Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 033

Very carefully, I got to my feet. Emily stirred, but she didn't wake up. Whew! I laid her in her crib. She was still sound asleep.

I crept downstairs.

I had brought my schoolbooks along with me, and I'd fully intended to start my weekend homework, but I couldn't concentrate. All I could think about was Emily - and how she'd been adopted. Emily was lucky. Sure, she was having a few problems, but every day, her mother and father told her about her adoption, even though she was too little to understand. I knew this because Kristy had told me. Every day, Watson or Mrs. Brewer would say to Emily that she wasn't just adopted, she was chosen. And she was very, very special.

I wished Mom and Dad had told me that so I wouldn't have had to find out on my own when I was thirteen and completely shocked by the news.

Ring, ring! I dashed into the kitchen and picked up the phone. "Hello, Brewer residence," I said professionally.

"Hi. This is the McGill residence." "Oh, hi, Stace! What's up?" "I thought the storm might be scaring you. I've sat at that huge house during storms and it can be terrifying. Are you okay?" "I guess." "You guess? Claud, is anything wrong? You've been kind of quiet all week." Suddenly I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do more than blurt out my terrible secret to my best friend.

So I did. I told Stacey everything, finishing up with, "I just don't understand why Mom and Dad - and, by the way, they aren't my real parents, you know - why they didn't tell me the truth a long time ago." "I don't know," said Stacey, disbelievingly. "Claud, are you sure you're adopted?" I started to reply, "Pretty sure," but instead I said, "Positive." "Then," said Stacey, "I think you should start a search. Look for your real parents. You know you won't feel better until you do." "You're right," I said slowly.

"Hey!" exclaimed Stace. "There's one good thing about all of this." "What's that?" I asked.

"You and Janine the Genius aren't related!" I was in the middle of a good laugh when lightning flashed, thunder sounded, and I heard cries of, "Me! Me! . . . ME!" from upstairs.

"Gotta go," I told Stacey. "The storm just woke Emily up. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Hey, don't tell anyone about the adoption thing, okay? It's a secret between us." "Okay," replied Stacey. We got off the phone then and I dashed upstairs to Emily. I held her and rocked her again while she cried and cried. But even as I looked at her tear-stained face, I couldn't help thinking that Emily was luckier than I was. She would never be shocked by the news. And she had honest adoptive parents.

Chapter 6.

Emily did have a little trouble when Nannie left, but not much. Dawn had an easier babysitting job at Kristy's house than I'd had. She called when she got home afterward to ask me about some homework, and we ended up talking about Emily - and Kristy's fears about Emily.

Dawn and Kristy had ridden the bus to Kristy's house together after school on Monday. That was the easiest way for Dawn to get to Kristy's neighborhood since it's too far for Dawn (or any of us) to ride a bike to, and since both Dawn's mother and stepfather work and couldn't drive her over.

Anyway, when Kristy and Dawn stepped off the bus, Kristy said, "I'm going straight to the Papadakises'. Nannie knows that, by the way. But how about if I bring the kids over later? David Michael and Linny will be glad to play, and maybe Emily and Sari could play, too. Emily doesn't see enough kids her own age." "That'd be great," said Dawn. "Come over whenever you want." Then she added, "Hey, I'm inviting you to your own house!" Kristy laughed, and headed across the street while Dawn ran up Kristy's driveway and rang the bell.

Nannie answered it. "Hi, Dawn," she said warmly. "Look who just woke up from her nap." Nannie was carrying Emily, who was rubbing her eyes. When she saw Dawn, she buried her head in Nannie's neck.

"Little Miss Shy," said Nannie, smiling.

She gave Dawn a few instructions, then handed Emily to her and left as quickly as the Brewers had left on the night I was sitting.

"Good luck in the tournament!" Dawn called after Nannie.

Emily started to wail, but at that moment, David Michael burst through the front door. He had just gotten off the elementary-school bus.

Hi, Dawn!" he said. "Hiya, Emily!" "Day-day," said Emily. Her tears were over before they'd even begun.

"Dawn?" said David Michael after he'd put his things away and had a snack. "Can Timmy come over and play? Timmy Hsu? He lives down the street. He just moved here. He's a good ballplayer. He wants to join Kristy's Krushers. I said we could play catch so he could practice." "Sure," replied Dawn. "Give him a call." So David Michael did, and in no time he and Timmy were throwing a softball around the backyard while Dawn watched Emily. Emily (who's not the world's best walker - she's on the slow side) toddled over to a flower garden. She sniffed at a rose. Then she crouched down and poked at a brown leaf. And the next thing Dawn knew she was picking up a pebble and aiming it toward her mouth.

"Emily, NO!" cried Dawn, dashing to her. She reached Emily just in time to grab the pebble away. "Don't put things in your mouth," she said firmly. Then, for good measure, she added another, "NO!" She certainly didn't want Emily to choke on something.

Goodness, thought Dawn. Aren't two-year-olds supposed to be over that business of putting things in their mouths? Yes, they are, she told herself, realizing something: Emily was not like other two-year-olds she knew. She thought of Marnie Barrett and Gabbie Perkins, kids us club members sit for. Both Marnie and Gabble, especially Gabble, are talkers. (Gabble's a little older than Marnie.) Gabble is toilet-trained and Marnie is working on it. Both girls can put simple puzzles together. When they color, their drawings are becoming identifiable. And Gabble has memorized and can sing long songs with her older sister.

Emily, on the other hand, was nowhere near toilet-trained. Her favorite toys were baby toys like stacking rings. When she got hold of crayons, she just scribbled. And her vocabulary consisted of a handful of words and a lot of sounds (such as "buh" or "da") that she used to mean a variety of things.

Yet Emily was smiley and giggly and cheerful. She was affectionate, too, and tried hard to please her new family.

These were the thoughts running through Dawn's mind when Kristy showed up with the Papadakis kids.

"Linny!" shouted David Michael. "Timmy's here! Hey, Kristy, can you coach us? Pretend we're having a Krushers practice, okay?" "It's okay with me," replied Kristy, "if Dawn doesn't mind watching Hannie, Sari, and Emily. That okay with you, Dawn? I'll take the boys and you take the girls?" "Fine with me," replied Dawn.

So they split the kids up.

Dawn faced Hannie, Sari, and Emily. She didn't know the Papadakis kids very well. "What do you want to do?" she asked Hannie.

"Mmm." Hannie looked thoughtful. "Let's play Ring Around the Roses. I just started teaching Sari that game." "Okay," said Dawn. She had recently learned that the actual title and words to the song were "Ring a ring o' roses," but she knew that no little kid ever said that, so she didn't bother to correct Hannie.

"Come here, you guys," said Hannie to Emily and Sari, already organizing the game. "Hold my hands. Dawn will hold your other hands. . . . Your name is Dawn, right?" she added uncertainly.

"Right," replied Dawn, smiling.

They formed a circle - Dawn, Emily, Hannie, and Sari.

Hannie began the song, singing it as she'd heard it. "Ring around the roses. A pocket full of posies. Ashes! Ashes! We all fall . . . DOWN!" Hannie and Dawn sat dramatically in the grass, pulling Emily and Sari with them. Sari giggled. Emily looked startled at first, but then laughed.