"Babysitters Club 015 Little Miss Stoneybrook...And Dawn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

member when Mallory said that if her sisters heard about the pageant, they'd want to enter it? Well, sure enough, Claire and Margo (who are five and seven) had heard, and they did want to enter. There was just one problem. Mrs. Pike wasn't going to be able to help them prepare for it. She was all tied up with some big volunteer project at the public library, and she didn't want to back out of her duties. So she wondered if I'd help the girls prepare. She was asking me because I live close by and would never need a ride over. And she was not asking Mallory, who, of course, would be the most convenient helper of all. She knew what Mallory thought about pageants. I guessed Mallory must be pretty outspoken on that subject.
"Well," Mrs. Pike finished up, "what do you think? This job would be a little different from most. You'd have to help the girls choose outfits, rehearse for the talent competition, learn to greet the judges, that sort of thing. I'll get all the information we need from the pageant committee." She paused. "This is not the sort of activity I'd usually approve for the girls," she went on, "but they're dying to enter, and I don't really see a good reason for them not to participate. I just hope they won't be
too disappointed if they lose. . . . Are you interested in the job, Dawn?"
I thought for a moment. I did want the job. It sounded like fun, and I needed some fun. I didn't want to cause any more problems among us sitters, though. On the other hand, this might be my chance to prove just how good I was with kids. Certainly as good as Claudia. Imagine if Claire or Margo won the contest and became Little Miss Stoneybrook! Plus, I wouldn't mind irking Kristy just a little bit to get back at her for the induction ceremony.
''ll do it!" I said to Mrs. Pike happily.
I got off the phone and told the others about the job. Their reactions were interesting.
Jessi rolled her eyes - at the thought of the sexist pageant, I guess.
Claudia and Mary Anne looked thoughtful.
Kristy looked cross. Very cross.
And Mallory clapped her hand to her forehead and moaned, "Oh, no. My sisters. My baby sisters. They'll be contaminated. They'll be brainwashed. If I become the sister of Little Miss Stoneybrook, I will absolutely die!"
Chapter 4.
Us baby-sitters try not to play favorites among the kids we take care of, but it's no secret that Kristy's favorite charges are her brother David Michael, and her stepsister and stepbrother, Karen and Andrew. She doesn't see Karen and Andrew all that often, since they only spend every other weekend, every other holiday, and two weeks during the summer at Watson's house, but she sees them enough, I guess, and she really loves them.
Who wouldn't? Karen is this funny, daring, imaginative, outspoken six-year-old. She likes to tell wild stories and make up games. And Andrew is a shy, sweet, and adoring four-year-old. Then there's David Michael, who's seven. Sometimes he and Karen don't get along too well, but he's a good kid. Kristy has been a second mother to him. Her real father left so long ago that David Michael barely remembers him, and then her mom went back to work. So Kristy has taken plenty of care of David Michael over the years.
Anyway, not long after the newspaper article about Little Miss Stoneybrook, Kristy was sitting for the three kids. It was a Saturday afternoon, and as she mentioned in her notebook entry, her mother and Watson had gone
to some auction to bid on a birdbath. Why? I don't know.
As soon as they were gone, Karen said, "Let's play Let's All Come In." (Let's All Come In is a game she made up. You need about four - or more - people to play, and what you do is pretend you're guests at a fancy hotel. You get to dress up in wild outfits and be all different people.)
Ordinarily, David Michael does not like this game.
"It's for babies," he announced that afternoon.
"I'm going to play," Kristy told him.
"'Yeah, but you get to be the bell captain. That's not such a stupid part. The bell captain doesn't have to dress up like countesses."
"Or dogs," added Andrew. As the youngest, he usually gets stuck with the worst roles.
"Well, you can be the bell captain this time," Kristy said to David Michael. "I'll play guests instead."
"I don't know . . ."he replied.
"Aw, come on, David Michael," said Karen. "It's raining out. What else will you do if the rest of us play Let's All Come In?"
David Michael frowned. He didn't have an answer for that.
So the game began.
David Michael, as bell captain, stood in the living room, which was the hotel lobby. He was supposed to talk to the various guests and direct them to their rooms.
Karen got to be the first guest. She dressed up as Mrs. Mysterious, on her way to a witch convention. Mrs. Mysterious was one of her favorite characters.
"Heh, heh," she cackled. "What a lovely, spooky convention it will be. Hundreds of witches. Maybe a ghost or a goblin or two. Well, what room am I in this time?" Before David Michael could answer, Karen went on, "I hope it's the Halloween Suite. I'm just dying to stay there again."
"Yeah," said David Michael, looking a little bored. He pretended to consult the hotel registration book. "It's the Halloween Suite, all right. I hope you like it. See ya later."
Karen gave him an exasperated look. "My key, please?" she said.
"Oh, right." David Michael slapped the spare key to the downstairs bathroom into her hand.
Mrs. Mysterious left the room and Andrew entered. For once, Karen had given him a pretty good part. He was dressed as a sailor.
"Hiya, mate," David Michael greeted him.
"Hiya, mate. I need a room for two nights.
Our ship just landed here. I want to be a, um, a ..."
"A landlubber," Karen prompted him from the doorway. (While she was dressing Andrew up, she had told him a few things that sailors might say.)
"A landlubber," finished Andrew.
"Naw. Really?" replied David Michael. "Don't you want to be on the ocean again? Be in a storm? Maybe see some pirates?"
"Yeah, pirates!" Andrew answered excitedly. "Say, you want to come back to my ship with me?"
"Sure!"
"Hey!" cried Karen. That wasn't the way the game was supposed to go.
But it was too late.
"We'll be pirates ourselves!" David Michael went on.
"Wait! You're the bell captain," Karen said desperately.
"No, I'm not. I'm Old Bad John. And this is my co-pirate, Andrew the Awful. Come on, Andrew."
The boys ran out of the living room, Andrew shedding parts of his sailor costume on the way.
Karen looked at Kristy with tears in her eyes, which was unusual. Karen is tough, not a crier.
"Oh, Karen," said Kristy. She opened her arms for a hug, and Karen ran to her. "It's okay," Kristy murmured.
"No, it's not," Karen sobbed, her voice muffled against Kristy's shoulder.