"Babysitters Club 007 Claudia And Mean Janine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

Mary Anne, Stacey, Dawn, and I were practically biting our nails. We had discussed the amount of Kristy's offer endlessly. Would Charlie laugh at a dollar? Would he even want the job of driving Kristy all over town? It was important to us because we had decided to pay
Charlie out of the dub dues. We didn't think it was right to ask the president of her own club to pay for car rides when no one else had to.
"And," Kristy went on, "he said a dollar is too" - I groaned - "much!" she cried. "He said fifty cents each way is plenty!"
"All right!"
"So we don't have to worry. The problem is solved. And cheaply!"
The phone rang then, and I picked it up. "Hello. Baby-sitters Club."
"Hello, this is Dr. Johanssen."
"Oh, hi," I said. "It's Claudia."
"Oh, Claudia. I need a sitter for Friday evening next week. Mr. Johanssen and I are going to a cocktail party. We'll need someone from six until about eight."
"Okay, I'll call you right back."
I got off the phone. "That was Charlotte's mother," I told the members of the club. "She needs someone from six to eight, a week from Friday."
Mary Anne checked the calendar in the record book. "You and Stacey are free," she announced.
I looked at Stacey. "You go," I said. "Charlotte really likes you. You're her favorite sitter."
"Thanks," said Stacey/ "That's great. I haven't seen her in a while."
I called Dr. Johanssen back to tell her that Stacey would be sitting. Then we took a few more phone calls.
When the phone finally stopped ringing, Kristy said, "You guys, I have an idea."
I raised an eyebrow. Kristy has more ideas than anyone I know.
"Yeah?" said Stacey, sounding slightly suspicious.
"See, I thought last week went pretty well," Kristy began.
Kristy was referring to the days before her mother's wedding when, believe it or not, the members of the Baby-sitters Club had taken care of fourteen children. What had happened was that all these friends and relatives of Kristy's mother and Watson Brewer had shown up to help them get ready for the wedding. Only they brought their kids along, since they were coming from out of town and were planning to stay until the wedding was over. Mrs. Thomas knew the kids would just be in the way while the adults were trying to cook and stuff, so the club members sat for all of them for five days straight at Kristy's house. It really had gone well. We were very proud of ourselves.
"I think we did a good job," I agreed cautiously.
"Well, I got to thinking," Kristy went on. "Here it is, summer vacation. We're out of school, the children we sit for are out of school, and at least until next month when two of us are going away, there isn't much to do around here. In other words, there are a lot of kids at loose ends."
"Yeah?" said Stacey for the second time. We all wanted Kristy to get to the point.
"So how about a play group?"
"A what?" asked Dawn.
"A play group," Kristy repeated. "Sort of like day camp, except shorter. We could easily run one this month. It'd be great for the kids."
"But when would we baby-sit?" asked Mary Anne.
"Oh, in the afternoons and evenings. And weekends," Kristy added. "We'd just hold the play group a few mornings a week. It could be outdoors, in somebody's yard, just like last week at my house. We could tell all our regular customers about it, and they could send their kids over any time they wanted. We could charge, say, three dollars per kid per morning. That's a bargain for our clients, and even divided five ways, the money should be good for us, since chances are there wouldn't be enough jobs for every single one of us to be sitting if we weren't holding the play group."
"It would be kind of fun," I said. "Just think, all the kids we sit for would get to know each other."
"Yes!" said Mary Anne. "We can ask Jamie Newton, the Pikes, Jenny Prezzioso. . . ."
"The Barrett kids," added Dawn.
"Nina and Eleanor Marshall," I suggested.
"Charlotte," Stacey offered.
Kristy's eyes were gleaming. She was glad we liked her idea. "As soon as we get it all worked out, we'll call our clients," she said excitedly.
"We can entertain the kids just the way we did last week," I pointed out. "Art projects, stories, games."
"Their parents will like that," said Kristy thoughtfully.
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Remember when Jamie Newton had to spend one morning with all the kids last week? His mother said she thought it would be good for him because it would help him learn to get along with other children. Maybe other parents will like that, too."
"Good point," said Kristy. "Hey, Mary Anne, maybe you better take notes. We might want to remember this stuff."
Mary Anne began scribbling in the notebook.
"Where should we hold the play group?" Kristy asked. "We can't have it at my house.
We'll be moving soon. We better not have it at your house, either, Mary Anne, since your dad works. I think the parents would want to know that an adult was around."
"Good point," said Dawn. "I guess I'm out, then. Mom's still looking for a job. She could find one any day."
"I'd love to have it here," I said, "but I don't know. Mimi has seemed awfully tired lately."
"Is she all right?" asked Mary Anne quickly.
"Fine. She just lies down a lot."
"My house would be okay, I think," said Stacey. "And Mom is usually around. I'll have to check with her, but I'm sure it'll be all right."
"Stacey's house?" Kristy asked the rest of us.
We nodded.
Our newest business had a home.
Chapter 3.