CHAPTER 14

Sam and I were coming into the front hall just as the doorbell rang. When I went to answer it, there stood Jason, Bebe, Abby, Anna, and Shannon. "Hi," I said. "Come on in."

As my guests entered the house, I gave each of them a hug. I was so glad to see them, after what I'd just been through.

"What's this for?" Jason asked. I just smiled, because I didn't want to say anything until after they'd all arrived.

Sam led my guests into the living room as the doorbell rang again. When I opened the door again, I saw Mal and Vanessa, Jessi and Becca, and Charlotte and Haley. I waved to their parents' cars as they pulled away from the curb.

The next ones to arrive were Mary Anne, Dawn, and Logan. I gave Dawn an extra-tight hug, especially since I hadn't seen her since last summer.

The last ones to arrive were Claudia and Stacey. After I hugged them, I ushered them into the living room.

"So, what's up?" Bebe asked as Claudia, Stacey, and I settled ourselves on the floor.

"You guys are not going to believe this, but I just had the worst nightmare," I began as I stood up. "I dreamed my guardian angel came and showed me what Stoneybrook would be like if I'd never started the Baby-sitters Club. And believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight."

"Really?" Mary Anne asked. "Tell us more."

"Well, aren't you interested in knowing what started it?"

"Yes, of course," Shannon said. Anna nodded.

"Well, it all started last night at the Rodowskys'," I said. "Jackie and Archie were playing human wheelbarrow in the backyard. I turned my back just long enough to let Bo out, and the next thing I knew, Jackie had hurt himself."

"Oh, no," Jessi moaned. "Is he all right?"

"He broke his left forearm, I'm afraid," I answered.

"Ooh, that must suck," Bebe grimaced. "How long is he supposed to be in the cast?"

"Well, the doctor says it should come off sometime in January, so he really can make a fresh start in the new year, in more ways than one."

"Good for him," Abby said. "In fact, the doctor told us the same thing when Anna got her back brace off."

"Right, but the only difference is, that happened last year," Anna reminded her.

"Point taken."

"You know, it wasn't your fault, Kristy," Claud said. "Like you've always told us, even the most responsible baby-sitter can't prevent accidents."

"You should talk, Claud!" Mal exclaimed. "Remember when we had that baby-sitting job at the Perkins' so you could observe me in action, and I was a total klutz? You blamed everything on me!"

"Yeah, I guess I did," Claud remembered, a touch of chagrin in her voice. "I don't know what I was thinking, to tell you the truth."

"Well, don't worry, I've long since gotten over that one," Mal reassured her.

That's when Emily and David Michael came in. He took the empty seat next to Mary Anne, and she settled herself in Charlotte's lap.

"Hi, you guys," I said to my younger siblings. "Did you want to hear the story, too?"

"Sure," Emily said.

"Yeah, go on," David Michael added.

"Aaanywaaay..." we all said together, then erupted into giggles.

When we'd calmed down, I continued, "Everyone kept telling me that what happened to Jackie wasn't my fault, but I still felt terrible, and this morning when I went to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, I ran into Cokie, Grace, Alan, Pete, and King, and they started giving me crap about it. When I got home, I counted the money I had left, and discovered that I was missing a dollar. Call me presumptuous, but I just knew that Cokie had stolen it."

"How can you be so sure?" Dawn asked. "You don't know that's what happened."

"That's true," I admitted. "Anyway, when I took a nap earlier this afternoon, like I said, I dreamed my guardian angel came and showed me what would've happened if I'd never started the BSC."

"What was it like?" Mary Anne wanted to know.

"Well," I said, "as you can guess it was pretty awful. For starters, there was total chaos and paranoid parents. In fact, I was almost shot at by Mr. Marshall."

"What about us?" Becca asked.

"Yeah," Vanessa agreed.

"Well, Mary Anne lived by herself in that deathtrap of a house on Rosedale Road," I said as I motioned toward her.

"Oh, you mean the Griswold-looking one that Mom and I looked at?" Stacey asked.

"That's the one," I nodded. "And get this: not only was she a heroin addict, but she actually swore at me, which is something I never thought I'd live to see."

"Are you serious?" Mary Anne asked in surprise. "You know I'd never touch the stuff!"

"Whoa," Haley said. "All this for never starting the BSC, huh?"

"Exactly," I agreed as I moved over to Jason. "And Jason was in juvie for almost beating a man to death."

"Wow, really?" Jason asked. It was almost as if someone had just told him that there was, in fact, a lost city called Atlantis. "I may have a bit of a temper, but you know I'd never go that far."

"I know that, too, Jason," I said, putting my hand on his. "But it was just so hard to believe when I first heard that."

"Kristy, if there's one thing I can promise you, it's that I'd never in a million years do something that stupid," Jason reassured me, looking at me with those emerald eyes of his. And in that moment, I started to get a hint of how Claudia must have felt at intermission on opening night of Carnival.

"What happened next?" Charlotte asked. Just then, Mom, Watson, Sam, and Charlie came into the living room. Mom and Watson stood in the doorway, and my brothers sat on the stairs.

"Abby and Claud were runaways," I said as I moved between them. "Stacey never moved back here, Jessi had joined Dance New York, Charlie was down in Texas, Sam couldn't hold his liquor, and all our baby-sitting charges were juvenile delinquents."

"Oy," the Stevenson twins said together.

"I didn't start rooting for the Cowboys, did I?" Charlie asked. I shook my head as I stifled a laugh. If there's one football team Charlie never liked, it's the Cowboys. In fact, he once described Dallas as a horrible city, TV show, and football team. (And when he told me that, I told him to make sure he didn't say that in front of fans of the TV show or football team, otherwise he'd run the risk of getting his ass kicked, and he promised not to.)

"Wow," Mom commented. "That's quite a surprise."

"You'll love this part, Mom," I said as I turned to her. "You were a widow living above Hurley's Garage."

"Really?" Watson asked. "What about Karen, Andrew, and Emily?"

"Oh, it gets better, Watson," I said. "You were dead, Emily was never adopted, and Karen and Andrew had moved to Nebraska with their mom and stepdad."

"Whoa," Stacey said. "Is that all?"

"Yeah," I answered. I had to take some deep breaths to keep myself from falling apart.

"Hey," Watson said as he led me over to the armchair, knelt beside me, and handed me a tissue. "Kristy, it's all right, hon. You're here, your family and friends are here, and I promise you, we're all doing fine, okay?"

I nodded as I dabbed at my eyes with the tissue, then threw my arms around Watson. The next thing I knew, Mom, my brothers, and everyone else had joined our big family hug. And believe me, if that doesn't look good on a Hallmark card, I don't know what does.

Just then, the front door flew open. "We're here!" Karen's voice shouted. All my emotions went into overdrive. I'd never heard such a beautiful sound in all my life, and I didn't even care that she'd used her outdoor voice. She's one of those people who's known for living life at the top of her lungs.

Mom and Watson followed me out into the hall, where I immediately hugged Kar-en and Andrew as tightly as I'd hugged Dawn, as well as trying to keep myself from crying.

"Are you all right, Kristy?" Andrew asked in concern.

I glanced over my shoulder at the others, then turned back to Andrew. "Oh, yeah," I grinned. "Everything's great."

I was so glad to see them. Not only that, but I was even happier that everything was finally back the way it should be.