Jessi and the Bad Baby-Sitter

  “Without paying for it?” Mallory asked in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I even spoke to her about it. She said she’d tell your parents herself. Do you know if she has?”

  “I don’t think so,” Mal said. “I’d know if something unusual was going on. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “Don’t be mad,” I said. “I didn’t think it was right to give away Margo’s secret.”

  “I can understand that, I guess,” Mal said, swinging her legs down to the floor. “But I think we better have a talk with Margo right now.”

  With Mal in the lead, we walked down the hall to Margo’s room. “Margo!” Mallory called as she rapped sharply on the door. “I have to talk to you. It’s important.”

  The door cracked open. “I’m busy,” said Margo.

  “Then get unbusy and come to my room,” Mallory demanded. “If you’re not there in two minutes, I’m coming back to get you.”

  Without waiting for an answer, Mallory turned and headed toward her own room. “You are feeling more like your old self,” I commented.

  “I can’t imagine why she would steal from a store,” said Mallory. “She knows that’s wrong.”

  We sat in Mallory’s room and waited another two or three minutes for Margo. “Okay, that’s it, I’m going back in there to get her,” Mallory said. But when she pulled her door open, Margo was standing there. I think she had been working up the nerve to come in. I suppose she’d guessed what Mallory wanted to talk to her about.

  Margo stepped into the room looking pale, her eyes cast down at the rug.

  “Margo, did you take a ring from Pembroke’s without paying for it?” Mallory asked, getting right to the point.

  A fat tear rolled down Margo’s cheek and she nodded slightly.

  I was a bit relieved. Things could have been pretty unpleasant if she’d denied it.

  “You have to tell Mom,” Mal said calmly.

  Margo looked up for the first time since she’d walked in. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “I can’t,” she wailed.

  “I’ll help you,” Mal offered. “Jessi will help, too.”

  “You will?” Margo said. “How?”

  “All we can do is go with you,” Mallory told her. “But then you won’t be alone. We’ll be by your side.”

  Margo sighed deeply. Her shoulders sagged and her head dropped. “All right. Let’s go.”

  The three of us went downstairs and found Mrs. Pike in the kitchen making a big pan of ziti for supper.

  “Mom,” Mallory said, “Margo has to tell you something.”

  Mrs. Pike wiped her hands on a dish towel, and turned to Margo. “What is it?”

  Margo’s voice was small and quivering. “I didn’t mean to do it but I just sort of did anyway,” she began.

  Mrs. Pike sat down on a kitchen chair. “What did you do, sweetheart?”

  “I stole something from Pembroke’s,” Margo said, bursting into tears as she spoke. “It was a ring, and the time before that I took two packs of gum and a rubber dinosaur.” Covering her face with her hands, Margo began to sob deeply.

  For a moment, no one spoke. The only sound was Margo’s crying. Then Mrs. Pike pulled a paper napkin from a holder and handed it to Margo. “Why didn’t you pay for those things?” she asked gently.

  Margo wiped her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know. It was like a sort of game. I wanted to see if I could do it. They were my secret things that I could play with all alone.”

  I suddenly realized why Margo had been so secretive in her room lately. She was playing with her stolen treasures.

  “You know that stealing is wrong,” said Mrs. Pike. “Didn’t that bother you?”

  “Sort of,” Margo admitted. “I figured I’d pay for the things some other time.”

  “When was that going to be?”

  Margo shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she mumbled.

  “What do you want to do about this?” asked Mrs. Pike, laying her hands on Margo’s shoulders.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yes, you do,” Mrs. Pike said softly.

  “Return the things?” Margo asked. Her mother nodded. “But I can’t,” said Margo. “I’ve eaten all the gum.”

  “Then you’ll have to pay for it,” said Mrs. Pike. “Do you have any money?”

  “Some, in my piggy bank.”

  “Go get it, then,” Mrs. Pike told her. “We’ll go over to the store right now.”

  “Now?” Margo wailed.

  “I think we better.”

  “But … but …” Margo protested desperately. “Could Mallory and Jessi come with me?”

  “Mallory is sick,” Mrs. Pike replied. “Jessi, do you want to come?”

  “I’ll come. Sure,” I agreed.

