Hello, Mallory (10 page)

Jessi and I grinned at each other.

"With Mallory Pike and a friend of hers, Jessi Ramsey," Claudia went on. "Yeah, the family who moved into your house." Claudia listened for a moment and then began to laugh. She covered the receiver again. "Stacey just said, 'You mean I was so good it took two people to replace me?' "

Kristy giggled. "Let me talk to her," she said.

For the next few minutes the phone was passed around from person to person. Even Jessi and I said hi to Stacey. At last Kristy grew fidgety. "Okay, you guys," she said. "You know the rule about personal calls during meetings. It was great to talk to Stacey, but we better hang up. Our clients might be trying to reach us."

Claudia hung up reluctantly. Now that I had my own best friend, I had a pretty good idea just how much Claudia missed Stacey.

Anyway, it was a good thing they said goodbye, because as soon as Claudia hung up the phone, it started ringing again. And by the time the meeting was over, trial sitting jobs had been lined up for both Jessi and me. I would be sitting with Claudia for Jamie and Lucy Newton, and Jessi would be sitting with Dawn two days later for a little boy named Jackie Rodowsky.

"Bring a crash helmet along," Dawn told Jessi with a grin. "Jackie is the most accident-prone kid you'll ever meet."

"Oh, no!" cried Jessi. "I hope I'm ready for this."

But I knew that we were. Jessi and I could handle anything.

Chapter 15.

"Hi-hi!" called Jamie Newton. "Hi, Claudia! Hi, Mallory. . . . How come Lucy and I get two sitters today?"

"Because you are very lucky," his mother told him. "Come on in, girls."

It was the day of my trial sitting job. Claudia and I had just arrived at the home of four-year-old Jamie Newton and his baby sister, Lucy. I was nervous, but not nearly as nervous as I'd been when I'd sat at the Perkinses'. For some reason, I just knew everything was going to be okay. The power of positive thinking, my mother would say.

Mrs. Newton showed me where everything was (even though Claudia knew already), and told us to take the kids outdoors since the weather was so beautiful.

"Lucy's stroller is by the back door. She loves to be pushed around in the yard. And Jamie will probably want to play on his swing-

set. Oh, by the way, the washing machine repairman is going to come over. I hope. He was supposed to show up sometime between nine and five today, and he hasn't arrived yet. All you have to do is point him in the direction of the washing machine. He knows what the problem is."

"Okay," said Claudia confidently.

Mrs. Newton waved good-bye to Jamie, who was running around with a towel pinned to his back, pretending he was Superman. Then she kissed Lucy on her nose. "I'll be back at five-thirty," she told Claudia and me. "Good luck, Mallory."

"Thanks," I replied.

"Okay," said Claudia, after Mrs. Newton had left. "You're on your own, Mallory. Just pretend I'm not here." Claudia sat down at the kitchen table and tried to look invisible.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right," I said.

Lucy was sitting in her walker, scooting around the kitchen. I picked her up and put on the sweater and little sneakers Mrs. Newton had said she should wear outdoors. When she began to whimper, I said softly to her, "I know you don't know me, Lucy-Goose, but it's going to be okay. It's really going to be okay." I had learned how to talk soothingly like that when

Claire was born. She was fussy from her colic and always seemed to need attention. Lucy quieted down.

"Jamie?" I called.

"Yeah?" he replied. He bounded into the kitchen, towel flying. "I am Superman!" he roared. "I'm going to trample that old King Corn."

"King Corn?" I repeated.

"He means King Kong," Claudia whispered.

"Oh. . . . Hey!" I cried, looking out the window. "Jamie! I think King Kong is in the backyard!"

"Really?" said Jamie, but I could tell he knew I was kidding.

"Yeah. Put your sweater on. Let's go!"

It took a few minutes to get ready. First I settled Lucy in her stroller. Then I had to help Jamie repin his towel so that it was outside of his sweater. But at last we were in the bright sunshine and the crisp air. Claudia followed us to the back door, where she stayed, watching us through the screen.

Jamie made a beeline for his swingset, jumped onto a swing, pushed himself back, and began pumping his legs. "Hi-hi!" he called as he whizzed back and forth. "Hi-hi, Mallory!"

"Hi-hi, Superman," I replied.

I pushed Lucy around the yard. She babbled

to herself, tried to catch bugs that flew by, and sometimes just sat quietly, gazing up at the blue, blue sky.

This wasn't so bad. In fact it was easy.

Just a few moments after I'd been thinking how easy the job was, I heard the Newtons' phone ring.

"I'll get it!" Claudia called from the back door. "Don't worry about it, Mallory." (I'd almost forgotten she was there.)

