Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 094

When I returned to the living room, Dana looked even paler. I could see the delicate blue veins at the sides of her temples. She had curled up on the loveseat and closed her eyes. "Come on," I said. "Get up. We're going to see a doctor." The fight seemed to have gone out of Dana. Limply she let me help her on with her jacket. "Adam!" I called. "Adam, come down here." Outside, a car horn honked. Looking out the window, I saw Mrs. Kleinsasser sitting behind the wheel of her blue compact station wagon. "Hurry, Adam!" I yelled, then ran up the stairs to get him.

When Adam was downstairs, I tossed his jacket over his shoulders and hurried the two kids out the door.

Mrs. Kleinsasser drove us to Dr. Johanssen's house. "Do you think we should go to the hospital instead?" she asked.

"Let's try Dr. Johanssen first," I suggested.

Charlotte answered the door when we arrived. "Mom!" she called. Dr. Johanssen hurried out of the kitchen. I introduced Mrs. Kleinsasser, then explained Dana's problem.

"Let's have a look at you," Dr. Johanssen told Dana, gently guiding her toward her study.

Char showed us her new video game while Mrs. Kleinsasser, Adam, and I waited in the living room. In half an hour, Dana and Dr. Johanssen returned. The color had come back to Dana's cheeks and she looked a whole lot better.

"She'll be all right now," said Dr. Johanssen. "Stacey, please tell Mrs. Cheplin to call me when she gets in. Dana's insulin dosage will probably have to be adjusted. I'm going to call her doctor, Dr. Hernandez, and leave a message for him to call me as soon as he returns." "Thanks a million, Dr. Johanssen," I said, feeling incredibly relieved.

"You're welcome. You did the right thing to bring her here, Stacey," Dr. Johanssen told me.

"Thanks." We rode home and Mrs. Kleinsasser dropped us off outside the house. "Would you like me to come in?" she offered.

"No, I see Mrs. Cheplin's car in the driveway," I said. "Thank you very much." When we entered the house, Mrs. Cheplin came out of the kitchen to meet us. She was red-faced with anger. "What happened here today?" she barked at me. I opened my mouth to tell her but she obviously didn't want an answer.

"When I came home the door was unlocked. Look at this place! Potato peelings all over the table. Adam's room is a wreck! Supper isn't even started!" "Mrs. Cheplin, we had an - "I began.

"I don't care what you had! There is no excuse for this! I knew you were too young to handle this job. I should have listened to my instincts. They told me to hire an older girl. Nonetheless, I can't believe you would - " "Mrs. Cheplin!" I said, raising my voice. "Would you please listen!" She widened her eyes, but she didn't say anything.

"I had to rush out because Dana's blood sugar was too low. I asked Mrs. Kleinsasser to drive her to my friend Dr. Johanssen's house." Mrs. Cheplin turned pale. "Dana, how do you feel?" "Fine now," Dana answered.

"Did you have a snack when you came home?" "She had an orange and an apple," I said. "Dr. Johanssen wants you to call her. She thinks Dana's insulin dosage might need to be changed. I have her number." As I spoke, I wrote down the number (which I knew by heart since I baby-sit for Char a lot) on the memo pad in the front hallway.

"Stacey, I'm sorry," said Mrs. Cheplin. "I had no idea." I was too angry to accept her apology. How dare she speak to me like that after I'd worked like crazy to comply with her stupid list and taken good care of her kids at the same time. I was furious.

"I'm late for my meeting," I said, gathering my books. " 'Bye." Chapter 12.

It rained all day Tuesday, washing away the last of the snow. Logan was home baby-sitting for his five-year-old brother Hunter, and his ten-year-old sister, Kerry.

"I knew something was up with Kerry when I found her sitting in the linen closet whispering into the cordless phone," he told us at Wednesday's meeting. (He decided to attend the meeting since he was walking Mary Anne over to Claudia's anyway.) "What's with the kids and the secret phone calls lately?" Kristy wondered aloud.

"We found out," Mary Anne told her. "And wait until you hear." "You won't believe it," Logan added.

Logan told us he wasn't paying too much attention at first to Kerry and her mysterious phone calls. He figured she was just being silly with her friends. He sat down with Hunter at the family's new computer to fool around with a CD-Rom program they'd just bought.

He was busily zooming around a "virtual" road when the doorbell rang. Logan handed Hunter the computer mouse and ran to the door.

Opening the door, Logan looked out on the rainy day but didn't see anyone. Then, he glanced down and saw a soggy envelope struck under the doormat.

Logan was pretty sure he knew what it was. This wasn't the first time that week that an envelope had been delivered by some ring-and-run phantom. Here's what the letter said.

Crumpling the note, he tossed it into the wastebasket and returned to Hunter at the computer. "Who was it?" Hunter asked as his "virtual" sportscar crashed into a "virtual" brick wall.

"Just some idiot playing a joke," Logan said lightly, taking back the mouse.

"Huh?" "Never mind." Logan laughed. "What's the score?" While Logan continued playing, he wondered about the letters he'd been receiving. Who was sending them? And why? He had no idea. He tried to remember if he'd made any kids mad while baby-sitting, but he hadn't even been sitting much lately.

About five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. This time Logan was in no mood to get up and answer it. (Besides, he was in the process of beating his previous score.) "Kerry!" he bellowed. "Kerry, get the door!" Kerry popped up from behind the living room sofa still clutching the cordless phone. "You don't have to shout," she said huffily. "I'm going." When Kerry didn't return in nearly five minutes, Logan assumed one of her friends had been at the door. But then the responsible sitter in him surfaced and he decided he'd better check on her. "Take over for me," he told Hunter as he handed him the mouse once again.

"Is this my score now?" Hunter asked enthusiastically.

Logan hesitated for a moment. "Uh . . . yeah . . . sure. It's yours." Just as he stood up, Kerry came into the room. "There are some people outside to see you," she said in a strangely superior tone.

"What people?" Logan asked, frowning.

"People who have something to say to you." Logan shot Kerry a confused, questioning look and headed for the front door. When he opened it, he came face-to-face with ten of the kids we baby-sit for, and they were all scowling furiously at him. (Even Dana Cheplin was there. Apparently she's a friend of Vanessa's.) "What's up, guys?" Logan asked.

"That's what we came to ask you!" said Vanessa dramatically.

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked.

"Oh, sure, like you don't know," Haley Braddock scoffed.

Claire Pike stepped forward, her arms folded tightly. "You two-dimer!" she scolded.

"What?" asked Logan.

"That's two-timer," Nicky corrected his sister.

"Two-timer?" Logan echoed in bewilderment.

Just then, Mary Anne came up the walk. Logan was glad to see her. Maybe she knew what was going on.

"What's all this?" Mary Anne asked when she reached the front door.

"I was hoping you knew," Logan said.

Jenny Prezzioso and Margo Pike ran to Mary Anne and put their arms around her. "Poor Mary Anne," said Jenny.

"Poor, sweet, trusting Mary Anne," Margo agreed, gazing up at Mary Anne with wide, pity-filled eyes.

Logan and Mary Anne exchanged glances of complete bewilderment. What was going on?

Haley stepped up to Mary Anne and took her hand. "Logan has a confession to make.

It won't be easy for you, but you have all of us to lean on." "Th-thanks," Mary Anne said.