Sink or Swim (7 page)

Madison chuckled to herself. As usual, Bigwheels was getting dramatic.
Bite her?
Madison couldn’t imagine Eliot doing that. But then again…so far he was full of surprises.

After hitting
SAVE
, Madison stretched backward on the bed and scanned the bookshelves. She felt like reading and regretted not getting a book or two out of the library with Fiona. The only books on the shelves here at Dad’s were the books Madison didn’t want to keep at home. She absentmindedly flipped through her old American Girl books and a copy of
Pippi Longstocking
that she’d read a hundred times in fourth grade.

“Rowrrrooooo!”

Phinnie, who’d been lying on the floor snoring the whole time, howled and jumped up onto the bed with Madison. Being so busy with her first day of Eliot meant that Phin hadn’t gotten the attention he deserved. He wanted some now.

“Aw, Phinnie, are you a good boy?” Madison said in a squeaky voice. She rolled over and kissed his cold, wet nose by accident. “Blech!”

Phin panted back at her and jumped off the bed. After chasing his tail for a little while, he trotted out of the room. Dinner was starting to smell yummy. Madison could smell it cooking and guessed he smelled it, too.

Madison wondered if she would be able to survive being a mother’s helper. It had only been one day, and she was already stressed. And as good as the job was, would it take her away from everything and everyone she
really
wanted to enjoy over the summer? Was she up for this challenge?

Madison sat upright and faced the computer screen again.

It was time to type up a new file.

Sink or Swim

Bigwheels is like my own personal baby-sitting adviser. She makes me feel way better about the whole Eliot sitch. I just need to keep up with him, that’s all. That’s what she said. But I can’t believe it’s only been a day with the Reeds—it feels like way more. How can I keep up? Will I sink or swim?

Rude Awakening:
It should be called baby-running, not baby-sitting.

I thought being a mother’s helper this summer would mean hanging by the pool and soaking up some rays! But this is a little more complicated than I expected.

And tomorrow is only day two.

M
ADISON RINSED OFF ELIOT’S
spoon and handed it back to him. He was sitting up in his high chair, waiting for lunch, and Madison didn’t want him to get cranky. She’d already spent the entire morning of her second baby-sitting day with Eliot, Tantrum Boy.

“NO!” Eliot cried. He sucked on the spoon and then hurled it across the kitchen. “NO! I want yogut!”

Carefully Madison spooned some pink cherry yogurt into a small plastic bowl. She handed it over to Eliot. He took one big scoop with the spoon and swallowed.

“Yummmmm!” he said, a huge smile spreading across his face.

Madison leaned back.
Success!
It had been impossible to get him to eat something for the last twenty minutes.

“Want some juice?” Madison asked, handing him a sippy cup filled with apple juice.

Eliot picked up the cup and sucked down some juice. Madison was relieved. Another success. And he was still smiling.

“You like that, huh?” Madison asked. She watched him take another long sip. Eliot squinted his eyes very tightly and leaned back in the high chair.

But before Madison could say or do anything else, Eliot threw the cup onto the floor with a loud grunt. Then he looked toward Madison. He wanted a reaction. She picked up the cup and tried to ignore him, replacing it on his tray.

But he only lifted it up once more. And threw it again—harder this time.

Madison gritted her teeth. “Don’t throw,” she told Eliot. “No throwing.”

Eliot giggled. “Okay,” he said. “Oh-kayeeee!”

Madison beamed.
Okay?
She couldn’t believe he understood. She was making progress now. Eliot even took another quiet sip from the juice cup.

But the happy sipping didn’t last.

After a few seconds he hurled the cup into the air. This time it crashed into the wall. The lid popped off. There was apple juice everywhere—splattered on the wall, floor, and even onto Mrs. Reed’s kitchen curtains. Madison felt nauseous. She wanted to scream.

HE-E-E-E-E-LP!

“Madison?” Mrs. Reed walked into the kitchen just in time to see Madison on hands and knees mopping up the spill. Eliot was leaning over the side of the high chair, dangling his spoon over Madison’s head.