  “Mallory, do you think you can get another sitter to come over while we’re gone? We’ll only be about an hour,” Mrs. Pike said.

  While Margo and I went upstairs and pried open her piggy bank, Mallory tried to find a sitter. Since Stacey lives in the house behind the Pikes, she was the first one Mallory called. “I have a sitting job at six-thirty,” Stacey said. “But if you’re sure your mom will be back soon, I can come.”

  Mallory assured her she’d be able to get to her job on time, so Stacey came over. “Hi, Jess,” Stacey said as she came through the front door. “How come you can’t sit?”

  “It’s a long story,” I said. I didn’t want to embarrass Margo by telling Stacey what was going on.

  The drive downtown to Pembroke’s seemed very long. No one spoke. Occasionally Margo sniffled. When we reached the store, Mrs. Pike asked to see the manager. We were directed to a small, plain office at the back corner of the store.

  I felt sorry for Margo. She looked one hundred per cent miserable.

  The manager’s door was open and she invited us in. “May we speak to you?” Mrs. Pike asked the slim, dark-haired woman.

  “Certainly,” she said pleasantly.

  “Margo,” Mrs. Pike prompted.

  Margo pulled the troll ring and the dinosaur out of her jacket pocket and laid them on the manager’s desk. The manager just looked puzzled.

  “I took these things. I’m sorry,” Margo said in a small voice. “I also owe you money for two packs of gum.”

  “That’s a dollar,” the manager told her. Margo fished a handful of coins from her pocket and counted out a dollar. “Thank you,” the manager said when Margo handed her the money, and Margo’s eyes flooded once again.

  “Young lady, I appreciate your making up for what you did,” said the manager. “I wish more young people had that courage. You know, shoplifting hurts everyone. Stores have to make up for their losses by raising the price of everything. You’ve done the right thing.” She paused. “I’m sure you’ll never shoplift again.”

  “No, I won’t,” said Margo, wiping her eyes. This time I was sure she was telling the truth.

  “This is so cool!” Stacey said happily. “I feel like a real filmmaker.” She held the camcorder to her eye and framed different shots of the Barretts’ living room.

  The big day had come at last. It was Saturday, the day we’d picked to film Dawn’s video. With the help of the BSC members, the kids had been practicing all week long. Now they were ready for their performance. (Ready as they’d ever be, anyway.)

  Mr. Braddock had donated his camcorder for the day and Mrs. Barrett had volunteered her living room as the set. In a flash, Stacey and I had run around and straightened up the Barrett clutter. We had pushed the furniture against the walls and draped sheets over it. The only piece we’d left out was a stuffed chair with a high back. We had decorated the arms and top with tin foil to make it look like a throne.

  Now the kids were dressed in their costumes and ready to give the performance of a lifetime. (We hoped.)

  “Act one, coming up,” Stacey announced. “Is everybody ready? Queen?”

  “Here I am,” said Suzi Barrett, who was wearing her mother’s dress, which
was way too big for her, and a silver crown. She’d pulled her brown hair into a ponytail that bobbed up and down out of the middle of her crown. For the finishing touch, she’d painted her lips with bright red lipstick.

  “Magic mirror, are you ready?” Stacey asked.

  Adam Pike emerged from the kitchen holding a large wooden picture frame. He was dressed in a football jersey and jeans. “Adam, you’re supposed to be wearing Dad’s black robe. Didn’t you remember?” asked Vanessa.

  “I’m not wearing that robe!” Adam insisted. “It looks like a dress.”

  “Well, he can’t wear that!” cried Suzi. “He doesn’t look like a magic mirror.”

  “Yes, I do,” Adam insisted. “How do you know what a magic mirror looks like?”

  “Think again, buckaroo,” said Suzi. “You do not look like a magic mirror.”

  “Come on, Adam,” I pleaded. “You agreed to be the mirror. And what about your makeup?”

  “Oh, all right!” Adam stomped huffily back into the kitchen. Moments later he returned wrapped in a black terrycloth robe that trailed behind him, his face smeared with green makeup.

  “That’s more like it,” Suzi said with an approving nod.

  “Quiet on the set, everybody!” Stacey yelled. Amazingly, everyone did quiet down. Suzi sat on the big chair and Adam stood, holding the picture frame.

