Claudia and Mean Janine (5 page)

“Mean Janine,” I muttered. “Come on, Jamie. Let's go.”

Janine had spoiled my whole afternoon.

When I finished at the Newtons', I ran home and just made it in time for the meeting of the Baby-sitters Club. I found Kristy and Mary Anne waiting on the front stoop, their chins in their hands.

“Why aren't you guys inside?” I asked. “You know you can always go to my room if I'm late.”

“We didn't think anyone was here,” said Kristy gloomily.

“Well, you're almost right,” I said. “The only one here is Janine.”

“No Mimi,” said Mary Anne.

“Nope. No Mimi,” I said.

The Monday afternoon meeting of the Babysitters Club was sort of glum.

“What are we going to do about Jenny?” I asked when everyone had arrived. I searched my hiding places and found a bag of gumdrops, which I passed around.

“She does cause problems,” agreed Mary Anne.

“She starts fights with the other kids,” Stacey pointed out. “Sometimes she doesn't even mean to, but she does anyway. By not sharing or something. I saw Claire Pike ask Jenny for a red crayon that she wasn't using. When Jenny wouldn't give it to her, Claire got mad, turned around, and whacked Suzi Barrett.”

“If we could at least get her mother to dress her in play clothes, it would be helpful,” said Kristy. “One of us should talk to Mrs. Prezzioso.”

“Yes,
one
of us should,” I said pointedly. We all looked at Mary Anne.

“Me?”
she squeaked.

“You're the only one who likes her,” Kristy said bluntly.

Mary Anne made a face. “But she doesn't
have
any real play clothes. I know that for a fact. Maybe we should just make her wear one of the painting smocks all morning.”

The phone began to ring then, and we stopped to set up some appointments. By the time we'd finished, we'd half forgotten about Jenny.

“You know what would usually happen right about now during a meeting?” Mary Anne asked. She went on without waiting for an answer,
“Mimi would come in for some reason—to ask us if we needed anything, or to remind us not to eat too much before dinner.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I'll call Mom at work and see if anything's going on.” Kristy has this rule about not making personal calls during club meetings, but I knew she'd let me break it. I didn't even bother to ask if it was okay.

I picked up the phone and dialed my mother's office at the library.

“Hello!” called a voice.

“Mom?” I asked.

“Claudia?”

“Mom?”

“Hey, dope, your mom's
home!”
Kristy said, nudging me in the ribs and grinning.

I dropped the phone. “Mom?” I could hear her coming up the stairs.

My mother appeared in the doorway. “Hi, girls,” she said. She looked awfully tired.

“How's Mimi?” I asked right away.

“Good news. She just woke up. She can't move or speak yet, but she's awake.”

“All
right!”
exclaimed Kristy.

“Can I see her?”

“Yes. Family members may see her one at a time for about ten minutes each. We'll go back
to the hospital after supper. Speaking of which, Claudia, I'll need your help with supper tonight. I'm afraid we've all gotten awfully used to having Mimi take care of us.” Mom began to sound sort of teary again.

The meeting broke up soon after that, and I joined my mother in the kitchen. “Where's Janine?” I asked. “Can't she help, too?”

“Oh, I didn't even bother to ask her,” replied Mom distractedly. “I'm sure she's busy with her schoolwork.”

And what did my mother think the Babysitters Club was, I wondered. A game? But I didn't say anything. I looked through the freezer. “Here are some frozen French fries. And here are some hamburger patties. We could heat these up.”

“Fine,” said Mom. “Help me make a salad, honey. Then we'll be ready.”

After our makeshift dinner, Mom and Dad and Janine and I drove to the hospital. The closer I got to Mimi, the more worried I became. All I could think about was the mean way I had behaved. I clutched the nineteen get-well cards in my hands and kept hearing my ugly words over and over again, and Mimi's quiet voice telling me good night. She hadn't called me “my Claudia,” so she
really must have been hurt. What would I say when I saw her?

