"Martin, Ann M - Baby-sitters Club - Super Special 01 - Baby-sitters on Board!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

"Touchy, touchy," said Dawn, who's the only one I would have let get away with saying something like that just then.
"Sit down," said Kristy. "Rest your feet. You want a soda or something?"
"Definitely," I answered.
Claudia looked longingly at a refrigerator and a cabinet that was full of potato chips and candy. "If only we could get in there," she said, touching her finger to the keyhole of the cabinet.
"Well, you know what Watson said," Kristy told her.
"Yeah," replied Claudia. "If s just. . ." She peered into the cabinet. "Oh, my lord, there's a Mounds bar way in the back! I haven't seen Mounds bars anywhere in the hotel. They're not in the store in the lobby."
"Claudia, that thing probably costs about twelve dollars. Come on. I've got Fritos and pretzels here. And I got some sodas out of the machine. Now let's start the meeting." Kristy was growing impatient.
She passed around sodas and opened the bags of pretzels and Fritos. We talked about
the kids for awhile, but there wasn't much to say. They were all having a ball. Kristy mentioned that Karen thought she had a ghostly companion, but none of us knew what to do about that.
Dawn told us how she'd lost her bracelet, and grew teary-eyed.
Claudia showed Stacey and me a pair of barrettes her Secret Admirer had sent her at dinner.
Then I said that Claire and Margo were upset because we'd missed both the afternoon and the evening parades that day.
"You too?" said Kristy. "So did we. And Karen and Andrew missed them, too. They really wanted to see them. Or at least one of them. Did anyone see one?"
We all shook our heads.
"Well, we'll remember tomorrow," said Kristy. "Now. Who has an idea for gifts for Mom and Watson and the Pikes?"
There were a few red faces among us. I knew we hadn't been thinking about the gifts at aU.
Dawn cleared her throat. "I saw some really nice cement planters in the gift shop. They were shaped like turtles and Ч "
ftrrr*.
"Those huge things?!" cried Kristy. "They weigh a ton! How would we ever get them on the plane?"
Dawn shrugged, embarrassed.
"I saw some keychains in the shop," I said. "They were personalized. You could get them with almost any name. I found most of our names down there. I bet we could find Ч "
"Those keychains had Mickey Mouse on them, for heaven's sake!" said Kristy. "Get real, you baby-sitters. We want to do something special."
"Well, what ideas have you come up with?" I asked.
"No good ones," said Kristy. "But they were better than cement planters and Mickey Mouse keychains."
"There's a nice clothing store in the lobby," Claudia began.
"You guys are missing the point," interrupted Kristy. "We don't want to give just any gift. We don't even want to give just an expensive gift. We have to give meaningful gifts."
"Like what?" asked Stacey.
Kristy shrugged. "I don't know. Yet. Well, keep thinking."
We turned our attention to the Fritos. Then we found a Michael J. Fox movie on TV and tuned in.
I fell asleep.
I didn't wake up until I became aware that Stacey was shaking me gently and saying, "Mary Anne, Mary Anne, get up. Our break is over."
Stacey and I dragged ourselves back to our rooms.
As soon as I opened the door to mine, Mal-lory bounced over to me. (Where did she get all that energy?)
'Terfect timing!" she said. "Vanessa just went into the bathroom. I figure we have, oh, fifteen, twenty minutes."
"Okay." I lowered myself onto my bed. (Mallory and Vanessa were sharing the other bed.)
Mallory plunked herself down next to me. "I have some very important information," she began.
"Important information?" I said. "You sound like a spy, Mal."
For just a moment, I thought Mallory was blushing. But it was hard to tell. She'd gotten a lot of sun that day.
Mallory cleared her throat. "Well, anyway, guess who I just happened to be standing behind on the line for Peter Pan's Flight today?"
"I can't guess. Who?"
"Alexandra Carmody. And she was on line with her mother, her father, and her brother. I couldn't help overhearing what they were saying. And get this Ч her parents are, like, celebrities. Have you ever heard of Viv and Ver-non Carmody? They're a singing team. They're for older people."
The names sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't think about names just then. All I could think was that Alex had parents.
"Are you sure about all this?" I asked Mallory.
"Positive. We were on line for half an hour. And I was right behind them."
"What a liar!" I cried. "Oh Ч I don't mean you, Mal. I mean Alex. She told me she was an orphan. And a whole bunch of other things. I wonder if any of it is true. Oh, who cares? But why did she tell me her parents are dead instead of celebrities? People shouldn't joke about things like that."
Mallory shook her head. "I thought you should know."
O/rm,
"Thanks," I replied. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I am glad to know."
Even though I was tired, I didn't sleep well that night. I kept waking up and thinking about Alex. By morning, I had made one decision. The next time I saw her, I would confront Alex with what I knew.
Which happened to be during breakfast. Va-nessa forgot to bring her vitamin pills to the dining room so I said I'd get them. I'd gotten as far as the lobby when I ran into Alex. I didn't bother to smile or say good morning to her. Instead, I greeted her with, "You . . . are ... a ... liar." I proceeded to tell her everything Mallory had told me.