"BSC024 - Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise - Martin, Ann M" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

BSC024 - Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise - Martin, Ann M.

Chapter 1.
IТve been thinking about families lately, wondering what makes one. Is a family really a mother, a father, and a kid or two? I hope not, because if thatТs a family, then I havenТt got one. And neither do a lot of other people I know. For instance, Nannie, MomТs mother, lives all by herself. But I still think of her as a family Ч a one-person family. And I think of my own family as a real family . . . I guess.
What I mean is, well, my family didnТt start out the way it is now. It started out as two families that split up and came together as.
Uh-oh. I know thatТs confusing. IТm a little ahead of myself. I better back up and begin at the beginning.
This is the beginning: Hi! IТm Kristy Thomas. IТm thirteen years old. IТm in eighth grade. IТm the president of the Baby-sitters Club (more about that later). I like sports, and I guess you could say IТm a tomboy. (Well, wouldnТt you
be one if you had a whole bunch of brothers?) IТm not the neatest person in the world. I donТt care much about boys or clothes. IТm famous for coming up with big ideas.
Okay, enough about me. Let me tell you about Ч Knock, knock.
Darn, I thought. Who could that be? It was a Friday evening and if I didnТt have any plans or even a baby-sitting job. I was in my bedroom, just messing around, enjoying my free time.
УWhoТs there?Ф I called. УOswald!Ф my little sister replied. Oswald? Oh. . . . УOswald who?Ф I asked. УHelp! Help! Oswald my gum!Ф I was laughing as I opened the door and found a very giggly Karen in the hallway.
УPretty funny,Ф I said, as Karen ran into my room and threw herself on my bed. УWhereТd you hear that one?Ф
УIn school. Nancy told it to me. What are you doing with the door closed?Ф
УJust fooling around.Ф
УBut this is our first night here.Ф
УIТm sorry, Karen. I didnТt mean to shut you out. ItТs just that I had a rotten week at school and today was especially rotten, so I wanted to be by myself for awhile.Ф
YouТre probably wondering why Karen said, УBut this is our first night here.Ф I think now would be a good time to explain my family to you. See, Karen isnТt exactly my sister. SheТs my stepsister. Her little brother Andrew is my stepbrother, and her father is my stepfather. Karen and Andrew only live with us part-time. I like when they come over because then my family consists of Mom, Watson (heТs my stepfather), Sam, Charlie, and David Michael (theyТre my brothers), and Karen and Andrew. Oh, and Shannon and Boo-Boo. TheyТre our dog and cat, and theyТre part of the family, too.
How did I get this weird family? Well, you can probably imagine. My mom and dad were divorced. They got divorced right after David Michael was born. Then, a couple of years ago, Mom met Watson and started going out with him. Watson was divorced, too. And after awhile, Mom and Watson got married, and then Mom and my brothers and I moved into WatsonТs house. ThatТs how I got my big family. The only unusual thing is that Watson is a millionaire. Honest. ThatТs why we moved into his house. ItТs a lot bigger than our old one. ItТs huge. In fact, itТs basically a mansion. Living in a mansion here in Stoneybrook,
Connecticut, is fun, but sometimes I miss my old house. ItТs on the other side of town, where all my friends are.
So now IТm part of a six-kid family. My brother Charlie is the oldest kid. HeТs seventeen, a senior in high school, and thinks heТs a big shot. Sam is fifteen. HeТs a sophomore in high school. Then thereТs me, then David Michael, whoТ~ seven, and then Karen and Andrew, who are six and four. Usually, Karen and Andrew only live with us every other weekend and for two weeks during the summer. The rest of the time they live with their mother, whoТs not too far away Ч in a different neighborhood in Stoneybrook. But the night Karen bounced into my room with her knockknock joke was the beginning of a much longer stay. Karen and Andrew were going to be with us for several weeks while their mother and stepfather went on a business trip.
УKnock, knock,Ф said Karen again.
УWhoТs there?Ф I replied.
УHey, Karen! Come here!Ф It was David Michael, yelling down the hail.
УWhat?Ф Karen yelled back.
УCome look at this bug!Ф (David Michael just loves bugs.)
Karen was off my bed and out of my room in a flash.
