Kristy and the Baby Parade

by Ann M. Martin

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Letter from Ann M. Martin

  Acknowledgment

  About the Author

  Scrapbook

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Okay, I admit it. I was bored.

  I hardly ever get bored while I’m baby-sitting — I love being around kids — but that day was different. It wasn’t exactly cold out, but it was kind of gray and dreary. So I’d been indoors all afternoon with David Michael and Emily Michelle. We’d played almost every game in the house at least three times.

  “I’m bored!” said David Michael.

  “Bowed!” said Emily Michelle. She doesn’t speak too well yet, but she can mimic just about anything you say — even if she doesn’t have the slightest idea what it means.

  Maybe I should back up here and explain a few things, like who I am and why I was sitting for these two bored kids.

  I’m Kristy Thomas. I’m thirteen and I’m in the eighth grade at Stoneybrook Middle School. More than anything, I love to baby-sit. In fact, it’s kind of a business for me and some of my friends — but I’ll tell you more about that later.

  It’s lucky that I love to baby-sit because I’ve got a big family that includes quite a few kids who need sitting for. David Michael and Emily Michelle, for example. And then there are Karen and Andrew …

  Oh, my family’s so confusing sometimes. Let me start at the beginning. See, my original family was pretty normal. There were my mom and dad and my two older brothers, Charlie and Sam, me, and my little brother, David Michael.

  But just after David Michael was born, my dad walked out on us. He just left. I hear from him now and then, on my birthday (although sometimes he even forgets that) or at Christmas. I think he’s living somewhere in California these days. It was hard on us when he first left, but my mom’s pretty strong, and she did a great job of holding the family together.

  And then, not too long ago, my mom met this really terrific guy named Watson Brewer. They fell in love and got married — so now Watson’s my stepfather. After the wedding, we moved across town to live in his mansion.

  Watson is a real, true millionaire. Can you believe it? But you’d never know it by the way he acts — he’s not stuck up or anything. He’s just a regular guy. And he’s a great father to his two kids from his first marriage — Karen (she’s seven) and Andrew (he’s almost five). They live with us every other weekend and for a couple of weeks during the summer. They’re terrific kids.

  So anyway, once we moved into the mansion, Mom and Watson started to want a baby — and that’s where Emily Michelle comes in. When Mom first started talking about a baby, I thought she was planning to get pregnant. But then Watson told us that they were going to adopt a little Vietnamese girl — and that’s exactly what they did.

  Emily Michelle is two and a half years old, and she’s just about the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t talk much — partly because she’s just beginning to understand English. But she’s a real sweetie.

  David Michael’s seven now, and he loves being a big brother. Emily Michelle looks up to him just like I look up to Charlie (he’s seventeen) and Sam (he’s fifteen).

  I haven’t even mentioned Nannie yet — she’s my grandmother. She moved in with us after we adopted Emily, partly because we needed her help (Mom and Watson both work) and partly because she was tired of living alone. Her husband died years ago.

  Nannie’s great. She keeps busy and really enjoys life. She has tons of friends, she likes to bowl, and she’s always on the go.

  There are several other members of my family — but they’re not people. We’ve got a puppy named Shannon — she’s a Bernese mountain dog, and she’s going to be huge some day. And Boo-Boo is Watson’s cat. He’s old and fat and kind of mean — but he’s still part of the family. Plus, Karen and Andrew have two goldfish, Crystal Light the Second and Goldfishie.

  So there you have it. I think this is a pretty neat family, even if it is a little complicated.

  Now, where was I? Oh, right. I was telling you how bored we all were that day. Well, you’d be bored, too, after playing Clue, Candy Land, Shark Attack (that’s Emily’s favorite), and one lo-o-ng game of Monopoly.

  I racked my brain trying to think of something to do. I wasn’t about to turn on the TV — I only do that as a last resort — but I couldn’t come up with any other ideas for indoor activities. I kept wishing that the sun would come out so we could go outside, but it refused to budge from behind all those clouds.