When she heard Mrs. Reed’s voice, Madison didn’t want to turn around. She dreaded the look. She dreaded the words, “You’re the worst babysitter on the planet, and I don’t want you to set foot in my house ever again!”

Of course, that wasn’t what Mrs. Reed said.

In fact, she helped Madison clean up the mess and scolded Eliot for throwing things. She apologized to Madison for Eliot’s angry outburst.

“He’s been so cranky lately,” Mrs. Reed said, wiping off his hands and face. “Ever since we had Becka…”

Eliot began to pound on his high-chair tray table as if it were his own personal drum set. Mrs. Reed unlatched his safety harness and lifted him out.

“What’s wrong with you?” she said.

“Maybe he’s mad at me,” Madison said. “He doesn’t really know me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Mrs. Reed said, giving him a little kiss. “Okay, now that Becka is napping, Eliot, Mommy is going to do some work around the house. You play nice with Madison, okay?”

Eliot wailed. “MAMA!” He leaned away as Mrs. Reed tried to point him in Madison’s direction. “No, no, no!” he screamed.

Madison was afraid that with all Eliot’s crying, Becka would wake up—and that somehow all of this chaos was her fault. She glanced up and saw that it was only eleven-thirty on the oven’s digital clock. She still had half a day left to baby-sit.

Mrs. Reed handed Madison a sponge. “Wipe off the seat now. And do it anytime he uses the high chair, okay?”

Madison nodded. She looked forward to the days when all this new stuff was old stuff and she knew
exactly
what she was doing here.

After the kitchen incident, thankfully, things seemed to cool down for Eliot. He played with Legos in the living room for the next hour and even let Madison build a little Lego helicopter. They turned on a Wee Sing CD and started to sing along.

The more we sing together…together…the happier we’ll be….

Eliot bounced on his toes and shook his head.

“Aimee would love you,” Madison told him. “You’re a natural dancer.”

“Dance-ah!” Eliot said.

They laughed together at the music.

The more we sing together…together….
Madison reached over to grab his hand and dance with him, but Eliot’s happy mood turned to instant distress.

“Noooooooooooooooo!” he cried.

Madison leaned back. “What’s wrong, Eliot?”

His face scrunched up like a wrinkled prune, and he let out a high-pitched screech. Naturally, Mrs. Reed came running.

“What is it? Eliot, what happened? Madison, what is it? Are you hurt?” she asked.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Madison turned and shrugged. “He just started crying for no reason.”

“Oh, dear, there’s always a reason,” Mrs. Reed said.

Madison wasn’t sure she believed that. After only one and a half days, Madison knew that Eliot liked to cry in the middle of lunch, in the middle of playing, in the middle of
everything.
There was no good reason for it except one.

Eliot didn’t like Madison.

Even worse, Madison wasn’t sure she liked him.

“Please stop screaming!” Mrs. Reed said, picking up Eliot and walking into the next room. “What’s WRONG?” she asked him.

Eliot had drool and sniffle running out of each nostril. He sobbed into his mom’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Madison kept saying. Her skin felt hot all over. “I can’t seem to do anything right.”

“No, no, no, I’m sorry,” Mrs. Reed said. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

Mrs. Reed carried Eliot—still crying—upstairs for a nap. He crashed the moment he hit his mattress. Madison knew that because one moment he was blubbering and the next moment was total…

Silence.

Ahhhhh.

Becka was still asleep in her bassinet, too.

When she came back downstairs, Mrs. Reed didn’t say anything at first. She pulled out a calendar daybook and opened it up on the kitchen table, pointing to the months of June and July.

“Starting next week, Eliot should be in better spirits,” Mrs. Reed explained. “I think it’s a good idea if we go over his schedule together. This week, Monday is musical jamboree, Tuesday and Wednesday are kiddie swim, Thursday is Pool Day, and Friday is games.”

Pool Day?
Madison was sure Egg had told her it would be during the weekend. What was it doing on a Thursday?

