“Huh?” said Claudia.
“I guess I’m a little ahead of myself,” I replied. (I’m usually a little ahead of myself.)
My friends shifted position and I looked at them as I tried to figure out how to explain my great idea. Mallory, with her new short haircut, was sitting on the floor, leaning against Claud’s bed. She was wearing jeans with zippers up the bottoms of the legs, and a sweat shirt that said STONEYBROOK MIDDLE SCHOOL across the front. In her newly pierced ears were tiny gold hoops.
Jessi was wearing matching hoops (I think she and Mal had gone shopping together), a purple dance leotard, and jeans. Over the leotard she was wearing a purple-and-white striped shirt, unbuttoned.
On the bed, in a row, sat Mary Anne, Dawn, and Claudia, watching me intently. Mary Anne’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail and held in place with a black-and-white checkered bow that matched the short skirt she was wearing. Around her neck was a chain and dangling from it were gold letters that spelled out MARY ANNE.
Dawn was wearing a necklace, too, only hers said I’M AWESOME. Honest. Where had she gotten it? California, probably. And in her double pierced ears were hoops of different sizes. See what I mean about Dawn being an individual? Also she was wearing a fairly tame dress, but on her feet were plaid high-top sneakers.
Then there was Claudia. She was wearing a pretty tame dress, too — with a red necktie! Then, she had on these new, very cool roll socks. When she pushed them down just right, they fell into three rolls. The top roll was red, the middle one was peacock blue, and the bottom one was purple. She looked as if she were wearing ice-cream cones on her feet. In her hair was a braided band in red, blue, and purple, like her socks. And dangling from her ears were — get this — spiders in webs. Ew. (But they were pretty cool.)
And me? I was wearing what I always wear — jeans, a turtleneck, a sweater, and sneakers. Okay, so I’m not a creative dresser. I don’t have pierced ears, either. I’m sorry. That sort of thing just doesn’t interest me much.
“My idea,” I began, “is to give mothers a break in their routine. I thought that as a present to the mothers whose kids we sit for — you know, Mrs. Newton, Mrs. Perkins, Mrs. Barrett, some of our own mothers — we could take their kids off their hands for a day. We could do something really fun with the kids so they’d have a good time, and while they were gone, the mothers could enjoy some peace and quiet.”
All around me, eyes were lighting up.
“Yeah!” said Claudia slowly.
“That’s a great idea,” agreed Jessi.
“Awesome,” added Dawn.
Mal and Mary Anne were nodding their heads vigorously.
“Good idea?” I asked unnecessarily.
“The best,” said Dawn.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes I get so carried away with my ideas that I can’t tell whether they’re good or stupid.
The phone rang then, and we stopped and arranged a sitting job for Jessi.
“I was thinking,” I went on as Mary Anne put down the appointment book, “that we could take the kids on some kind of field trip. I mean, an outing. I don’t know what kind exactly, but we’ll come up with something. And maybe we could do this on the day before Mother’s Day. That way, the present will be close to the actual holiday, but we’ll still be able to spend Sunday with our own moth —”
I stopped abruptly. How could I be so thoughtless? I glanced at Mary Anne, who was looking down at her hands.
“With — with, um, our families,” I finished up. I prayed for the phone to ring then, to save my neck and Mary Anne’s feelings, but it didn’t.
Instead, Jessi said, “If we’re asking our little brothers and sisters on the outing, I know Becca would like to come. Especially if we invite Charlotte, too.” (Charlotte Johanssen, one of our sitting charges, and Becca Ramsey are best friends.) “Becca might be shy, but she always likes a good field trip.”
I smiled gratefully at Jessi. She meant what she’d just said, but I knew she’d only said it to take everyone’s attention away from mothers and Mother’s Day. Also, she got our discussion going again.
“My brothers and sisters would like a trip, too,” spoke up Mal. “Well, most of them would. The triplets and Vanessa might think they’re too old for this. But, well, what about money? If this really is a present to mo — to our clients, then I guess we’re going to pay for everything, right?”
“We should talk about that,” I replied. “I really haven’t worked out all the details.”