  “Okay, at the count of three I’m going to start filming,” Stacey told them. “One, two, three, action!”

  “What a lovely day,” Suzi croaked in her witchiest voice. “I think I’ll pollute it. I’ll make a potion that covers the sky with clouds of yucky pollution.”

  She stood up and went to the magic mirror. “Magic Mirror on the wall — the one I bought at the Washington Mall. Who is the biggest polluter of all?”

  “You are, oh, highness,” Adam said stiffly. (I didn’t see any big acting awards in his future.) “But there is a problem.”

  “A problem!?” Suzi cried dramatically. “What?”

  “Snow White,” Adam replied. “She’s working hard to keep the planet clean. If she sees pollution coming from the castle, she might report you to the Environmental Protection Agency, or to the Planeteers.”

  “Curses!” Suzi snarled. (She was great!) “Then we must get rid of her! Woodsman! Where are you?”

  At that moment, Vanessa was supposed to appear from the kitchen. But she didn’t. “Where is that darn woodsman?” Suzi improvised.

  “Vanessa,” I called in a loud whisper.

  “Jessi!” she called softly from the kitchen. “Come here.”

  “Cut!” Stacey called, turning off the camcorder. “What’s wrong?”

  Vanessa walked out dressed in green tights under gym shorts, a blousy shirt, and the felt hat we’d bought at Pembroke’s. “This axe won’t stay together,” she explained. “See?” The head of the plastic axe came sliding off the plastic handle even as we spoke.

  “Let me see that,” I said, taking it from her. She was right. Nothing I did would keep the axe together. Then I got a bright idea and pulled out the elastic that was holding my hair back in a ponytail. With a few quick twists, I used it to keep the axe and the handle attached.

  “Okay. Vanessa, you enter when I count to three,” Stacey instructed her. The video then proceeded smoothly until Vanessa took Snow White — played in the first scene by Carolyn Arnold — to the woods. (She and her twin sister, Marilyn, traded the black, plastic Snow White wig and the blue cloak back and forth in different scenes.)

  “I’m sorry, but the queen has commanded me to get rid of you,” said Vanessa to a cowering Snow White. She lifted her axe high into the air as if she were about to strike.

  “Owww!” cried Buddy Barrett, who had been standing off to the side dressed in his Captain Planet costume. Vanessa’s plastic axe blade had come loose and gone flying through the air, hitting Buddy on the head.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, hurrying to him.

  “I guess,” he said sulkily as he rubbed his head.

  The next scene was terrific. Instead of hurting Snow White, the Woodsman just pushed her into the swamp. (Vanessa thought of a good way to save the scene. “Darn!” she said. “My axe broke. Now I’ll have to push you in the polluted swamp instead!”) The swamp was a cardboard box covered with some green crêpe paper. We’d taped old cans and paper cups to it, to show that it was polluted. Snow White ducked behind the box. Then Haley Braddock, covered like a mummy in green crêpe paper, rose up out of the box where she’d been crouching. “I’ll save you, Snow White,” she said, pulling her to her feet. (Snow White was now Marilyn. Carolyn and Marilyn had switched places when they were behind the box.)

  From there, Swamp Thing cast a magic spell that sent Snow White spinning into a rain forest where she met up with the Seven Zorbs. (We had our blow-up palm tree for the forest, and we taped the Disney animal characters on the walls. We also draped assorted rubber snakes, birds, and bugs around the room.) The zorbs came marching in, tooting on their plastic whistles. They wore their pointy ears and the paper cone hats we’d made. Marnie toddled in first as Dopey, then came Margo wearing her red nose and sneezing into a big white handkerchief. (She was Sneezy, of course.) Matt Braddock sneered as Grumpy, and Nicky Pike sucked his finger as Bashful. Laurel Kuhn played Doc and managed to look very scholarly. Norman Hill was Happy (the dwarf we’d had trouble remembering), and his sister Sarah was Sleepy. (The part made for Mallory!)

  While the zorbs were singing, “Heigh Ho!” Suzi changed into her witch’s costume. She presented the polluted apple to Snow White (who was now Carolyn, again). Snow White swooned to the floor. Her plastic wig tumbled off, but Stacey quickly panned to the zorbs coming home from their diamond mines. (In this version, they were putting minerals and jewels back into the earth.)

