Ann Martin: Claudia And the Clue in the Photograph

Anyway, here's the scene: most of the people involved in the Day in the Life of Stoneybrook project were gathered at Mary Anne's house, around her big dining room table. Jessi had brought Charlotte and Becca over, along with Buddy and Suzi Barrett. Kristy had come with Jamie Newton, and also Matt and Haley Brad-dock. And Mal had brought Vanessa and Nicky.

The Spier-Schafer dining room table was crowded, to say the least.

And it was covered — covered — with mounds of pictures. Every photo we'd taken that Sunday was sitting on that table, and there was no room left for anything else. Jessi took one look at the pile of photos and the crowd of kids, and, as she told me later, "I wanted to turn and run out of the room." She had a feeling, right from the start, that it wasn't going to be easy to sort out that mess.

"Dawn's going to love these!" said Nicky, holding up a handful of pictures of the triplets having their hair cut. "We have to put all of them in the book."

"No way!" said Suzi. "If we put all those in, we won't have room for these other good ones." She waved a handful of pictures at Nicky.

Charlotte and Becca were giggling and

shrieking as they looked through the pictures of themselves with "moose ears" and "rabbit ears." Jamie was looking over their shoulders and jumping up and down as he giggled, too.

Matt Braddock was signing enthusiastically to Mary Anne, who kept shaking her head and signing, "Whoa, slow down, Matt."

Haley interpreted. "He says these pictures we took of the picnic are the best ones, and they should be in the front of the book. And I agree with him. Ours are the only pictures. that don't have thumbs in them, and none of them are out of focus."

"Hey, what are you trying to say?" asked Buddy. "Are you telling me that our pictures are no good?" He looked at the picnic shots. "And anyway, why would Dawn want to see a whole bunch of pictures of kids she doesn't even know?"

Haley started to translate for Matt, and then gave up when he started to look mad. She folded her arms and just sat there, glowering at Buddy.

Jessi exchanged glances with the other sitters. "Okay," she said, speaking loudly so she could be heard over the din, "let’s chill out for a second. We have a lot of work to do here — "

"And we won't be able to do it if we're fighting," finished Kristy.

"Do you guys want to make this book or not?" asked Mal.

"Think how much Dawn will love it, if we ever finish it," put in Mary Anne.

"We know," said Suzi. "But it has to be fair. We have to decide how we're going to do it."

"That's right," said Jessi. "So let’s start talking, instead of arguing. Okay?"

"I think we should put the pictures in chrontological order," said Charlotte, very seriously.

"Chrontological?" asked Buddy. "What the heck does that mean?"

"I think Charlotte means chronological order," said Jessi. "Like, in the order you took them. Starting with the first ones, and going on from there. Not a bad idea, Char," she added, "in fact, I think that’s the way A Day in the Life of Americans put together."

"But do we put the ones I took first?" asked Nicky. "Or the ones old Suzi-goozey took first?"

Suzi made a face. "Don't call me names, Nicky Pike," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"All right, all right," said Kristy, frowning at both of them. "Here's another question. Should we write captions for the pictures, or just let them speak for themselves?"

"Captions would be nice," said Mary Anne.

"And I'll write them all!" said Vanessa.

"They can be in rhyme, so the whole album will be like a wonderful, long poem." Ignoring the gagging noises Nicky started to make, she stared off into space dreamily, as if she were already beginning to compose.

"Hmm ..." said Mal, looking a little doubtful. "Well, maybe not every picture needs a rhyming caption."

"What are we going to do about this?" Becca asked suddenly, picking up the photo album Mary Anne had bought to hold the pictures. "I mean, it’s kind of yucky-looking."

Mary Anne looked hurt for a second, but then she nodded. "You're right," she said. The album was powder-blue fake leather, with gold trim around the edges.

"We can make a cover for it," said Haley. "You know, with artwork and a title and all our names on it and everything."

"Like a real book" said Jamie. "I have lots of books. I can help make the cover!"

"You1 can't even write yet," Vanessa reminded him. "I have the best handwriting here," she added. "I can make the cover after I do the captions."

"You're not the boss!" screeched Jamie. He looked as if he were about to cry.

Suddenly, Jessi had had enough. "That’s it!" she said, standing up and glaring around the table at everyone. "This is supposed to be a

fun project. Let’s stop fighting, and start working." While she was watching the others squabble, she'd had an idea. "Here's what I think we should do," she began. Quickly, she outlined her plan.

Ten minutes later, the scene in Mary Anne's dining room was very different. The kids had broken up into groups, and each group had-a task. Mary Anne was supervising Haley, Buddy, and Nicky, who were in charge of picking out which pictures should go into the book. They worked at the table without too much arguing, since Jessi had been smart enough to pick one person from each picture-taking group. Right away they picked out a pile of "must-haves" to pass on to the others.

Becca and Charlotte sat at the other end of the table, working at putting the pictures into some kind of order, as Kristy offered occasional suggestions. Vanessa and Suzi made themselves comfortable at another section of the table, thinking up and writing captions for the pictures — with a little help from Mal. And Matt and Jamie spread out on the floor with all the art supplies Mary Anne could round up. They looked over the construction paper and glue, paints, crayons, and bits of fabric and yarn (all laid out on top of newspaper, of course), and started making a cover

for the album. Jessi watched to make sure they didn't make too much of a mess.

Finally, the project was under way. And an hour later, when Sharon (Mary Anne's stepmother and Dawn's mom, in case you forgot) poked her head into the dining room, she smiled and said, "You kids work so well together!"

The four BSC members glanced at each other and tried to hide their smiles. Sharon went on. "It's just wonderful that you're doing this for Dawn," she said. "She'll adore it. And as I told Mary Anne, I'll be glad to help out by packing it up and mailing it on Monday."

After we'd thanked her and she left, Mary Anne whispered to Jessi, "I'll make sure it actually arrives at the post office. You know how she can be. That package might end up in the oven!" They both giggled. Dawn's mom is a little absentminded at times.

The work was going well — in fact, the album was almost done — when the peaceful scene was broken by an argument between Nicky, Haley, and Buddy. "There's only room for one more picture," said Haley.

"And this is it!" shouted Buddy. He waved a picture of himself in his Krushers T-shirt, on first base.

"No way!" said Nicky. "What about this one where Adam is about to kick the barber?"

"You guys, you guys,” sighed Kristy. "You've been doing so well. Don't spoil it by fighting. How about if you let everybody else vote on it?"

The three of them agreed, and Kristy took a quick poll. Unfortunately, when the votes were counted up, the result was a tie.

"We need a tie-breaker. Call somebody else and ask them!" said Buddy. "One of the other sitters. They'll know which is best."

And that's how I ended up taking a break from my studying. Stacey, Shannon, and Logan were out, and I was the only BSC member left to call. I was happy to do the job, since the numbers on the pages of my math book were beginning to run together by that time.