| |
Club Meeting
THURSDAY EVENING FINALLY arrived. Cassie and Emily took the family phone into their room.
“I hope the battery doesn’t die while we’re using it,” Cassie commented, hands on her hips. She surveyed everything they’d set up for their first Babysitters Club meeting. “People are probably going to be calling all evening.”
“You girls have everything you need?” her mom asked, poking her head in the room.
“Yep,” Cassie and Emily chorused.
Cassie ticked the items off on her fingers. “We’ve got the phone. The appointment book. A pencil, of course. It’s almost time!”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Emily bolted from the room, and Cassie ran after her.
“Hello!” a man’s voice boomed from the doorway.
“Hey, Steve!” Mr. Jones said enthusiastically, grabbing his arm and pumping it. “So you’re Danelle’s father!” He looked at Cassie. “I work with him, Cassie.”
“Wow,” Cassie said. “That’s cool.” She grabbed Danelle’s arm and hauled her into her room.
Danelle giggled. “Your dad’s funny.”
“Yeah,” Cassie agreed.
Danelle took off her sweater and sat down on the bed. She looked around Cassie and Emily’s room. “I like your decorations.”
Cassie glanced around, too, wondering what Danelle liked. There was a poster of Dalmatians on the wall and a collection of American Girl dolls on the bed frame. But that was it. Maybe she liked the wallpaper? “Thanks.” Emily nudged her, and she added, “This is my sister, Emily.”
“Hi,” Danelle said. “I’ve seen you around. Is Riley coming?”
“Um. . . .” Cassie checked her watch. Just a little after seven. “She said she was.” She stared at the phone. “I could call her, I guess, but what if someone tries to call while I am?”
“You just click over to the other call,” Danelle said. “You know how to do that, right?”
Actually, no. Cassie hardly ever used the phone. “Oh, right. I can do that.” She grabbed her address book from under the bed, glad she’d written in Riley’s phone number. She dialed the number.
“Hello?” Margaret’s voice answered.
“Hi, this is Cassie. Is Riley there?”
“Hi, Cassie. Sure, hang on one moment.”
A second later, Riley got on. “Hello?” she said, not sounding very enthusiastic.
“Hey, we’ve started our club meeting. Aren't you coming?”
Silence followed on the other end. Finally Riley said, “I can’t tonight.”
There was no further explanation. Cassie rested her head against the wall. What could she say? She could guilt-trip her and make her feel bad for ditching. Or she could try to make her convince her parents. Neither would work, though. Riley wasn’t coming. “Okay, well, we’ll miss you,” she said instead, and hung up. “She’s not coming,” she announced.
*~*
DANELLE RAISED HER eyebrows and settled back on the bottom bunk. “Well, I guess that’s not a big surprise, is it?”
Cassie wondered again what the deal was between Danelle and Riley. “Let’s get started, then! I’m calling this meeting to order.” She sat cross-legged on the floor, facing the other two girls. Opening one of her notebooks, she said, “Date. October 3. Members present: Emily Jones, Cassandra Jones, and Danelle Pierce.” She tapped the pencil eraser against her lips. “Anything else I should write?”
“That we’re awesome!” Danelle said, making a fist and thrusting it in the air.
Cassie put the minute book down and opened her appointment book. “Now we just wait for people to call.”
The three of them stared at the phone. Cassie willed it to ring.
“We could play Uno while we wait,” Emily said.
The phone began to jingle. Cassie had never thought of it that way before, but it wasn’t really a ring. It was a melody. She dove for it, but Emily was faster.
“Did you need the Jones’ residence or the Babysitters club?” she asked.
Cassie groaned. Claudia had her own phone line in the book, which meant no one had to guess if the caller wanted her or her family.
“Oh, you want to talk to him?” Emily’s face fell. “Sure, I’ll get him.” She pulled the phone away and whispered, “It’s for Daddy.”
Cassie grabbed the phone and took it down the hall to the living room. “Daddy. Phone’s for you.” She handed it to him, but didn’t let go. “Hurry! We’re having our meeting right now!”