Ordinarily, I might have come up with some solution and said, “Okay, this is what we’re going to do.” But I know that I can be bossy. Sometimes it gets me in trouble. Not long ago, it nearly caused our whole club to break up. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating. But it did cause a huge fight.
So all I said was, “I don’t think the day has to be very expensive. Maybe we could use money that’s in the treasury. We have pretty much right now, don’t we, Dawn?”
Dawn nodded.
“Okay, then. But — everyone has to agree to this. This isn’t usually how we spend the treasury money.”
We were in the middle of taking a vote when the phone rang. And rang and rang. We stopped to schedule a few jobs. Then we returned to the vote. It was unanimous. We agreed to use our treasury money.
“Now,” I went on, “what should the outing be? I mean, where should we go? It should be someplace that’s fun, but easy to get to and cheap.”
We all thought. No one came up with a single idea. There isn’t a lot to do here in Stoneybrook. Not a lot that’s within walking distance anyway.
Claudia cleared her throat and we looked at her expectantly. “I don’t have an idea,” she said. “I was just thinking that the way we could ask kids to come on the outing would be to send invitations to their mothers. I think the outing would seem more like a gift then. An invitation could say, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. Rodowsky. As a special present, the Baby-sitters Club would like to give you a day to yourself. Therefore, Jackie, Archie, and Shea are invited to go’ … wherever we decide to go. Something like that.”
“Ooh, that’s great, Claud,” said Jessi.
“Yeah,” agreed Dawn. “Would you design the invitations, Claud? We’ll help you make them, but you do the best artwork.”
“Thanks,” replied Claudia. “Sure. I’ll design something.”
“Maybe the fathers could be involved,” I said slowly. “I’m not sure how to get them to do this, but they should be the ones to drop the kids off and pick them up. Stuff like that. And of course we can’t take babies on the outing. So, for instance, if we take Jamie Newton for the day, Lucy will still be at home. Maybe Mr. Newton will agree to watch her while Jamie’s with us.”
My friends nodded. We talked and talked. We talked until it was after six o’clock. We worked out all the details, but not what our outing would be. Where could we take the kids?
“You know,” said Jessi, as we were getting ready to leave Claud’s room, “I think our Mother’s Day surprise solves a problem for me.”
“What?” asked the rest of us.
“I think it can be my present to Mama. It’ll get Becca and me out of her hair for a whole day. And if Daddy will watch Squirt, then Mama will really have a vacation.”
“Same here,” said Mal. “The younger kids can come on the trip, and I’m sure I can convince the triplets and Vanessa to stay out of Mom’s hair. Or maybe Dad can do something with them.”
“And same with me,” I added. “Andrew, Karen, and David Michael will come with us. Charlie and Sam are hardly ever around on Saturdays anyway. I think this will be my gift. I’ll just have to see.”
“I wish the outing helped me,” said Dawn with a sigh, “but it doesn’t.”
“Me neither,” added Claudia. “All I’ve decided is to make Mom’s gift, whatever it will be.”
“Maybe I’ll make mine, too,” said Dawn. “Would you help me, Claud?”
“Sure.”
We were filing out of
Claudia’s room, tired but excited.
Mary Anne was being awfully quiet, but just as I was starting to worry about her, she gave me a little smile to let me know that she would handle Mother’s Day somehow — just as she had handled it every year before.
Claudia’s job at the Newtons’ on Friday afternoon turned out to be profitable. Not only did she have fun and get paid, but she found something pretty interesting. It was a flier posted on their refrigerator.
Well, once again I’m ahead of myself. I bet you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. (I don’t blame you.) Okay. Let me go back to when Claud arrived at the Newtons’.
She showed up on time, of course. (A good sitter is always on time.) But she didn’t bring her Kid-Kit. It was a sunny afternoon and she knew that all Jamie would want to do was play outside.
Mrs. Newton greeted Claudia at the door.
“Hi, honey,” she said. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” Claudia stepped into the Newtons’ hallway.
“How are you? How are the art classes?” asked Mrs. Newton. She and Claud are pretty close. Mrs. Newton is interested in whatever Claudia does.
