Disclaimer: All characters and locations belong to Ann M. Martin. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 2
The next day after school, I came home to a rather upset mom. She was stomping around the kitchen, preparing my little brother's after school snack.
"Kristy, you can't babysit on Saturday!" mom said. "I have a funeral to go to, and you have to watch your brothers and sister. Watson's coming with me, so you will be by yourself!"
"Okay," I replied, upset that I wouldn't be able to see Susan. "I guess the Felders will have to find another sitter, then."
The rest of the night went fine, and so did the next day at school. But I dreaded the BSC meeting because I had to tell them I couldn't babysit tomorrow. We all gathered in our usual meeting place and I called the meeting to order and then it came to the discussion about availability.
"I can't babysit tomorrow," I said, looking rather upset.
"Well, Jessi's free. She can do it," Mary Anne assured me.
"Okay. Let's give a call to Mrs. Felder, then," Claud said, picking up the phone.
"Hello, Mrs. Felder. We are sending Jessi Ramsey to babysit for Susan tomorrow at 2. Kristy can't make it, unfortunately, because she has to watch her siblings while her mom goes to a funeral."
"That's odd, because I'm going to that same funeral!" Mrs. Felder said from the other end.
"Hang on. I'll give the phone to Jessi and you guys can figure it out," Claudia said, passing the phone to Jessi.
"Hello, Mrs. Felder. I'm Jessi Ramsey, and I have an 8-year-old sister named Becca. They can play together, but I need to make sure that Susan can stay at my house tomorrow and I'll call you back. Bye." Jessi hung up and called her parents. "Hi, mom. So, I have to take Kristy's sitting job over, and Mrs. Felder would like me to watch Susan at our house. Is that okay?" Jessi asked. "Sure, honey. That's fine," Mrs. Ramsey said. "Thanks, Mom. See you in a bit," Jessi said, hanging up the phone. Then, she called Mrs. Felder back. "Hello, Mrs. Felder. Susan can stay at my house tomorrow night."
"Okay, I will drop her off at 2, then. Bye," Mrs. Felder said, hanging up.
"Well, that took up the whole meeting," I said. "Meeting adjourned!"
The next day was cold and rainy. A perfect day for a Kid Kit. I called Jessi, telling her to bring one. "No, we'll be fine. I have other stuff to do in mind."
Saturday
Jessi was just pulling chocolate chip cookies out of the oven when the doorbell rang. When she answered it, Susan stood there, looking shy and scared. "Hi, Susan. How are you?" Jessi asked. "Fine," Susan replied. Then, Becca came running into the hallway. "Becca!" Susan exclaimed. "Let's go play!"
So, Jessi left the girls alone for a while to play. Then, all of a sudden, a huge clap of thunder shook the house and Susan screamed. Becca tried to give her a hug, but she pulled away and ran to Jessi.
"I hate thunder!" she said, in tears.
"I know. It's over now," Jessi said. "Here. Have a cookie and take one to Becca."
So, Susan went along, enjoying her cookie. Becca came over and took the cookie that was hers from Susan and they started playing again.
Then, it was time for dinner. "What do you girls want for dinner?" Jessi asked. "Pizza!" Becca shouted. "Hot dogs and macaroni!" Susan said. "Becca, we had pizza last night, remember?" Jessi said. "Oh yeah!" Becca said, giggling. "So, hot dogs and macaroni and cheese it is!" Jessi said. "You guys go play and I will call you down when it's ready."
Finally, it was dinnertime. When everything was eaten and the dishes were washed, it was time for baths. Becca wanted to take a bath with Susan, but Susan refused, causing Becca to cry, running to her room and slamming the door. "No bath with Becca! Bath alone!" Susan demanded. "Okay. Let's go wash up," Jessi said, leading Susan into the bathroom. Susan took her bath just fine, but Becca splashed Jessi until she was soaking wet. After the girls were in their pajamas and Jessi was dried off, the girls wanted to watch a movie. Susan wanted to watch "Charlotte's Web" and Becca wanted to watch "The Lion King". Since there was plenty of time, Jessi and the girls watched both movies, but they were all asleep before the second movie ended.
The next morning, jessi's parents made pancakes for all of the girls and they all went to church. When they got there, the church's piano player wasn't there. So, knowing Susan could play the piano, Jessi asked what songs the choir was doing, and Susan knew all of them. She played the songs beautifully, like always. But one of the voices in the choir really caught her attention. "She could be the singer I need for my recital next Saturday!" Susan thought to herself, getting excited. After the service, Susan went up to the girl with the pretty voice and started talking.
"Hi. I'm Susan Felder," She said. "What's your name?"
"Kathryn," The older girl said. "What's up?" "Well, I was wondering if you would like to sing at my piano recital next Saturday," Susan explained, hoping the girl would say yes.
"I'd love to!" Kathryn exclaimed. "Maybe we can hang out on Tuesday or something to practice."
"Okay. Bye!" Susan said, handing Kathryn a piece of paper with her address on it before running off.
"Well, did you have fun at church?" Jessi asked.
"Yeah! I found the perfect singer for my piano recital!" Susan said. Then, the doorbell rang and Susan's mom was there for her and she was gone.
So, that must have been interesting for Jessi. That was the BSC's first overnight sitting job (minus the trip the Pikes took to Sea City and two of us sitters got to go. I hope we won't have to have another overnight job, but you never know what people are going to do when they need a sitter. Luckily, me and my friends are flexible and can work around anything.
2
