Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 061

In the dressing room we met up with the rest of our regular class. "How did it go?" asked Katie Beth.

"It was an experience," I said, laughing.

She gave a snort. "I'll bet! An experience I could live without." "No, it was fun, really." As I spoke to Katie Beth, I noticed Mary taking off her leotard. She frowned as she gazed into the mirror. "I am getting to be such a pudge," she fretted.

"You definitely have a few pounds to lose," said Mindy Howard as she joined the conversation. "Get them off and you'll see how much easier it is to do those jumps. Don't you think that's true, Jessi?" "I don't know. I never really - "I began. But just then Carrie came into the dressing room.

"So? Were the kids total monsters?" she asked.

"No, but we sure have our work cut out for us," I replied.

Mary laughed. "You can say that again!" Chapter 4.

Kristy hadn't bargained for two extra kids when she went to her job at the Papadakises'. But she didn't really mind finding Nancy and Karen there playing with Hannie. Since Karen is her stepsister, Kristy was glad to see her. And she knows Nancy very well. The three girls are all seven years old and are practically inseparable, which is why they call themselves the Three Musketeers.

The Papadakises live right across the street from Kristy, so she's the one who usually takes the jobs with them. That day, when Kristy arrived, the kids were already in the middle of a game called "Let's All Come In." It's a making-believe, dress-up game which is supposed to take place in a hotel. As soon as Kristy shut the door behind Mrs. Papadakis they swept her right into their play.

"Hurray!" cried Hannie. "Now Sari doesn't have to be the Bill Capstin anymore." (She meant bell captain.) Kristy laughed when she saw Sari, who is just two, propped up on pillows behind the coffee table. The older girls had plopped a big captain's hat on her head - I guess to make her look official. Sari was busy scribbling on a pad (which was supposed to be the hotel registration book).

Karen plucked the cap from Sari's head.

"Here," she said, handing the cap to Kristy. "Sari was filling in for you, but she's not too good at this game. All she does is mess up the sign-in book and ring the hotel bell." As if Karen's words had reminded her, Sari began smacking the call bell on the coffee table and shouting, "Bell! Bell! Bell!" "See what I mean?" said Karen.

"Well, I'm here to take over now," said Kristy as she sat behind the coffee table. "Sari can be my assistant." Kristy looked around at the kids who were all dressed in costumes. Karen wore a purple satin robe over her regular clothing. Her eyes were smudged with dark eyeshadow and her hair was teased up like a fright-wig. Hannie wore a small hat with a veil, a pair of her mother's shoes, and a lace shawl. Nancy had clipped a long fake blonde braid to her brown hair, and was wearing lots of red lipstick. A length of white tulle was wrapped around her shoulders. "Who's at the hotel today?" Kristy asked.

"Nobody yet," Nancy told her. "We're starting all over now that you're here." "I see the bellhop is on the job," Kristy noted.

Nine-year-old Linny (who is a boy, by the way) was dressed in his father's oversized blazer. "I don't want to be the bellhop, Kristy," he complained. "They said I have to. Do I?" "Why don't you let him be something else?" Kristy suggested to the girls.

"Then who will carry the suitcases?" Hannie asked.

"You don't have any suitcases!" Linny shouted.

"Pretend suitcases!" Hannie shouted back. "Don't you know this is a pretend game?" "I don't want to stand around and carry air," Linny insisted.

"Here's an idea," Kristy interrupted. "Linny, why don't you be the bellhop for the girls, and then you can check in as someone else after they're done." "Okay, I guess," Linny agreed sulkily.

With that crisis solved, the game began. Karen was the first to check in. She stooped over and looked about warily as she pounded on the call bell. "Yes, can I help you?" Kristy asked.

"Don't you know who I am?" Karen replied in a crackly voice.