I smiled. I really like my family, especially when Karen and Andrew are here. The bigger, the better. Sometimes I think of my friends as family, too. Is that weird? I donТt know. But my friends do feel like family. I guess IТm mostly talking about my friends in the Babysitters Club. ThatТs a club I started myself. Actually, itТs more of a business. My friends and I sit for families in Stoneybrook and we earn a lot of money.
HereТs whoТs in the club: me, Claudia Kishi, Mary Anne Spier, Dawn Schafer, Mallory Pike, and Jessi Ramsey. We are six very different people, but we get along really well (most of the time). ThatТs the way it is with families.
For instance, IТm pretty outgoing (some people say I have a big mouth), and as I mentioned before, I like sports and couldnТt care less about clothes or boys. My best friend is Mary Anne Spier (sheТs our club secretary) and we are so different. Mary Anne is quiet and shy, hates sports, is becoming interested in clothes, has a boyfriend, and comes from a very small family. She lives with just her dad and her kitten, Tigger. Her mom died a long time ago. Mary Anne and I have always been different and have always been best friends. We lived next door to each other until Mom married Watson, so we practically grew up together.
One thing thatТs the same about us is our looks. We both have brown hair and brown eyes and are short for our age.
The vice-president of the Baby-sitters Club is Claudia Kishi. Claud lives across the street from Mary Anne. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, typical or average or ordinary about Claudia. To begin with, sheТs Japanese-American. Her hair is silky and long and jet-black. Her eyes are dark and almond-shaped and exotic. And her skin, well, I wish it were mine. IТm sure her skin doesnТt even know what a pimple is. Which is interesting when you consider ClaudiaТs eating habits. Claud is pretty much addicted to junk food. Her parents donТt like her to eat much of it, though, so she has to resort to hiding it in her room. Everywhere you look, you find something: a package of red-hots in the pencil cup, a bag of Cheese Doodles under her bed, a box of Cracker Jacks in the closet. This makes for a crowded room because Claudia is a pack rat. She has to be. SheТs an artist and needs to collect things for her work, such as shells, leaves, and interesting pebbles. Plus, she has tons of supplies Ч paper, canvases, paints, pastels, charcoals Ч and most of them are stored under her bed. Claud likes Nancy Drew mysteries and is a terrible student (even though sheТs smart). She
lives with her parents, her grandmother, Mimi, and her older sister, Janine. ItТs too bad that Claud is such a poor student, because Janine is a genius. One last thing about Claudia Ч her clothes. They are just. . . so cool. Well, I mean Claud is. SheТs the coolest kid in our grade. Her clothes are wild. Claud loves trying new things and she has an incredible imagination. She wears hats, weird jewelry (she makes some of it), bright colors Ч anything she can get away with!
Dawn Schafer is the clubТs treasurer. Now sheТs got an interesting family. Dawn used to live in California. She lived there with her parents and Jeff, her younger brother. Then her parents got divorced and Mrs. Schafer moved Dawn and Jeff all the way across country to Stoneybrook. The reason she chose Stoneybrook is she grew up here, and her parents (DawnТs grandparents) still live here. We got to know Dawn and she joined the Baby-sitters Club and everything seemed great. Except that Jeff missed his father and California Ч a lot. Finally, he moved back there. Now DawnТs family is split in half and separated by a continent. Dawn seems to be handling the changes well, though. SheТs pretty mature. And sheТs a real individual. She solves her own problems, makes her own decisions, and
isnТt too affected by what other people think of her or tell her. Plus, Dawn is neat and organized, which makes her a good treasurer. Although Dawn has been living in Connecticut for over a year now, she still looks sort of Californian. SheТs got long hair that is the blondest IТve ever seen. ItТs almost white. And her eyes are sparkly and pale blue. In the summer she gets this amazing tan. (The rest of the year she just has freckles.) And her clothes are casual and as individualistic as she is. She likes to wear layers of things Ч a short tank top over a long tank top, or socks over tights. Dawn is pretty cool.
The two junior members of our club are Jessi Ramsey and Mallory Pike. TheyТre junior members because theyТre younger than the rest of us eighth-graders. Mal and Jessi are in sixth grade. They havenТt been club members as long as us older girls. Still, theyТre beginning to feel like family to me.
