way. She led Mimi to the art class.

"Claudia and I are giving art lessons," she said. "The kids are making puppets."

"I'm going to make a.. grrr … monster!" said Jamie.

I took over with Mimi and walked her around the table. "We're making papier-mâché," I told her.

"See," said Mimi, nodding wisely.

Since Mimi seemed okay, and the kids who knew her well — Myriah, Gabbie, and Jamie — liked her a lot, I decided it would be okay to let her stay for the class.

"I'll get you a seat, Mimi," I said, eyeing a lawn chair that was folded up in a corner of the basement.

I was struggling to pull the chair out from between the wall and a bicycle, when I heard Mary Anne scream.

I spun around.

Mimi was slithering to the floor at the foot of the stairs. She had fainted again. Luckily she didn't hit her head or anything. The kids looked on in horror, especially Come, who kept glancing from Mimi to me. I think she knew somehow that Mimi and I were very close.

And Jamie cried, "Mimi!" and ran to her.

But Mary Anne caught him in her arms and held him in a bear hug for a few seconds to keep him from going near her.

Everything was happening at once. Mary Anne put Corrie, the oldest of the kids, in charge of Jamie. Then she ran to Mimi's side while I dashed upstairs to find my father. As I reached the top step, I could hear Mary Anne say, "Corrie, can you be my helper and take all the kids over to the other side of the room? Ask Jamie to teach you guys his funny song about the big blue frog. Myriah, you help sign to Matt, or he won't understand."

It was amazing. Every kid followed every direction. I know because they were singing and signing, "I'm in love with a big blue frog," when I came back down to the basement with my father.

I had found him in the garage, cleaning up an oil leak from one of our cars. He'd had no

idea that Mimi was out of bed, much less dressed and in the basement.

When I found him, I'd cried, "Dad! Dad!" (In my panic, I think I might even have called him "Daddy" like I used to do when I was little.) "Come quick! Right now! Mimi's in the basement and she fainted again."

Dad jumped up in a flash, leaving the oily rag on the floor of the garage. He took the steps down to the basement two at a time, something I'd never seen him do before. When he knelt by Mimi's side (she was still out cold) he began giving orders.

"Claudia, call the paramedics, then find your sister. Mary Anne, take the children home."

He might have sounded cross, but he wasn't. Not really. Just a little panicky.

Mary Anne wisely led the kids out our back basement steps, to our side yard. This turned out to be a good decision for two reasons. One, the children didn't have to step over Mimi. Two, they were so fascinated by climbing the flight of dank cement steps, watching Mary Anne push apart the heavy double doors, and emerging into our yard, that they nearly forgot about Mimi.

For the next half hour or so, two things were

going on at once. Mary Anne was dealing with the children, and I was dealing with Mimi. I'll tell you what was going on with Mimi first.

I did just what Dad had told me to do. I ran to the phone in the kitchen and called the paramedics. I was getting pretty good at that. Then I ran through the house, shouting, "Janine! Janine! JANINE!"

"What?" she called. Her voice came from upstairs. She was probably in her room, working on that computer of hers.

"Come downstairs! Mimi's sick again! The ambulance is on its way!"

Sometimes you can't pry Janine away from her computer with a crowbar, but when I told her about Mimi, she came flying out of her room as fast as Dad had left the oil leak in the garage. Then we raced to Mimi.

When Dad saw us coming he said briskly, "You two stay with her, I'll go wait for the ambulance. I think I'll tell the paramedics to use the stairs Mary Anne and the kids used. It'll be easier."

Janine and I stayed with Mimi. I covered her with a blanket that was folded up on the washing machine, and we held her hands and talked to her, just in case she could hear us.

When the paramedics arrived, they lifted

her gently onto the stretcher and carried her up the stairs. I kept waiting for the stretcher to tilt and Mimi to slide off, but somehow the men kept it level.

Meanwhile, Mary Anne and all the children had walked first to Jamie's house and dropped him off, explaining to his parents what had happened. Then they walked back to our neighborhood, where they took Myriah and Gabbie home. Finally, Mary Anne waited outside her house with the remaining kids. It was about time for them to be picked up, and since Mary Anne was just across the street from us, she knew that the parents (or Haley Braddock) would see the children at her house and not come bother us.

However, the children saw the paramedics carry Mimi around from the back of my house and into the ambulance. Mary Anne was glad Jamie and the Perkins girls were at their houses, because they would have been upset. The Arnold twins and Matt were merely curious. But Corrie began to cry.

Mary Anne put her arm around her. "It's going to be okay," she said.

Corrie cried harder. "Claudia must be very sad," she replied.

And Mary Anne thought again that Corrie

seemed to be getting awfully attached to me. She had plenty of time to think about it, too, because it was a good forty-five minutes later, long after the ambulance had left, and Marilyn, Carolyn, and Matt had been picked up, that Mrs. Addison finally arrived.

Mary Anne considered discussing Corrie's and my relationship with me — but not then. Only when things got better. She knew I had plenty to worry about besides Corrie.

Chapter 6.

Guess who rode to the hospital in the ambulance with Mimi? I did. Dad decided to take the car, and Janine stayed behind so she could tell our mother what had happened as soon as Mom came home. Janine offered to go with Mimi, but I really wanted to and there was no time for arguing.

I've been in an ambulance before. The last time, I was the patient. I had broken my leg badly. But this time, I was just a passenger. Sometimes the paramedics make the passenger ride up front next to the driver. Sometimes you can beg to. sit in back with the patient, which is what I did, and again, no one took the time to argue with me.