Heidi Heckelbeck Is the Bestest Babysitter!

by Wanda Coven

  Chapter 1: WIGS AND BEARDS

  Chapter 2: A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

  Chapter 3: GO, TEAM!

  Chapter 4: TOP TEACHER

  Chapter 5: THE WINNING IDEA

  Chapter 6: WHO WOULD DO THAT?

  Chapter 7: CONFETTI AND STREAMERS

  Chapter 8: TICKET TROUBLE

  Chapter 9: A NEW TWIST

  Chapter 10: THE MOST TICKETS

  ‘Heidi Heckelbeck Makes a Wish’ Excerpt

  About Wanda Coven and Priscilla Burris

  Heidi had her very own classroom in the playroom. She had a chalkboard, a desk, and a pointer. She even had students: a stuffed panda; a stuffed kangaroo; and her little brother, Henry. They all sat on small wooden chairs in front of Heidi, who was, of course, the teacher. She called herself Mrs. Applegarth.

  Mrs. Applegarth tapped the chalkboard with her pointer. “Class, what can you tell me animals do when they’re scared?”

  Henry raised his hand. Mrs. Applegarth called on him.

  “Skunks spray stink bombs when they’re scared,” he answered. “And octopuses squirt black ink.”

  “Good answer, Henry,” said Mrs. Applegarth. “You get a gold star!”

  Heidi handed Henry a gold star sticker.

  “Excuse me, Mrs. Applegarth!” said someone from the door.

  Heidi pulled off her pretend glasses and looked at the door. It was Mom.

  “May I help you, Mrs. Heckelbeck?”

  Mom entered the classroom. She had a fancy card in her hand with gold cursive writing on it. Heidi noticed it right away.

  “Ooh, what’s that?” she asked, forgetting her role as make-believe teacher.

  “It’s a wedding invitation,” Mom said.

  “Do we get to go?” Heidi asked.

  “It’s for grown-ups this time,” Mom said. “We’ll need to get a babysitter.”

  “A BABYSITTER?” questioned Heidi. “But why? It’s not like I’m a baby anymore.”

  “That’s true,” agreed Mom.

  “Then what if I babysit Henry?” suggested Heidi.

  “No way, José!” Henry cried. “I’m not a baby anymore EITHER!”

  “Well, you’re more of a baby than I am!” Heidi argued.

  “Am not!” Henry said, folding his arms.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” said Mom firmly. “Neither of you are babies, but you’re both too young to stay home alone.”

  Heidi ran across the room to the dress-up trunk and put on a gray-haired wig. She stuffed her hair inside like a bathing cap.

  “Am I old enough now?” asked Heidi.

  Mom shook her head.

  “What about me?” Henry asked. He had put on a top hat and beard. “I’m Abraham Lincoln, and he’s REALLY old!”

  Heidi rolled her eyes at her brother. “He’s not even alive anymore.”

  “Well, he used to be old,” said Henry.

  Mom laughed. “Nice try, you two,” she said.

  Heidi sighed. “But I REALLY want to babysit,” she said sadly.

  “You’ll get to babysit soon enough,” Mom said. “But you have to be a little older before I’m comfortable leaving you alone with your brother.”

  Heidi pulled off the gray wig.

  “Well, I won’t need THIS,” she said, tossing the wig in the trunk. “Because by THEN I’ll already be a grandmother!”

  Heidi tapped her best friend, Lucy Lancaster, on the shoulder.

  “Have you ever babysat before?” asked Heidi.

  Lucy looked up from her desk. “Nope,” she said. “And I wouldn’t want to, either.”

  This surprised Heidi. “Why wouldn’t you want to babysit?”

  “Because little kids NEVER listen,” said Lucy. “And they always get into your stuff.”

  Heidi raised her eyebrows. “Well, I like to be in charge,” she said.

  Then their teacher Mrs. Welli stood up and did the “Holy macaroni” routine to get the class’s attention.

  “Holy!” called out Mrs. Welli.

  “Macaroni!” responded the class.

