Stacey and the Missing Ring

  “It’s not,” agreed Mary Anne. “But they are doing it. And we’ve got to figure out how to deal with it.”

  “Right. Before our reputation is completely trashed,” said Dawn. “This club could go out of business if we don’t do something.”

  “But what can we do?” asked Claud. “I mean, they’re adults, and we’re just kids. We can’t go around telling everybody that the Gardellas are liars.”

  “No,” said Kristy. “But they’re not exactly liars, anyway. They really think Stacey took that ring.”

  “And they think our clients have a right to know,” said Mal. “What a mess.”

  “Well,” I said, realizing that it was now or never. I cleared my throat. “I have an idea,” I paused.

  “Well, go on!” said Kristy. “We need all the ideas we can get.”

  “I was thinking,” I said. “I know something has to be done, and I figure I’m the one to do it. I hope my plan will save the club — and maybe it will also help me prove I’m not an awful person and a thief.”

  “We know you’re not, Stacey,” said Mary Anne.

  “Well, most of us do, anyway,” I said. “I know I shouldn’t feel like I have to prove myself to my friends….” I could feel Claudia looking at the back of my head. I hoped she felt bad about what she had done.

  “So what’s your plan?” asked Kristy.

  I took a deep breath. “I thought I would offer to baby-sit for free for the Gardellas, until the price of the ring is paid off.”

  Everybody was quiet for a moment. Then Jessi spoke up. “Wow,” she said, quietly. “But you didn’t take the ring.”

  “I know,” I said. “And I know I shouldn’t have to pay them back for it. I don’t even know what they’ll think when I tell them my plan. Will they think I’m proving I’m innocent — or just admitting I’m guilty?”

  “Whatever they think, I think it’s a good plan,” said Kristy. “It’ll clean up your record with them, and then the club can start fresh. Anyway, it’s the best idea we’ve heard yet. I think you should go for it.”

  Everybody else seemed to agree, too, so I decided to call Mrs. Gardella up right away. I dialed her number and when she answered I told her who it was. She sounded a little surprised.

  “Why, Stacey,” she said. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”

  “I know,” I said. “But I was hoping I could clear things up between us.” Mrs. Gardella didn’t say anything, so I plunged ahead. “I was wondering if you would let me baby-sit for free for you until I’ve paid off whatever the ring cost.”

  She was quiet for a moment, which made me nervous. Then she said, “Well, that’s very generous of you, considering that you insist that you didn’t take the ring.”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “But somehow I feel responsible for the fact that it’s missing. Anyway, maybe if you let me have another chance to sit for you you’ll learn to trust me again.”

  There was another long pause on the other end of the line. I raised my eyebrows at Kristy while I waited for Mrs. Gardella to make up her mind. Finally, she said, “I guess it’s only fair to give you a chance to make things right. But I’m afraid I just don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone in the house. I’ll agree to your offer, but only if someone else from your club comes with you, at least the first time.”

  “Uh, well, okay. How about the club president, Kristy Thomas?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at Kristy again.

  “That would be fine,” said Mrs. Gardella. “Would you like to start this Friday?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Let me check with Kristy.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered to Kristy. “She says it’s okay but she doesn’t want me to come alone. Would you come with me? This Friday?”

  Kristy nodded. “Seems kind of weird to me,” she said. “But if it will save the club, sure, I’ll do it.”

  I took my hand off the mouthpiece. “That’s fine,” I said to Mrs. Gardella. “What time would you like us to be there?”

  She asked us to come at eight-thirty. She still sounded a little hesitant, but I guess she realized how badly I wanted the chance to prove myself.

  I hung up once we’d agreed on the details, and gave a big sigh. “Wow,” I said. “This is really getting complicated.”

  “Yeah,” said Mallory. “And do you realize that we still don’t know what really did happen to the ring?”

  I smiled at her. I was glad she trusted me.

  “Do you think it really could have been taken by the burglar?” asked Jessi, her eyes round. So she believed me, too. Not everybody was a traitor, like my supposed best friend.