“Mom, can Mimi hear us?” I asked.

“Well, that's a silly question,” said Janine.

Dad glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I'd be interested in your answer, Dr. Kishi,” he said.

“The answer,” said Janine, “is, of course she can hear us.”

“According to the neurologist, the answer is, we think she can hear us, but we're not sure how well.”

“Oh,” said Janine quietly.

“Why did you want to know, Claudia?” Dad asked.

“I … I just wanted to be sure she could hear me when I—when we talk to her.”

We drove on in silence.

At the hospital, Mom and Dad led Janine and me to Mimi's room.

Mom went in first, looking as nervous as a cat.

“Can I please go in next?” I begged, when she came out.

“
May
I,” Janine corrected me, glancing warily into the room. I ignored her. I don't think she was even aware that she'd said it.

“Sure,” Mom answered me. “Watch the clock on the wall, honey, and stick to the ten-minute
time limit. The nurses are strict about that. And don't be frightened. There's a lot of equipment in the room. Just remember that it's there to help Mimi.”

I crept into the room. It was dim and quiet except for the hum of machinery. Mimi was hooked up to a couple of things with TV screens on the fronts. There were no pictures on the screens, though. Just lighted dots that kept zigzagging from one side to the other. Next to her bed was a stand with a plastic sack of clear liquid at the top. A tube ran from the sack down into a needle that was stuck into Mimi's wrist. I shuddered.

Mimi looked like a little doll lying in the metal bed with the scary machines around her.

I tiptoed over to her bed. “Mimi?” I whispered. Mimi's eyes were open, but she wasn't quite looking at me.

“Mimi?” I whispered again.

Nothing. The same dull stare. It was spooky. Too spooky. I couldn't stand her eyes. So I backed away. I backed all the way out of the room, knocking into the wastebasket as I went.

“Claudia?” said my mother. “Are you all right?”

“You go, Janine,” I said, ignoring Mom's question.

I stood by the doorway holding the nineteen get-well cards, and watched Janine. Mom stood right behind me with her hand on my shoulder.

I saw Janine's face as she took in the machines. I saw her eyes widen as she took in Mimi's blank stare. But Janine stayed where she was. She began talking to Mimi just as if they were sitting across from each other over cups of tea. She talked quietly to her for the full ten minutes. I wish I could have heard what she was saying.

When Janine came out, Mom looked at me, wordlessly asking if I wanted to go in again.

I shook my head. Then, tears welling up in my eyes, I fled down the hall to the lounge and sat in front of the soda machines until it was time to go home.

The next evening, we went back. I'd spent all day talking to myself, saying things like, “Don't be selfish” or “Don't be a baby. Mimi needs you.”

So the second time I went into her room, once again bringing the get-well cards, I was prepared. I tried to ignore the dim light and the humming machines. And I tried to remember Mimi the way she was before the stroke.

I looked around the room.

In a corner was a wooden armchair with vinyl
cushions. I pulled it next to the bed and leaned over. I forced myself to look into Mimi's eyes.

“Hi, Mimi,” I said.

She blinked her eyes, but that was all. Had she heard me? How awful not to be able to wave or smile or anything.

“Mimi, I'm only allowed to stay for ten minutes,” I told her. “So I'll tell you what's been going on.” I paused. “Well, we had our first play group. Do you remember what that was?”

Mimi blinked her eyes, but I noticed that they were focused somewhere on the ceiling.

“Well, you probably do. Anyway, it went fine. And guess what the art project was. The kids made get-well cards for you. They were all really sorry to hear that you're in the hospital. A lot of the kids made two or three cards. I brought them with me. This one is from David Michael. See?” I held it up. “It says, ‘Get will soon Mini.' And this is from Margo Pike. She's just learning to write, so the letters spell ‘HGDOMYLSP,' but she translated for me, and they mean, ‘Please feel better. I hope you can come home soon. Love, Margo.' She drew a picture of a fireman for you. And Buddy Barrett made this one: ‘Der Claudi's granmohter plese fell better verry soon and com back becase we want you to plese fell better verry soon.