"Oh, now I do!" Kristy cried. "It's you, Mrs. Mysterious. You look a little different than usual." Karen leaned across the desk to Kristy. "Hannie doesn't have as good costume stuff as Daddy has at his house," she whispered seriously. "I did the best I could." "You look great," Kristy whispered back.

Karen resumed her Mrs. Mysterious character (which is her favorite person to -be in this game). "I'm all worn out," she sighed. "I have just come from meeting with the Addams Family. That family is a scream, if you know what I mean." "I can imagine," Kristy replied. "How did your meeting go?" Karen smiled. "It was wonderful. Morticia served us deviled eggs and finger sandwiches for lunch. The fingernails were very crunchy!" "Eeeewwww!" Hannie and *Nancy giggled together.

"Sign in here," Kristy said, turning to a fresh page in the notebook.

Karen bent over the book and scratched in a large X on the top line. She turned to Linny. "Bellhop, there are my lizard-skin bags," she said, pointing to imaginary suitcases.

Linny sighed and flapped the dangling sleeves of his long jacket as he trudged over to where Karen pointed. He pretended to pick up two suitcases. Then he headed for the stairway.

"Bellhop!" Karen shouted in her Mrs. Mysterious voice.

"What?" Linny asked, annoyed.

"You forgot a bag." Rolling his eyes, Linny went back for the third imaginary lizard-skin suitcase.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Time out," said Kristy, pulling herself up from her seat. She ran to the front door and pushed aside the long curtain covering the narrow, full-length window next to the door. A girl with short curly blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a ski-jump nose stood outside. It was Shannon Kilbourne.

"Hi," Kristy said, opening the door for her.

"I stopped by your house and your grandmother told me you were over here," she explained as she stepped into the hall.

"What's up?" Kristy asked.

Shannon shrugged. "Nothing. I just wanted to say hi and maybe hang out. If that's okay?" "Sure," said Kristy. "As long as you don't mind checking into the weirdest hotel on earth." "What do you mean?" asked Shannon.

"Come on, you'll see," Kristy replied. When they returned to the living room, Sari was once again banging on the bell and Linny stood, pouting, with the jacket thrown on the floor. The girls didn't look too happy, either.

"Linny says he won't be the bellhop," Hannie told Kristy.

"No problem," Kristy said. "I went to the employment agency and got a new bellhop. This is Shannon the bellhop." Shannon cast Kristy a confused look, but she played along. "Is this my uniform?" she asked, pointing to the rumpled jacket.

"Yes, it is," said Kristy as she sat down behind the coffee table again. "Once you put it on, you will be entrusted with the suitcases of our honored guests. Is that okay?" "No problem," said Shannon, putting on the jacket.

Immediately, Linny's face brightened and he ran up the stairs. "Be right back," he called over his shoulder.

"Who is our next guest?" asked Kristy.

"Make her stop ringing the bell," said Hannie, pointing to Sari.

Kristy pulled a sheet from the sign-in book. "Here, Sari, draw on this awhile," she said. Luckily, Sari took the suggestion and lost interest in the bell.

When Hannie approached the desk, Kristy recognized her character since it's the one she usually plays. "Ah, Mrs. Noswimple! What brings you here today?" "Why, my Rolls Royce brought me, of course," answered Hannie. "I am on my way to visit Baron Von-von-von-von and his wife the Red Queen." "Can a baron marry a queen?" Kristy asked.

"Of course," answered Hannie in her haughtiest voice. "It happens all the time nowadays." Hannie turned to Shannon. "Bellhop, I'll need my ballgown puffed up for tonight. See to it, will you?" Shannon made a small bow and tried hard not to laugh. "Right away, madame." After Mrs. Noswimple checked in and Shannon picked up her bags, Nancy entered the room. She was Princess Veronica from the land of Harmonica. This was a brand-new character. Princess Veronica was apparently in flight from an evil wizard who insisted she play the harmonica all day and all night. "My cheeks hurt, my mouth gets dry, my face is all puffy. It's horrible!" she confided to Kristy the bell captain.