CHAPTER 9: May—Mary Anne
It was the first Friday in May, and we were at a BSC meeting. "All right, any club business?" Kristy asked, popping a malted milkball in her mouth. Since it wasn't Monday, Stacey didn't have to collect dues.
"Well, summer's coming, and we all know what that means," I said. "Boredom City."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Mal groaned. "I'll be right in the middle of it at my house."
"Well, I was talking to Jason earlier this afternoon, and I think we may have figured out a way to keep the kids from being too bored," Kristy said.
"We're glad you're the Idea Machine, Kristy," Abby commented.
"So, what's your idea this time?" I asked.
"Well," Kristy said as she passed me the milkballs, "Jason told me about the time a show choir from one of the local high schools came to his school on Long Island to perform, and he thought it'd be fun if the kids here could do something like that."
We were pretty impressed to hear this. I thought it'd be the best way to keep the kids from being too bored. And I'll tell you something, nobody likes dealing with a bored kid, not even a baby-sitter.
"That's a great idea!" Jessi exclaimed. "Hey, remember how great the kids were in Carnival?"
"Oh, yeah, that was a great show," Kristy agreed. "In fact, I can still hear David Michael saying..." She waved her hand around, just like he'd done. "'Aaay, Rosalie, I know who she is!'"
Naturally, it got a big laugh. "Just don't call me 'Rosalie darling'," Stacey warned as she pulled herself together.
"I won't," Kristy promised. "And if Dawn were here, she'd tell us not to call her 'little mouse'."
"Aaanywaaay..." we all said together. That's something that my friends and I do to get back to the original point of the conversation.
"I told Jason it was a good idea, and of course, we'd have to talk to the music teachers here in town," Kristy said. "I'm sure they'll approve."
"Well, of course they would!" I said. They'd be crazy not to approve of one of Kristy Thomas' ideas.
"Hey, guys, I hate to change the subject again, but did anyone notice anything?" Mal asked.
We all looked at her with blank faces, then she flashed a huge grin, and that's when we definitely noticed something different: her braces were gone!
"Hey, you got your braces off!" Claud exclaimed. "Awesome!"
"Yup," Mal said. "And it was about damn time, too! I didn't think I was ever going to get them off."
"How does it feel, not having them anymore?" Kristy wanted to know.
"Oh, my God, it feels great!" Mal gushed. "In fact, when Mom and I got home from the orthodontist's office, there was this big dinner of corn on the cob, peanut brittle, caramel corn, and basically all the stuff I wasn't allowed to eat before."
"No way!" Stacey cried. "Really?"
Mal nodded. "And let me tell you, it was the best dinner I've ever had in my life."
Upon hearing that, Claudia reached under her bed, picked up Lennie, her old rag doll, and started dancing with her and singing, "Heaven, I'm in heaven...Wing it, honey! WHOO!" We all got a good laugh, then fell silent as we remembered how the late John Ritter had been a good physical comedian, and when he'd done that bit on an episode of Three's Company. I also knew that Claud was thinking of all that junk food.
"So does this mean you're getting contacts, too?" Jessi asked.
"Well, if I badger and pester my parents with enough Klondike bars and would you do it's, they might," she said.
"Hey, you know what?" Abby spoke up. "I think I remember seeing those cat's-eye contacts at Zingy's last week. You think your parents will let you get those?"
"Yeah, right," Mal laughed. "I want to show them I'm not a little kid anymore, not kill them!"
Well, two bits of good news in one meeting! How about that!
