CHAPTER 15: Karen Brewer, Baby-sitter In Training

On Sunday afternoon, I was in my room, knitting some wristbands for Kristy's birthday, which was next month. You see, after Nannie came to live there, she taught me to knit and crochet. Since I'd never done wristbands before, I was going to have her help me finish them.

Just then, I heard a knock on the door. "Yeah?" I called.

"It's me," Kristy's voice answered.

"Just a minute," I answered as I quickly put my knitting in the bag and hid it under the bed. "Come on in."

Kristy opened the door and entered the room. "Can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Sure," I said. I wondered what she was about to tell me.

Kristy sat on my bed and started playing with the thread on my quilt, which Nannie had made me for my ninth birthday. "Well," she began, "I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Ohio University in Athens, offering me a scholarship in Physical Education."

"Really? That's great! Is that what you're going to do?"

"Yup. Also, I've been thinking about this all night, and the thing is, when I leave for college next year, I'll need someone to take over the Baby-sitters Club."

Right then and there, I knew I was going to love what was coming next. "And you chose me?" I asked. She nodded, and I threw my arms around her. "Thanks! Thanks a million!" This was the best news I'd heard in a long time.

"No problem," she smiled. "In fact, I'd like to invite you and your frends to participate in a Baby-sitters Training session first."

"Do you know when this will be?"

"We're having it this week," she answered. "I've got the other BSC members to call the kids in your age group so we'll have some participants. Registration will be tomorrow morning, followed by orientation, and we'll have training all week. We're having professional instructors teach all of the topics."

"That's good," I said. "How much is it?"

"It'll be $10 a day, and will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Registration will be tomorrow at 9 a.m. And yes, we'll provide lunches."

"And what's for lunch?" I asked. Knowing Kristy's friends, Claudia Kishi and Dawn Schafer, lunches would be either unhealthy or too healthy. I also remembered the night that Daddy had his heart attack—which turned out to be a mild one, and thankfully didn't require bypass surgery—and how mad I was when Mom wouldn't let us stay with him during his recovery. Kristy had called Mary Anne, Dawn, and Shannon (yes, the human) to keep her company while we waited for word on Daddy. Dawn offered to make lunches, and Kristy started making jokes about tofu and bean sprouts.

"We're making all kinds of sandwiches, and they'll provide chips and pop," she answered, "but if you want a candy bar or something, you'll have to bring your own money for that."

"Fair enough. Where will it be?"

"I've already spoken to some people at the Y, and they're letting us use the pool and aerobics room."

"The pool?" I asked. "What for?"

"When we're teaching water safety," she explained. "Kids your age need ot know not only how to stay safe in the water, but also how to keep others safe. And don't worry, I'll explain your situation to the lifeguard, and see what suggestions they have."

"Thanks, Kristy."

"You bet."

I couldn't believe it. I, Karen Brewer, was about to be trained as a baby-sitter.

As Kristy left my room, and I returned to my knitting, I thought about my first baby-sitting experience, if you could call it that. Kristy, Emily, and I were coming back inside after playing ring-around-the-rosy for the millionth time, and Kristy had cut her hand wide open on the storm door. After I got over the shock of what happened, not to mention the barrage of swearing I heard from her, I helped her stay calm and made sure Emily stayed away from the glass while I called 911, despite my being banned from the phone for a week after calling a joke-of-the-day hotline. On that day, I knew I'd been bitten by the baby-sitting bug, as Kristy would say. Not only that, but Kristy had also told me about her first baby-sitting experience, which was baby-sitting David Michael after the housekeeper Elizabeth had at the time kept playing hooky, and after Kristy was able to prove herself as a responsible baby-sitter, the housekeeper was fired.

When I finished the first two rows on the wristband, I thought, Is this my lucky day or what?

Somehow, I had a feeling that it was.