Mary Anne and the Playground Fight

  I must admit, Dawn’s room did look good. The sun shone through the small round window near the ceiling. Her bed was covered with a soft white quilt and piled high with blue and green pillows — as well as presents from Sharon, Dad, and me. A light rug partially covered the hardwood floor. Posters of tropical fish and sunny beaches hung on the walls. A bulletin board was studded with Dawn’s collection of ecology buttons that declared “Save the Whales,” “Save the Beaches,” “Recycle.” (Dawn is passionate about conserving the environment.)

  “I just love this room,” Stacey said as she looked around. “It’s so cool the secret passage from the barn leads right here.”

  “Girls, we’re almost ready to leave,” Dad called from downstairs.

  “Coming!” I shouted back.

  Stacey, Claudia, and I were going to the airport to pick up Dawn and Jeff. Actually everyone in the BSC had wanted to come but Kristy, Jessi, and Mallory were baby-sitting, and Abby had a soccer game. So it was just going to be the three of us, plus Sharon and Dad, of course. Luckily, Dad’s new van was big enough for all of us.

  “I can’t believe we’re going to be seeing Dawn in less than two hours,” Stacey said.

  “I can’t either,” I admitted. I was so excited that I shivered a little just thinking about it. It seemed like forever since I’d last seen Dawn.

  When Dawn first told me she was moving back to California for good, I was hurt and angry. I could not believe she would want to live so far away from me. Luckily, we had a good talk before she left, and I realized she had made the choice that was right for her. Since she’s been gone, we’ve made an effort to write each other regularly. I know all about Dawn’s life, and she knows all about mine. Even though we’ve lost the closeness that comes with living together, our friendship has adapted to the move. Dawn once told me that the friendships that survive long distances are sometimes the truest friendships, because the friends care enough to make the effort to keep in touch. And we certainly do.

  “Mary Anne, are you almost ready?” Dad called again.

  “Yeah!” I shouted back as we all headed out of Dawn’s room.

  “What does Dawn think about going to Europe this summer?” Stacey asked me as we ran downstairs.

  “I haven’t told her yet,” I confessed.

  “You haven’t?” Claudia was amazed. “Don’t you phone each other all the time?”

  “At least once a week,” I answered. “And we write a lot. But we’ve both been really busy with finals. And lately we’ve mostly just talked about Gracie. Dawn’s kind of upset that she has to leave Gracie so soon after she was born.”

  “Yeah,” said Stacey. “I’d feel the same way.”

  “Hello, girls,” Sharon said when we walked in the kitchen. Dad was fishing his car keys out of his pocket. Sharon was opening the door to the refrigerator.

  “Can you think of something else we should pick up for Dawn and Jeff? I think I have all their favorite foods,” Sharon said.

  I laughed. Sharon had gone food shopping after dinner the night before and had come home with a large supply of tofu, tahini, tabbouleh, pita bread, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

  “Dawn food,” Claudia muttered, looking suspiciously into the refrigerator with me. “I think you might have missed the apple-mango-guava-papaya juice.”

  “We might be able to stop on the way home,” Dad said. “But right now, let’s go. We don’t want to be late and keep Dawn and Jeff waiting.”

  “No chance of that,” Sharon said, laughing. “We’re almost two hours early.” But she locked her arm in Dad’s and walked out to the van, beaming. Sharon looks so happy whenever Dawn and Jeff come to visit. I think Dad is happy too, but he doesn’t show his feelings as much.

  “Next stop, the airport,” Dad announced after we had piled into the van.

  Dawn’s plane turned out to be ten minutes early. We arrived even earlier, but we managed to find plenty to do. I was the first one to spot Dawn and Jeff walking through the gate.

  “Dawn!” I shouted, waving wildly. (I don’t usually behave that way in public places.)

  “Dawn!” Stacey and Claudia shrieked. We almost knocked over some passengers in our mad rush to greet her.

  “It’s so great to see you!” Dawn shouted, hugging us, then Sharon.

  “Oh, Mom,” she said, on the verge of tears. Sharon was already crying as she embraced Dawn, then Jeff, then both of them.

  “Jeff, I believe you’ve grown some more,” Sharon announced, stepping back to get a good look.