  Should we make cookies? Nope. Too messy. Mom would be coming home pretty soon, and she’d want to start dinner. Build with Legos? No way. David Michael had told me early in the afternoon that he was sick of Legos.

  I got up to put Shark Attack away, and that’s when it hit me. I saw all the magazines and newspapers sitting in their recycling bins on the floor of the hall closet. Collages! We’d make collages.

  “Yay!” said David Michael when I told him my idea.

  “Yay!” echoed Emily Michelle. I knew that she’d make more of a mess than a work of art, but I knew she’d have fun, too. She loves fooling around with scraps of paper and glue and Magic Markers.

  I grabbed a stack of newspapers and magazines and brought them to the kitchen table. Then I got out safety scissors, glue, crayons and markers, and some paper. I sat David Michael and Emily Michelle at the table and told them to go to it.

  Pretty soon David Michael was cutting away, his tongue sticking out as he concentrated on not slicing off Darryl Strawberry’s head. It only took Emily Michelle about thirty seconds to get glue all over her hands — but I let her go wild, since she was wearing old clothes.

  I picked up a recent issue of Stoneybrook News, thinking that I might find some interesting things for the two of them to cut out. Most of what I glanced at looked fairly boring, though. There was a long story about the new sewage treatment plant, and another about some people’s fiftieth wedding anniversary.

  I kept leafing through the paper, looking for good pictures. Then this ad caught my eye. “Calling All Babies!” it said. It was an ad for the Stoneybrook Baby Parade.

  The baby parade. I’d forgotten all about it. It’s held only once every two years, and I’d never paid much attention to it. I always thought it was kind of silly. It’s this big event in which parents dress up their kids in all kinds of wild costumes and try to win prizes. Some of the kids are in strollers, some are in go-carts or wagons, and some are on big floats that hold a whole bunch of kids. There are all these different divisions for different age groups and types of entries.

  For example, the ad described Division A, which would include “children in fancy, decorated go-carts, strollers, coaches, or kiddie cars.” Division B was for children in “comic, decorated go-carts, strollers …” You get the picture. Divisions C and D were for floats of various sizes.

  There would be a grand marshall for the parade, and judges who would pick first-, second-, and third-place winners in each division. All children under the age of three were eligible to enter. The ad said to watch for applications.

  I remembered some of the baby parades I’d seen. They were pretty crazy! Every entry has to have a “theme” — and some of the themes are kin
d of … well, imaginative. Like the float one year that was called “Circus Days.” It featured a twelve-foot-high elephant on wheels! Or the “Wild West” float I saw once, with a cowboys-and-Indians pageant being acted out on top of it.

  Babies in strollers had to have themes, too — they might be dressed up like fairy-tale characters or people in the movies.

  It was pretty silly, all right.

  But after I’d read that ad, my glance kept resting on Emily Michelle. She’s adorable. Did I already tell you that? Well, she is. I looked at her glossy, straight black hair cut like a Dutch girl’s. I looked at her sparkling brown almond-shaped eyes. I looked at her plump, pink cheeks and at her sturdy little hands (all covered with glue at the moment, but still very cute) and at her round little tummy.

  I was getting an idea.

  I’m famous for that — getting ideas, that is. Just ask my friends. I don’t mean to sound egotistical or anything. It’s just something I’m good at. Ideas pop into my head, and a lot of them turn out to be pretty terrific.

  I’m sure you can guess what this idea was about. That’s right. I was thinking of entering Emily in the baby parade. She’d be bound to win a prize — and it would be so much fun to dress her up and show her off.

  I looked at her some more. What division would I enter her in? What kind of costume should she have? There was a lot to think about.

  “Do you like my collage, Kristy?” asked David Michael suddenly. I shook myself. I’d been thinking so hard that I’d forgotten what we were doing. I looked at David Michael’s creation.

