Baby-Sitters Club belong to Ann M. Martin

Dawn and I were outside raking while Dad and Sharon were out. Jeff, who was visiting from California, was helping us. I'm Mary Anne Spier and I'm 13. I live in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I attend Stoneybrook Middle School.

"I was gonna clean my room, but I'll do it later," said Dawn.

"Good plan," I said.

We had just finished raking when I felt pins and needles in hand.

"Are you okay?" asked Dawn.

"My hand is starting to hurt," I said.

I noticed I had a splinter, which never happened to me while I rake.

"Excuse me so I can go take care of this," I said.

I had just gone upstairs when Dawn and Jeff noticed that Dad and Sharon came home feeling happy about something. I couldn't get the splinter out with the tweezer. It was stubborn.

"What's going on?" asked Dawn.

"We have some news," said Sharon.

I was coming back down with it when I noticed Dad was home and said, "Oh, good, you're home. I saw the splinter after we came back in from raking. But I'm having a hard time getting the splinter with the tweezer. Do you mind helping me with it?"

"Okay. Do you mind waiting for the news for a moment while I go help Mary Anne out?" asked Dad.

"Sure," said Sharon.

"I don't get how it happened," I said.

"It happens," said Dad.

He finally got it out.

"That's better," I said. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Dad.

"It's a bit sore, but I'll be fine," I said.

Then, we went to the living room to join the rest.

"W

"We're talking about adopting an orphan," said Sharon.

"Really?" I asked.

"Where?" asked Dawn.

"Stoneybrook Home for Orphans," said Dad.

"Oh, cool," I said.

"I hope we'd get someone older. I like being the youngest," said Jeff.

"We haven't decide on age yet," said Sharon.

"But the ad says that the adoption day will be taken place a week from tomorrow," said Dad.

I knew that place took familiar.

"I know where that is," I said. "I know one of them pretty well. Carlos Peters. He plays basketball against my school. You should see him play. He's excellent. He told me he started doing it in fifth grade. He attends Stoneybrook Day School with Shannon, but I knew him since sixth grade. He was the youngest of three siblings. He became an orphan when he was eight after his family was killed in a car accident."

"That's a shame," said Dawn.

"One thing: He may not talk about it because he will get emotional," I said.

"Understandable," said Dad.

"I just let him talk about it if he wants to. I visit him over there often," I said.

"Oh, yes, I remember," said Dad.

"Where do you plan to put him?" asked Dawn.

"Well, we do have an attic," said Dad.

"Oh, yeah," I said.

"I plan to clean it there and get it ready before we adopt him," said Dad. "I'm starting my vacation on Monday, so it would be a good time to do."

"Sounds good. I'll help. I'm free," I said. "Most of the sitting jobs are at night."

I had an idea. "I'm supposed to baby-sit for Jenny this week, but that's after school. Maybe she can come here while I help you out. It's only for two hours."

"That will be fine," said Sharon.

"I don't have any trouble with her," I said.

"I don't mind if you needed to take a break to watch her," said Dad.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes," said Dad.

"I still can have her here in case you still need my help," I said.

"Deal," said Dad.

"I'm going to go make a phone call," I said as I got up.

"It feels like our family is getting bigger," said Dawn.

I came back down. "It's all set. Jenny's mom says it's fine. She will bring her here."

"Okay, good," said Dad.

"Maybe she can also help out," I said.

"Sure," said Dad.

"It's not until Wednesday," I told him.

"Are you sure you can still help out if your hand is still sore?" asked Dad.

"I'm sure I can," I said.

"See how your hand feels first," said Dad. "We have all week to do that."

"True," I said.

Later, I was in my room when Dawn came by.

"I have an idea. How about I can take over night jobs for you so you can help your father out?" asked Dawn.

"That's fine by me," I said. "I only had three of them. One is Tuesday from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, one is Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, and the other one is Saturday from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Three of them were to help Mallory."

"Oh, yeah, her parents had a few meetings," said Dawn.

"I'll fix them on Monday during the meeting," I said.