Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 058

I closed my eyes briefly. "I know, I know." "And it isn't like you can postpone your weekend with him. The dinner is on Friday and that's that." "I know." I paused. Then I said. "Sorry, Jessi. I don't mean to sound crabby. But I've been having this very argument with myself since Monday night. I think, This is a once-in-a-lifetime honor for Dad. All he has asked is that I be with him for this important event.' Then I think, 'My mother has pneumonia. People can die from that.' The argument goes around and around. I know Mom isn't going to die. She's not sick enough. Still, it isn't like she has some little cold. Two days ago she was in the emergency room." My friends shifted in their seats. Dawn was frowning fiercely. Kristy and Mal were gazing into space, asking the ceiling for answers. After a few moments, I said, "If you guys were in my shoes, what would you do?" My friends voted. Three would go to New York, three would stay home.

"Some help you are," I said, but I was smiling.

After the meeting, I rode my bicycle home, and on the way, I finally made a decision. I could not abandon Mom. I would stay with her as much as I could until she was well again.

I knew Dad would not appreciate this news. I also knew I should give it to him as soon as possible. I phoned him after supper that evening.

"Dad," I said, "I have to tell you something. I have thought this over carefully. I'm not coming to New York this weekend. I'm going to stay here and take care of Mom." "You're what?" "I'm - I'm going to have to miss the dinner." "But Stacey, this is important. Besides, you're my date for the evening." "You could invite someone else," I suggested. "There's time." "No," said Dad, sounding choked up. "That's not it. You're all I have. I don't know anyone else to invite. Just you. . . . You're all I have," he repeated.

"Maybe if you weren't a workaholic, there'd be something more in your life. But you're married to your job," I told my father.

Dad gasped, and I realized what I'd just said. I had practically accused him of being responsible for the divorce. I gasped, too. "Dad, I'm sorry," I cried. "I didn't mean to say that. Honest. But . . . but I can't leave Mom." "I understand," said Dad quietly.

I wasn't sure he did.

Chapter 8.

"Look! Look at me, Mary Anne!" Laurel Kuhn greeted Mary Anne at the door in a state of great excitement. But Mary Anne couldn't see anything unusual about her. She looked at her from head to toe, feeling a little panicky. Clearly, Laurel felt she had made some great, obvious change. How could Mary Anne not notice it?

But before Mary Anne could think of an excuse, Laurel said, "My lipstick! It's my lipstick!" She was hopping around in excitement.

In all honesty, Mary Anne didn't see any lipstick on Laurel, even when she was actually looking for it. "Your lip - " "It is mood lipstick," Laurel went on. "It came in the mail yesterday. It changes color. If you're angry, it is red. If you're happy, it is pink. If you're scared, it is yellow. If you're jealous, it is green." "Boy. Pretty smart lipstick," said Mary Anne, who still could not detect any color on Laurel's lips.

Mary Anne entered the Kuhns' hallway then, and said hi to Jake, who's eight, and Patsy, who's five. (Laurel is six.) She and Mrs. Kuhn talked for several minutes before Mrs. Kuhn left to run errands. As soon as their mother was gone, the Kuhn kids pulled Mary Anne into their rec room. "You have to see our stuff!" said Jake.

The couch in the rec room was covered with bottles and jars, pamphlets, cheap toys, and a few things Mary Anne couldn't identify. "What's this?" she asked, pointing to one of those unidentifiable objects.

"It's Poof," Jake informed her. "Stain remover." " 'It can even remove ground-in dirt and grass stains,' " quoted Laurel.

"And what's this?" Mary Anne wanted to know. She pointed to a tiny vial.

"That," Jake said proudly, "is moondust." "It really came from the moon," added Laurel. "Some astronauts brought a sack of it back with them." "We are one of only twenty people in the whole world to own moondust," Jake went on. "We may be famous soon." "That's moondust?" Mary Anne said to Jake. "Are you sure?" "The ad said." "Oh." "Guess how much it cost," demanded Laurel.

"Real moondust? Well, it must have been pretty expen - " "Seventy-five cents," Laurel interrupted her.

"And I gave a quarter," spoke up Patsy. "We each did. So the moondust is part mine. I will be famous, too." Ding-dong.

The Kuhn kids raced Mary Anne to the front door. Standing on the stoop were Buddy Barrett and Nicky Pike. Buddy was clutching a brown paper bag.

"The mail didn't come yet," announced Buddy, letting himself through the front door. (As an afterthought, he added, "Hi, everybody.") "I know," replied Jake.

"Isn't the mail awfully late?" asked Mary Anne.

"Yup," spoke up Nicky, "but this is great because now we can wait for it. ... Hi, everybody. . . . Gosh, I wonder where the mailman could be." His truck is probably bogged down with free samples and jars of moondust, Mary Anne thought.

Patsy pointed to Buddy's paper bag. "What's in there?" she asked.

"It is very unbelievable," was Buddy's reply.

"Let's see!" squealed Laurel.

"Well, come outside," said Buddy. "I will show you while we wait for the mailman." Buddy settled himself on the Kuhns' stoop.

Nicky, Jake, Patsy, and Laurel crowded around him.

Buddy was just opening the bag when Mary Anne and the kids heard a shouted greeting. "Yo!" Haley Braddock was striding across the lawn, Matt at her side. Behind them trotted Vanessa and Margo Pike.

"Hi!" Mary Anne called.

And Patsy added, "Buddy is going to show us something!" Buddy's audience had now doubled in size. He made a great show of unfolding the top of the bag and reaching inside. Then slowly, slowly he withdrew a tiny vial of ... "Moon-dust," whispered Buddy. "This is actual dust from the actual moon. And an actual astronaut brought it back to Earth on an actual rocketship." Jake's eyes had widened to nearly the size of tambourines. "Oh, my gosh. You're one of the twenty," he whispered. "I cannot believe it." "What?" said Buddy, his brow furrowed.

"You - you're one of the twenty people who bought moondust. Did you read that little piece of paper that came with the jar?" "Yeah." "Laurel and Patsy and I bought moondust, too. We all chipped in. We are practically related to you then, Buddy." "I guess you are also practically related to us Pikes," spoke up Margo. "I ordered some moondust, but it hasn't come yet." Mary Anne noticed that Matt and Haley were signing to each other where they were perched at the bottom of the stoop. Presently Haley turned around and said to the rest of the kids, "Matt wants you to know that he is also your relative. He ordered moondust last week." "This is so weird," said Jake in an eerie tone of voice. "Who would ever have guessed that most of the moondust owners would come from this very neighborhood?" "You guys - " Mary Anne started to say.

"Hey, there's the mail truck!" shrieked Patsy.

"Where?" said Nicky.

"There." .

The kids peered down the street. At a corner several blocks away, Mary Anne could just make out a blue shape that might be a mail truck.

"Let's go meet him!" cried Vanessa.

"All of you?" said Mary Anne. "No, don't swamp him. Why don't you wait until he's delivered the mail in this neighborhood. Then you can go from house to house and collect your stuff." This idea seemed to appeal to the kids, al- though they had trouble waiting. They were not terribly patient. Nicky pulled Margo's ponytail. Patsy tickled Laurel's back and told her a spider was running down it. Buddy sang "I'm In Love With a Big Blue Frog" until the other kids couldn't take it any longer, and Patsy and Laurel put their hands over their ears.

The mail truck hadn't quite reached the Kuhns' when Buddy said, "Okay, can we go to my house now? The mail must be there." "All right," agreed Mary Anne.