i Author's note: Sorry about the first couple of lines… they're supposed to be Mal and Jessi writing in the club notebook, and although I have their handwriting fonts on my computer, they won't translate onto the internet. So from now on, you can assume that anything written after (Character's name) is written in her handwriting in the notebook. /i
(Jessi) Mal, your brothers and sisters are hitting the summer boredom early this year!
(Mallory) Well, Jessi, it's not like they have anything better to do. School's out and summer camps don't start until July.
(Jessi) We figured we'd have to help them come up with something fun to do… but instead, they helped us!
(Mallory) Kristy, I think we might have an idea for what to do…
Mallory was used to her siblings and their "what should we DOOOOO?" whining, but Jessi wasn't quite prepared for it. At any rate, when Jessi showed up at the Pike place on Friday, she wasn't entirely surprised to find most of the Pikes sitting lazily in the rec room, whining.
"There's nothing to do-o," moaned Margo.
"You're a boring silly-billy-goo-goo!" Claire countered, sticking her tongue out at Margo.
Mallory looked at Jessi and shrugged. "They've been like this all day," she whispered.
"Hi guys," Jessi said. "So, uh, how about we… go to the park?"
"BOR-ing," Adam, Jordan, and Byron said, almost in unison (it must be a triplet thing, Jessi mused).
"Play outside? It's a beautiful day…"
"Too hot," Nicky complained.
"Playing outside has been said and done, we need to have some different fun," chanted Vanessa, who has a tendency to speak in rhyme. She wants to be a great poet someday. The rest of the Pikes and Jessi rolled their eyes.
Mallory sighed. "Well, does anyone want a snack?" she asked, somewhat irritably. The day was a little too warm to be comfortable, quite sticky, and not entirely suitable for playing outside anyway. At least they could discuss activities whilst eating a snack. She walked into the kitchen, the seven remaining Pikes and Jessi close behind her. Looking into the refrigerator, she noticed that there wasn't entirely a huge selection of food to snack on.
"Your mom didn't set anything out anywhere, did she?" Jessi asked.
Mal sighed. "Nah, she's probably going grocery shopping this afternoon. She said after her appointment, she'd pick up some dinner."
"We don't WANT to wait for dinner," Nicky complained.
"I'm hungry now!" Claire whined.
Jessi rolled her eyes. Time to get creative. "Hey, Mal," she turned to face her friend, "do you have bananas, raisins, and peanut butter?"
"I think so," replied Mallory. "Why do you ask?"
"I remember when I was younger, Mama would get out a few healthful supplies and let us make our own snacks," Jessi explained. "You know… banana people with raisin eyes, that sort of stuff."
Mallory considered. It WAS something to do. "Okay," she said, turning to face the hungry Pike pack. "Today, I'm going to let you play with your food."
"We get to PLAY with our FOOD?" Byron asked, looking puzzled.
"Within reason," Mallory said calmly. "What we're going to do is spread out a bunch of waxed paper on the table, and you'll each get a banana. Jessi and I will put some stuff in the middle, and you can do whatever you want with your banana—as long as you eat it when you're done and don't take any of the food off this table. Understand?"
"Awesome!" Adam shouted, engaging Byron and Jordan a triple high-five.
"I'm going to make a banana silly-billy-goo-goo!" Claire shrieked. (Being only five, Claire's favorite phrase to use in any sentence is "silly-billy-goo-goo". I think each one of us baby-sitters has been called that name at least twice.)
"I wanna make a rocket ship!" Nicky exclaimed.
Jessi was surprised. She hadn't expected her idea to go over so well. She aided Mallory in waxed papering the table and then passing out one banana to each Pike (except Mallory, with whom she shared a banana) and putting bowls of raisins, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, and peanut butter in the middle. Once the snack was set out, all the Pikes got to work making edible creations.
Surprisingly, Mallory thought, the kids were perfectly content to play with their food. Not a single fight or argument broke out, and they made some pretty cute stuff. Claire had made something that looked like a mashed-up banana and peanut butter mountain with chocolate chips and raisins all over it (the "silly-billy-goo-goo", Mal thought), Margo had attempted a snowman, Nicky was indeed building a rocket ship (although the wings kept falling off… peanut butter is not exactly the world's strongest glue), Vanessa was arranging various toppings in neat rows, and the triplets were making variations of monsters. Mallory, who'd made a cat, and Jessi, who'd made a tree (complete with pretzel branches and a raisin owl) kept a close eye on the kids to make sure no peanut butter got on any surface other than the waxed paper table.
After what seemed like a very long time, the Pike clan was done with their creations. Mallory, thinking quickly, ran upstairs to get her old Polaroid camera to take pictures of their work, and then proclaimed, "Dig in!" The table was a flurry of banana eating, and the only mishap was when Margo accidentally spilled the remaining chocolate chips onto Nicky's lap and the floor, and Pow (the Pike's basset hound) tried to eat them off the ground. Claire, who, along with the rest of the family, had been instructed that chocolate could be toxic to many dogs, panicked and tried to pull Pow away from the fray. Unfortunately, her hands were still covered in peanut butter, so Pow's fur began turning sticky and tan.
Mallory and Jessi leaped into action. Jessi grabbed hold of Claire and took her immediately to the sink to clean off her hands, and then the two of them picked up the chocolate chips. Mallory took Pow by the collar, led him outside, and cleaned him off as best she could with paper towels and the hose. Since it was so warm out, she let him run around to dry off, but made sure he followed her back inside, to avoid getting heat exhaustion or anything.
Finally, with the mess cleaned up and the kids' tummies full, they all went back into the rec room. "That was a really neat snack," said Nicky.
"I liked the snack, yes indeed. It's just what us Pikes need!" Vanessa sang, while everyone groaned.
"You should teach us how to make more fun food!" exclaimed Margo.
Mallory smiled, and then the light bulb went off over her head. "Ohmigosh!" she told Jessi later on, "Kristy isn't the only one who can have great ideas! Margo might be onto something."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Mal?" asked Jessi excitedly.
"You know it!" Mallory said with a giggle. "Just wait until we tell the others."