  “That’s great!” I said. And it was, kind of. It had a baseball theme — that is, David Michael had cut out every picture he could find that had anything to do with baseball, and then he’d pasted them all onto a piece of paper, in no particular order. It was about four layers thick, and pictures were hanging off the sides. He’d also cut out words like home run and Red Sox from head-lines. Those were pasted right over the pictures.

  “Charlie’ll love it,” I said. I knew he would, too. He loves anything that has to do with baseball.

  Just then, I heard the front door slam. “Anybody home?” called a voice.

  “There’s Charlie now!” I said. “That means Mom will be home soon, too. Time to clean up.” I looked at the mess Emily Michelle had made, and I sighed. She might be perfect-looking, but she’s just like any other two-and-a-half-year-old when it comes down to it.

  I helped clear off the table, thinking all the time about the baby parade. Soon Sam came home, and then Nannie got back from bowling practice, and right on her heels were Mom and Watson.

  Before long, the house was full of noise and activity as we all helped get dinner ready. As I told you earlier, I love my wild family. But that night, I was glad when dinner was over and I could go up to my nice quiet room to start my homework — and think about my latest idea.

  I was sure that my friends would be excited about the baby parade, too. Maybe Jessi would want to enter Squirt! And there are lots of other babies whom we sit for. This could be a great activity for the whole club!

  What club?

  Oh, I guess I haven’t told you about it yet. Well, it’s a long story.

  The club I’ve been talking about is special. It’s special because it’s more than a club — it’s a business, as I mentioned before. It’s also special because of the people who belong to it. There are seven of us in the Baby-sitters Club, and I consider each one of the other members my good friend.

  Sometimes, I think it’s amazing that we’re all such close friends — because we’re very different. Of course, we do have things in common. We love to baby-sit, for one. That’s probably why the club works so well.

  I’m the president of the BSC. That’s because it was my idea. (Remember how I said that I often have good ideas? Well, this one was the best ever.) I try to run the club in a businesslike way, and I know that sometimes it means I come across as a little bossy. But my friends put up with it pretty well.

  They’re used to me. They’re used to the fact that I have (I admit it) a big mouth. It’s not that I’m mean or anything, but I’m not always as tactful as I could be. They’re also used to the fact that I’m not as sophisticated as the rest of them: I’m not interested in clothes (I usually dress for comfort, not for style — which means jeans, a turtleneck, and running shoes most days) or makeup or any of that stuff.

  Boys? Well, until recently I wasn’t interested at all. But lately I’ve developed a crush on this guy Bart, who coaches a softball team in my neighborhood. I coach one, too. His team’s name is Bart’s Bashers, and mine is called Kristy’s Krushers.

  But you know what? I don’t think I’m ready for a real boyfriend. Not after seeing what my best friend, Mary Anne Spier, went through with her boyfriend, Logan Bruno.

  We all thought they were the perfect couple — but then they broke up. The breakup was kind of Mary Anne’s idea, but it was tough on her just the same.

  Mary Anne’s a truly sensitive person. She’s romantic and a good listener and she cries very, very easily. You might think that would mean that she and I wouldn’t get along all that well, since I don’t seem to have a sensitive bone in my body. Somehow, though, our friendship has survived my big mouth.

  Though we’re different in terms of personality, we’re alike in other ways. For example, looks. We’re both short for our age (actually, I’m even shorter than Mary Anne. I’m the shortest girl in my grade) and have brown hair and brown eyes. Mary Anne tends to dress a little more stylishly than I do — there are times when she actually looks cool, which I never do.

  We’ve been friends forever — or at least it seems that way. I used to live right next door to her, before Mom and Watson got married. Mary Anne’s mom died when Mary Anne was just a baby, and her dad brought her up all by himself.

  Mr. Spier tried really hard to be a good father. In fact, maybe he tried too hard. For years, he was incredibly strict with Mary Anne. There were all kinds of rules she had to follow, and she could only dress a certain way. It used to drive her crazy. But finally Mr. Spier started to loosen up. He didn’t even seem to mind that Mary Anne had a boyfriend! (She’s the only one in our club who has had one, by the way.)

