When I returned to the living room, Dana looked even paler. I could see the delicate blue veins at the sides of her temples. She had curled up on the loveseat and closed her eyes. "Come on," I said. "Get up. We're going to see a doctor." The fight seemed to have gone out of Dana. Limply she let me help her on with her jacket. "Adam!" I called. "Adam, come down here." Outside, a car horn honked. Looking out the window, I saw Mrs. Kleinsasser sitting behind the wheel of her blue compact station wagon. "Hurry, Adam!" I yelled, then ran up the stairs to get him.
When Adam was downstairs, I tossed his jacket over his shoulders and hurried the two kids out the door.
Mrs. Kleinsasser drove us to Dr. Johanssen's house. "Do you think we should go to the hospital instead?" she asked.
"Let's try Dr. Johanssen first," I suggested.
Charlotte answered the door when we arrived. "Mom!" she called. Dr. Johanssen hurried out of the kitchen. I introduced Mrs. Kleinsasser, then explained Dana's problem.
"Let's have a look at you," Dr. Johanssen told Dana, gently guiding her toward her study.
Char showed us her new video game while Mrs. Kleinsasser, Adam, and I waited in the living room. In half an hour, Dana and Dr. Johanssen returned. The color had come back to Dana's cheeks and she looked a whole lot better.
"She'll be all right now," said Dr. Johanssen. "Stacey, please tell Mrs. Cheplin to call me when she gets in. Dana's insulin dosage will probably have to be adjusted. I'm going to call her doctor, Dr. Hernandez, and leave a message for him to call me as soon as he returns." "Thanks a million, Dr. Johanssen," I said, feeling incredibly relieved.
"You're welcome. You did the right thing to bring her here, Stacey," Dr. Johanssen told me.
"Thanks." We rode home and Mrs. Kleinsasser dropped us off outside the house. "Would you like me to come in?" she offered.
"No, I see Mrs. Cheplin's car in the driveway," I said. "Thank you very much." When we entered the house, Mrs. Cheplin came out of the kitchen to meet us. She was red-faced with anger. "What happened here today?" she barked at me. I opened my mouth to tell her but she obviously didn't want an answer.
"When I came home the door was unlocked. Look at this place! Potato peelings all over the table. Adam's room is a wreck! Supper isn't even started!" "Mrs. Cheplin, we had an - "I began.
"I don't care what you had! There is no excuse for this! I knew you were too young to handle this job. I should have listened to my instincts. They told me to hire an older girl. Nonetheless, I can't believe you would - " "Mrs. Cheplin!" I said, raising my voice. "Would you please listen!" She widened her eyes, but she didn't say anything.
"I had to rush out because Dana's blood sugar was too low. I asked Mrs. Kleinsasser to drive her to my friend Dr. Johanssen's house." Mrs. Cheplin turned pale. "Dana, how do you feel?" "Fine now," Dana answered.
"Did you have a snack when you came home?" "She had an orange and an apple," I said. "Dr. Johanssen wants you to call her. She thinks Dana's insulin dosage might need to be changed. I have her number." As I spoke, I wrote down the number (which I knew by heart since I baby-sit for Char a lot) on the memo pad in the front hallway.
"Stacey, I'm sorry," said Mrs. Cheplin. "I had no idea." I was too angry to accept her apology. How dare she speak to me like that after I'd worked like crazy to comply with her stupid list and taken good care of her kids at the same time. I was furious.
"I'm late for my meeting," I said, gathering my books. " 'Bye." Chapter 12.
It rained all day Tuesday, washing away the last of the snow. Logan was home baby-sitting for his five-year-old brother Hunter, and his ten-year-old sister, Kerry.
"I knew something was up with Kerry when I found her sitting in the linen closet whispering into the cordless phone," he told us at Wednesday's meeting. (He decided to attend the meeting since he was walking Mary Anne over to Claudia's anyway.) "What's with the kids and the secret phone calls lately?" Kristy wondered aloud.
"We found out," Mary Anne told her. "And wait until you hear." "You won't believe it," Logan added.
Logan told us he wasn't paying too much attention at first to Kerry and her mysterious phone calls. He figured she was just being silly with her friends. He sat down with Hunter at the family's new computer to fool around with a CD-Rom program they'd just bought.
He was busily zooming around a "virtual" road when the doorbell rang. Logan handed Hunter the computer mouse and ran to the door.
