Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 032

"Bullfrogs," said Karen.

Sam and Charlie left then, each carrying a bag of potato chips, which Watson had probably given them. And then I left with Mom and Watson. They were going to drop me off at Susan's, and the Felders were going to bring me back later.

Stacey was alone with my little brothers and sisters. She sat on the floor and watched the movie with them. "Okay," she said after awhile. "Dorothy's outta there. Time to turn the set off." Some minor arguing followed.

"She's not out yet," said Karen. "She's on the Yellow Brick Road and she hasn't met the Scarecrow. So I think she's still in - " The Scarecrow appeared on the screen at that very moment.

"Okay," said Stacey. "Dorothy is now definitely out of Munchkinland." She switched off the TV.

"Aw, what are we going to do now?" complained David Michael.

"Play checkers?" suggested Andrew halfheartedly.

"I know!" exclaimed Karen, "We can play 'Let's All Come In.' We have to teach Emily the game." "Let's All Come In" is a game my little brothers and sisters play. Karen invented it, though, and she likes it better than any of the others. She usually has to coerce the others to play with her. That's because Karen takes all the best parts for herself and gives the other parts to everyone else. See, the game is supposed to take place in a hotel lobby. One person (usually me) has to be the clerk at the desk. Another person (usually David Michael) has to be the bellman (bellperson?), who takes people's luggage to their rooms. Karen gets to play all the guests, or to assign guest roles to Andrew and Emily. She always makes them play the roles like babies or pet dogs or something.

Anyway, since everyone dresses up and changes costumes frequently for "Let's All Come In," no one minds the game much. In fact, I think they like it, but they just won't admit it.

"Costumes, everybody!" cried Karen as soon as Stacey and the others had agreed to play.

They trooped upstairs to the playroom, where the most incredible box of dress-up clothes sits. Honestly. When I first met Watson and his kids, I couldn't believe the stuff in this playroom - and Andrew and Karen only visited their father two weekends a month. David Michael and Emily didn't even live in this house yet.

As you can imagine, in the trunk are costumes like you'd expect to see only in the fanciest toy store. So David Michael suited up in a pretty impressive bellman's uniform, and then Karen directed the others in their costuming.

"Now," she began, "I will be playing Mrs. Kennelworth, a very, very rich lady who is going to stay at the hotel. Emily, you will be my little girl. Andrew, you will be my pet monkey." "What?" cried Andrew.

Karen ignored him. "David Michael, you go downstairs and get ready in the living room. Stacey, you go with him and make sure you have a pad of paper for our guest book." "Okay," agreed Stacey. She and David Michael went into the living room and waited for the others to arrive.

A few minutes later, "Mrs. Kennelworth" made her entrance. She was very dressed up.

Karen had found a long, fancy-looking dress, silver high heels, a sequined hat, a fake-fur muff, and plenty of necklaces and bracelets.

"Good evening," said Karen. "I am Mrs. Kennelworth, here for the night with my - " (she turned around and pulled Emily and Andrew into the living room) " - with my little girl, Perdita, and my little monkey, Spunky." In came Emily wearing her Sunday best - a white dress with pink ribbons down the front and her black Mary Jane shoes - and Andrew wearing a hat with ears on it, mittens for paws, and a realistic-looking tail.

"I'm sorry," said Stacey, the desk clerk. "No monkeys allowed in the hotel. Only people." "But my dog - my Mexican shorthair - came last time," replied Karen. "Besides, I am very, very rich, and anyway, where are my lovely little girl and I going to stay tonight if we can't sleep here? We're on our way to Istanbul, you know. . . . Bellman, take our bags. Here's a one hundred-dollar tip." Stacey pretended to look agitated. "Very well then, Mrs. Smellyworth - I mean, Mrs. Kennelworth. Sign the register, please. Sign in Perdita and Funky, too." "Spunky," Karen corrected her. She turned to Emily. "Say, 'Thank you, nice lady,' " she instructed her.

Emily loves being included in the game. "Fank oo, nice wady," she repeated proudly. (She has no idea what she's saying when she repeats these things.) "Say, 'My, but what a beautiful hotel,' " Karen went on.

"My booful tell," said Emily.

The game continued. Karen registered at the hotel as a witch with her ghost and black cat, as an old lady with her grandchildren, and as several more characters. She was dressing for the part of a professional tennis player on tour when I returned.

"The Felders came home early," I explained, as Andrew and Emily threw themselves at me, hugging my legs.

"Oh," said Stacey. "Well, my mom can't pick me up for another hour. I'm stuck here. I hope you don't mind." "Not at all," I replied.

Stacey and I sat on the couch in the living room.

"David Michael," I said, "why don't you be the desk clerk for awhile so Stacey and I can talk." "Goody," replied my brother. "This uniform is hot." "How was Susan?" Stacey asked as soon as we sat down.

I shrugged. "The usual. You know what makes me mad? I told her mother about James saying Susan was his friend, but Mrs. Felder didn't seem to care. She's still sending Susan away to that new school. I wish she could let Susan try living at home. That's where kids belong, 1 think. You know, I plan to show Mrs. Felder just how 'normal' Susan can be. I want her to change her mind about the school." "I know you do," answered Stacey. "Just don't go overboard." "I won't," I sighed. "You know, even I have to admit that Susan is one of the most handicapped kids I've ever seen. She wouldn't let me touch her tonight. I couldn't get her pajamas on her, and she kept screaming." Stacey sighed, too.

And at that moment Emily, wearing a huge hat, long gloves, and high heels, came over to us and said, "Scooze me. I have dance?" (Karen was standing behind her, grinning.) "Of course you may," I replied.

And I forgot about Susan as the grand Hotel became a grand ballroom.

Chapter 9.

"Susan . . . Susan . . . Susan?" Guess where I was. At the Felders' again, of course. Susan's mother had just left for the afternoon, and Susan was lost in her world of piano music.

For the life of me, I could not attract her attention.

I thought of putting my hands over hers, as I had done before, and stopping the music, but her mother had said she'd had a good day so far. She'd eaten breakfast and lunch, she'd behaved herself on a walk, and she had only just begun playing the piano.

Besides, for the first time since I'd started sitting for Susan I noticed a look of absolute rapture on her face as she played. She was still staring off into space, her head cocked, but she was smiling beautifully and she looked relaxed. (Usually she's wound up tighter than a tick, as Watson would say.) So I let Susan play.

I was sitting in the living room with her, about to begin my homework, when the doorbell rang.

Maybe, 1 thought excitedly, it was James Hobart, coming to play with his new "mate." 1 dashed to the Felders' front door, peeked out the window, and saw a boy there. He was not James. In fact, he was one of the kids who'd been teasing the Hobarts. He was the short Bob-or-Craig.

1 opened the door, frowning, "Yes?" I said. Maybe he had a paper route and the Felders owed him money or something.

"Hi," said the boy nervously. "Can I come in? I'm here to see Susan." "You are?" I could hardly believe it. Still, it was great! Another friend! "Come on in," 1 told him.

"Thanks." The boy stepped inside. "Where is she?" I pointed to the piano.

"You mean she plays the piano, too?" he asked incredulously.