“I’m fine. My classes are great. And look what I made.” Claudia pulled her hair back to show Mrs. Newton the earrings she was wearing. They were painted sunbursts.
“You made those?”
“Yup,” said Claudia proudly.
Mrs. Newton shook her head in amazement.
“Where are the kids?” asked Claud.
“Jamie’s out in the yard, and Lucy’s upstairs taking a nap. I just put her down, so she should sleep for awhile. You can go out with Jamie, but stick your head inside every now and then to listen for the baby.”
Claudia nodded. “Okay. Anything else?”
“I don’t think so. You know where the emergency numbers are. And I’ll be at a meeting at Jamie’s school. The number is on the refrigerator.”
A few minutes later, Mrs. Newton called good-bye to Jamie and left. Claudia joined Jamie in the backyard. She found him tiptoeing around with his arms outstretched. He was singing “Home on the Range,” but he was getting a lot of the words wrong.
“Oh, give me a comb,” he sang loudly, “where the buffaloes foam, and the deer and the antinope pay. Where seldom is heard a long-distance bird, and the sky is not crowded all day.”
Claudia smiled, but she managed not to laugh. “Hiya, Jamie,” she said.
“Hi-hi!” Jamie replied happily. He didn’t seem to mind having been interrupted at all.
“What are you doing?” Claud wanted to know. (Jamie was still tiptoeing around.)
“I’m a tightrope walker. Now watch this. I’m going to be someone else.”
Jamie walked a few steps. He tripped and fell. Then he picked himself up and fell again. When he stood up, he shook himself all over like a puppy dog.
Claudia wasn’t sure what was going on, so she was relieved when Jamie began turning somersaults and making silly faces. “You’re a clown!” she exclaimed.
“Right!” said Jamie. “And now I’m going to be another person.”
He raised his arms in the air and ran back and forth across the yard. “Oh, he fries food the air,” he sang, “with the greatest of vease!”
“A trapeze artist,” said Claud.
“Yup.”
The Newtons must have gone to a circus, she thought. And she thought that until she took Jamie inside for a glass of water. His throat was dry from all his singing and running around. Claud went to the refrigerator to get out the bottle of cold water she knew was inside — and her eyes fell on a colorful flier posted next to the phone number of Jamie’s school.
COME TO SUDSY’S CARNIVAL! it read. GAMES! RIDES! SIDESHOW ATTRACTIONS! REFRESHMENTS!
Carefully, Claudia read every word on the flier. The carnival would be in Stoneybrook on Mother’s Day weekend. It would be set up in a large parking lot that was near a playground not far from Claud’s house. It would have midway games, some rides, plenty of food (cotton candy, peanuts, ice cream, popcorn, lemonade), and even a sideshow. Claudia raised her eyebrows. Were there really bearded ladies and people who were half-man, half-woman or who could swallow fire or swords? She wasn’t sure. But she didn’t care. All she was interested in was finding out more about the carnival.
Jamie saw Claud looking at the flier. “The carnival,” he said sadly.
“What’s wrong?” asked Claud.
“I really really really really really want to go, but I can’t. Mommy and Daddy can’t take me.”
“Too bad, Jamie,” said Claudia.
“I know. I want to see that man. That one right there.”
Jamie reached up to touch a picture of a clown carrying a bunch of helium balloons.
“The balloon-seller?” Claudia asked.
Jamie nodded. “I would buy a yellow balloon. Maybe after that I would buy a green balloon for Lucy.”
“That would be very generous of you.”
“And then I would play some games. I would win some prizes, like a whistle and a teddy bear. The bear would be for Lucy, too.”
Claudia smiled.
“But,” Jamie continued with a sigh, “I guess I can’t go. No clowns. No balloons. No prizes.”
Claudia gave Jamie a hug, and then poured him his glass of water.
“Thank you,” he said politely.
“You’re welcome. And Jamie, you never know.”
“What?”
“You never know about things. You can’t be too sure. I remember once when I was seven, a big circus came to Stamford, and Mom and Dad said our whole family could go. Only — a week before we were going to the circus, I got the chicken pox.”
