Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 058

Grudgingly, everyone handed me a dollar, which I dropped into the BSC treasury (a manila envelope). I was dumping out the contents of the envelope so I could count the money, when the phone rang. Our first job call of the day. Jessi lunged for it.

"Hi, Mrs. Barrett!" she said a moment later. "Sunday? I'll call you right back." Mrs. Barrett, a regular client of the BSC, lives near the Pikes and has three children.

Mary Anne checked the appointment pages in the record book and scheduled Dawn for the job. Then Jessi called Mrs. Barrett back to tell her who'd be sitting for Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie.

After that, I finished counting the treasury money and we answered a few more calls. Finally things calmed down. During a moment of silence, Mal said, "Guess what the latest project at my house is?" Then she told everyone about the mail-order craze.

Dawn began to laugh. "You know what I did once? I found this great offer in a magazine. For a dollar forty-nine I got twelve cassettes." "Twelve!" exclaimed Jessi.

"Yeah. But I didn't realize that by doing that, I'd joined a cassette club. Every month another cassette arrived in the mail and I was supposed to pay almost full price for each one. I never had enough money. Finally I had to ask Dad to get me out of the club." "Once," began Kristy, "I saw this ad on TV. The announcer said you could order this great collection of fifties and sixties rock 'n' roll songs by the original artists. You know what happened? The cassette arrived, but it turned out to be a collection of the old songs performed by a new group called the Original Artists. What a rip-off! I thought I was going to be hearing music by the Drifters, Buddy Holly, the Chiffons, and Gladys Knight and the Pips." "I can't wait to see what's going to start arriving at my house," said Mal. "My brothers and sisters may be surprised." The phone rang then and we scheduled a job for Mary Anne with the Kuhn kids. Then we scheduled another job. In the lull that followed, I said, "Well, I have some news." "Good news?" Claud wanted to know.

"Yup. My dad called this afternoon. He's being given a huge raise and a promotion in his company. He's going to become a vice-president. And his company is honoring him with a dinner." "Awesome," said Dawn.

"I know. I can tell Dad is really pleased. And he invited me to come to New York and be his date at the dinner. It's a week from Friday. I'm going to spend the weekend in the city. Dad's getting tickets to a play and everything. Oh, and he told me to buy a new outfit." "That's fantastic!" exclaimed Claud, "Hey, let's celebrate. Let's go shopping on Saturday. We'll all come with you, Stace, and help you choose an outfit, and then we can eat downtown." "We could go to that new place," added Mary Anne.

"Ye Olde Ice-Cream Parlour?" said Kristy. (She pronounced "olde" like this: oldie.) Mary Anne giggled. "Well, it looks like ye 'oldie' ice-cream parlour, but I think it's called the Rosebud Cafe. And it serves more than just ice cream." "Whatever it's called, let's go there," said Claud. "I peeked in the windows the other day and the ice cream and sundaes look amazing." "Sounds great," I replied, even though I would have to celebrate with a boring old diet soda. "Can everybody go?" "Yes!" said Claud, Kristy, Mary Anne, and Dawn.

But Jessi shook her head. "Special dance class." And Mal, looking pained, said, "Visiting my grandparents for the day. You guys better go anyway, though. You don't have much time to get a new outfit, Stace. You can't waste Saturday." Which was how our Saturday shopping excursion and celebration was planned.

Chapter 3.

On Saturday morning I slept late and woke up leisurely, which is the perfect way to start any Weekend. I reached for my clock radio and turned it toward me. Five minutes to nine.

"Morning, Mom," I mumbled as I groped my way into the kitchen.

"Morning," she replied.

I sat at the table, surprised to see only my place set. "Did you already eat?" I asked.

My mother shook her head. "I'm not hungry this morning, but I'll fix you something. What do you want?" I ate toast and fruit, and Mom and I talked about the weekend. At nine-thirty I said, "Whoa, I better get dressed. Mary Anne and Dawn are going to be here soon." Before I knew it, Mr. Spier had pulled up in front of my house and I was clambering into the backseat of his car with my friends. Ten minutes later, we were being dropped off outside Bellair's Department Store. Kristy was waiting for us. Dressed in jeans, a bulky red sweat shirt, and sneakers, she was sitting on a bench, reading a copy of Sports Illustrated.

"Hi, you guys!" she called. "Charlie dropped me off early. Where's Claud?" "On her way, I guess," I replied. "Her mom has to work today. She was going to drop Claud here before she went to the library." (Mrs. Kishi is the head librarian at the Stoneybrook Public Library.) At that moment a horn honked. Mrs. Kishi, who was slowing to a stop, waved to Mr. Spier as he pulled into the traffic. And Claud scrambled put of her mom's car.

"We're all here!" she exclaimed. "Okay, let's hit the stores. 'Bye, Mom!" Kristy waited until both Mrs. Kishi and Mr. Spier had disappeared from view. Then she said, "Ah. Parent-free." We invaded Bellair's first.

"Which department?" asked Mary Anne.

"Dresses," I replied.

Kristy groaned.

"Well, where do you want to go?" asked Claud.

"Sports." "To look for a dress for Stacey?" "No, to look for a new baseball cap for me." "Let's look for Stacey's outfit first. That's the most important thing today. The dinner is in less than a week." We rode the elevator to the second floor, Kristy bringing up the rear. But before we were halfway to Junior Dresses, we passed a jewelry counter. Not costume jewelry, fine jewelry.

Claud stopped. She leaned over and peered at a necklace displayed on a swatch of blue velvet. "Oh, my lord," she whispered.

"What?" replied Dawn, turning around.

Claud pointed at the counter. "Guess how much that necklace costs," she managed to say. She was still whispering.

We all leaned in for a look.

"What's it made of?" asked Dawn.

"Sapphires and diamonds, I think." "Sapphires and diamonds? Four hundred dollars?" guessed Dawn.

"Four hundred?" Try a thousand," said Kristy.

"Try four thousand," said Claud. "It costs four thousand dollars." "You could buy a car for four thousand dollars," I exclaimed. "Couldn't you? . . . Well, maybe not," I answered my own question. "But still ..." We had spread out and were gazing at the other jewelry on display.

"Here's a cheap pin. Just six hundred dollars," I said, giggling.

"Are you interested in it?" I found myself looking into the humorless eyes of a salesclerk. "Um, no," I answered. "Thanks anyway. Come on, you guys." We dragged ourselves away from the jewelry and finally (after stopping to look at hair accessories and knee socks) wound up in Junior Dresses.

"Here's a nice one," said Mary Anne. She held out a plaid dress that maybe a grandmother would look okay in, but not me.

I shook my head.

Dawn pointed to a floral-print dress.

I shook my head. "I need something wild." "Not too wild," Mary Anne cautioned. "Not for a dinner with your dad." "I'll find something," I said confidently.

We wandered through Bellair's for nearly an hour. Claud bought a pair of black-and-white checked leggings. Mary Anne bought a hair ribbon. Kristy made fun of a two-thousand-dollar brooch.

"Where now?" asked Dawn as we were leaving the store.

"The Merry-Go-Round," I replied.

"They don't sell clothes." "I know. I want to look at the jewelry." So we wandered around in the Merry-Go- Round for awhile. Dawn bought a pair of fat silver hoop earrings. I bought a pair of dangly blue shell earrings. Kristy said, "I forgot to look at the baseball caps!" "Now where to?" asked Dawn.