"Babysitters Club Special Edition Mary Anne's Book" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

"Maybe you should tell Mrs. Frederickson what happened," suggested Claudia.
"Maybe," I said. But I was too shy to do that. Besides, maybe my dad wouldn't be able to make it at the last minute and I wouldn't have a problem after all.
Kristy gave me a tap on the arm with her fist. "Don't worry," she said. "It'll be okay."
"It will?" I said. I wasn't convinced. And judging by the worried looks on my friends' faces, I knew they weren't either.
Mrs. Frederickson was in a great mood that day. She said we all looked lovely and that she thought we even behaved better when we were dressed like ladies and gentlemen. I went through the morning with huge butterflies in my stomach. Everyone else was excited about the tea party, but I was terrified. Especially -when, during penmanship, we each printed a sign in big letters with the name of our guest. "These will be your guests' place cards," Mrs. Frederickson explained. "We'll put them on their chairs."
I faced the blank piece of white cardboard. Which name should I write? "Ms. Mimi Yamamoto"? Or "Mr. Richard Spier"? Maybe I should write "Ms. Mimi Yamamoto and Mr. Richard Spier." I was sitting there pondering this question when Mrs. Frederickson, who was walking around the room to check our work, stopped at my desk. "Well, aren't you the slowpoke today, Mary Anne," she remarked.
"I don't know what to do," I admitted. Maybe, I thought, this is the time to explain that I had invited two guests to the party. But
it was too late. Mrs. Frederickson began scolding me. "Well, you'd know what to do if you'd listened to directions instead of daydreaming."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"The instruction, Miss Spier, is to write the name of your guest. Do you understand now?"
"Yes," I answered.
After Mrs. Frederickson moved on to the next kid, I printed Mr. Richard S pier on the card. Then I turned it over and printed Ms. Mimi Yamamoto on the other side.
I was still hoping one of them wouldn't show up.
During recess, Kristy pulled Alan Gray away from his kickball buddies. I was afraid she would get into a fight with Alan. But instead they just stood there and talked.
"What'd you say to Alan?" I asked Kristy when she walked back to Claudia and me.
"I asked him if he'd laugh if his mother were dead," she explained. "He said - he didn't know you didn't have a mother and he won't make a joke if your dad comes to the party."
"Thanks," I said.
After lunch we went to the music room to practice the songs we would be singing at the tea. When we returned to our classroom I almost didn't recognize it. Crepe paper hung in twisted ioops from the ceiling, and bunches of helium balloons floated from the corners of the bulletin boards. Our desks had been arranged in a big circle. Behind each desk, next
to the student chairs, was a gray folding chair. The name tags we'd made were taped to the backs of the big chairs. I scanned the room until I read Mimi Yamamoto. There was only one guest chair for each student. There was no room for an extra guest. -
In the middle of the circle, a round table was covered with trays of small sandwiches and cookies, stacks of paper cups and napkins, a coffeepot, a teapot, and pitchers of juice. I hoped with all my heart that my dad would have a last minute emergency at his job.
The first guests to knock on our classroom door were Claudia's mother and Mimi. I didn't want Mrs. Frederickson to think that Claudia made a mistake and invited two people, so I went straight to Mimi. I was holding Mimi's hand and showing her the book I'd written and illustrated about cats, when I heard a familiar voice say, "Good afternoon, Mrs. Fred erickson."
I turned and saw my dad. He hurried to Mimi and me. "Why do you look so surprised to see me, Mary Anne?" he asked."I told you I'd be here." He turned to Mimi. "It's nice to see you," he added.
Mimi looked from me to my dad. I stared at the floor. "It's nice to see you, too, Richard," she said.
"Mary Anne, you didn't tell me it was going
to be so fancy," my dad said. He looked around the circle of desks and chairs. I knew he was searching for his name card.
"And didn't Mary Anne make us the prettiest invitations," Mimi said. "Mine was all in blues. What color was yours?"
Fortunately, Claudia had seen the predicament I was in and she came over with her mother. Claudia took Mimi's hand. "Mimi, come see our guinea pig," she said. "Her name is Petunia."
As soon as Mimi left with Claudia, my dad asked me what was going on.
"I invited Mimi and you," I mumbled, looking at the floor. "And I'm not supposed to
have two people." My eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry."
"Come on," he said as he took my hand, "we'll straighten this out." He led me to Mrs. Frederickson. "We have a bit of a mix-up here," he told her. "Mary Anne has invited two people to the tea. I assume we can both
stay."
I thought Mrs. Frederickson would be angry and yell at me in front of everyone. Instead
she spoke softly. "Why did you invite two people?" she asked.
"I didn't think a dad could come," I explained. "So I invited Claudia's grandmother."
"Look at me, Mary Anne," Mrs. Frederick-son said. I shifted my gaze from the floor to her face. She didn't look mean. "Mary Anne, it was perfectly fine for you to invite you dad to the tea. Your dad acts as both your mother and your father, so of course he would be the perfect person for you to bring. We'll get another chair for him and make room for it on
the other side of your chair. Okay?"
"Okay," I answered. But it didn't feel okay. Especially when I had to introduce two people
to the class and our guests. At least nobody laughed. Maybe they didn't even hear my introductions because I spoke so softly. But everyone had to have noticed that my dad was the only man in the room. I wished with all my heart that I had a mother.
My dad and I were both silent as we rode home after ~the tea party. Finally he said, "You're awfully quiet over there. Do you think you hurt my feelings by inviting someone else to the tea?"
I nodded.
"You didn't," he said. "I understand that you thought you should bring a woman. By the way, your teacher was very smart about something today."
"She was?"
"Yes. She knows that I have to be both a mother and a father to you."
"I know that, too," I said.
"And I know that you feel sad sometimes that you don't have a mother," he added.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"For what?" he asked.
"That I gave my invitation to Mimi instead of you."