Ann Martin - Baby-Sitters Club 027

"It seems to me," Dawn spoke up, "that if the kidnapper wanted us to know he was the real one, he would have given us a better clue.

For instance, an actual photo of Tigger - you know, a Polaroid - to show he's alive now. Not just his picture cut from the poster we made. Anyone could do that." "Also," said Mallory, "the posters have been up for two days. If someone really was going to take advantage of them, he - or she - could have written the note Saturday afternoon and delivered it to Mary Anne yesterday morning. Why wait?" "Was that note mailed or just stuck in your box?" Logan asked me suddenly.

"Just stuck in the box," I replied. I handed him the envelope. "See? No stamp." He nodded.

The phone rang again. Dawn saw that I was still a wreck, so she took the club record book out of my lap and scheduled what might well be the one and only job she'd ever schedule.

While the others were busy with the call, Logan looked over at me and whispered, "Mary Anne, would you calm down? You are being so ... sensitive. You're acting like such a girl." For a moment, I just glared at him. "There's nothing wrong with being sensitive," I told him, "and besides, lam a girl." Claudia hung up the phone then, so Logan and I fell silent.

"The question is," said Kristy, "what are we going to do? I don't think we should worry about whether the note is a hoax. I think we should just follow up on it. It's our only lead." "Right!" agreed Logan. "We should go to Brenner Field and get this jerk who took Tigger. We'll beat him at his own game." "But how?" asked Dawn.

We stopped talking to think and to take two calls that came in.

Then, in a very small voice, and even though I had just been thinking the opposite an hour earlier, I said, "Maybe I should tell my dad about - " "No!" exclaimed Logan. "We're not involving any adults. No parents, no police." "Why not?" I asked.

"Because they'll just get in the way. A kid wrote that note. Don't you think so? Look at that big, babyish handwriting. And an adult would want more than a hundred dollars. Why would a grown-up go to all the trouble of stealing a kitten for three days, just to get a hundred dollars? It's not worth it." "That's true," the rest of us agreed.

"So?" said Kristy.

"Well," Logan went on slowly, "we don't know if that note is from an actual kidnapper, or just from someone trying to take advantage of Tigger's situation, but either way we should catch him - " "Or her," added Dawn.

" - or her. Don't you think?" I looked at my friends. We all nodded. This was getting sort of exciting.

"How are we going to catch the kidnapper?" wondered Jessi.

Logan frowned thoughtfully. He read the ransom note again. " 'In an envelope on the big rock in Brenner Field at four o'clock/ " he mused. "Do you know what the big rock is?" he asked the rest of us. "I don't even know where Brenner Field is." "It's right nearby," Claudia told him. "That's probably why you don't know it. It's not in our neighborhood. If s sort of behind Jamie Newton's backyard." "And do you know this big rock?" asked Logan.

"Oh, sure," I replied. "Everyone does. There's a boulder near one side of the field. We just call it the Trig rock.' " Logan nodded. "Listen, you guys," he said to the six of us girls, "I'm getting an idea, but I'm going to need the help of all of you - or most of you - tomorrow." "We'll be there," said Kristy, without even looking at the record book.

"But Kristy!" I cried. "We've probably got jobs - " "This is too important. We'll look at the record book in a minute. Then we'll reschedule whatever needs rescheduling." "Okay." (Why was I protesting? I was the one who wanted Tigger back so badly.) "Well," said Logan, "this is my idea. Mary Anne goes to the rock at four, just like the note says to do. She leaves an envelope full of money - " "What money?" I interrupted.

"Fake money. Monopoly money or something." "Well, as long as I'm not putting real money in the envelope, why do I have to bother with fake? Why can't I just stuff an envelope with newspaper or notebook paper?" "I don't know," said Logan irritably. "Fake money is what they always use on TV or in the movies. Maybe it looks more realistic from the outside. Don't ask me." "So go on," said Kristy. "Mary Anne stuffs an envelope with fake money - " "Not too much," I interrupted. "It's only a hundred dollars. Ten ten-dollar bills wouldn't look very fat. The envelope shouldn't be too stuffed." "Mary Anne!" cried Claudia in exasperation.

"Sorry," I said, "but we're talking about Tigger. I want this to go right." Kristy sighed. "Logan?" she said. "After Mary Anne fills the envelope?" "Then way before four, like pretty soon after we get home from school, the rest of us hide in Brenner Field, in places where we can see the big rock. Is that possible?" "To hide in the field or to find places you can see the rock from?" asked Mal.

"Both," replied Logan.

"Yes," said Mal.

"Great. Okay, so we hide. At four o'clock, Mary Anne leaves the envelope on the rock. Then, Mary Anne, you better pretend to go home, in case you're being watched. Actually, you should probably go all the way home. But then sneak back to the field. I think you'll want to see what happens next. I have a feeling the kitten-napper will turn up. And we can catch him." It was a thrilling plan. I was so proud of Logan! We were talking and thinking of hiding places in the field when Kristy remembered the record book. I was the one who'd been so worried about it - and then I'd forgotten.

"We have to find out what we're doing tomorrow," said Kristy. "If a lot of us are babysitting, then we have a problem, because we can't all cancel." As it turned out, only one of us was sitting and we got Shannon Kilbourne to go in her place. Some of the others had classes or lessons but decided not to go. We would all be at Brenner Field the next afternoon.

My heart began to beat a little faster. This was exciting! It was like something from a cop show on TV. We were going to trick the kidnapper. He had tried to get us, and now we were going to get him back. Tigger would be returned to us and we'd teach the kitten-napper a big fat lesson.

As we left the meeting, my excitement grew. But all of a sudden, I felt terrible. How could I feel excited? What was the matter with me? If Tigger were home, where he belonged, I'd have nothing to feel excited about. I'd just have Tigger, which is the way it should be. And I'd trade a little excitement for Tigger any day.

Chapter 11.

Dawn didn't say so, not in her notebook entry, but she was pretty spooked herself. It was just that kind of night. The Barrett kids were upset about pet-nappers, and then the storm came.

The Barrett kids are Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie. Buddy is seven, Suzi is four, and Mamie is only a year and a half. Dawn has sat for them for quite awhile; since not too long after she moved to Stoneybrook. She likes them a lot - even though at first they were the "impossible three." Boy, did they give Dawn a hard time. But now they're much better. Buddy, who is active and lively, likes to play with Pow, their dog. Suzi likes to play pretend games. And Marnie just tries to keep up with her older brother and sister. The best thing, though, is that their mother is more organized than she used to be. (Mr. and Mrs. Barrett are divorced.) Dawn's mother is pretty disorganized herself - she's apt to put the socks away in the bread drawer. But Mrs. Barrett used to do things like forget to clean the house, or give Dawn the wrong phone number for wherever she was going while Dawn was sitting. But now she's much better. She got a job she likes a lot, and she's been trying really hard ever since then.

"Hi, Dawn!" Suzi greeted Dawn happily at the door. "Mommy said I could let you in." Dawn entered the Barretts' house, closing the door behind her. "A storm is blowing in," she told Suzi. "It's all windy, and I can smell rain in the air." Suzi found this hysterical. "A storm is blowing in?" she repeated. "You can smell rain in the air?" "Yup," replied Dawn.