  We spent the rest of the meeting trying to figure out what could have happened to the ring. Mary Anne wondered if the baby might have swallowed it. Dawn thought Mrs. Gardella might have dropped it down the drain without noticing. Jessi seemed convinced that it was the burglar. And Kristy figured that it had just been misplaced and the Gardellas hadn’t looked very hard for it.

  The only person who didn’t offer a theory was Claud. But I knew what she thought, and I was just as glad she didn’t speak up.

  The meeting passed quickly — so fast, in fact, that I was surprised when I heard Kristy say, “Okay, that’s it for today!”

  The phone hadn’t rung once. We all realized it at the same moment.

  “Oh well,” said Dawn. “There is a bright side to all of this. At least if we’re not going on jobs, we don’t have to write in the club notebook!”

  Kristy threw a pillow at her, but the rest of us cracked up. It was nice to know we could still find something to laugh at.

  On Friday, Kristy came to my house for supper after our club meeting. Then my mom drove us to the Gardellas’. I felt a little down, because (if my plan worked) I’d be sitting for free for a long, long time. Even so, I was determined to do my best, because it was the only solution I could see to my — and the club’s — problem.

  As we stood on the Gardellas’ front porch, ringing the bell, I looked over at Kristy. I was suddenly really, really happy that she was there with me. “Thanks,” I said, hoping she’d know what I meant.

  “No problem,” she answered. “I just hope I don’t have to come with you every time!” We laughed.

  Mrs. Gardella answered the door, and I was relieved to see that she was acting normal. Normal for Mrs. Gardella, that is. After I’d introduced Kristy to her, she gave us the same house tour that she’d given me the first time I’d been there. She kept going on about how Bird had had an upset stomach lately, and explaining that we were to feed him only a little bit of food at a time. Mouse was feeling fine, but he hadn’t had much attention that day, so she wanted us to be sure to play with him once Tara was asleep.

  “And Tara here,” she said, boosting the baby up to her shoulder, “will need a bottle soon, and then she’ll be ready for bed.”

  We nodded.

  “I hope this works out for us, Stacey,” Mrs. Gardella said, looking at me. “Even when our nanny comes back, it would be nice to have a back-up sitter. We’d like to be able to trust you to be that person.”

  At first I didn’t know what to say. “I hope so, too,” I said finally.

  As soon as the door closed behind Mr. and Mrs. Gardella, Kristy looked at me in amazement. “Can you believe them?” she asked. “They treat their animals as if they were people!”

  “I know. They’re something else. But isn’t Tara cute?”

  Kristy leaned toward Tara, who was sitting on the couch between us. “You are cute,” she said, letting Tara grab onto her finger. “You are about the cutest baby I’ve ever seen. And you can’t help it that your parents are lunatics.”

  “Kristy!” I said. I couldn’t believe she said that.

  “What?” Kristy replied. “Tara can’t understand a word I’m saying. And I was only kidding, anyway. But speaking of lunatics, did you hear that report on the radio last night? The police still haven’t caught the burglar.”

  “I know,” I
said. “That makes me nervous. Let’s make sure all the doors are locked.” I’d never thought much of Jessi’s theory that the burglar was the one who took Mrs. Gardella’s ring, but now the idea sent a shiver down my spine. Suppose he had been in the house with me that night?

  Kristy checked the front door. “It’s locked,” she said. “And I’ll put the chain on, too — just in case.”

  I made sure the windows were locked. Then we checked the back door and the basement door. “Do you think we should look around upstairs?” I asked. “I mean, to make sure the burglar isn’t under a bed or something?”

  “Oh, Stacey,” said Kristy. “Don’t be silly. Burglars don’t hide under beds.” Then she glanced at me. I must have looked scared. “Okay,” she said. “If it’ll make you feel better.”

  We trooped upstairs (I was carrying Tara) and checked inside each closet and under every bed, including Tara’s crib. Ordinarily, neither of us would ever go around looking in our clients’ closets. We never snoop. But these were not normal circumstances. Mouse and Bird followed us from room to room, sniffing each place as if they were also checking for burglars.

  “Okay?” Kristy asked. “I think we’re the only people in the house, don’t you?”

