Disclaimer I only own Mrs. Smith, Kaye, and Joseph. Ann M. Martin had the rest.
Kristy glared at us all. "This meeting of the Baby-sitter's club will NOW COME TO ORDER!"
"Get real, Kristy." I said lazily, rolling over. "It's too hot to think." Just then, the phone rang, and Kristy picked it up, not dropping the scowl from her face.
"Hello?" New client! She mouthed at us. "Yes, may I ask you a few questions?"
She drilled the person in the other end of the line, and smiled slightly.
"Hm. Well see who's available. Could we call back in a few minutes? Great." She hung up. Mary Ann looked up expectantly. Kristy gave her all the boring details, which the rest of us ignored.
"Well? When do they need a sitter?" Claudia asked, suddenly waking up.
"Thursday. Six kids. One's eleven, one's nine, one's seven, one's five, one's three, and there's a one year old." Mary Ann scanned the things she had written in her incredibly neat handwriting. "Stacey, I think that you are the only person. Mrs. Smith says that she only needs one sitter."
"Great!" I said. "How long?"
"Um. Two hours." Mary Ann glanced up. "Kristy, aren't you going to call her back?"
"I am." Kristy had already dialed half the number. "Hello? Hi Mrs. Smith. Stacey McGill is going to baby-sit. You know her mother? Good. Okay, bye." She hung up.
That was the only call we had all day. Little did I know how much that day would come back to haunt me.
ON THURSDAY
"Hello? Is your mom here?" I asked the kid who had opened to door uncertainly. I thought the oldest was eleven. The girl looked about… fifteen! Did I have the wrong house?
"Oh, you're Stacey. Yeah, come in." She opened the door wider. I stepped in, relieved.
Mrs. Smith was in a huge hurry, and she fairly flew out the door. The only instructions were yelled over her shoulder. "If you need anything, ask Kaye!" And she was gone.
"Are you Kaye?" I said timidly. Kaye smiled.
"Uh-huh. But just so I don't scare you out of your wits sometime, I have a strange tendency to start talking to myself with an Irish accent." She paused. "Or Spanish or Brooklyn. And Joseph might start breaking things, so be advised. And don't panic!"