Ann Martin: Claudia And the Clue in the Photograph

Anyway, Shannon walked in right behind Mary Anne that afternoon, and I barely had time to raise my camera again. But fortunately, she stopped in the doorway for a second and glanced around the room. Snap!

I had her. Shannon has Monde hair, a ski-jump nose, and a mischievous twinkle in her eye. But she also has a serious side — she's one of the best students at her private school

— and it would show in that snapshot. None of us knew Shannon too well until she started to come to meetings more regularly. She lives in Kristy's new neighborhood and, as I mentioned, she doesn't go to SMS. But now that we know her, we all like her a lot. Plus, she has two little sisters, so she's great with kids, an important requirement for a BSC member.

Shannon had barely reached her seat on the floor near the foot of my bed, when I heard more footsteps, plus a gale of giggles, coming from the stairway. I aimed the camera quickly, and shot our junior officers Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike as, still giggling, they squeezed through the door together. Snap! Snap!

Those two pictures would tell a lot. For one thing, both girls were in both pictures, and that's typical. Jessi and Mal stick together like glue, since they're best friends. Here's what else the photos would tell: that they're a little younger than the rest of the BSC members (we're thirteen, they're^ eleven), that Mal has curly hair and glasses (you wouldn't see her braces in the picture, since they're the clear kind, and you'd miss the fact that her hair is reddish-brown) and that Jessi is African-American, with the prettiest coal-dark eyes. You'd see the pile of books Mal was carrying and guess that she loves to read. (So does Jessi. Horse stories are their favorites.) The

sketch pad on top of the pile might give you a due that Mal is a talented artist. And you'd know that Jessi has studied ballet for years, by the way she performed a quick but very graceful plie (that’s French for, um, bend-the-knee) for the camera.

So, once again, I think I did pretty well at capturing those two. Here are some other things that wouldn't show up in the pictures: Jessi has a sweet younger sister named Becca and an adorable baby brother called Squirt (his real name is John Philip Ramsey, Jr.). She also has an Aunt Cecelia, who lives with the family. Mal has seven siblings: Adam, Jordan, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire. Whew! Just saying their names makes me tired.

As soon as Jessi and Mal arrived that day, Kristy called the meeting to order. And as soon as Kristy called the meeting to order, the phone began to ring. And ring. And ring. Since it’s summer and all the kids are out of school, parents need us more than ever.

As each call came in, Mary Anne checked the record book to see who was free. Finally, at five minutes to six, the phone stopped ringing, and she gave a huge sigh. "Phew!" she said, looking over the schedule. "We are booked!"

Kristy nodded, smiling. "Cool," she said.

"Except for one thing," said Mary Anne. "I hope we can make some time for a special project. I sat for the Barrett kids yesterday, and they were talking about that video we made for Dawn. Remember? Anyway, you know how crazy they are about her. They really miss her, and they want to make something else for her. Something that will make her homesick for Stoneybrook, so she'll come back sooner. Buddy is dying to have her back here."

I raised my camera and took another picture of Mary Anne right then, knowing that it would show that Buddy wasn't the only one who wanted Dawn back in Connecticut. Mary Anne had an "I miss Dawn" look all over her.

We tossed around some ideas for a project, but didn't come up with anything that seemed right. We agreed to give it some thought and talk about it again at our next meeting.

"I hope you'll have those pictures you took today to show us then, too," Kristy said to me.

"Absolutely," I said. I couldn't wait to get back into the darkroom and develop the roll I'd just shot. If I could manage it, I'd print up a whole series of pictures and have them displayed by the time everybody came over again. All I had to do was take one last picture,

and I did that as soon as everybody had left. I faced the mirror, held the camera out to one side, and squeezed the shutter. Now I had a complete set (except for Dawn and Logan, of course). A Portrait of the BSC, I'd call it. And the subtitle would be, My Best Friends.

Chapter 3.

Mary Anne's entry in the club notebook goes on and on, but I'll spare you the rest of her gushing. Actually, I was as excited as she was about the idea we hatched that Saturday afternoon. In fact, I was one of the three sitters who were in on thinking it up — but maybe I should start at the beginning.

Mary Anne had a sitting job with Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett that day. (Buddy's eight, Suzi's five, and Marnie's two, and together they can be quite a handful. They used to be known as the Impossible Three.) Like a good BSC member, Mary Anne always arrives at her jobs a little early, so she turned up at the Barretts' house at the same time as Franklin DeWitt. Who's Franklin DeWitt? He's not one of the Founding Fathers, although to me his name always sounds like one I should have remembered for a history test. He is a father, though. A father who has custody of his four kids. And he was going to the Barretts' because he's Mrs. Barrett's boyfriend, and he was picking her up for a date. Mrs. Barrett is a single (divorced) mom.

Mr. DeWitt and Mrs. Barrett seem to be pretty serious about each other these days. Sometimes my friends and I speculate about what it would be like if they got married. The

Brady Bunch would have nothing on the Barrett-DeWitt bunch!

Buddy answered the door when Mr. DeWitt knocked, but instead of saying hello to his mom's boyfriend, Buddy ignored him completely. He ran right past Franklin to Mary Anne. "Mary Anne!" he said. "Did you come up with an idea yet? It has to be a really, really good one!"

Mary Anne, shocked at Buddy's bad manners, was just about to tell Buddy to say hello to Mr. DeWitt, but then Mrs. Barrett did it for her. "Buddy Barrett,'" she began, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Mary Anne told me later that Mrs. Barrett looked gorgeous, as always, this time in a simple white dress with her beautiful chestnut hair flowing loose.

Mrs. Barrett could be a model, honest.

However, as she stood there glaring at Buddy, she looked more mad than anything else. "Can't you say hello to Franklin?" she said. "Where are your manners, young man?"

Buddy hung his head. "Hi, Mr. DeWitt," he said, not meeting Franklin's eyes. "Sorry. It’s just that I had something really important to ask Mary Anne about, and — "

"That’s okay, Buddy," said Mr. DeWitt, smiling. Then he turned to Mrs. Barrett.

"We'd better head out if we want to find good seats."

"We're going to an outdoor concert in Stamford," Mrs. Barrett told Mary Anne, "so you won't be able to reach us. But I left an emergency number on the kitchen table."

"Thanks," said Mary Anne. We always appreciate it when Mrs. Barrett remembers to do things like that. She used to be pretty scatterbrained, but lately she's been trying harder. Maybe it's partly Mr. DeWitt's influence.

Suzy and Marnie came out onto the porch to say good-bye to the grownups, and they and their brother waved as Franklin's car pulled out of the driveway. Mary Anne confessed to me later that Mrs. Barrett’s white dress made her think of weddings, and she actually had a tear in her eye as she watched the two of them drive off.

Mary Anne never misses an opportunity to get sentimental.

"So, how are the DeWitt kids?" she asked Buddy, as soon as she'd composed herself.

"Fine, I guess," said Buddy. "Now what about that idea? You know, for Dawn?"