Opening the door, Logan looked out on the rainy day but didn't see anyone. Then, he glanced down and saw a soggy envelope struck under the doormat.
Logan was pretty sure he knew what it was. This wasn't the first time that week that an envelope had been delivered by some ring-and-run phantom. Here's what the letter said.
Crumpling the note, he tossed it into the wastebasket and returned to Hunter at the computer. "Who was it?" Hunter asked as his "virtual" sportscar crashed into a "virtual" brick wall.
"Just some idiot playing a joke," Logan said lightly, taking back the mouse.
"Huh?" "Never mind." Logan laughed. "What's the score?" While Logan continued playing, he wondered about the letters he'd been receiving. Who was sending them? And why? He had no idea. He tried to remember if he'd made any kids mad while baby-sitting, but he hadn't even been sitting much lately.
About five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. This time Logan was in no mood to get up and answer it. (Besides, he was in the process of beating his previous score.) "Kerry!" he bellowed. "Kerry, get the door!" Kerry popped up from behind the living room sofa still clutching the cordless phone. "You don't have to shout," she said huffily. "I'm going." When Kerry didn't return in nearly five minutes, Logan assumed one of her friends had been at the door. But then the responsible sitter in him surfaced and he decided he'd better check on her. "Take over for me," he told Hunter as he handed him the mouse once again.
"Is this my score now?" Hunter asked enthusiastically.
Logan hesitated for a moment. "Uh . . . yeah . . . sure. It's yours." Just as he stood up, Kerry came into the room. "There are some people outside to see you," she said in a strangely superior tone.
"What people?" Logan asked, frowning.
"People who have something to say to you." Logan shot Kerry a confused, questioning look and headed for the front door. When he opened it, he came face-to-face with ten of the kids we baby-sit for, and they were all scowling furiously at him. (Even Dana Cheplin was there. Apparently she's a friend of Vanessa's.) "What's up, guys?" Logan asked.
"That's what we came to ask you!" said Vanessa dramatically.
"What are you talking about?" Logan asked.
"Oh, sure, like you don't know," Haley Braddock scoffed.
Claire Pike stepped forward, her arms folded tightly. "You two-dimer!" she scolded.
"What?" asked Logan.
"That's two-timer," Nicky corrected his sister.
"Two-timer?" Logan echoed in bewilderment.
Just then, Mary Anne came up the walk. Logan was glad to see her. Maybe she knew what was going on.
"What's all this?" Mary Anne asked when she reached the front door.
"I was hoping you knew," Logan said.
Jenny Prezzioso and Margo Pike ran to Mary Anne and put their arms around her. "Poor Mary Anne," said Jenny.
"Poor, sweet, trusting Mary Anne," Margo agreed, gazing up at Mary Anne with wide, pity-filled eyes.
Logan and Mary Anne exchanged glances of complete bewilderment. What was going on?
Haley stepped up to Mary Anne and took her hand. "Logan has a confession to make.
It won't be easy for you, but you have all of us to lean on." "Th-thanks," Mary Anne said.
"What confession?" Logan yelped indignantly.
"A confession about the ring you gave to another woman!" Kerry cried accusingly.
At that point, Mary Anne became just a little alarmed. "What is she talking about, Logan?" she asked.
Logan was laughing too hard to reply.
"He thi
nks this is funny!" Vanessa cried, outraged.
"It is funny," Logan sputtered through his laughter. "It's very funny." "It is?" Mary Anne said. "Maybe someone better tell me what's going on." "Logan has lost his mind," Haley said. "That's what's going on." "Just great!" exclaimed Kerry, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "First he acts like a rat, then he covers up by acting insane." "I'm not a rat and I'm not insane. This is all a big mistake." "You can't get out of it," Becca said. "Vanessa and I saw you buy that ring for Kristy!" "You bought Kristy a ring?" Mary Anne gasped.
"Oops," said Becca, covering her mouth.
Apparently she hadn't meant for that to slip out then.
"Mary Anne, I bought the ring for you," Logan explained patiently. "Kristy was helping me pick it out. It was supposed to be a Valentine's Day surprise." "Oh, Logan, thank you," Mary Anne said, growing misty-eyed.