Yours truly, Hamilton Barrett, Junior.' It took him twenty minutes to write that.”

I showed Mimi the rest of the cards. Then I said, “I think we'll put them over here on the windowsill. They'll kind of cheer up the room.”

I lined the cards up. It was hard to keep thinking of things to tell Mimi. I wasn't used to one-sided conversations. Kristy would have done fine, since she could talk the ear off of a cornstalk, and Janine had done okay the night before, but I'm not a big talker. If I knew for sure that Mimi could hear me, it would have been a little easier, but she wasn't giving any signs. The only movement I'd seen was when she blinked her eyes.

Her eyes! I had an idea.

I stood up. “Hey, Mimi,” I said, leaning way over and looking right into her eyes. “If you can hear me, blink your eyes.”

Mimi blinked. I gasped. But maybe it was just an accident. She'd been blinking a lot already. I tried something else. “Mimi, if my name is Claudia, blink
two
times.”

Mimi blinked twice.

“You
can
hear!” I exclaimed. “Oh, wow! Now we can talk! Mimi, this will be our code. One blink means yes. Two blinks mean no, okay?”

Mimi blinked once.

“Do you like your get-well cards?” I asked.

One blink.

“Do you know you're in the hospital?”

One blink.

“Mimi, my ten minutes are almost up, but I have to tell you something really, really important. I … I'm sorry I yelled at you the other night. I didn't mean what I said. I love you very much, and I'm sorry. Do you understand?”

One blink.

“Oh, I wish I could hug you,” I said tearfully, “but I don't see how. Too many machines and tubes. Okay?”

One blink.

Mom was signaling to me from the hallway. I had to leave. I rushed out and told everyone about the blinks. Dad got hold of a doctor, and Mom ran in to “talk” with Mimi. It was exciting.

Still, when we returned home that evening, we were silent and sad. It was awful that Mimi had to talk by blinking her eyes. And the doctors still didn't know how much better she would get.

I wandered around my room for a while, and then decided I wanted some company. Mom and Dad were on the phone with relatives, so I
peered into Janine's room. She was at her computer. The keys were clackety-clacking away a mile a minute. The funny thing was, she looked like she was crying a little, but when I called to her, she didn't answer. I guess she couldn't hear me over the noise.

Wednesday
Well, Karen Brewer strikes again. Leave it to Karen. When she's around, things are never dull. Today was the second session of our play group and Andrew and Karen came to it. Watson's ex-wife needed a last-minute sitter for them, so she called Watson and he decided to drop them off at Stacey's.

In the past, Karen has scared other kids with stories about witches, ghosts, and Martians. Today, she had a new one—a monster tale. But it was a monster tale with a twist, as you guys know. I'm not sure there's anything we can do about Karen. The thing is, she
usually doesn't mean to scare people. She just has a wild imagination.

But, oh boy, when Karen and Jenny got together …

I'm sure glad Kristy likes Karen Brewer so much, since they're stepsisters now. And I like Karen myself, but she's a handful! She's not the unpleasant kind of handful that Jenny is, but she's still a lot to manage.

Anyway, as Kristy said, Karen and Andrew needed last-minute looking-after, so Watson dropped them off at Stacey's. They were a little late, and were the last ones to arrive at the play group.

We had almost the same group of kids as we'd had on Monday. Mallory came over with Claire, Margo, and Nicky (but not Vanessa); Jenny; and Buddy Barrett (but not Suzi). David Michael, Charlotte, and Jamie all showed up. And so did Nina and Eleanor Marshall, two little girls the club sits for sometimes. Nina is four and Eleanor's two. Eleanor was the baby of the group, but she seemed to have fun.

