Baby-Sitters Club 037

by Ann M. Martin

  "I'm sure!" Karen sighed. "This is much worse than I thought." "Do you think the earthquake got him?" Andrew asked.

  "No, I think . . . Morbidda Destiny got him!" Kristy tried not to laugh. Morbidda Destiny is the old lady who lives next door. Her real name is Mrs. Porter, but Karen is convinced that she's a witch. She lives in an old Victorian house with gables and turrets, and she even keeps a broomstick on the front porch.

  "Now what will we do?" asked Andrew.

  Karen looked stumped. "I don't know. Morbidda Destiny has special powers. She could turn David Michael into a witch if she wanted to, or she might make him drink a magic potion." "No!" Karen nodded. "She might even make boy-stew out of him." "Ew, gross," Andrew muttered. "How can we save him?" "Let me think," Karen said, just as the tent flap opened and David Michael crawled in.

  "The bear alert is in place," he said, scooting over to Kristy. "You'll all be safe." "Are you okay?" Karen asked him. "We thought Morbidda Destiny got you." David Michael laughed. "Of course I'm okay." Karen looked at him suspiciously, as if he really might be a newt or a toad pretending to be David Michael. "I guess so. Where were you when Andrew called you?" "I was hiding," he said teasingly. "I knew you'd figure that Morbidda Destiny had kidnapped me, and I wanted to see what you'd do about it." "Well, it wasn't funny," Karen said sternly. Andrew started telling David Michael about the earthquake, and Karen sat down next to Kristy. "You know what I think?" she whispered in Kristy's ear. "I think Morbidda Destiny really did get him and made him say that he was hiding!" "Do you really think so?" asked Kristy.

  Karen nodded. "Witches have their ways," she said mysteriously.

  Chapter 9.

  You've got to give Chewy a doggie treat or he's going to ruin the play!" Myriah cried.

  It was a Thursday afternoon, and I was baby-sitting for the three younger Hobart kids while Ben was at a dentist appointment. Mathew, James, and Johnny were in the backyard rehearsing their play with Myriah and Gabbie Perkins.

  "We can give him a yum-yum if you want," I suggested, "but I don't think it will help." Chewbacca, the hero of the play, was tearing around and around the yard. I've never seen a dog with less acting ability. He was supposed to act sad and lonely (according to the script James wrote), but he was running in circles, yapping and wagging his tail. Every once in a while he'd snap at an imaginary fly.

  "Come here, Chewy," I said wearily. "Let's see if this calms you down." I popped a doggie treat into his mouth. He immediately sat up on his hind legs and begged for more.

  "I told you it wouldn't help," James said. "That dog can't act." "He can so!" Myriah put her arms around Chewy's furry neck. "He just doesn't feel like it." "Let's take it from the top. Start the mall scene again," James ordered. "Does everybody remember what they're supposed to do?" He glanced at his notes. "Gabbie, you own a shoe store." "Shoes, shoes," she sang. I put my fingers to my lips to remind her to be quiet, and she grinned at me.

  "Mathew, you work in the pizza place, and Johnny, you work in a pet store." "I want to work in a pet store!" said Gabbie. "Pets for sale! Pets for sale! We have rabbits, gerbils, and hamsters. Maybe even cats and dogs - " "No, Gabbie," James said quietly. "You stay in your shoe store and sell shoes. You have a very important part in the play." Gabbie beamed. That was the best thing that James could have said to her.

  "Now can we please begin?" James said.

  "Shoe sale! Shoe sale!" Gabbie chanted.

  "Come buy some shoes. We have specials today." "Myriah, you can make your entrance now," James said. "Quiet, everybody." He sat down next to me at the picnic table. Nobody moved. "Myriah, what are you waiting for?" he yelled.

  She stared at him, her hand on Chewy's neck. "We're waiting for you to cue us," she said. "That's the way they do it in the movies. You're supposed to say, 'And . . . action!' " James rolled his eyes. "All right, all right," he muttered. "And . . . action!" I smiled.

  The scene started smoothly. Myriah was talking softly to Chewy, asking if he was lost, when suddenly earsplitting rock music filled the air.

