"Martin, Ann M - Baby-sitters Club 004 - Mary Anne Saves the Day" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Ann M)

I wished I could talk to somebody. Maybe I could phone Claudia. The only thing she'd said that afternoon was for me not to call Stacey's diabetes dumb, which really wasn't mean. But I am not allowed to use the phone after dinner unless I'm discussing homework.
I could ask my father for special permission to use the phone for non-homework business, but he'd want to know what that business was.
I sighed.
I glanced out my window. The side window of my bedroom looks right into the side window of Kristy's bedroom next door. Her light was off, the room dark.
I sat cross-legged on my bed and gazed around. No wonder Stacey had called me a baby. My room looks like a nursery. There's no crib or changing table, but basically the room hasn't changed since I was three. It's decorated in pink and white, which my father had just naturally assumed every little girl would like. The truth is, I like yellow and navy blue. Pink is one of my least favorite colors.
The curtains, which are ruffly, are made of pink flowered fabric and are tied back with pink ribbons. The bedspread matches the curtains. The rug is pale pink shag, and the walls are white, with pink baseboards.
Living in my room is like living inside a cotton-candy machine.
What bothers me most, though, is what's on the walls Ч or rather, what isn't on them. I've spent a lot of time in Kristy and Claudia's rooms, and I've been in Stacey's room twice, and I've decided that you can tell a lot about the people who use those rooms just by looking at the walls. For example, Kristy loves sports, so her walls are covered with posters about the Olympics and pictures of gymnasts and football players. Claudia is an artist and her own work hangs everywhere. She changes it often, taking down old paintings or drawings and putting up new ones. And Stacey, who misses New York more than she'll admit, has tacked up a poster of the city at night, another of the Empire State Building, and a map of Manhattan.
Here's what're on my walls: a framed picture of my parents and me, taken the day I was christened; a framed picture of Humpty Dumpty (before he broke); and two framed pictures of
characters from Alice in Wonderland. They are all framed in pink.
Do you know what I would like to have on my walls? I've thought about this very carefully, just in case my father should ever lose his mind and say I can redecorate. I'm not allowed to put up posters because the thumbtacks would make too many holes in the wall. But assuming Dad was really bonkers and didn't care about holes, I'd put up a giant poster of a kitten or maybe several kittens, a big photo of the members of the Baby-sitters Club, a poster of New York City, and maybe one of Paris.
I would take down Humpty and Alice, but leave the picture of my family.
My gaze drifted from my walls to the window. I snapped to attention as a light went on in Kristy's room. Maybe I could wave to her and let her know that as far as I was concerned, the fight was over. But Kristy pulled her shade down quickly, not even looking out the window.
I checked my watch. It was almost eight o'clock. In another hour, I could try signaling to her with my flashlight. I worked out a flashlight code so that we can "talk" at night without the telephone. One of us usually
flashes to the other shortly after nine o'clock. At that time, my father has already said goodnight to me. I'm free to read in bed until 9:30, but I know he won't check on me. Kristy and I have been signaling to each other for a long time and we have never been caught.
I finished my homework and changed into my nightgown. By five minutes to nine I was in bed, reading a very exciting book called A Wrinkle in Time.
Dad stuck his head in the door. "Oh, good. I see you're all ready for bed."
I nodded.
"What are you reading?"
"A Wrinkle in Time. It's on Mr. Counts' reading list." (Mr. Counts is the school librarian.)
"Oh, that's fine. Well, good-night, Mary Anne."
"Good-night, Dad."
He closed my door. I could hear his footsteps as he went back downstairs.
I know my dad loves me, and I know the reason he's strict is that he wants to show everybody I can be a well-brought-up young lady even without a mother, but sometimes I just wish things were different.
I took my flashlight out of my desk drawer,
turned off my light, and tiptoed to my window, waiting for Kristy to do the same. I planned to signal I'M SORRY to her.
I stood at my window for fifteen minutes, but her shade remained drawn.
I knew then that she was very angry.
Chapter 3.
The next morning I woke up feeling sad. Kristy had never stayed mad at me for so long. Then again, I had never called her the biggest, bossiest know-it-all in the world. As I got dressed for school, though, I tried to convince myself that the members of the Baby-sitters Club couldn't stay mad for long. After all, we had a business to run. Surely things would get straightened out in time for our meeting the next day.
When breakfast was over, I kissed my father good-bye and headed out the front door. I hoped he wouldn't see that I was walking to school alone. If he did, he would know that something was wrong.
I had walked to school alone only six times since kindergarten. Four of those times were days Kristy was home sick; once was when
she and her family left for Florida the day before spring vacation started; and once was the day after the Thomases announced that they were getting divorced, and Kristy had been too upset to go to school.
Sometimes Claudia walked with us, sometimes she didn't. However, since just after we started the Baby-sitters Club, Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and I had been walking to and from school together almost every day.
I reached the sidewalk and paused in front of Kristy's house, trying to decide whether to ring her bell and ask to talk to her. In the end, I just kept on walking. Basically, I'm a coward. I didn't want to have a scene with her in front of her family.
I walked quickly to school, keeping my eyes peeled for Kristy, Claudia, or Stacey. But I didn't see them. A horrible thought occurred to me: Maybe they'd all made up, and I was the only one they were still mad at. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I entered school.
The very first person I saw was Kristy! She was not with Claudia and Stacey, so I began to feel a bit better.
I waved to her.
Kristy looked right at me. I'm sure she did. She saw me wave.
But she tossed her head in the air, turned
around, and flounced down the hall. I followed her, since my homeroom is next to hers, but I tried to keep a safe distance between us.
As I neared my homeroom, I spotted Claudia coming down the hall toward Kristy and me.
"Hey, Kristy!" Claudia called.
Oh, no, I thought. They have made up.
But Kristy ignored Claudia.
"Kristy," Claudia said again.
"Are you talking to me?" Kristy asked icily. "Or to some other job-hog?"
Claudia's face clouded over. "No, you're the only job-hog I see at the moment."
"Then get a mirror," snapped Kristy.
Claudia looked as if she was preparing some sort of nasty retort, but before she could think of a really good one, Kristy walked into her homeroom and slammed the door shut behind her.