“Yuck.”
“I know. And when circus day came, I was much better but I still had spots, so I wasn’t allowed to go. Mimi took care of me while Mom and Dad and Janine went to the circus. Guess what, though. People liked the circus so much that it stayed an extra week, and Mimi and I went to it the next Saturday.”
“Really? Wow.”
Claudia suddenly realized that she shouldn’t get Jamie’s hopes up too much. After all, the carnival was still sort of a long shot. So she said again, “You just never know, Jamie. I’m not saying you will go to the carnival. But it’s several weeks away. A lot could happen, right? … Right?”
“Oh, give me a comb…. ”
Jamie wasn’t listening. He and Claudia went back outside. Jamie played carnival again. Every now and then, Claudia tiptoed into the house and stood at the bottom of the stairs, listening for Lucy. The third time she did that, she heard baby sounds. Lucy almost always wakes up happy. She doesn’t cry. She just sits in her crib and talks to herself in words only she can understand.
Claudia poked her head out the back door. “Jamie!” she called. “Come on inside. I have to get Lucy up.”
Jamie came in and found Sesame Street on the television, while Claudia dashed upstairs. She opened the door to Lucy’s room slowly.
“Hiya, Lucy-Goose,” she said.
Lucy’s face began to crumple.
“I know. I’m not your mommy or daddy. I’m sorry. But it’s me, Luce. It’s Claudee.” (That’s what Jamie sometimes calls Claudia.)
Claudia puttered around Lucy’s room, not going too near her. She sang “The Eensy Weensy Spider” and “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Lucy began to smile. Claudia tickled her and changed her diaper, and she seemed to be okay. So Claud carried her downstairs. She could smell Lucy’s baby smell — powder and Pampers and soap and milk.
“Jamie, look who’s here!” said Claudia.
Jamie turned away from the TV. When he and Lucy saw each other, their faces broke into grins.
What a change from when Lucy first came home from the hospital, thought Claudia. Jamie wanted to send his sister back.
Claudia, Jamie, and Lucy played on the floor of the family room until Mrs. Newton came home at five-fifteen. Then Claudia raced to her own house for our Friday meeting.
She couldn’t wait to get there. For once, she would be the one with a big idea, and if everyone liked it, she’d make a lot of people very happy — especially Jamie Newton, who just might get to go to the carnival and see the balloon-seller after all.
For the second time in a row I arrived at our meeting early. There was a good reason for this. It was because I had begged Charlie to leave early. “Please, please, please take me over now,” I’d said. My next step would have been to kneel down and plead, but Charlie agreed to go.
I don’t know why I was so eager for the meeting. It wasn’t as if I had any news. I just wanted to get on with the plans for our Mother’s Day surprise.
Anyway, thanks to Charlie, I reached the Kishis’ just before Claudia came running home from the Newtons’. I could hear her calling to me as she dashed along the sidewalk.
“Hi, Claud!” I replied. I stood on her steps and looked across the street at the house that used to be mine. I’d grown up there. I’d learned to walk and ride a bike and turn cartwheels there. I’d gone off to school and watched my father walk out on us and seen Watson come into our lives. I’d been away from that house for less than a year, but it seemed like a decade.
Time is funny.
Claudia raced up her walk and let me into her house. “You’re early again,” she said. “Do you have news?”
I shook my head.
“Well, I do! But I guess it’ll have to wait until the meeting starts, right?”
“Not necessarily,” I replied, since I was dying of curiosity, “but I guess you might as well. Then you can tell us all at once.”
Claudia and I were both a little disappointed, but at least we didn’t have long to wait before the meeting started. Mary Anne, Jessi, Dawn, and Mallory arrived on time, and I brought us to order immediately.
“The first piece of business,” I announced, “is that Claudia has some sort of big news. Claudia?” I said, turning to her.
“My big news,” Claudia began, shifting position on the bed, “is that I think I’ve found a place where we can take the kids on their outing.”
Five pairs of eyes widened. The room was absolutely silent.