  “You always say that.” Jeff groaned, turning red. But he looked pleased.

  “I’m starving,” Dawn announced as we waited at the baggage claim for her luggage.

  “Me too,” Jeff chimed in. “We only got these disgusting sandwiches and cookies on the plane for lunch.”

  “Well, first stop before home will be Cabbages and Kings,” Dad said.

  “Great!” Dawn beamed. Cabbages and Kings is her favorite restaurant in Stoneybrook, because it serves only natural foods: whole-grain breads, natural fruit juices, and wonderful tofu dishes (according to Dawn).

  Needless to say, Cabbages and Kings is not Claudia’s idea of a great restaurant. But she was so happy to see Dawn that she didn’t even make a face when Dawn ordered the daily special: eggplant casserole.

  The rest of us hid our grins. “I’ll have that too,” I told the waitress.

  After our food came, Dawn and Jeff passed around the latest pictures of Gracie, who was only a couple of weeks old. After we were through oohing and ahhing, I turned to Dawn.

  “We have something to tell you,” I said, looking at Claudia and Stacey.

  “Yes, we have a lot to tell you,” Stacey said.

  “What?” Dawn asked. Sharon, Dad, and Jeff looked at us with raised eyebrows.

  “Well, to begin with,” I said, “there are these jobs open for playground counselors.” (Dad and Sharon already knew all about the playground jobs since I had been talking of little else at home.)

  “You mean we would be baby-sitting outside all summer?” Dawn sounded thrilled. (She’s an outdoors freak too.)

  “Correct,” I said.

  “Are there openings for campers?” asked Jeff. “Are JAB going?” (JAB is Jeff’s nickname for the Pike triplets — Jordan, Adam, and Byron — his best friends in Stoneybrook.)

  “You know, I didn’t even think to ask,” I said. “But they might be. Mallory wants to be a playground counselor.”

  “Jeff, what a good idea,” Sharon said. “Playground camp would be perfect for you.”

  “If JAB go too,” Jeff insisted. While he talked some more with his mother, I filled Dawn in on the playground jobs. “The only drawback,” I explained, “is that there’s going to be a lot of competition for these jobs.”

  “I can see why,” Dawn said. “They sound perfect. And I would love to get one. I haven’t been doing too much baby-sitting lately. Even with Gracie. Carol and Mrs. Bruen have been doing most of the baby work.”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about getting a playground job,” Stacey assured us. “You know, Mrs. Simon asked the BSC members to apply. That gives us an edge.”

  “I hope,” said Dawn. (I decided this would not be the time to point out that now nine of us were applying for only six openings.)

  “But wait — there’s more exciting news,” Stacey said, beaming. “More exciting than the playground jobs, in my opinion.”

  “Tell me,” Dawn said, putting down her fork.

  “Well …” Stacey paused dramatically, her eyes sparkling. “There’s another school trip.”

  “Oh?” was all Dawn said.

  “To London, isn’t that right, mates?” Stacey spoke in a fake English accent.

  “And Par-eee,” Claudia answered in an equally fake French accent.

  I laughed. Then Claudia, Stacey, and I started talking about the trip and Victoria and how we might be able to visit Victoria in her manor house.

  It
took us awhile to realize that Dawn wasn’t saying anything. In fact, the more we talked about Europe, the more subdued she became. She had even stopped eating. To be honest, Sharon and Jeff didn’t look too happy either.

  “Is anything the matter?” I finally asked.

  “Well,” Dawn began, choosing her words carefully, “I was hoping to stay in Stoneybrook for the whole summer.”

  “I was hoping you would too,” Sharon said, looking relieved.

  Dawn sighed. “This is my first trip to Connecticut since Christmas. Since I’m not here that much anymore, it doesn’t feel right to leave, even for only nine or ten days.”

  I nodded. I certainly understood. I had been looking forward to spending a lot of time with Dawn too.

  I looked at Stacey and Claudia. Stacey could not hide her disappointment. Claudia was moving her eggplant from one side of the plate to the other. She didn’t look as upset as Stacey did. In fact, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. The only thing that was obvious was that she hated eggplant.