“I’ll be quick,” he said, locking eyes with her and nodding solemnly.
Emily had the Uno game out when Cassie returned and was dealing out cards. Cassie couldn’t think about the game. She sat on her hands, tapping the carpet with her toe. Someone could be trying to call right now. Would her dad click over? He knew how to do that, right?
Someone tapped on the door, and then her dad poked his arm in, phone extended in his hand. “Any luck yet?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Cassie said, taking the phone. “Did anyone call while you were on it?”
“Nope. No one.”
No one else called during the entire hour. They finished up their game of Uno, and then Danelle’s dad was back to get her.
“I’m sure it was because it was our first night,” Cassie said, trying to keep her spirits up. “Next Thursday will go better.”
“I”m sure that’s all it was,” Mr. Pierce said. “Night, Jim.”
“Night, Steve!” Mr. Jones said, all big smiles.
Cassie rolled her eyes and went back to her room. What a bummer of a night.
*~*
“HOW WAS YOUR CLUB MEETING last night?” her mom asked her when she got off the bus Friday. “You went to bed so fast, I didn’t get the chance to talk to you.”
Cassie unloaded her backpack on the kitchen table. “It didn’t go well,” she said, zipping it shut. “Nobody called.”
“Well, it was your first meeting,” Mrs. Jones said. “I’m sure it will go better.”
These were the same things Cassie had told herself the night before, but today she wasn’t in the mood to be placated. “And what if it doesn’t?” She crossed her arms over her chest and faced her mom. “If people don’t call us to babysit, our club is pretty worthless.”
“Didn’t you have fun anyway?”
She considered the question and lifted one shoulder. “I guess.” But that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t supposed to be a fun Uno club.
“I’ve got a babysitting job for you,” Mrs. Jones said.
“You don’t count,” Cassie said in frustration. “I always babysit for you. You don’t pay enough, anyway.”
Her mom burst out laughing. “Well, let’s think about this.” She pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “Come, sit.”
Cassie heaved a sigh and sat.
“What did you do to prepare for your babysitters club?”
“Well, I invited babysitters. We took notes, role, and waited. As soon as we get our first appointment, I want to make fun babysitting bags to take with us. I have some ideas for that.”
Mrs. Jones nodded. “These are all great things, Cassie. How did you get the word out about your club?”
“Get the word out?” Cassie echoed.
“Yes. Who knew about your club? Who did you give your phone number to so they could call and hire you?”
“No one,” Cassie said, feeling her heart sink like an anchor. Why hadn’t she thought of that? No one would call her if they didn’t even know.
“Well, that at least is something you can change,” her mom said. “Let’s make up some fliers tonight for your club, and tomorrow you can take them through the neighborhood and hand them out to everyone.”
Cassie nodded, the anchor lifting from her heart and her spirit lightening. “Okay! That’s a good plan.”
*~*
CASSIE’S MOM HELPED her design a simple black and white flier on the computer. They didn’t have a copy machine, so Cassie counted up the houses in the neighborhood to see how many she needed to print.
“There’s the Davidsons, the Maguires—but they only have a dog—”
“Take them one anyway,” her mom said. “They might know someone with kids. Or maybe they have nieces and nephews.”
Cassie nodded. “The Coys, the Webbs, the Thompsons, the Howards, the Rodriguezes, the Ruperts, the Lorries, and. . . .” That was it. Their rural community only had a small spattering of houses. And most of those didn’t have small kids. “There’s a few houses on the other street.”
Her mom shook her head. “You’re not allowed to walk down there. Give some fliers to Danelle and Riley, and tell them to hand them out to their neighbors.”
Cassie thought of Riley’s apartment complex and nodded, but she knew Danelle’s neighbors were just as spread out as hers. “I’ll take some to church, too.”
“Good idea. Print off about forty, then. Ten for each of you and ten for church.”
Forty sounded like a great number. She started the print job and waited for the pages to come out.