When Karen and Andrew arrived, the kids (except for Jenny) were playing happily. Charlotte,
Claire, and Margo were making collages by gluing foil stars and colored tissue paper onto pieces of cardboard. Nina was looking at a book with Eleanor. Buddy, Nicky, and David Michael were roaring around, playing something Nicky had invented called “Blast into Superspace.” And Jamie was building with his Legos, which he'd brought over.

Mallory was helping out at the art table, but what were the five of us baby-sitters doing? We were gathered around Jenny, trying to convince her to put on a smock. The smock was a shirt that had belonged to Stacey's father. It was old but clean, and in perfectly good condition. Jenny refused to wear it.

The day before, Mary Anne had somehow found the courage to phone Mrs. Prezzioso and suggest that she dress Jenny in play clothes. And today Jenny had shown up in Mrs. P.'s idea of play clothes, a brand-new white sundress with ruffles around the bottom, trimmed with pale pink ribbon and white lace, and brand-new white sandals. The sandals were the fancy kind, more like shoes with holes punched on top in a pretty design.

We baby-sitters were horrified.

“All in white!” Stacey had moaned. She clapped a hand to her forehead.

“And the dress is freshly ironed,” added Dawn, awestruck.

“These are play clothes?” cried Kristy. “Look at the other kids: shorts, shorts, shorts, blue jeans, shorts, shorts, overalls” (that was Eleanor) “shorts, jeans, very old sundress.” (That was Margo.) “And all of us and Mallory are in, well,
fairly
old clothes.” (Some of us looked nicer than others.)

“Come on, Jenny,” I said. “Just put the smock on.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“This is my new dress. I want everyone to see it.”

“We've all seen it. It's beautiful,” I told her. “And if you put the smock on, you can keep your dress beautiful—all nice and clean like it is now.” I held the smock out to her.

“No.”

“Look, this can be
your
smock,” Stacey suggested. “Your special smock. Nobody else will have one like it. Claudia could even put your name on it.”

This is what was going on when Karen and Andrew showed up.

Karen marched jauntily into the yard, with Andrew several steps behind her.

I was relieved to see that both were wearing shorts. And sneakers.

“Here we are!” Karen announced gaily. (Watson had phoned Kristy earlier to say that they'd be coming.)

“Hiya, Karen. Hi, Andrew,” said Kristy. She turned away from Jenny to give them each a hug. When Kristy stood up, Karen peered around her and spotted Jenny.

“Who's that?” she asked, frowning.

“That's Jenny Prezzioso,” Kristy told her.

“How come she's all dressed up? Is she going to a birthday party?”

“This is my new dress,” Jenny said proudly. She whirled around, making the ruffles fan out. “Isn't it pretty?”

“I don't know,” replied Karen. She narrowed her eyes. “You'll have to keep it awfully clean.”

“So what?” said Jenny.

“So what?” Karen mimicked her.

It was time to step in. “Karen,” I said, “David Michael's over there.” I pointed him out. “Why don't you go play with him and his friends?”

Karen glanced at Jenny again. It was instant hatred, I could tell. I've seen it happen before. It was like that with me and Beverly McManiman in fourth grade. We were enemies the entire year.

“Okay,” said Karen. She started to walk away. But as she left she called over her shoulder—
very
casually—to Jenny, “Watch out for the monster.” Then she kept on walking.

“What monster?” Jenny cried.

“Karen,” Kristy said warningly.

Karen kept on walking, as if she hadn't heard them.

“What monster?” Jenny shrieked. She ran after Karen.

“Hey, come back!” I called. “Your smock!”

Now Jenny was pretending not to hear.

Since Karen was older than Jenny and had longer legs, she reached David Michael quickly.

I looked at the other club members as Jenny hurried to catch up with Karen. “Now what?” I said.

“Oh, let them go,” replied Dawn.

“But Jenny's dress—”

“Maybe we should just let it get dirty,” said Mary Anne unexpectedly.

We looked at her in surprise. That was a very un-Mary-Anne-like thing to say.

