Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 042

CALLING ALL KIDS! it said, in big red letters. Each of the letters had little animals climbing all over it - puppies and kittens and monkeys and all kinds of other beasts. Claudia is so talented.

The reason it said "all kids" instead of "pet owners" was that we'd decided to invite all of our regular customers - whether they had pets or not. That way, a kid like Jamie Newton, who doesn't have a pet, could still come to the show and have fun.

Underneath the headline were more pictures of animals, and then the information about the pet show: where it was going to be held, and when, and what kinds of pets could be entered. ("Bring your goldfish! Bring your pony! Bring any pet you have!") Becca was nearly beside herself. "It came in the mail today, Jessi!" she cried. "It had my name on it! I'm invited!" I didn't want to spoil things by telling her that every one was invited. "That's great, Becca," I said. "A pet show will be fun, won't it?" She nodded. Then her smile faded.

"But we don't have a pony. We don't even" have a dog! All we have is Misty." She looked worried.

"Misty's a great pet," I said. "She's friendly, and clean, and she knows her name - " "But she's just a hamster," said Becca. "There's no way she can win a prize at a big pet show like this." I thought about all the other pets that would probably be entered in the show. Nobody had a pony, at least as far as I knew. But there were a lot of dogs in the neighborhood - dogs that knew how to do all kinds of tricks. There were a lot of beautiful cats, too. Would a boring little hamster be able to compete? Becca might have a point, there, I thought. But I didn't want her to worry about it.

"Winning a prize isn't everything, Becca," I said. "Just being in the show will be fun." I thought I sounded very grown-up and reasonable.

A tear ran down Becca's cheek. "I wish we had a dog," she said. "Then I could give it a bath, and put a ribbon around its neck, and teach it some really great tricks. Then it would win first prize!" She sniffed. Obviously, she wasn't convinced by my reasonable little speech. "Dumb old Misty is just going to sit there, wiggling her nose." "C'mon, Becca," I said. "You love 'dumb old Misty.' Remember when we got her, how excited you were?" Misty was born during one of my craziest sitting jobs. I'd been pet-sitting for this couple, the Mancusis. They don't have any kids, but boy, do they have a lot of pets. They have three dogs, five cats, some birds, two guinea pigs, lots of fish, a snake (ew!) named Barney, a bunch of rabbits, and an aquarium full of turtles.

The Mancusis also have hamsters, and when I was sitting, one of the hamsters got sick. It was awful! I didn't know what was wrong with him, and I had to miss an important meeting of the club to take him to the vet.

Well, you've probably guessed the rest of the story. "He" was really a "she" - and she was pregnant. She was going to give birth very, very soon. And not long after the babies were born (there were a lot of them!), the Mancusis came home. They were very happy with the way I'd handled the whole thing, and they offered me a baby hamster of my own.

Of course, we didn't take Misty home until she was old enough to leave her mother. The Pikes got a hamster, too, and so did one of the kids we sit for, Jackie Rodowsky. Becca was thrilled to pieces when we got Misty - but now the thrill seemed to be wearing off. There was nothing I could say to convince her that winning a prize didn't matter. Maybe this pet show wasn't such a hot idea after all.

Chapter 6.

Kristy must have been feeling really overwhelmed. For her to admit that one of her ideas might not have been totally and completely perfect - well, let's just say that I've never heard her come close to admitting anything like that before.

That Saturday afternoon, Kristy was sitting for her brother David Michael; her adopted sister, Emily Michelle; and her stepsister and stepbrother, Karen and Andrew. Kristy had her hands full.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and they were all sitting on the back-porch steps. Well, actually, they weren't just "sitting." David Michael was hanging over the railing, making burping noises, while Karen shrieked at him to stop. Emily was zooming her Tonka truck around Kristy's feet, screaming with glee every time she made a sharp turn. And Andrew was off in his own little world, examining an ant that he'd found crawling on the porch.

In between burps and shrieks and screams, they were all talking about - guess what - the pet show. All except Emily Michelle, that is. She doesn't talk much yet.

"I wonder who will get second prize," David Michael said. "Maybe one of the cats." "What do you mean, second prize?" asked Karen. "What about first prize?" "Well, I don't need to wonder about that," David Michael answered. "I know which pet will get first prize. Shannon will. And I'm going to enter her, so I'll get to keep the blue ribbon." He paused to think for a moment. "I wonder where I should hang it in my room," he said.

"What makes you so sure that Shannon will win?" asked Kristy.

"Well, she's the biggest pet that'll be in the show," said David Michael. (Shannon is pretty big - she's a Bernese mountain dog, and she'll be the size of a Saint Bernard when she's fully grown.) "And she's got the best personality, right?" Kristy had to admit that Shannon was pretty sweet - not to mention clever and loyal.

"And she's the best-looking!" finished David Michael triumphantly. "Mega-Dog!" Kristy raised her eyebrows. "Well, we'll see," she said vaguely. She was thinking that it might not look too good if a dog from her own family won first prize in a pet show that had been her idea to begin with.

"I don't think Shannon's so great," Andrew said. He'd gotten bored with the ant and had started to listen to David Michael's boasting. "Midgie's cuter and smarter than her any day. Midgie's gonna win. I just know it." Midgie is this little mutt (he is cute and smart, but he is definitely a mutt) that belongs to Andrew's stepfather, ,Seth.

"Did Seth say you could enter Midgie?" asked Kristy.

"Yup!" said Andrew proudly. "And I'm gonna give him a bath, and put ribbons in his hair. He's gonna look great!" "If you put ribbons in his hair, he's going to look like even more of a wimp than he already is!" said Karen.

"Wimp?" asked Andrew.

"Yeah," said Karen. "Midgie's a wimp. He's afraid of his own shadow. He'll never win a prize - not unless you train him to do some tricks or something. And you don't have time for that." Andrew looked downcast, but Kristy put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. "Don't worry, Andrew," she said. "Midgie's a fun little dog, and you'll have a good time entering him in the pet show. And that's all that matters, right? Having a good time?" (Does that sound familiar? Kristy and I had come up with the same reasonable, grown-up-sounding line. I only wished that some of the kids would start to agree with it.) "Well, I'm going to have a good time," said Karen.

"Great!" said Kristy.

"Because my pet is definitely going to win first prize," Karen finished.

Kristy rolled her eyes. "What pet are you entering?" she asked.

"Well, that's the only problem," said Karen. "1 can't decide between Rocky and Emily Junior." Rocky is Seth's cat. And Emily Junior is (ew) a rat! Emily Junior lives with Karen's mother and stepfather, instead of at Watson's house.

"Rocky's kind of funny-looking," mused Karen. "I'd probably have to dress her up or something." Kristy pictured Rocky in Karen's dress-up clothes - her "lovely lady" clothes, as she calls them. High heels, a big hat... or maybe a wedding veil. Kristy tried not to laugh out loud.

"But if I entered Emily Junior, she'd probably be the only rat there. Maybe she'd win a prize just for that," Karen continued. "The only thing is that I'd probably have to give her a bath, and I don't know how much she'd like that," she added. "I just can't decide." "What about Boo-Boo?" asked David Michael. "Doesn't anybody want to enter Boo-Boo?" Everybody laughed. Why? Because Boo-Boo is not just any cat. Boo-Boo is the oldest, fattest, and meanest cat you've ever seen.