  Then the classroom grew quiet.

  “Today I have a special announcement,” Mrs. Welli began.

  Everyone listened closely.

  “Brewster Elementary is going to hold a school fair to raise money for our new music program. The fair will be hosted by the second and third grades. That means you’ll create the booth activities and collect the tickets. And the booth that collects the most tickets will win a pizza-movie party!”

  The class began to chatter with excitement. Mrs. Welli put a finger to her lips.

  “Now I want everyone to begin thinking of ideas for your booths. You can have a booth by yourself or you can have one or two partners. You will also need to ask a teacher to oversee your booth.”

  Heidi’s and Lucy’s eyes grew wide.

  “Do you want to run a booth together?” asked Heidi.

  “Maybe,” said Lucy. “What do you have in mind?”

  Heidi smiled broadly. “How about a babysitting booth?”

  Lucy frowned. “Babysitting is not for me, remember?” she said. “Can you think of anything else?”

  Heidi bit her lower lip. “Not really,” she said. “I kind of want to do something with babysitting.”

  “Well, you may have to ask somebody else,” Lucy said.

  “That’s okay,” said Heidi. “If I win the prize, I’ll invite you to the pizza-movie party.”

  “And if I win the prize, I’ll invite you,” said Lucy.

  “Deal,” said Heidi.

  Heidi looked around the room for a partner. She spied Bruce Bickerson drawing a picture at his desk. Heidi hurried over.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  Bruce pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

  “Plans for a mechanical dog,” he said proudly. “It’s my latest invention.”

  “Pretty cool,” Heidi said. Then she leaned against his desktop. “So, do you want to run a babysitting booth with me for the fair?”

  Bruce shaded the eye sockets on his dog. “No, thanks,” he said. “I’m going to have a science booth.”

  Heidi scrunched her lips to one side. Darn, she thought, but she could hardly be mad. Bruce was the best scientist in the whole school. Of course he would want to run a science booth.

  She walked over to Laurel Lambert’s desk. “Want to do a babysitting booth with me?” asked Heidi hopefully.

  Laurel wrinkled her nose. “I’m already going to have an art studio booth,” she said. “You want to do that?”

  Heidi loved art, but she had her heart set on babysitting. I wonder if we could do both? she thought. Then something clicked in Heidi’s head. She ran over and got Bruce. Then she dragged two chairs in front of Laurel’s desk.

  “What are you up to, Heidi?” asked Laurel.

  “I have an idea,” Heidi said, scooching her chair in. “What if we put all of our ideas into one booth?”

  “What do you mean?” questioned Laurel.

  “We could make our own little hands-on museum!” said Heidi.

  “Oh, I get it,” said Bruce. “We could offer art projects, science projects, and even babysitting for little kids all in one place!”

  “Exactly!” said Heidi.

  “I like that idea,” said Laurel. “But how does babysitting fit in? It’s not something you usually see at a museum.”

  Heidi shrugged it off. “I’m sure I’ll think of something fun to go with babysitting,” she said. “Are you guys in?”

  “I’m in!” said Bruce. “I love activity museums.”

  “Me too,” Laurel said.

  Then the three friends name
d their booth: The Little Explorers’ Museum.

  The rest of the class had figured out their special activities by the end of the morning. Now everyone needed to pick a teacher to oversee their booth. Finding the perfect teacher was important, so at lunch Heidi made a list of teachers to choose from.

  She dipped a chicken tender in barbecue sauce and studied the list.

  “How about Mrs. Welli?” she asked her teammates.

  “I love Mrs. Welli, but she’s not the greatest artist,” Laurel said. “She can only draw stick figures.”

  Heidi crossed Mrs. Welli off the list.

  “How about Mr. Doodlebug?” Heidi always called the art teacher Mr. Doodlebug—even though his name was Mr. Doodlebee.

  Laurel gave a thumbs-up. “He’d be perfect for the art studio. Plus he could help decorate our museum.”

  “I object,” said Bruce. “He’s not science-y enough for me.”