  I sighed. Now that Dawn wasn’t going to Europe, I wasn’t sure what I should do.

  “Ta-da!” Mallory and Jessi sang together. Between them, they carried a tray filled with carrot sticks, slices of pita bread, and a bowl of hummus into our Monday BSC meeting. Hummus is made from chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, and tahini. And how do I know that? By watching Dawn make it countless times in our kitchen. She’d even made a batch this weekend.

  “What a way to welcome Dawn back,” Kristy said.

  “Yeah, thanks, guys,” Dawn said. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor between Abby and Shannon. The entire club had turned out for Dawn’s “welcome home” meeting.

  Claudia disappeared under her bed and emerged with a cellophane bag of Cheez Doodles. “Food we can eat,” she announced as she passed the bag to Mallory.

  Mallory laughed.

  “I prefer Dawn’s food,” Abby announced as she dipped a carrot stick in the hummus.

  “See,” said Dawn, waving a piece of pita bread in the air. “The rest of you just don’t know what you’re missing.”

  “I do,” said Claudia. “And I’ll miss it, thank you.”

  “I guess no more eggplant casseroles for you,” Stacey remarked.

  “Right,” Claudia answered.

  “Oh, guys, you didn’t have to,” Dawn protested, as we began showering her with small gifts: a tie-dyed T-shirt from Claudia; dangly silver earrings from Stacey, who bought them in New York; a baseball cap from Kristy; a bottle of mango-kiwi juice from Logan; and a book of British ghost stories from Abby and Shannon.

  “Oooh, I just love ghost stories,” Dawn said as she opened her last present.

  “And the best things about these,” said Abby, “is you can read them on location.”

  Dawn and I exchanged glances. I knew that Dawn wanted to tell everyone she wasn’t going to Europe. But just then, Kristy called the meeting to order.

  “The first order of business,” Kristy was saying, “is money.”

  “Money?” Dawn looked blank.

  “Yes, money,” Kristy said. “You know, the stuff we’re going to need to get us to Europe.”

  Abby nodded. “My mom said I can go if I raise half my plane fare.”

  “Mine said the same thing,” Stacey said. “Same deal as when we went to Hawaii.”

  “How many of us are going to need to raise half the plane fare?” asked Kristy.

  “Plus spending money,” Stacey added.

  I raised my hand. (I knew that if I went to Europe — and I still hadn’t decided for sure whether I wanted to go — Dad would ask me to pay half. That’s what he had insisted on for Hawaii.) Stacey, Abby, Kristy, Claudia, Jessi, and Logan had also raised their hands.

  “I’m still trying to talk my parents into letting me go,” said Mallory. (Mallory had not been able to go to Hawaii because the trip had cost too much.)

  “At least this trip isn’t as expensive,” Jessi pointed out. “Oh, Mal, I hope you can go.”

  “Me too,” Mallory said.

  “What about you, Dawn?” Kristy asked.

  “I’m not going,” Dawn answered flatly.

  “You’re not going?” Kristy said. She did not look pleased.

  “I can’t go. I don’t feel it’s right to leave Stoneybrook when I’m not here very often anyway.”

  “Okay.” Kristy sighed, still looking miffed. “That means, with the rest of us going, except maybe Mallory, we’re going to need —”

  “One thousand four hundred dollars,” Stacey chimed in. “And that’s not including spending money.”

  “Well, it’s the summer,” Abby pointed out. “We can baby-sit like crazy.”

  “We’re going to need more than baby-sitting money,” Stacey interjected.

  “We could always wash cars and mow lawns like we did for Hawaii,” Abby suggested.

  “Seriously, guys,” Kristy said. “We are going to have to do chores like that again. But as I recall, we did not make enough money mowing lawns.”

  “No, we didn’t,” Stacey agreed. “And the pay wasn’t necessarily worth the time and effort we spent doing it.”

  “Does anyone have any other suggestions?” Kristy was getting impatient with us.

  “What about a bake sale?” Jessi suggested.

  Kristy did not look thrilled. She hates to cook even more than I do.

  “Well, to be honest,” said Dawn, “Mary Anne and I tried to have a food sale last time. We hardly earned anything.”