"You're welcome, but thanks to these guys the surprise is ruined." Logan gave the kids an annoyed stare. "Luckily I have one more valentine surprise lined up." Kerry cleared her throat uncomfortably. Her face was red around the temples and chin. "Uh ... no you don't," she said in a small voice.
Logan looked at her sharply.
"I ... uh ... I ... uh," Kerry stammered.
"You what?" Logan demanded.
"I kind of canceled your reservation at Chez Maurice," Kerry said quickly.
"You're taking me to Chez Maurice!" Mary Anne cried.
"Not anymore," said Logan. "I won't be able to get another reservation there this close to Valentine's Day." He turned angrily toward his sister. "Kerry, I'm going to brain you! Why did you do that?" "I heard you make the reservation. Becca had called to tell me about you and Kristy.
So I put two and two together and - " "And you got six," Logan filled in for her.
"Well, we thought you were being untrue to Mary Anne," Vanessa said defensively.
Mary Anne took Logan's hand. "Logan would never do something like that," she told the kids. "But I do appreciate your sticking up for me. That was very sweet." She turned to Logan. "You have to admit, it was sweet." Logan just scowled.
"Sorry, Logan," said Buddy Barrett. One by one the kids apologized as they turned and slunk away from the front door.
"At least that solves the hate-mail mystery," Mary Anne said with a rueful laugh.
Logan nodded. "It sure does. Now the mystery is what we are going to do to celebrate Valentine's Day." Chapter 13.
When I reached the Cheplins' on Thursday I was happy to see that Mrs. Cheplin had scaled her chore list back to one page. Maybe that was her way of making up for being so obnoxious before. I was especially glad because I was hoping to find a little extra time to make a valentine card for Robert.
I'd been so crazed lately that I hadn't gotten anything for him. If I hadn't heard Logan's story at the Wednesday meeting I might have forgotten about Valentine's Day altogether.
I was racing through my first chore, unloading the dishwasher, when Dana came into the kitchen wearing her jacket. "Adam and I are going over to Kerry Bruno's house," she announced.
"Sorry, but I don't think so," I told her. "Are you allowed to walk down the hill alone? There aren't any sidewalks." "No, but Kerry really needs us and I said we would come," Dana pleaded.
"Needs you for what?" "For the Valentine's Day dinner," she told me. "It's to make up to Mary Anne and Logan for the trouble we caused." "Oh," I said thoughtfully. That was awfully sweet of them. I hated to say no. But I had so many chores to do! "I'll walk you down there," I said finally. "We can't stay long, though." "Yea!" Dana cheered.
So I bundled up the kids and walked down the hill and over to Logan's house, which is on Burnt Hill Road. When we rang the bell, Kerry was thrilled to see me. "Excellent!" she cried, pulling me in the door. "We desperately need someone who can cook." The kitchen reminded me of Santa's workshop on Christmas Eve. Except that the elves were our baby-sitting charges and instead of making toys, they were preparing food.
At the kitchen table, Vanessa and Becca were cutting out Jell-O hearts with cookie cutters. Nicky Pike decorated them with swirls of canned whipped cream. Margo was creating a fruit punch from many jars and cans of juice. Haley was using a plastic knife to slice bananas and toss them into the punch. Matt Braddock was assembling dishes to set the table.
Kerry presented me with an opened pack of chopped meat, which already had hunks gouged out of it. "I tried to make hamburgers in the microwave but they came out gross," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"Super gross," Jenny confirmed as she took bread from the breadbox on the counter.
I thought a moment and remembered that meat didn't brown in a microwave. "You need to use the stove top," I told her. "I can do it for you." I found some onions and chopped them quickly. I let them fry while I made the hamburger patties, seasoning them with salt, pepper, and some dried garlic.
At four o'clock the doorbell rang. A buzz of excitement swept through the group. "Mary Anne is here," Kerry told me. "We invited her to come at four." Everyone scurried to put the last touches on their projects. Vanessa slipped into a tuxedo jacket she'd found in the family costume box. She draped a white towel over her bent arm. "I'm going out," she announced. "This is it. Everybody get ready." We gathered at the open kitchen doorway as Vanessa strutted out to the living room where Mary Anne and Logan stood talking. "Where's Kerry?" Logan asked Vanessa. "Do you know why she told Mary Anne to come over here right away?" He sounded angry. He probably thought this was another scheme the kids had concocted. (He was right about that, only this was a good scheme.) "As a matter of fact, I do," said Vanessa. "Follow me, if you please." "Now what?" Logan sighed as he and Mary Anne followed Vanessa toward the dining room. The rest of us jumped back out of the kitchen doorway as they approached so we wouldn't spoil the surprise.