  "Who turned on that radio?" James demanded. He jumped up and raced over to Mathew, who was sitting in a red wagon. "Mathew, what do you think you're doing?" He reached into the wagon and pulled out a small radio. "You're ruining the scene. We can't hear Myriah's lines." Mathew shrugged. "I'm playing music in my pizza parlor." Myriah frowned. "Mathew, you can't make noise when someone else is saying their lines. That's the first thing you have to learn when you put on a play." "But I don't have anything to do. Nobody gave me any lines." "You have lines in the next scene," James told him. "Look, all you have to do right now is stay in your place and act like you're making pizzas." "I know what I could do," Mathew said. "I£ you give me my radio back, I could listen to music through my headphones." James hesitated. "I guess that would be okay. Just make sure you pay attention so you don't miss your cue. Myriah is going to visit all the stores in the mall, and you're the second place she goes." Myriah shifted impatiently. "Can we start over now? Chewy's getting restless." "Okay," James said. I could tell he was getting a little annoyed at all the interruptions. "Places everyone." "You're at it again? I don't believe it!" exclaimed a voice.

  I turned to see Zach steer his bike toward the picnic table, where James and I were sitting. "I thought you had enough of this baby stuff the other day." "It's not baby stuff," Myriah said, insulted. "We're putting on a real play." "Yeah, yeah." Zach plopped himself down next to James and punched him playfully in the arm. "So what do you say we play some football?" "He can't leave rehearsal," Myriah said. "We're right in the middle of a very important scene." "I bet!" Zach snorted. "What kind of a play has a dog in it? You must be 'doing Annie." "No. I already told you. It's a play I wrote myself," James said shyly. Zach doubled up with laughter and nearly fell off the picnic bench.

  "I know, I know." He socked James again, this time on the shoulder. "When are you going to grow up and do some guy stuff?" "Guy stuff?" Zach leaned close to him. "You know, football, skateboarding, things like that." "I do a lot of sports," James said stiffly. I could tell he was embarrassed because two little pinpoints of color had appeared on his cheeks.

  "You could have fooled me!" Zach hooted. "Every time I see you, you're hanging around with a bunch of girls." He paused. "You know, you're never going to be popular at this rate. The kids at school still think you're weird." "Weird?" Zach nodded. "Can you blame them? You don't talk right, you don't go out with the guys, and worst of all, you hang around with girls." James hung his head and looked sheepish. "I don't want anybody to think I'm weird." "Well, of course you don't," Zach said, slapping him on the back. "But you can change all that. Just start doing things differently. And you can start right now." "I can?" "Sure." Zach stood up and got on his bike. "Come on back to my house and we'll toss a football around. Then we'll watch a new horror movie I just rented. Oh, yeah, and we'll work on talking like a real American." He released the kickstand on his bike, ready to go. "Sound good?" James hesitated, and then tossed his script on the picnic table. "You're on!" he said.

  "James," Myriah wailed. "What about the play?" James shook his head and didn't answer. He was already on the way to the garage for his bike.

  "Now what will we do?" Mathew asked. "We can't put on the play without James." "We'll think of something else to do," I promised him. I watched as Zach and James pedaled down the driveway. Why did James let Zach talk to him that way? And why did he want to change his whole personality to please Zach? James was a great kid, just the way he was. Zach had no business telling him how to talk or how to act. Why did James let him get away with it? None of it made any sense to me, and I was very disappointed in James.

  Chapter 10.

  Kristy dropped a bomb and didn't even know it. It all started at our Monday afternoon BSC meeting in Claudia's room. Jessi mentioned Jackie Rodowsky, the "walking disaster," and everyone started telling funny stories about him. In case you don't know, Jackie is a really cute seven-year-old with flaming red hair and freckles
. He is also accident-prone.

  "Do you remember the day I took Jackie to the pool?" Kristy said. "First he got stung by a bee, and then he got lost and almost gave me a heart attack. My brother Sam told one of the girls in his class about it, and she said she saw the whole thing. She was working as a lifeguard that day." "Really? Who was it?" Mary Anne asked.