  Mr. Spier actually loosened up so much that he started dating this woman who happened to be his old high-school sweetheart. She also happened to be the mother of one of our other club members, Dawn Schafer!

  See, Dawn’s mom had grown up in Stoneybrook, but then she got married and moved to California. Years later, she got divorced, and she and Dawn (and Dawn’s younger brother, Jeff) moved back to Stoneybrook. And after she and Mr. Spier had dated for awhile, they decided to get married!

  So Mary Anne’s other best friend, Dawn, is now also her stepsister. Mary Anne and her dad (and her kitten, Tigger, too) moved into Dawn’s house to live with Dawn and her mom.

  What about Jeff? Well, he missed his dad — and California — so much that he moved back there. Now Dawn misses him, but she knows he made the right decision.

  I think Dawn’s happy here in Stoneybrook. I know she misses the sunny beaches and the more laid-back life-style of California, but she’s adjusted well to life in Connecticut. Dawn looks like my idea of a California girl, though. She’s a real knockout, with her blue eyes and her long, long, pale blonde hair. She’s got a style all her own, too — my friends and I call it “California casual.” She wears lots of cool clothes in bright colors.

  By the way, Dawn was always pretty, even as a little kid. She once told me that when she was two years old, her mom entered her picture in a baby contest — and she won first prize!

  But Dawn’s not at all stuck-up. I don’t even think she has any idea how pretty she is. Dawn is — well, she’s mellow, that’s the only way I can describe her. She does her own thing, and doesn’t care much what other people think of her. I admire her for that.

  She’s been through some pretty rocky times — first her parents’ divorce, and then her brother
moving back to California, and then her mom’s remarriage. (Even though Dawn and Mary Anne are best friends, it took some time for them to adjust to being in the same family.) But she’s hung in there throughout all of it, even when the rest of us knew she must be hurting.

  One of Dawn’s favorite things about Stoneybrook is the house she lives in. Dawn loves to read ghost stories — so what could be better for her than living in a haunted house? You might think I’m kidding, but I’m not. The house is really, really old, and it has a secret passage. We’re almost sure that a ghost lives there!

  And if it does, maybe Dawn and Claudia can catch it. Claudia Kishi is another member of our club, and her favorite reading consists of Nancy Drew mysteries. She considers herself a pretty good detective.

  Claudia is just as gorgeous as Dawn, but in a totally different way. Instead of pale blonde hair, Claudia’s is jet-black. Instead of blue eyes, Claudia’s got beautiful brown almond-shaped ones.

  Claudia is Japanese-American — very exotic and very, very cool. If you want to talk about style, you’ve got to talk about Claudia Kishi. Nobody in Stoneybrook can put together a wild outfit like Claud can. She’s always up on the latest trend, whether it’s big black shoes, tie-dyed leggings, or cool hats.

  Her parents don’t mind the way she dresses (though they’d probably draw the line if she wanted to dye her hair green or get a Mohawk or something) because they know it’s all part of Claudia’s artistic sense, which they like to encourage.

  See, Claud’s not a great student — not because she’s dumb, but because she’s just not that interested in school. (Her older sister, Janine, loves school — she’s a certified genius, so that would explain it.) But Claudia’s less-than-average grades in English and math are balanced out by her above-average artistic talent.

  Painting, drawing, sculpting — you name it, Claudia’s terrific at it. You wouldn’t believe the beautiful things she’s made. She even makes her own jewelry sometimes — which just adds to her distinctive personal style.

  I mentioned that Claud’s parents encourage her artistic talent, but did I tell you how they feel about her passion for Nancy Drew books? Well, they don’t exactly approve, so Claud has to hide her books. She’s good at hiding things, because she’s got another habit her parents disapprove of: eating junk food.