Vanessa stopped just outside the doorway. "Your table is ready," she said with a low bow.
"Oh, wow!" Mary Anne cried when she spied the beautifully set table with red construction paper placements and paper doily napkins. A big red tissue paper flower sat in a glass in the middle of the table.
Vanessa pulled out a chair and Mary Anne sat down.
With a nudge, Haley pushed her brother Matt out of the kitchen. He was holding a water pitcher. He filled Logan's and Mary Anne's glasses, splashing some over the side. "No problem," Logan said, mopping up the spill with his doily napkin.
I dashed back to the stove and put a hamburger and some onions on two plates. Becca took one and Margo took the other out to the table. Haley trailed behind them, struggling to keep hold of the pitcher of fruit punch with floating bananas.
As soon as Logan and Mary Anne picked up their forks to eat, the kids ran out to sing the romantic serenade they'd practiced. First they sang a song from Lady and the Tramp.
Peeking out of the kitchen, I could see that Logan was working hard not to laugh. Mary Anne was trying equally hard not to cry. I noticed a delicate ring on her finger.
The kids then went into a pretty awful rendition of "Can You Feel the Love (Tonight)?" Then they backed out of the room.
As Adam and Dana returned to the kitchen, I grabbed their coats. "We've got to go," I told them. "I have so much to do before your mother gets home." "Please can we stay?" Dana pleaded. "We haven't served dessert yet." Just then, Mary Anne stuck her head in the kitchen door. "Could we have two more napkins, please?" she requested.
"Coming up!" Kerry said, scrambling to grab some paper napkins.
"Please, can't we stay?" Dana begged.
"Homework," I reminded her.
"I only have fifteen minutes of homework and I'll read with Adam. I promise." "I could walk them home," Mary Anne offered.
I considered this. I'd get more done without the kids. And Mary Anne didn't live far away. "They have to be home by five," I told her. "Five-fifteen at the latest." "All right," Mary Anne agreed.
"Thanks," I said, grabbing my parka. I dashed out of the house and began hurrying back to the Cheplins' house. Why was
I so desperate to complete Mrs. Cheplin's stupid list? I wondered as I chugged up the hill as fast as I could go.
Was it just greed? Maybe. But somehow I felt something more was involved. I think I wanted to prove to Mrs. Cheplin that I could do the job simply because she thought I couldn't.
Besides, she was paying me to do a job, so I wanted to do it as well as I possibly could. But was Mrs. Cheplin being unreasonable? I decided she was. She might even have been taking advantage of me because I'm young. Or maybe she somehow sensed I was someone who would try to do my best no matter what she asked.
As I unlocked the door, I realized I was angry. Why should I knock myself out for this woman who didn't appreciate anything any- way?
After that, I didn't have time to think about my anger. I was too busy flying around the house trying to finish everything.
Chapter 14.
Instead of feeling like Stacey McGill, Super Sitter, I felt as if my new nickname should be Barely-Made-It-McGill.
That Thursday - which was Valentine's Day - I barely made it through Mrs. Cheplin's chores. Mary Anne returned the kids about three seconds before Mrs. Cheplin arrived. I had to admit that the kids hadn't done their homework, which didn't make Mrs. Cheplin too happy.
From there, I pedaled home like a maniac so I could rework my paper on F. Scott Fitzgerald. (My teacher said it felt "a little rushed." Ha! If only she knew! She very kindly gave me a chance to do it over.) Believe me, it's hard to make a paper seem not rushed when you're rushing through it. Which is exactly what I was doing when the doorbell rang.
"Stacey!" Mom called up the stairs. "It's Robert." I jumped up from my desk. "Robert!" I gasped. I'd completely forgotten to make him a Valentine's Day card! How could I have forgetten?
"Maybe he forgot, too," I said aloud as I leaped up from my bed. He hadn't given me anything in school that day.
I considered claiming to feel sick and not going downstairs. No, that was a bit too infantile. (I'd been hanging around with Dana Cheplin too long.) I really had no choice but to pray that Robert hadn't brought me anything for Valentine's Day.
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