  "I don't know her name, but she's this fantastic-looking girl who's captain of the swim team at Stoneybrook High School." Kristy picked up her clipboard, ready to get back to business. "Sam says she's the reason Travis tried out for swimming along with all his other sports. I hear he's really crazy about her. They've been dating for weeks." I looked up from the club notebook in total shock. Travis was dating someone? Travis was crazy about someone? How could that be possible? He was interested in me! I could feel my cheeks burning, and I wondered if anyone else noticed. I started thumbing through a Seventeen magazine, hoping Kristy wouldn't get annoyed with me.

  The club meeting went on as usual and a few minutes later, I actually managed to take a phone call from Dr. Johanssen, who needed a sitter for Charlotte. My voice sounded a little shaky, but I wrote down all the details about the job and promised to call her back.

  "Now, who gets the job?" Kristy asked brightly, as Mary Anne checked the record book. .

  I returned to the Seventeen magazine, dying for the meeting to be over. What was going on with Travis? Could Kristy be mistaken? I couldn't wait to get home and figure everything out.

  Unfortunately, Mom asked me to make a salad the minute I walked in the door. It was the last thing in the world I felt like doing, but what could I say? Mary Anne made spaghetti, Mom made the sauce (meatless), Richard made garlic bread, and before I knew it, all four of us were eating dinner together.

  I was there, but I wasn't there. Does that make sense? I was sitting at the dining room table, passing the salad and half listening to Mary Anne talk about school, but my mind was a million miles away. I could have been on another planet! My brain was churning, trying to come up with an explanation for what Kristy had said about Travis.

  I hated to admit it, but there just weren't that many possibilities. I didn't really think that Kristy had made a mistake, because she had seemed so definite about it. She had mentioned Travis by name (and how many Travises could there be at SHS?).

  Then I let my mind play a little game. Maybe there was a really farfetched reason for Travis's behavior. Maybe he was just pretending to like this girl. But why? I was stumped. Unless . . . maybe Travis wanted to join the swim team, too, and he figured one way to do it would be to date the captain. But wait a minute. Travis was a great athlete (he said so himself), so why would he need extra pull? Nothing made sense. There was no explanation for the way Travis was acting.

  I said so later that evening to Mary Anne, when we were upstairs working hard in my room. (Sometimes we do our homework together.) That night, Mary Anne was solving math problems, and I was trying to figure out Travis.

  "You know, it just doesn't make sense," I blurted out.

  "What doesn't?" Mary Anne barely looked up from her book.

  "What Kristy said about Travis and that lifeguard!" My voice was so loud it startled her.

  "Oh, that." She pushed her papers aside and stared at me.

  "Well, what did you think about it?" I said impatiently.

  Mary Anne shrugged. "I guess I didn't think much about it either way. Did it bother you?" Did it bother me! "Yes," I said with clenched teeth. "It bothered me a lot." Mary Anne sighed. "Then I wish she hadn't brought it up." "No, I'm glad she did. Maybe this way I can figure out what's going on. I don't know why he's taking out someone else. And I'm not sure why he's paying attention to me." I started pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the dresser.

  "Dawn, it's not the end of the world. I wish you weren't so unhappy about it." Sometimes Mary Anne gets really upset over other people's problems, but she's usually a good person to talk to.

  "But I thought Travis cared about me!" Mary Anne hesitated. "I'm sure he does. But he can take out anyone he wants to. It's not like the two of you are going steady. Anyway, she's probably a lot closer to him in age." "But why is he paying so much attention to me? I thought he really liked me." "I guess he likes her, too. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" I was all set to argue, and then I stopped myself. What Mary Anne was saying made sense, even though it killed me to admit it. Travis and I didn't have a formal relationship the way Mary Anne and Logan have. In a way, I envy Mary Anne, because she always knows where she stands with Logan. And he knows where he stands with her. But Travis is the type of boy who keeps you guessing. He's full of surprises (the lifeguard was a big one!), and I'd have to figure out a way to handle it.

  Later that night, as I turned out my light, the idea came to me in a flash. The best way to find out how Travis felt about this girl was to see the two of them together. And that was exactly what I was going to do.

