Part 4 (1/2)
Fifteen minutes later, everything had re- turned to normal. Buddy was hopping around as if nothing had happened, a s.h.i.+ny Band-Aid on his heel.
After Mrs. Barrett paid me, I apologized again for letting Buddy get hurt.
”Don't be too hard on yourself, Mallory,” she said, as I left the house. ”These things happen.”
Maybe they do, I thought to myself, but not to good baby-sitters.
A good baby-sitter would not have let Buddy go outside without his shoes. That accident would never have happened if I had been paying attention.
Chapter 8.
Jessi came to baby-sit for Claire and Margo, her Kid-Kit under her arm. I had an appointment with the orthodontist, and while he tightened my braces (Ow!) Mom took the rest of the kids shopping for clothes and shoes.
Claire met Jessi with a gleeful hug at the door.
”Boy, are we glad to see you!” Margo said.
Jessi was a little surprised at their greeting since they saw her almost every day. ”Well, I'm really glad to see you guys, too!” she replied with a smile. She set her Kid-Kit on the floor. ”I brought something special for you guys today.”
”Me first!” Claire cried, reaching for the kit. ”Let me see first.” She opened the box and held up a doll. ”Ooooh, Skipper!”
”Why don't we take Skipper out on the front steps?” Jessi suggested. ”It's such a nice day. Then I'll show you what else I brought.”
Jessi had put some picture books of horses in the box, along with several of her favorite animal puppets. At the last minute she had added the flowered crown that she had worn in the ballet Copp&lia.
Jessi had also included a brand-new box of colored chalk, which Margo found immediately. ”Let's play hopscotch!” she said, running for the driveway.
”Me first!” Claire shouted as she followed her sister down the concrete drive.
Margo drew several boxes in blue chalk and then decided to try the pink and green. Claire looked on approvingly. ”A rainbow,” she said.
Margo turned to Jessi and asked, ”Would you play, too, Jessi?”
”Of course/' Jessi replied. ”I love hopscotch.”
They each chose a flat stone from the side of the drive.
”We like playing with you,” Margo declared.
Claire nodded in agreement. ”Much better than mean, old Mallory.”
Jessi looked surprised. ”Why do you call her that?”
Claire tossed her stone and hopped two squares. ”She's not nice.”
”She never lets us in her room anymore,” Margo added, ”and she's always ordering us around.”
Claire crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip. ”She's a big grouch.”
”Well, I'm sure she doesn't mean to upset you,” Jessi said, tossing her own stone and hopping three squares. ”Maybe her teeth hurt her.”
I know Jessi was just trying to be nice and make excuses for me. Let's face it, I had been a big grump with everyone, even with Jessi, my best friend.
”Your sister's always having her braces adjusted, and that can be pretty painful,” Jessi continued, but Margo and Claire didn't look convinced.
”If her teeth hurt,” Margo said, tossing her stone onto a square, ”she should tell us.”
”I don't want her to tell me,” Claire announced as she took her turn. ”I don't want to talk to her.”
”You stepped on the line,” Margo pointed out to her sister.
”Did not!” Claire shot back.
Margo turned to Jessi. ”What do you think?”
”I didn't see it,” Jessi said diplomatically, ”but I'll tell you what. Why don't you take another turn, Claire, and Margo and I will both watch closely.”
This time Claire managed not to step on the line, and she smiled triumphantly at her sister. ”See?”
Even though she tried hard not to win, Jessi did anyway. When Margo suggested they play again, Claire shook her head.
”No. I want a new game,” she declared.
Claire went back to the Kid-Kit and found the puppets, then held up the crown of flowers. ”What's this?”
”That's the crown I wore in Coppelia,” Jessi explained. She performed an arabesque, her leg suspended in the air behind her, and then stepped into a curtsy.
”Ballet!” Claire cried, putting the crown on her head. ”Let's make a ballet!”
Margo, who loves playing dress up, took up the cry. ”A ballet! And we can wear costumes and everything.”
My family keeps a trunk full of old clothes in the rec room, just for that purpose. Before Jessi knew what was happening, Margo and Claire had taken her by the hands and pulled her inside the house.
”The puppets can be in the show, too!” On one hand, Margo put the Fozzie Bear puppet that was missing one eye, and on the other, she put the Kermit the frog puppet.
Claire had opened the trunk. She held up some faded chiffon dresses that had belonged to our grandmother. ”Ballet dresses.”
Jessi grinned. ”They're beautiful. But you should know that in a ballet the dresses are called tutus.”
”I thought those were short and made of that scratchy stuff,” Margo said.
”Netting?” Jessi laughed. ”Yes, they are, but a tutu can be long or short.”
”Toot toot!” Claire danced around the room in a long pink satin gown. Or I should say, tried to dance. The dress was yards too big, and she tripped on the material with every step.