  “Okay, scratch Mr. Doodlebug,” said Heidi, crossing his name off the list. “What about Principal Pennypacker?”

  “He’ll probably be too busy,” said Laurel. “I mean the whole school is coming, including parents. I’m sure they will all want to talk to him.”

  “Hmm. Mrs. Noddywonks?” Heidi continued down her list.

  Mrs. Noddywonks was the drama teacher.

  “She’s definitely artistic,” said Laurel. “Have you seen the sets she makes for the plays?”

  “Love them,” said Heidi. “Especially that fairy castle set she made for Beauty and the Beast.”

  “She’s into science, too,” Bruce added. “One time she volunteered to be the pilot in my floating lawn chair experiment.”

  Laurel’s eyes widened. “Your what?” she asked.

  “I tried to send a lawn chair across Lake Carolina with balloons and a fan,” said Bruce proudly. “I couldn’t even get Mrs. Noddywonks in the water!”

  Heidi shot Bruce a look. “Because the lawn chair folded up on poor Mrs. Noddywonks!” she said.

  “She was really nice about it,” said Bruce. “She said she had never been eaten by a lawn chair before.”

  The girls burst into laughter.

  “Okay,” said Heidi, still laughing. “Nod if you want Mrs. Noddywonks.”

  Bruce and Laurel nodded like crazy.

  “Mrs. Noddywonks WINS!” declared Heidi.

  Everybody talked about the school fair at recess.

  “Natalie and I are going to have a dunk tank,” said Lucy.

  “Well, that’ll make a big SPLASH!” Heidi said, poking Lucy in the ribs. “Get it? Splash?”

  Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed.

  “Who are you going to dunk?” asked Charlie Chen.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Lucy said. “But it has to be someone important that kids will want to see soaked!”

  They all tried to imagine who that someone would be.

  “So, what are you doing for the fair, Charlie?” asked Heidi.

  “Not getting dunked!” he said, laughing. “I’m going to run a lemonade stand. I have a secret recipe for fresh-squeezed lemonade with the juice of twenty-five lemons.”

  Heidi sucked in her cheeks and made a sour lemon face.

  “Don’t worry, silly,” said Charlie. “I’ll sweeten it!”

  “My booth will have something sweet too!” said Eve Etsy excitedly. “I’m going to have a bakery booth with confetti cupcakes and homemade s’mores bars!”

  Natalie Newman licked her lips. “I’m definitely going to visit YOUR booth!”

  “Me too!” said Lucy and Heidi at the same time.

  Then Heidi tapped Stanley Stonewrecker on the shoulder. “And what are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m going to set up a miniature golf course,” said Stanley.

  “Wow, that’s such a cool idea!” said Heidi.

  “Not as cool as MY idea!” interrupted Melanie Maplethorpe, who had barged her way into the middle of the group.

  Lucy rolled her eyes at Melanie. “So, what’s YOUR big idea?” she asked.

  Melanie stuck her nose in the air. “It just so happens that I’M NOT TELLING,” she said.

  Then she waved Stanley over. He rushed to Melanie’s side. She whispered into his ear. Stanley nodded.

  “And DON’T TELL!” Melanie said loudly. Then she turned to the rest of the group.

  “Well, it looks like Stanley changed his mind,” she said. “Now he’s on MY team because Stanley knows I have the winning idea.” Then she walked off, and Stanley followed close behind.

  Heidi kicked a pebble on the playground.

  “Merg. We don’t stand a chance of winning the pizza-movie party now,” she complained.

  Laurel folded her arms. “Says WHO?” she declared. “Just because Melanie has a BIG MOUTH doesn’t mean she’s going to win!”

  “That’s right!” agreed Bruce. “Melanie’s just trying to scare us.”

  Heidi looked at her friends thankfully. “You guys are right,” she said. “I’m not going to let Smell-a-nie spoil my fun either!”

  The Little Explorers stopped by the auditorium after school. They told Mrs. Noddywonks about the museum idea and asked her to oversee their booth.