Mallory used to be someone our club sat for. IsnТt that weird? Now sheТs a sitter herself. Mal is the oldest of eight kids. (Talk about big families.) The Baby-sitters Club still takes care of her younger brothers and sisters pretty often. Anyway, Mal is a great sitter. SheТs levelheaded and responsible Ч good in an emergency. And sheТs the most practical person I know. Mal is struggling to grow up. Being eleven can be very difficult, and Ma! thinks her parents treat her like a baby. However, theyТre starting to let up. Recently, they allowed Ma! to get her ears pierced and her hair cut. (She had to get braces, too, though, and her parents said sheТs too young for contact lenses.) Mal likes reading (especially books about horses), writing, and drawing. She thinks she might want to be an author of childrenТs books when she grows up.
Jessi (short for Jessica) Ramsey is MalТs best friend. Like Dawn, sheТs a newcomer to Stoneybrook, Connecticut. In fact, sheТs a newer newcomer than Dawn is. Her family moved here from New Jersey at the beginning of the school year. They moved because Mr. Ramsey changed jobs. In many ways, Jessi and Mal are alike. Jessi also loves to read, she wears glasses (just for reading), and she thinks her parents treat her like a baby, although they did let her get her ears pierced when Mal had hers done. But there are some big differences between Jessi and Mal. I guess the biggest is that Jessi is black and Mal is white. This hasnТt made a bit of difference to the girls, but the Ramseys sure had some trouble when they first moved here. Not many black families live in Stoneybrook, and some people gave the Ramseys a
hard time. Jessi says things are settling down, though. Another difference between Mal and Jessi is that Mal likes to write and Jessi likes to dance. Jessi is a ballerina. SheТs very talented. IТve seen her dance Ч on stage. I was really impressed. The third difference is that MalТs family is huge, while JessiТs is average Ч Jessi; her parents; her younger sister, Becca; and her baby brother, Squirt.
And thatТs it. Those are the people in my family. ItТs a big family, when you add the members of the Baby-sitters Club. I could add a few more, too, I thought later that night as I lay in bed. ThereТs Nannie. ThereТs Stacey McGill, who used to be a member of the club, but who had to move to New York City. There are Shannon and Logan, whom IТll tell you about later. And thereТs my real father. . . . But, no, he doesnТt count. Somebody who never writes, never calls, never remembers your birthday, never says he loves you, doesnТt count at all.
I was growing sleepy, and I forgot about my father. Instead, I thought of my gigantic family. I fell asleep smiling.
Chapter 2.
As president of the Baby-sitters Club, I get to run the meetings. I adore being in charge. Club meetings are the best times of my week.
УOrder! Order, you guys!Ф I said.
It was Monday afternoon at five-thirty, time for our meeting to begin. Everyone had arrived and was sitting (or sprawling) in her usual place. As president, I always sit in the directorТs chair and wear my visor. I stick a pencil over my ear. That way, I look like IТm in charge. Claudia, Dawn, and Mary Anne loll around on the bed, and Jessi and Mal sit on the floor.
We hold our meetings in ClaudiaТs room. She has her own phone.
This is how our club works: Three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from five-thirty until six, our club meets in ClaudiaТs bedroom. People who need sitters call us during our meetings. TheyТre practically guaranteed a sitter. With six club members,
one of us is bound to be free. So we wind up with lots of jobs. Pretty neat, huh?
The idea for the club was mine. (ThatТs how I got to be the president.) It came to me way back at the beginning of seventh grade, before Mom was really thinking about marrying Watson. We still lived in this neighborhood then. In fact, we lived right across the street from Claudia. Anyway, one day Mom needed a sitter for David Michael, who had just turned six. I wasnТt free and neither was Sam nor Charlie. So Mom got on the phone and began making call after call, trying to find a sitter. I felt bad for my mother, and even worse for David Michael, who was watching everything. And that was when I got my great idea. WouldnТt it be wonderful if Mom could make just one call and reach a whole bunch of babysitters at once? SheТd find a sitter much faster that way.
So I got together with Mary Anne and Claudia and told them about my idea. We decided to form the Baby-sitters Club. We also decided weТd need more than three members, so we asked Stacey McGill, a new friend of ClaudiaТs, to join the club, too. Stacey had just moved to Stoneybrook from New York City because her fatherТs job had changed. I could see right away why she and Claudia had
become friends so fast. Stacey awed Mary Anne and me. She seemed years older than twelve Ч very sophisticated with trendy clothes, pierced ears, and permed hair. But she was also very nice. Furthermore, sheТd had plenty of babysitting experience in New York, so we knew sheТd be a good addition to the club.