“Well, what does Mrs. P. think goes on at a play group?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “And what does Jenny
do
all day when she's at home? Doesn't she ever get dirty?”

“We have our reputations to think about,” said our president nervously. “If Jenny goes home with a ruined dress, Mrs. P. might be really upset. She might tell Mrs. Pike and Mrs. Pike might—”

“Eeee!”

“What was that?” I asked.

Before we could find out who had shrieked—and why—David Michael ran up to us and said breathlessly, “What's big and red and eats rocks? A big, red rock-eater, that's what!”

We looked at the group in the corner of the yard. They seemed fine. David Michael had run back to them, and the three boys and Karen were talking earnestly, probably telling jokes (although we couldn't be sure). Jenny listened from a few feet away.

“We can't worry about Jenny all day,” I pointed out. “We better get to work.”

Kristy joined Jamie with his Legos, Mary Anne sat down with Nina and Eleanor, and Dawn and Stacey wandered over to the kids at the art table.

I decided to keep an eye on the entire group. That was when I noticed Andrew. He was still standing at the entrance to Stacey's backyard.

“Hey, Andrew,” I said, approaching him. Andrew looked at his feet and dug the toe of one sneaker into the grass. He's very shy. “Andrew,
does anyone ever call you Andy?” I asked.

“Mommy calls me Andy-Pandy,” he said.

“Would it be all right if I called you Andy?”

He nodded.

“Good,” I said. “Let's go see what your sister's doing.” I took Andrew by the hand and led him toward the group of kids. I thought that all of them looked kind of frightened.

“What's going on, you guys?” I asked brightly.

The kids looked up. They saw Andrew and me, and they all began screaming. Then they ran away.

“What on earth?” I exclaimed.

“Monster!” shrieked Jenny.

Andrew and I ran to her.

Jenny let out another shriek. “Get that boy away from me!” she cried, pointing to Andrew. “He's a monster!”

“Oh, Jenny,” I said. “A
mon
ster? Where did you get that idea? He's just Andrew.”

“No, no! He turns into a monster! She said so.” Now Jenny was pointing to Karen.

“Oh, brother,” I said. “Karen, come here right this minute.”

Karen crept over. She stopped about fifteen feet away from me.

“Come
here,”
I repeated.

Karen shook her head. Then, “What time is it?” she asked.

“Almost ten o'clock. Why?”

“Because,” replied Karen, trembling, “Morbidda Destiny put a spell on Andrew last weekend. At ten o'clock today he's going to turn into a monster.”

Andrew looked up at me and smiled. “Grrrrrr,” he said.

“Aughhh!” screamed Karen, Jenny, David Michael, and most of the kids in the yard. They'd all been listening. They didn't know that Morbidda Destiny was a weird, old neighbor of Karen's whom Karen thought was a witch. But they believed that Andrew was going to turn into a monster.

Kristy glanced at me and shrugged.

“All right,” I said, looking at my watch. “In a few seconds it will be ten o'clock. Let's count down together, and you'll see that Andrew is just Andrew.”

“Ten,” I said, “nine, eight” (the kids joined in nervously) “seven, six, five, four, three, two …
one!”

“Aughh!”
The kids had all covered their eyes and were screaming.

“Hey, Kristy. Whistle,” I told her.

Kristy put her fingers in her mouth and let loose with an ear-blasting whistle. Everyone stopped screaming. They looked at Andrew.

“Don't growl,”
I whispered fiercely to him. Andrew obeyed.

Slowly, things returned to normal. Jenny, however, seemed quite subdued. Later, Andrew saw us sitters fussing with Jenny about her smock again. “Put it on,” he told her impatiently.

Jenny's eyes grew wide. She grabbed for the smock.

I grinned. “Andy,” I whispered, “tell her to wear it every time she comes to Stacey's.”

“Grrr,” said Andrew. “You wear that … wear that every day.”

“Okay,” said Jenny. “Okay.”

Across the yard, I saw Karen cover her mouth with her hands and giggle.