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 as an eighth grader.

"I was gonna clean my room, but that can wait for another time," said Dawn.

"Good plan," I said.

We were finishing up when Dad and Sharon came home happy about something.

"You look happy about something," said Dawn.

"We have some news," said Sharon.

"We can tell you guys when you're done raking," said Dad.

"We can tell them now," said Sharon. "We decided to adopt an orphan."

"Really?" I asked.

"Where?" asked Dawn.

"Stoneybrook Orphanage," 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 two of the kids pretty well. Carlos Peters. He plays basketball against my school. You should see him play. He's excellent. I met him through another another friend of mine, Lily. who goes to the same school as me. Carlos and I hit it off right away. She told me that he started doing it in fifth grade, but we have been friends since sixth grade. He knows Shannon. He attends Stoneybrook Day School with her."

"How did you knew about that place?" asked Dawn.

"We do school projects together all the time," I said. "I'd either go there or we'd do them here."

"I remember meeting her a few times," said Dad.

"Lily told me Carlos was the youngest of three siblings. His whole family, including his parents and older siblings, got killed in a car accident when he was just eight," I said.

"That's a shame," said Dawn.

"One thing: Lily told me that he doesn't like to 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 said.

"That's all the family he had left. Both sets of grandparents died a long time ago and his parents had no siblings," I said.

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

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

"Oh, yeah," I said. "That's a good idea."

"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."

"I can help. I'm free," I said.

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

"Do you mind if we tell the girls when we go meet them tonight?" I asked.

"That's fine," said Sharon.

Later, when we left to join the girls, Dawn said, "Do you have any sitting jobs at night?"

"Yes, just one," I said. "It's on Wednesday from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Barretts."

"I can take over for you while you help your father," said Dawn.

"Okay," I said.

Dawn & I told the girls the news and they were thrilled that we're adopting an orphan.

"I bet your family is going to adopt Carlos," said Kristy.

"I mentioned it about him," I said. "He's going to be so surprised. The attic is going to be his room, so we're cleaning it up while Dad's on vacation from work."

"That's good," said Mallory.

When I got home, Dad said, "Do you have any plans tomorrow after church?"

"No," I replied.

"I noticed all the rooms, including the attic, are big enough to have twin beds, so what's that I'm planning to do," said Dad.

"That's a nice idea for anyone who sleeps over here," I added.

"We can go to a furniture store to buy them," said Dad. "I'll let the clerk know about making the delivery later in the week to give us time."

"Okay, sounds good," I said.

"We can do the attic before all the beds come in," said Dad. "So, we can start cleaning there on Monday."

"Makes sense," I said.

"We can also go to the mall for the wallpaper and we can go to Wal-Mart for drawers, nightstand, and some hangers," said Dad.

"I also know Carlos is into sports," I said.

"Most boys are like that," said Dad. "We can always leave the rest for now to let him decide on what he wants to do with it."

"That's a good idea," I said. "All the girls were excited to hear about the news."