Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin Page A

members of the Baby-sitters Club should keep a notebook. Each time one of us finished a job, she should write it up in thenotebook and the others should read about it. That way, we could learn about each other’s experiences. With a little luck, we wouldn’t make any mistake more than once. For instance, no more dog-sitting.
    I ran home, eager to start the notebook.
    My first Baby-sitters Club job was over.

Thurday, September 25th
    Kristy says we have to keep a record of every babysiting job we do in this book. My first job through the Baby-sitters Club was last Saturday. I was sitting for Jamie Newton only it wasn’t just for Jamie it was for Jamie ad his three cusins, Four kids altogether! Mrs. Newton didn’t tell me that over the phone. Anyway, the kids were Jamie plus Rosie who was three, Brenda who was five and Rob who was eight. And boy were they wild!
    Claudia didn’t have an easy time of it at the Newtons’, that was for sure. She called me on Sunday to tell me all about it. I was almost gladI hadn’t gotten the job. What happened was that Mrs. Newton’s sister, Mrs. Feldman, and her husband and their three kids were visiting, and the adults had gotten invitations to a show at an art gallery or something, so Mrs. Newton needed a baby-sitter for Jamie and his cousins. But somehow she forgot to mention that to Claudia, which wasn’t at all like Mrs. Newton. It must have been because she’s pregnant and thinking about the baby. Ordinarily, Mrs. Newton is honest and thoughtful. She always calls her baby-sitters if there are any changes in plans. Once she even called when Jamie had come down with a cold to ask whether I still wanted to come since I would risk catching it from him.
    But things must have been slipping Mrs. Newton’s mind, because when Claudia showed up that Saturday, four children were waiting for her. And there was a whole bunch of problems. Jamie and Rosie apparently didn’t like each other, Brenda was cranky
(very
cranky) because she was getting over the chicken pox, and Rob hated girls, which included Rosie, Brenda, Jamie’s mother, his own mother, and girl baby-sitters.
    When Claudia stepped into the living room, Rob was sulking on one end of the couch, muttering things like, “Stupid girls,” and, “Why do wehave to have a dumb
girl
baby-sit for us?” Brenda was crying and clutching Mrs. Feldman around the legs, which made it hard for both of them to get around, and Rosie and Jamie were fighting.
    Rosie was trying to yank something out of Jamie’s hand.
    â€œThat’s mine!” Jamie yelled indignantly.
    â€œIt is not. It’s mine!” Rosie made off with her prize and charged up the stairs.
    Jamie ran after her. “It is not! It’s mine!”
    â€œMine!”
    â€œMine!!”
shouted Jamie at the top of his lungs. (Claudia said the house was practically shaking.) “Girls don’t play with trucks. That’s my moving van! Give it!”
    â€œNonononononono! “
    Since the adults hadn’t left yet, Claudia wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to break up the fight or let one of the parents do it. Just as she was about to dash up the stairs, Mrs. Feldman managed to unwrap Brenda from around her legs and chase after Jamie and Rosie. She took each one by the hand and walked them downstairs, explaining patiently, “Jamie, sometimes girls
do
play with trucks. Rosie and Brenda do. But, Rosie, you don’t have a moving van like this one. You must have gotten confused. That belongs to Jamie—”
    â€œSee,”
Jamie said, and stuck out his tongue. Rosie stuck hers out, too.
    â€œâ€”so we’ll get your dump truck out of the goody bag,” continued Mrs. Feldman. “You brought three trucks with you, remember? Now maybe you and Jamie can play together nicely.”
    Jamie and Rosie looked at each other suspiciously.
    Brenda burst into tears again and grabbed hold of