  “Were you selling food like that?” Claudia asked, pointing to Dawn’s tray.

  “Well, yes,” Dawn admitted.

  Claudia shook her head.

  “You know,” I began, “Dawn and I did make a lot of money when we had a yard sale.”

  “That’s right,” Dawn said. “We collected all this junk around our house — old dolls and stuffed animals and books. Stuff I didn’t think anyone would want. But it sold like crazy.”

  The room was quiet. I looked at Kristy. I could tell she was thinking.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Kristy said slowly.

  “A junk sale?” Abby asked.

  “No, not a junk sale exactly,” Kristy answered. “But a sale with a theme. In the summer, people always seem to be cleaning out their houses. I think many of our clients’ families would be happy to donate things they’re not using anymore.”

  “Yeah,” Shannon said. “It saves them a trip to the Salvation Army.”

  “But we need a theme,” Kristy insisted.

  I thought about Victoria and all the stuffed animals she hardly ever played with anymore because she thought they were for babies. Now that I thought about it, I still had some stuffed animals I didn’t want anymore.

  “What about a stuffed animal sale?” I suggested. “We could sell other things too, but that could be our theme.”

  “Yesss!” Kristy yelled, giving me the thumbs-up sign. “I like it.”

  “I know lots of kids who would be interested in coming if that’s how we advertised it,” Mallory added.

  “I know my parents want to get rid of some of my old stuffed animals,” Jessi said. “They say I have an oversupply.”

  “Everyone does,” Dawn commented, laughing.

  “Well, I’m glad that’s settled,” Kristy said. “We can talk more about this later, but at least we have a good idea to work with.” (To Kristy, ideas are everything.)

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” Dawn announced, just as the phone rang.

  “All that mango juice,” said Claudia as she picked up the phone. “Oh, hello, Mrs. Wilder. I’ll see who’s free, and I’ll call you right back.

  “Mrs. Wilder needs a sitter for Rosie this Wednesday from ten in the morning to one-thirty in the afternoon,” Claudia announced.

  I checked the appointment book. I was baby-sitting for Victoria. Mal and Jessi also had baby-sitting commitments. Shannon had a dress rehearsal. Abby and Logan were busy with soccer, since the summer
league had officially begun. And Claudia had a pottery lesson. “Kristy, Dawn, and Stacey are the only ones free,” I said.

  “I’ll take it,” Stacey volunteered.

  I carefully wrote her name in the appointment book while Claudia called Mrs. Wilder back.

  When I looked up, I noticed Kristy staring at me. “Mary Anne,” she began, “I was just thinking, if Dawn is definitely not going to Europe, does that mean you’re going to stay behind too?”

  Kristy’s question caught me by surprise. I could feel myself blushing, and I hated that. My friends were all looking at me. Dawn was still in the bathroom. “Uh,” I said, “I haven’t decided yet.”

  Kristy did not look pleased. I knew that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear.

  “You know,” said Logan, “I, uh, haven’t decided for sure if I’m going to go either.”

  “You guys!” Abby protested.

  Kristy was looking more and more huffy. The others seemed downright disappointed. “Well, I hope you decide soon,” Kristy said crossly. “It’ll affect how much money we have to raise.”

  “Speaking of money,” Abby added, “don’t forget the playground jobs. We’ll be making more on the playground than we normally do when we baby-sit.”

  “If we all get jobs,” Jessi reminded us, as Dawn walked into the room and sat next to her.

  “Applications are due in two days,” I pointed out.

  Kristy nodded grimly.

  Everyone was suddenly very quiet. We had even stopped eating. Usually when we apply for something, we all help each other. But now no one was offering up any suggestions. We’d suddenly become each other’s competition. (I hate that word, and I hated the feeling in the room. I wished someone would say something.)

  “I don’t know if the people going to Europe will be able to be counselors,” Dawn said delicately. “Is Mrs. Simon going to let you miss a week of work?”

  “I talked with Mrs. Simon,” Kristy reported huffily. “She said the time off won’t automatically disqualify us.”

  “Whew.” Abby sighed loudly.

  “But,” Kristy continued, “it will be taken into account when the final decisions are made.”

  “Oh.” Abby and Stacey groaned together.