  “I’d love to!” said Mrs. Noddywonks. “What a clever idea!”

  Then Mrs. Noddywonks suggested the museum be set up in a classroom next to the gymnasium.

  “That way you’ll have more room,” she said. “And we can make signs that point to the museum.”

  The Little Explorers thanked Mrs. Noddywonks. Then they caught the school bus to Heidi’s house.

  Mrs. Heckelbeck welcomed Heidi and her friends. She made pinwheel sandwiches and apple slices for everyone. Laurel called the meeting to order.

  “Okay, let’s go over what everyone’s doing,” said Laurel.

  “You first,” Heidi said.

  Laurel brushed a wisp of blond hair out of her eyes.

  “Okay, for my art studio, I’ll bring in a bunch of art stuff, like crayons, markers, sequins, glitter glue, paints, paper, brushes, and stickers. I’ll also need some tables and chairs and a place to hang the finished art.”

  “That sounds great,” said Heidi. “Mrs. Noddywonks can help with the tables and chairs.”

  Laurel nodded. “What about you, Bruce?” she asked. “What do you have planned for your activity?”

  “I plan to set up my latest inventions,” said Bruce. “Then I’ll show the kids how they work and let them try each one.”

  “Wow! Which inventions are you going to bring?” Heidi asked.

  “I’ll bring the Bicker Picker-Upper and the Bicker Sticker,” said Bruce. “I’m also going to bring my latest invention, the Bicker Barker.”

  “Is that the robot dog you were drawing at school?” asked Heidi.

  “Yup. You wanna see?”

  The girls nodded eagerly.

  Bruce pulled his drawing from his backpack and laid it on the table.

  “I used my dog, Frankie, as a model,” he said.

  “Will it really work?” asked Laurel.

  “I hope so!” said Bruce. “It should be able to walk, bark, and pick things up in its mouth.”

  “Will the robot dog bite, too?” Laurel asked, pointing to its mouth.

  Bruce smiled craftily.

  “Only if I tell it to,” he said.

  The girls laughed.

  “Okay, your turn, Heckelbeck,” said Laurel. “What do you have planned for the booth?”

  Heidi looked at her friends and blinked. She had no idea what to do. “Uh, so far just babysitting,” she admitted.

  “But what are you going to DO when you babysit?” asked Bruce.

  “That’s easy,” said Heidi. “I’ll watch the little kids.”

  Bruce looked confused. “But who would buy a ticket for that?”

  “He’s right,” said Laurel. “No one would go to a boring babysitter booth. You need some kind of activity to make it fun for the kids.”

  Heidi sat back down and leaned on her e
lbows. She knew they were right. She had only wanted to babysit so she could prove she was good at it.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll come up with a better plan,” she said. “Can I let you know tomorrow?”

  Laurel and Bruce looked at each other.

  “Okay,” said Laurel. “But make sure it’s something fun.”

  “It will be,” said Heidi. “I promise.”

  “What’s the matter, pumpkin?” asked Mom.

  Heidi slumped onto the sofa. Her friends had gone home and left Heidi with a big problem.

  “I need an activity for our Little Explorers’ Museum,” she said. “And I can’t think of anything good.”

  Mom smiled. “Well, just pick something you like to do,” she suggested.

  “Oh but what?” mumbled Heidi.

  “How about tap-dancing?” Mom suggested.

  “But I’m not good enough to teach anyone,” said Heidi.

  “Then what about dress-up?” Mom said. “You could bring your dress-up trunk to school and take pictures of kids in costume.”

  “But then my dress-up clothes would get wrecked,” said Heidi.

  Mom rested her hand on Heidi’s shoulder.

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something,” she said. “Just ask yourself, ‘What do I really love to do?’ ”

  So Heidi thought really hard. She liked to bake cookies, but there wasn’t an oven in the classroom. She liked to knit and read, but those were probably too quiet to win a bunch of tickets. Is there anything I love to do that’s SPECTACULAR? she asked herself. Then a sly grin spread over her face.