I listened to Claudia's feet clatter upstairs to the Newton's kitchen. The next thing I knew she was yelling out the window to me, "Mallory! Hey, Mal! I'm really sorry but I have to go home for a few minutes. Mimi's in some kind of jam. I'll be back as soon as I can!"

(Mimi, Claudia's grandmother, had a stroke last summer and can't use her right hand anymore. She has trouble speaking, too. I hoped the problem wasn't serious.)

"Okay!" I called to Claudia. "No problem. We'll stay right here. We'll be fine!"

So we did and we were. I mean, we were eventually — but things got kind of hectic for awhile. First, Myriah and Gabbie Perkins came over. That wasn't the hectic part. It was fine.

The girls knocked at the Newtons' back gate. "Jamie?" I could hear Myriah call. "Are you there? Hi-hi! It's Gabbie and me, Myriah!"

"Mallory!" Jamie called from the swing. "My friends are here. Can I let them in?"

"Sure," I replied, even though neither Mrs. Newton nor Claudia had said anything one way or the other about having friends over.

Jamie unlatched the gate and Myriah and Gabbie entered the yard. Myriah was wearing a T-shirt that said I'M THE BIG SISTER. Gabbie was wearing one that said I'M THE MIDDLE SISTER.

"Do you like our shirts?" asked Myriah. "Laura Beth has one that says Tm the little sister.' "

"It's teeny-tiny," added Gabbie.

"How is your sister?" I asked. "Are you glad to have her home from the hospital?"

"Oh, definitely," said Myriah, sounding very grown-up.

"Yes, definitely," added Gabbie. "Sometimes Mommy lets us hold her."

"That's terrific," I told them.

Myriah and Gabbie had just joined Jamie on the swingset when I heard something pull up in the Newtons' driveway. Not Mrs. Newton, I thought, checking my watch. I ran to the gate, opened it a crack, and peeped out. A truck was parked there. On its side were the words ACE REPAIR COMPANY. The washing machine repairman! I'd forgotten all about him

— and I didn't even know where the washer was.

I didn't lose my cool, though. I decided that Jamie, Gabbie, and Myriah were okay by themselves in the yard for a few minutes. Then I lifted Lucy out of her stroller and joined the repairman.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi, there," he replied, reaching into the back of his truck for some tools. "You got a broken washer? A leaky one?"

"Yup. Come on inside." I figured that a washing machine could only be in a laundry room or a basement, and I knew the Newtons didn't have a laundry room, so I showed the man to the cellar.

I had just turned on the light for him when the phone rang. Still holding Lucy, I dashed upstairs to answer it. As the voice on the other end was telling me she'd dialed a wrong number, I looked out the kitchen window into the backyard — just in time to see Jamie tumble off one of the swings.

" 'Bye!" I said hurriedly to the woman on the phone. "Okay, Lucy-Goose. Hang on. We're going for a ride!"

I tore outside and ran to Jamie, who was crying loudly. When I reached him, I set Lucy carefully on the grass.

"Where do you hurt?" I asked Jamie.

"My kneeeee!" he wailed, pointing to his right knee.

I rolled up the leg of his jeans. "Surprise!" I said. "What do you know, Jamie? No scrape. Just a bump, I guess." (His knee looked fine.)

Myriah and Gabbie crowded in for a look at the wound. The three of them began comparing stories about injuries. Jamie stopped crying.

I rocked back on my heels and started toward Lucy, who was sitting happily in the grass.

"Good job," said a voice behind me.

I jumped.

"Sorry," said Claudia. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I got back here just in time to see how you handled all this. You did fine. I guess you showed the repairman where the machine is?"

"Sure, no problem," I said casually, but I was shaking inside. Thank goodness she thought everything had gone well. "Jamie's — Jamie's fall was an accident," I added quickly. "I mean, I had to go inside with the Ace repairman and —"

"Don't worry about it," said Claudia. "Accidents do happen. We all know that. Even the best baby-sitter can't prevent every accident."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well," said Claudia, "we'll have to make a

there s any doubt

a lot! That's great!"

"Goo-goo/' agreed Lucy.

Claudia and 1 laughed. I thought about Jessi. I was posmv would become a club member too _

n«b member. That sounded fantastic.
  
,

We had made it.

About the Author

ANN M. MARTIN did a lot of baby-sitting when she was growing up in Princeton, New Jersey. Now her favorite baby-sitting charge is her cat, Mouse, who lives with her in her Manhattan apartment.

Ann Martin's Apple Paperbacks are Bummer Summer, Inside Out, Stage Fright, Me and Katie (the Pest), and all the other books in the Babysitters Club series.

She is a former editor of books for children, and was graduated from Smith College. She likes ice cream, the beach, and I Love Lucy; and she hates to cook.