  “She shows all the signs of pollution poisoning!” cried Laurel as Doc. “We better call Captain Planet!” The zorbs put their plastic rings together and Buddy Barrett leaped into the room.

  “I hear your call, Planeteer Zorbs!” he said. “How can I assist you?”

  “You better do something about her!” said Sarah Hill pointing to the floor.

  “I can see she’s in bad shape,” Buddy said. “Her hair has even fallen off.” As he said that, Carolyn groped on the floor, her eyes still shut tight, and pulled her wig back on. “That’s better,” Buddy commented.

  “Aren’t you supposed to kiss her?” Laurel Kuhn asked.

  Buddy glared at her. “No, Captain Planet never kisses anyone. I’ll take her to my secret laboratory and give her the antidote to this poison. I want you zorbs to go get the wicked queen. Make sure she never pollutes again!”

  A general cry of “Get the queen!” arose among the zorbs. In the next scene, Stacey had to dart around like crazy, trying to keep everyone in the picture as the zorbs ran after the queen, chasing her through the living room.

  “Enough!” Suzi cried. “You zorbs win. I won’t pollute anymore.” She took her fake crown off her head and handed it to Laurel. “I’ll give my crown and all my jewels to help clean up the planet.” Everyone clapped, and then Snow White (now Marilyn) returned with Captain Planet.

  “Snow White and I are going to stop pollution together from now on!” Buddy announced.

  “Captain, honey!” Marilyn cried (which wasn’t in the script) and planted a kiss on Buddy’s cheek.

  Buddy lost no time in wiping it off. “Yuck, Snow White! That’s gross. It’s cheek pollution!”

  “Sorry.” Marilyn giggled shyly.

  Then, as we’d planned, the kids crowded together in a group. “Hi, Dawn!” they shouted. “We miss you!”

  “Cut!” Stacey sang out happily as she took the camcorder from her eye. “Perfect!”

  I couldn’t believe the rest of Dawn’s letter! Guess what her project was? She made a video with the kids she baby-sits for!

  Well, they say great minds think alike. Not only did our great minds think alike, but they thought alike on the same day. Dawn
made her video while we were making Snow White.

  Maybe I should back up and fill you in on a few things before I tell you about Dawn’s video adventure. First of all, the We ♥ Kids Club is the California version of the BSC. When Dawn first joined the BSC here in Stoneybrook, she wrote her friend Sunny in California about the club and Sunny couldn’t resist starting a club of her own.

  Not long after that, the BSC took a trip to California and met the We ♥ Kids Club. Unfortunately, Kristy was appalled by how casually the club is run. They don’t have officers, they are not strict about punctuality, and they don’t even keep a notebook. They do have an appointment book, though, and they use Kid-Kits. And the We ♥ Kids Club has only three members — Sunny, Maggie, and Jill.

  Well, they had only three members. Now they have four. Our Dawn.

  Anyway, Dawn was sitting for three kids she’d known for a long time. The Clune kids — Sally (ten), Jenny (eight), and Jeannette (six). Dawn likes the kids a lot, but privately she calls them the Clones. That’s because they look so much like one another. Each girl has short curly dark hair and big brown eyes.

  When Dawn arrived at their house, the girls were draped across the lawn furniture on the back deck. “Ready to go into the pool?” she asked. The Clunes have a large above-ground pool in their yard.

  “We’ve been in the pool every day,” Jenny complained.

  Dawn tossed her beach towel onto a chair. “We don’t have to go in, then,” she said. “What else would you like to do?”

  “You think of something,” Jeannette told her.

  Dawn tried to think of the things we had done while we were visiting. We’d had a blast — but we’d also had one advantage Dawn didn’t have at that moment. We’d had transportation. Mr. Schafer’s girlfriend, Carol, was incredibly generous with her time and chauffeured us wherever we wanted to go. (Dawn didn’t always appreciate this because she didn’t like Carol at the time, although now things are much better.)

  But thinking about our visit is what gave Dawn her idea. “You know what?” she said to the kids. “My friends haven’t been here in a long time. Maybe we could give them a ‘video visit.’ We could film the neighborhood, schools, and you and some of the other kids around here, and then send the video to my friends so they can see everything.”