  “Yup,” I said. “Nobody here but us chickens.” That’s from an old joke my dad taught me when I was little — about a thief in a hen coop who says that line when the farmer yells, “Who’s in there?”

  Kristy laughed. I guess she’d heard the joke from Watson. Then she said, “Can I give Tara her bottle? I haven’t taken care of a baby in a while, and I miss it.”

  “Sure,” I answered. We headed for the kitchen and warmed up the bottle. When it was ready, Kristy sat on the couch with Tara, feeding her. I watched quietly. Tara’s eyelids were drooping, and I knew that if we didn’t startle her she’d fall asleep easily.

  Sure enough, by the time the bottle was half empty, Tara was practically asleep. Kristy lifted her to her shoulder and burped her, then carried her carefully upstairs. I followed — and Mouse and Bird followed me. The minute Tara was in her crib, she started to breathe deeply.

  “Out like a light,” said Kristy. “What an easy baby to sit for!”

  “She’s easy,” I said. “But these guys are another story.” I pointed at Mouse and Bird, who were looking at us hopefully. “I guess they know it’s their dinnertime,” I said.

  Kristy turned out the light in Tara’s room and we went downstairs. Preparing dinner for the animals took longer than getting Tara’s bottle warmed, but finally everything was ready. I put out just a little bit for Bird, but he ate it right up so I gave him seconds. Mouse scarfed down his dinner before I could even turn around.

  After the animals had eaten, we all went into the living room. Bird curled up underneath the coffee table (one of his favorite spots, according to Mrs. Gardella), but Mouse seemed to want to play. He batted at our ankles when we tried to talk, demanding attention. There were some cat toys in a small basket next to the couch, and I pulled one out.

  “A mouse for a Mouse,” I said, throwing it down near him. He jumped on the little stuffed mouse immediately, grabbing it in his mouth and shaking it back and forth.

  “What’s he doing?” I asked.

  “Um, he’s killing it,” said Kristy. “If it were a real mouse, that would break its neck. I saw Boo-Boo do it once.”

  “Oh, ew!” I said. “That’s disgusting.” Just then, Mouse took the toy in his mouth, got up, and walked out of the room. A couple of minutes later, just as Kristy and I were starting to talk about this new substitute teacher we both have, he came back in. Without the toy.

  “Did you lose it?” I asked. “Well, here’s another.” I reached into the basket and threw him a tiny little pillow that must have been full of catnip. He went crazy! He rolled all over it, and then batted it around the room. His eyes were shining so that he looked like a little tiger. Kristy thought it was really funny, but I was worried. What if he got sick from the catnip? The Gardellas would never forgive me.

  I was about to take the toy away from Mouse when he got up, took the pillow in his mouth, and walked out of the room. And then, once again, he returned without it.

  We kept giving him toys: little balls with bells inside them, a miniature cat with a long tail for him to chase, and another stuffed mouse. He played with them all, but then he carried each one out of the room and came back without it.

  “What does he do with all of them?” asked Kristy.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But I’m going to find out.” When he came back the next time, I gave him a little stuffed bird. Sure enough, after he’d played with it for a while, he picked it up in his mouth and walked off. I got up and followed him, hoping he wouldn’t notice. He didn’t even look over his shoulder.

  Mouse headed for a desk in the Gardellas’ library. He stopped in front of it, put the bird down on the rug, and then gently batted it with his paw until it rolled under the desk.

  “Aha!” I said. “So this is your hiding place.” I got down on my hands and knees to see what was under there. I saw the bird, the two mice, some foil balls, the ball with the bells, and the miniature cat.

  “I’ll get those for you,” I said to Mouse. “We’re almost out of toys, anyway. We need these back.” I rummaged around in a closet until I found a yardstick. Then I bent down again and used it to sweep the toys out from under the desk.

  “There you go,” I said. (I couldn’t believe I was talking to this cat like he was a person. It must have been the Gardellas’ influence.) But Mouse was nowhere to be seen. “Mouse,” I called. “Where are you?”

