Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 030

As soon as we were finished, I said, "What are you going to give your mom for her birthday?" Without hesitating, Dawn replied, "A day-planner. You know, one of those fancy books that help you organize your whole life. She really needs one. And she said she wants one." "Oh. I'm not sure what to get her. Maybe 1 could get a pen to go with the day-planner. 1 mean, a nice pen. Not just a Bic or something." "Nah. She'd lose it." "Oh. Then how about a book?" "I don't know. She's pretty picky about what she reads." 1 felt sort of hurt. Why couldn't Dawn be helpful? Then 1 got a terrific idea. Mrs. Schafer loves jewelry. "I know! A nice piece of jewelry!" I cried.

"Great!" exclaimed Dawn.

"Maybe a pin shaped like a cat. I saw a really pretty one in - " "Forget it. Mom doesn't like cats." Finally 1 lost my temper (sort of). "Well, could you give me some help here? You're just shooting down all my ideas." "I'm sorry. It's just that I know my mother better than you do, and your ideas aren't - aren't - " "Aren't what?" I demanded.

Dawn shrugged. "Mom and I are so close, that's all. I guess it's hard for me to be understanding when someone has the wrong idea about her." I jumped off the bed and faced Dawn with my fists clenched. "I don't have any wrong ideas about her. You make it sound like I think she's some sleazy old ... I don't know ..." "Sorry," said Dawn, not sounding sorry at all.

I sat down on the bed again, and Tigger crawled into my lap for comfort. He hates fights and commotion. Usually he leaves the room.

Dawn and I were silent for a few moments. At last Dawn asked how my baby-sitting job had gone that afternoon. I told her about the twins and their new friends.

"Gozzie Kunka?" Dawn repeated in amazement when I told her about Marilyn's friend.

"That's what she said her name is." "I've never heard of a name like that." "Neither have I. But you never know." Dawn smiled. "For the longest time," she said, "I thought Logan Bruno was a pretty weird name." I threw a pillow at Dawn and she threw one back at me. We started giggling and couldn't stop.

Our fight was over.

Chapter 6.

In case you don't know, Matt and Haley Braddock are two of our regular sitting charges. Matt is seven and Haley is nine. They're great kids. The unusual thing about their family, though, is that since Matt is profoundly deaf and doesn't speak, he and Haley and their parents communicate using sign language. All us sitters, especially Jessi, and even some of the kids in the neighborhood, have learned a little about signing. If we couldn't sign, we couldn't "talk" to Matt. (He doesn't read lips. Reading lips is very difficult. Try watching TV sometime and blocking your ears. Then see how much you understand. I'll bet it's hardly anything. The "p" and "b" sounds look exactly the same. So do the "d" and "t" sounds. Plus, try lip-reading someone who's got a mustache. Forget it. You can barely see a thing.) Anyway, Matt talks with his hands just like most people talk with their mouths. There are signs for tons of words (like "owl," which Jessi learned today). If you don't know the sign for a word, you can spell it, since there are also signs for the letters of the alphabet. When you spell out a word, it's called finger spelling. Matt is the best signer of all of us, since he signs all day long at his special school, but Haley and their parents are almost as good as Matt is, and when we're having trouble communicating with Matt, Haley is our interpreter.

Jessi arrived at the Braddocks' right after school let out. Not long after Mrs. Braddock had left, the doorbell rang. (A light flashed in every room of the house at the same time, so Matt knew the bell had rung, too.) Matt and Haley raced for the door.

"It's Carolyn!" Haley cried, signing at the same time. "I just know it." "Check before you open the door," Jessi warned Haley.

She checked. It was Carolyn.

Carolyn bounced in, wearing an oversized shirt, tight blue leggings, and flat blue shoes.

"Hi!" she cried.

You'd think she and Haley hadn't just seen each other in school. (Well, they are in different grades.) Jessi gave the kids a snack, and then signed and said, "What do you want to do today? It's really nice outside." "Ride my bike," Matt signed back.

But Haley and Carolyn looked at each other and just shrugged.

"We could start our club," suggested Carolyn, who only knows two signs - the ones for "flower" and "I'm sorry" - so Haley signed Carolyn's suggestion to Matt so that he would know what was going on.

When he heard about a girls' club, he made a face.

"How about going over to the Pikes'?" Jessi signed (speaking at the same time, of course, so that Carolyn wouldn't be left out of the conversation). "Mal's there sitting for Nicky, Vanessa, and Claire." Haley and Carolyn looked at each other and grinned. Jessi knew they were thinking of talking to Vanessa about their club.

Matt grinned, too. He's become friends with the Pike boys and would be happy to see Nicky.

So Jessi called Mallory and they agreed that the kids could play together.

When Jessi and her charges arrived at the Pikes' they were greeted at the door by an exuberant Claire. "Let's play Sardines! Let's play Sardines!" she cried, jumping up and down.

Haley didn't know the sign for "sardine," so she finger spelled it to Matt. Then Claire and Vanessa had to explain what Sardines is, and a lot more signing went on. In the end, the girls seemed to have forgotten about the club. Sardines sounded much more interesting.

Have you ever played that game? If not, this is how it goes: It's a version of Hide-and-Seek, only you have one hider and all the other players are seekers. When a seeker finds the hider, he doesn't just win that round of the game, he hides with him. The next person to find the hiders hides with them, too, and so on until one seeker is left. That seeker is the loser and starts out the next round of the game as the hider. The tricky thing when you're the hider is finding a big enough hiding place in which to fit a whole lot of other people.

Jessi and Mal took the kids into the backyard. You can play Sardines indoors, but ever since the triplets broke a chair playing the game one rainy day, Mrs. Pike has said the game must be played outdoors. The kids didn't mind. It's easier to find big hiding places in the yard.

"Okay,"' said Haley, signing at the same time. "We'll say 'eeny-meeny-miny-moe' to see who'll hide first." "Meeny-miny-mony-moo?" repeated Claire, and everyone giggled.

"No," said Haley. "Eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Here. Everyone stand in a circle and put one hand out. Mal or Jessi, will one of you come help us?" Jessi stood in the middle of the circle.

"You know what to do?" asked Haley.

"Sure," said Jessi, and she recited, "Eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers let him go. Eeny-meeny-miny-moe.'" As she recited, she went around the circle of kids, touching each of their hands in turn. When she got to that final moe, she was touching Vanessa, so Vanessa became the first hider.

"Okay," began Vanessa. "You guys all have to stand on the patio facing the house and close your eyes. Jessi will count to a hundred. Then you can start looking for me." This was a good arrangement since Claire can't count to a hundred yet, and it would eliminate any "speed-counting." So Matt, Haley, Carolyn, Nicky, and Claire stood on the patio with their eyes closed while Jessi counted. Vanessa knew exactly where she wanted to hide, and it was a good choice, too - under the low branches of a pine tree. She made a dash for the tree, huddled herself against the trunk, and was well hidden before Jessi had even reached twenty. When Jessi finally called out, "One hundred!" she added, "Okay, open your eyes, you guys," and tapped Matt on the shoulder so he'd know the searching had begun.