*~*
CASSIE WOKE UP TO THE sounds of her younger brother and sister running through the house, laughing and yelling. She wasn’t ready to get up yet. She didn’t want to. She rolled over and squeezed her eyes shut, pretending like she hadn’t woken. The bed felt so delicious and comfortable, and Saturday was the only day she got to sleep in.
Her eyes snapped open as she remembered the fliers she and her mom had made. Today was a special day. This was the day she would get her club going!
“Good morning. Glad to see you up before nine,” her dad said when she came in for breakfast. He had his grubby clothes on, and Cassie tensed. She needed to hurry and lay out her plans for the day, or he’d have her out in the garden, picking up rocks.
“Good morning. I’m delivering fliers through the neighborhood to advertise my babysitting club,” she said in a rush, pouring a bowl of cereal. She stuffed a spoonful in her mouth to keep from saying anything else.
“Oh. How very entrepreneurial of you.”
Cassie squinted at him. She’d heard that word before, but she couldn’t think of what it meant. “Which is?”
“Very businesslike. Very professional.” He finished making himself a shake and left the room.
Cassie mapped out her plan. She’d start at the bottom of the hill and work her way back up. If she started at the top, by the time she finished she wouldn’t want to climb back up.
She combed her hair nicely and put on a headband to keep it out of her face. Then she added a gold chain with a medallion of a young girl and her favorite earrings, a pair of lime-green springs.
“Mom!” she called. “I’m going to hand out my fliers!”
“All right!” her mom called back from downstairs.
Cassie gripped the fliers in her hands and went outside. The crisp autumn air greeted her, but she knew by the time she reached the bottom of the hill, it would be warm. It was almost a full mile from her house to the end of the street.
Sure enough, when she reached the bottom twenty minutes later, she was not cold at all. She walked up to the Rupert’s house and knocked on the door.
“Well, hello, Cassie!” Mrs. Rupert said, answering. “What are you doing down here?”
“My friends and I have started a babysitters club,” Cassie said, reciting her rehearsed speech. “Here’s a flier that tells you all about it. We’d love to babysit your children anytime you need us. Just call that number on the flier on Thursday evenings.” She paused here in case Mrs. Rupert wanted to say something.
“Thank you, Cassie, what a lovely idea,” Mrs. Rupert said.
“Thank you!” Cassie replied. She turned and trotted down the driveway, quite pleased with how that had gone.
*~*
CASSIE CONTINUED HER way up the hill. A lot of people weren’t home, so she stuck fliers in their mailboxes. Everyone was very polite, smiling and thanking her, and Cassie felt optimistic that they’d start to get some business.
The last house was the Maguires. They were the ones that didn’t have kids, but her mom thought she should go there anyway. Cassie started down their long, blacktop driveway, clutching her remaining fliers and humming to herself.
The driveway led into a four-door garage, while the house sat to the left of the driveway. Cassie turned toward the house when a low growling stopped her. She swiveled in the direction of the sound to see a large brown dog approaching her. He had his head low between his shoulders.
Another growl to her right made her gasp. She jumped around to see a second dog there. Her heart battered at her throat like a bird in a cage, seeking a way out. Don’t act afraid. She’d heard that somewhere before, right? “Hello, doggies,” she said. “Nice doggies.” She held out a hand, noting how it shook.
The dog snarled and lunged at her, and she took a step backward. Help, she thought. She wanted to turn around and run, but she knew, just knew, that these dogs would chase her up the hill. She met one of the dog’s eyes, trying to give it the impression that she couldn’t be intimidated.
She thought she’d seen the Maguires pull into the driveway right before she got here. Maybe they would hear her. “Mr. Maguire!” she shouted.
Immediately both dogs launched into a chorus of barking and snarling. One skittered backwards on his feet, he was so wound up. The other dove at her, snapping and barking.
Cassie screamed. She couldn't help it; she was officially terrified. The dog stopped a few feet from her, but both of them continued the threatening barking. Cassie gave up on any semblance of calmness and screamed as loud as she could.
