"Martin, Ann M - BSC023 - Dawn On The Coast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

puzzled, and glanced around the floor.
"Where're my shoes?" she said.
"Living room," I answered.
Mom fumbled in her pockets for her keys.
"Your keys are on the kitchen table," I said. "And your purse is on the couch."
Mom looked a little sheepish.
"What am I going to do without you?" she laughed. "You have to admit. We make a good team."
We walked down the stairs, gathered up Mom's things, and headed out the door. When I got home that night I would have to finish packing my things. But, for then, I left them strewn across my bed. It wasn't every night that Mom and I could decide to drop everything and go to Cabbages and Kings for a close, warm mother-daughter meal. And besides, on Sunday I'd be leaving Stoneybrook for two whole weeks.
Chapter 2.
What a party. I was the first one to get to Kristy's that night and, when I arrived, things were still a little quiet and calm. Kristy lives in a mansion. No kidding. But you practically need a mansion to hold all her family. There's Kristy and her mom and three brothers, and then there's Watson Brewer, Kristy's stepdad. He and Kristy's mom got married last summer and he has two kids of his own. (They come to stay every other weekend.) That would be plenty, but there's also Boo-Boo, the cat, and Shannon, the puppy.
I knocked on the big wooden door and Kristy let me in. She was wearing her usual Ч jeans, sneakers, a turtleneck. (What did I tell you?) She shut the door quickly behind me, so that Shannon wouldn't escape. Shannon jumped up on me and licked my arms. She really is a great puppy. She's still young, so her paws are too big for her body.
"Hi, Shann," I said. I petted her soft head and scratched behind her ears.
The doorbell rang again.
"Move it, Shannon," said Kristy. "It's probably Mary Anne."
The madness had started. When Kristy opened the door, it wasn't Mary Anne at all.
It was Karen and Andrew, Kristy's stepsister and stepbrother.
"We're here!" Karen shouted into the house. She dropped her overnight bag on the hallway floor. "Daddy! Everybody! Here we are!"
Karen is only six years old, but she's got lots of confidence and is never at a loss for words. Andrew looked up at me and smiled.
"Hi, Dawn," he said. "Are you baby-sitting us?"
Andrew's only four and sometimes I have baby-sat for him, although, of course, Kristy takes all the jobs in her own house if she can.
"Not this time, Andrew," I said. "But I think you are going to see lots of baby-sitters tonight."
"Hi, Karen. Hi, Andrew. Oh, hello, Dawn." Kristy's mother bustled into the room and gave Andrew and Karen each a warm hug and kiss. "Take your stuff up and stash it in your rooms," she said. "It's going to be a full house tonight. Kristy's expecting a few guests."
Karen bounded up the stairs with her suitcase and Andrew stumbled after her, trying to keep up.
Kristy put her hands over her ears. "Aughhh!" she cried. "It sounds like wild horses!"
The doorbell rang again. This time it was Mary Anne, and Claudia was right behind her.
"Come in, come in." Kristy opened the door a crack, then hustled them in, but Shannon was too quick for her. The frisky puppy darted between Claudia's legs and scampered right outside.
"Shannon!" Kristy called, and ran out to catch her.
While Kristy was chasing after Shannon, Mallory and Jessi arrived. Jessi saw what was happening and took a ballet leap into the yard, just as Shannon was about to run into the bushes.
"Gotcha!" she said as she grabbed Shannon's collar. We all started clapping and Jessi took a deep bow. "Grand jete," she smiled. "You just never know when one is going to come in handy."
Well, one crisis down, but another was on the way. While Kristy led Shannon back into the house, Karen came screaming down the stairs.
"Ben Brewer!" she shouted. "Ben Brewer! He's clanking his chains!"
For a six-year-old girl, Karen has one wild imagination. She's convinced there's a ghost in the house named Ben Brewer, and she tells stories about him all the time. As I looked up, Sam and Charlie were sneaking around the bend at the top of the steps. They're Kristy's
older brothers. Sam is fifteen and Charlie's seventeen.
"Shhh," Sam whispered to Charlie. He slipped down the stairs after Karen, grabbed her up from behind, and lifted her over his head.
"Aughhh!" screamed Karen.
Mrs. Brewer stuck her head back into the room to see what was going on. David Michael, Kristy's brother who's seven, was right behind her.
"No horseplay on the stairs," said David Michael. (It was obviously a rule he had heard many times.)
"That's right," said Mrs. Brewer.
Just then, the front door opened behind us and bumped Claudia and Mary Anne on their backsides.
"Excuse me. Excuse me." Someone was pushing his way through the crowd. It was Watson Brewer, home from work. "Well," he said, as he took a look at the chaos that greeted him. "Five more daughters, huh? Where did I get them all? Hello, girls."
"Hi, Mr. Brewer," we chorused.
"All right. All right. That's enough," Kristy said suddenly. "Baby-sitters upstairs."
I'm surprised she didn't say, "Forward, march!" or "Single file!" (she did sound like General Kristy), but we all trooped up the
stairs after her. We left Watson and Kristy's mom kissing hello in the hallway, with their kids and their animals chasing all around them.
"Phew!" Kristy said. She shut the door behind us. Mary Anne, Claudia, and I collapsed on the bed. Jessi and Mallory sat cross-legged on the floor. Kristy pulled up a chair. It looked just like a regular meeting of the Baby-sitters Club, only we were in Kristy's room, not Claudia's. Kristy picked up a clipboard and pencil and rapped on the arm of her chair.
"The meeting will now come to order," she said.
"Meeting!" Claudia cried. "Kristy, this isn't a meeting. It's a party."
I smiled at Mary Anne. Mary Anne is a good friend of Kristy's, but she knows how Kristy loves to be bossy.
"True," said Kristy. "It's not exactly a meeting. But we do have a few things to decide. Pizza, for instance. Do we want some? And, if so, what kind?"
"Pizza would be good," said Mary Anne. Mary Anne is always agreeable. "Does anyone else want pizza?"