  I got my chance a few days later. It was a sunny Thursday afternoon, and my teacher decided to let our class out ten minutes early. I raced across the school yard, a plan already forming in my mind. If I hurried, I could just get to SHS before the dismissal bell rang.

  The SHS kids were barreling down the broad stone steps of the school as I came tearing around the corner. My heart sank. How would I ever find Travis in this huge mob? I was just trying to decide where to stand to get the best view, when I had an incredible stroke of luck. I spotted Travis pausing in the doorway to put on his sunglasses. He looked terrific in faded jeans and a white T-shirt, and my heart did a little flip-flop. I was dying to run up to him and tell him how glad I was to see him.

  But he wasn't alone. He turned around and linked arms with a great-looking girl. Her long red hair tumbled down her back, and she had high cheekbones, just like a model. She was dressed in a white cotton flight suit, exactly the kind of trendy outfit that Claudia or Stacey would wear. I hated her on sight, and then I stopped and reminded myself that it wasn't her fault she was gorgeous. And it wasn't her fault that Travis liked her.

  Travis and the girl headed for the sidewalk, and I held my breath, hoping that Travis didn't have his car. Another stroke of luck. They walked right past the school parking lot, still arm in arm. They were probably going downtown (another shopping trip?) and if I was very careful, I'd be able to follow them. I waited behind a tree until they were a good half block ahead of me.

  I had to know what Travis was up to.

  Chapter 11.

  A few minutes later, I decided I wasn't cut out to be a spy. Do you know how hard it is to follow someone? (I know what you're probably thinking. How can I say that when it looks so easy on television?) But I had two disasters almost immediately. First, I stepped into a huge puddle, ruining my new shoes, and then I was nearly run over by a garbage truck. I was so busy watching Travis that I didn't even notice the light had changed, and I stepped right out into the intersection. Dumb! I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. I would never find out the truth about Travis if I were flattened by a truck. The trick was to stay cool.

  I made sure Travis and the girl stayed at least half a block ahead of me. With any luck, I'd be able to blend into the crowd once we got downtown. The tricky part was a long stretch of a street with a narrow sidewalk and very few trees. I knew that if Travis turned around for any reason, he would spot me.

  I was being extra cautious when a car horn blasted right behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin! To my horror, Travis heard it, too. He glanced over his shoulder, and I barely had time to dart behind a bush. Had he seen me? I had no idea, but I wasn't taking any chances. I crouched behind the bush, feeling a little silly, but afraid to get up. I counted silently to ten and then took up the chase once more.

  A few minutes later we reached downtown Stoneybrook. Travis and the girl stopped first at Burger Bite, and I watched them head for a back booth. Would he order for her? I wondered. I took a seat near the front door and peeked out from underneath a giant
menu. If I scrunched around in my seat, I could see the two of them in the mirror.

  They were laughing and talking, and when the girl picked up the menu, Travis closed his hand over hers. He winked at her before he gave their order to the waitress. My heart sank. The smiles, the tender looks ... it was all so familiar. Travis was staring at her as if she were the only girl in the room. He had looked at me in exactly the same way! I gulped down a lemonade and quietly left the restaurant. My heart was pounding in my chest as I sat on a bench across the street from the Burger Bite. I decided to wait for them to come out and then follow them to their next stop. Why was I doing this? I can't even explain it. I just had to know what they were going to do next, even though I knew it was going to hurt me.

  About half an hour later, they came out arm in arm and headed for the Merry-Go-Round. Hamburgers and pierced earrings. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Travis was taking her to exactly the same places he had taken me. I wondered for one crazy moment if Travis would even buy her the same earrings he had bought for me. (Not that it would matter at this point.) They didn't buy anything, but they wandered up and down the aisles, looking at the jewelry. They kept their heads close together, laughing and talking. Even though I couldn't hear what they were saying, I could see that they were having a terrific time together. Why couldn't I have been the one with Travis? My chest felt so tight, I thought it would explode, but I forced myself to keep watching them. I should have known that things could only get worse.