  “He’s in here,” called Kristy from the living room. “He got tired of waiting for you, so he found some other toys on his own.”

  I came in to look. Mouse had located a stash of plastic twist-ties, the kind used to tie up plastic bags, and he seemed to be in heaven. He would toss one of them in the air, and then he’d go crazy chasing it around when it landed.

  Then he started to pick those up and carry them away. Only this time he wasn’t going to the library. This time he was headed for the TV room. I was curious, so I followed him on his next trip.

  Mouse headed for the corner of the rug that was under the TV. He put down the twist-tie and batted it underneath the rug where there was a little wrinkle. “You crazy cat,” I said. “You’ve got hiding places all over this house, don’t you?”

  I walked over and lifted up the rug. Sure enough, a whole pile of twist-ties was there, plus a bunch of paper clips, plus … a diamond ring! I gasped and put my hand over my mouth. “Oh, my lord,” I said to myself. Then I yelled for Kristy.

  She couldn’t believe it. “The ring was here all along!” she said. “This is incredible.”

  “What should we do?” I asked.

  “Let’s leave everything just as it is,” she said. “That way we can show it to the Gardellas when they come home.”

  I have to admit that I felt pretty smug as I led Mr. and Mrs. Gardella into the TV room later that night. And when I pulled back the rug, and heard Mrs. Gardella gasp, I felt even better. Now she knew I wasn’t a thief.

  “Oh, Stacey,” she said. “I am so sorry. I can’t believe I didn’t think to check Mouse’s hiding places. You wouldn’t believe how many little things we’ve lost this way. But this is a new hiding place. I didn’t even know about it.”

  I explained how I’d followed Mouse around to see what he was doing.

  “That was smart,” said Mrs. Gardella. “I really don’t know how to apologize to you. I feel terrible. First thing in the morning I’ll call the Prezziosos and tell them they were right to stand up for you.”

  “Oh, thanks,” I said. “Um, do you think you could call everyone else, too?”

  “Everybody else?” she repeated. “We didn’t tell anyone else. I’ve been so busy, with Bird sick and all.”

  I was surprised. Maybe it had just been a coincidence that we’d received so few job calls lately.


  “Well, anyway, I’m glad you have your ring back,” I said.

  Mr. Gardella drove me and Kristy home. And when he paid us, I noticed that he gave us about double what we should have earned. I guess he felt as bad as his wife did.

  “Okay, everybody,” I said. “Cough it up!” I passed around the manila envelope. It was dues day again. The Baby-sitters Club was back to business as usual.

  I smiled at Claudia as she emptied out her penny jar and started to count. “Down to the last few cents, huh?” I asked. “Don’t worry. You’ll be rich again soon.”

  Claudia smiled back. “I can’t believe we already have five jobs lined up for this week. Clients hardly ever call my number except during club meetings, but this week the phone has been ringing off the hook.” She shook her head over the pile of pennies she’d made. “Now I’ve lost count,” she said, starting over.

  Boy, did it feel good to be friends with Claud again. We’d made up over the weekend. In fact, she had called me, planning to apologize, while I was still at the Gardellas’. So she had realized she was wrong even before I’d been proven innocent. That made me feel terrific. Claudia and I had spent Saturday at the mall, just window-shopping, since neither of us had any money. And Sunday was rainy, so we spent the day in her room, trying out new hairstyles.

  “So what did Mrs. Perkins say when she called?” asked Kristy. Claudia had already told us about the calls she’d gotten, but we needed to hear the details.

  “She said they had been on vacation, and she and her husband had really enjoyed spending time with the girls, but now they were back and she was ready to line up some sitters again,” said Claudia. The Perkinses have two little girls — Gabbie and Myriah — and a baby named Laura.

  “And what did Dr. Johanssen say?” asked Mary Anne.

  Claudia laughed. “I already told you this,” she said, “but okay. Charlotte had another strep throat and she didn’t want to expose us. But Charlotte’s fine now. And Stacey, you’ve got a job with her on Wednesday.”

  “Great!” I said. Charlotte’s one of my favorite kids to sit for. She’s almost like a little sister to me.