“Does Eliot go to Pool Day?” Madison asked, confused. This was one of the best events of the summer. She wanted to spend it with her friends. Not some baby.

“Eliot is competing in the kickboard swim for toddlers. It’s one of a handful of events for the wee ones. I think they have more competitions for the older children. I’m sure you’ve done Pool Day other summers before, right?” Mrs. Reed asked. “You must have fond memories.”

Madison felt a pang in the pit of her stomach. Memories?

“I think Eliot has a real shot at winning a kiddie ribbon,” Mrs. Reed said.

“And what will I be doing?” Madison asked.

“What else? Spending time with Eliot, of course,” Mrs. Reed said, smiling.

I’d rather be hanging out with Aimee and Fiona.

Watching Hart lifeguard.

Winning a Pool Day medal of my own!!!

Madison didn’t say anything out loud. She just nodded and agreed with whatever Mrs. Reed said.

“I have to take Becka to the doctor,” Mrs. Reed said. “You’ll be fine.” She smiled again. “Eliot will be in a good mood when he wakes up from his nap.”

Forty minutes later, when Eliot awoke from his nap, he was in a much better mood. He even told Madison that her Lego helicopter was “goovy,” which was his way of saying “groovy.”

The remainder of the afternoon seemed to fly by after that. Soon it was time to head home and Madison was back at Dad’s for dinner.

Despite all that had happened on day two, Madison didn’t feel much like talking. Eliot whipped trucks at her head. What was that about? And he cried all the time. Madison didn’t want Dad or Stephanie to think she was a total failure.

Most of all, Madison wanted to talk to Mom about it.

After a long, late dinner and dessert, Dad said Madison could telephone Mom in Australia. It was just about eight-thirty in Far Hills. That meant it was already twelve-thirty the next day where Mom was working! Madison hit a bunch of extra numbers to call long-distance. After a long wait, the phone on the other end finally began to ring.

“Mom?” Madison cried into the telephone. “Is that you?”

“Maddie?” Mom said. Her voice crackled with long-distance static. “What a surprise, honey bear!”

“I wanted to call because I missed your call yesterday and a lot has happened.”

“I know I should have called last night…,” Mom said.

“I got the mother’s helper job,” Madison said.

“You DID?” Mom squealed. “Hooray! I am so proud of you. I knew you could do it. How’s it going? You just started?”

“Well, yeah…” Madison started to explain, but then the phone crackled and she wasn’t sure if they were even still connected.

“Maddie?”

“Mom, are you still there?”

“Oh yes, honey bear—hold on a second—let me just—” Mom’s voice was choppy. Madison glanced over at Dad. She wondered what he’d say if Madison told him that Mom had just put her on hold while she was calling halfway across the planet.

He’d die.

“Maddie, are you there?” Mom said. “I was just in the midst of a meeting when you called. A lunch meeting…”

“Oh, sorry,” Madison said. “I know you’re busy.”

“No! I’m always here—wait, hold on another second, okay?” Mom interrupted Madison once again to speak to someone in her meeting.

Madison stared off into space.

Busy, busy, busy.

“Mommy?”

“Oh, Maddie, can I call you right back?” Mom asked.

“I miss you, Mom,” Madison said, ignoring Mom’s request. She wanted to talk and she wanted to talk
now.

“Okay, honey bear. I’m sorry. Hold on for just a sec,” Mom said.

Madison looked up from the phone to see Dad wink at her. Phinnie was zooming around the kitchen for scraps. Stephanie was drying the dishes.

She could hear Mom whispering to someone, rustling papers, and saying a loud “no.” Mom was always doing fourteen things at once, Madison thought. Right now, Madison just wished one of those things was
her.

“Honey bear!” Mom finally came back on the line. “I am so sorry….”

Mom apologized for five minutes before they even started talking about real stuff again.

“So the reason I called you instead of waiting for you to call, Mom,” Madison explained, “is because I’m so nervous about baby-sitting. It started out okay, but now it’s been two days and he cries at everything. Yesterday at the pool he ran away. I don’t think I’m very good.”