"I know, but she's not feeling well," I told him. A glance into his room made me cringe. Over the weekend he'd managed to undo two week's worth of daily tidying (which was the second to last thing on my list that day): "Adam, start cleaning your room, okay?" I said.
"I'll wait for you," he replied. Oh, well, I hadn't really expected that to work, anyway.
"Get away from me with that!" Dana shouted when I returned to the living room. She'd never reacted this badly to having her blood tested. Her sudden unreasonableness worried me. Irritability can be a sign that a person's blood sugar is low.
"Dana," I said sternly. "I'm going to test your blood so you might as well cooperate and we can get it over with quickly." Dana covered her face with a pillow and shot her free arm out at me. I took firm hold of her finger, pricked it, and wiped away my tiny blood sample.
In less than a minute I had a reading.
Dana's blood sugar was dangerously low.
A wave of panic swept over me. What should I do? Calm down, I ordered myself. Think! Running to the kitchen, I flung open the refrigerator and grabbed an orange. I peeled it as I walked back to the living room, letting the peels drop on the floor. "Eat this," I ordered, handing Dana the orange.
Dana ate the orange, but five minutes later she looked just as listless as before. I had to do something quickly.
I ran back to the refrigerator and found the name and phone number of Dana's doctor. An answering machine picked up and said the doctor was on vacation. What could I do now?
"Dr. Johanssen," I said aloud. I could take Dana to her house. I knew she was home on Monday afternoons. Just then, the phone rang. I snapped it up, hoping it would be Mrs. Cheplin. "Hello?" It was Mrs. Kleinsasser calling to reschedule Dana's piano lesson. I was desperate. "Could you drive us somewhere?" I blurted out. "I need to get to a doctor." I explained what was going on and Mrs. Kleinsasser said she'd be right over.
When I returned to the living room, Dana looked even paler. I could see the delicate blue veins at the sides of her temples. She had curled up on the loveseat and closed her eyes. "Come on," I said. "Get up. We're going to see a doctor." The fight seemed to have gone out of Dana. Limply she let me help her on with her jacket. "Adam!" I called. "Adam, come down here." Outside, a car horn honked. Looking out the window, I saw Mrs. Kleinsasser sitting behind the wheel of her blue compact station wagon. "Hurry, Adam!" I yelled, then ran up the stairs to get him.
When Adam was downstairs, I tossed his jacket over his shoulders and hurried the two kids out the door.
Mrs. Kleinsasser drove us to Dr. Johanssen's house. "Do you think we should go to the hospital instead?" she asked.
"Let's try Dr. Johanssen first," I suggested.
Charlotte answered the door when we arrived. "Mom!" she called. Dr. Johanssen hurried out of the kitchen. I introduced Mrs. Kleinsasser, then explained Dana's problem.
"Let's have a look at you," Dr. Johanssen told Dana, gently guiding her toward her study.
Char showed us her new video game while Mrs. Kleinsasser, Adam, and I waited in the living room. In half an hour, Dana and Dr. Johanssen returned. The color had come back to Dana's cheeks and she looked a whole lot better.
"She'll be all right now," said Dr. Johanssen. "Stacey, please tell Mrs. Cheplin to call me when she gets in. Dana's insulin dosage will probably have to be adjusted. I'm going to call her doctor, Dr. Hernandez, and leave a message for him to call me as soon as he returns." "Thanks a million, Dr. Johanssen," I said, feeling incredibly relieved.
"You're welcome. You did the right thing to bring her here, Stacey," Dr. Johanssen told me.
"Thanks." We rode home and Mrs. Kleinsasser dropped us off outside the house. "Would you like me to come in?" she offered.
"No, I see Mrs. Cheplin's car in the driveway," I said. "Thank you very much." When we entered the house, Mrs. Cheplin came out of the kitchen to meet us. She was red-faced with anger. "What happened here today?" she barked at me. I opened my mouth to tell her but she obviously didn't want an answer.
"When I came home the door was unlocked. Look at this place! Potato peelings all over the table. Adam's room is a wreck! Supper isn't even started!" "Mrs. Cheplin, we had an - "I began.
"I don't care what you had! There is no excuse for this! I knew you were too young to handle this job. I should have listened to my instincts. They told me to hire an older girl. Nonetheless, I can't believe you would - " "Mrs. Cheplin!" I said, raising my voice. "Would you please listen!" She widened her eyes, but she didn't say anything.
"I had to rush out because Dana's blood sugar was too low. I asked Mrs. Kleinsasser to drive her to my friend Dr. Johanssen's house." Mrs. Cheplin turned pale. "Dana, how do you feel?" "Fine now," Dana answered.
"Did you have a snack when you came home?" "She had an orange and an apple," I said. "Dr. Johanssen wants you to call her. She thinks Dana's insulin dosage might need to be changed. I have her number." As I spoke, I wrote down the number (which I knew by heart since I baby-sit for Char a lot) on the memo pad in the front hallway.
"Stacey, I'm sorry," said Mrs. Cheplin. "I had no idea." I was too angry to accept her apology. How dare she speak to me like that after I'd worked like crazy to comply with her stupid list and taken good care of her kids at the same time. I was furious.
"I'm late for my meeting," I said, gathering my books. " 'Bye." Chapter 12.
It rained all day Tuesday, washing away the last of the snow. Logan was home baby-sitting for his five-year-old brother Hunter, and his ten-year-old sister, Kerry.
"I knew something was up with Kerry when I found her sitting in the linen closet whispering into the cordless phone," he told us at Wednesday's meeting. (He decided to attend the meeting since he was walking Mary Anne over to Claudia's anyway.) "What's with the kids and the secret phone calls lately?" Kristy wondered aloud.
"We found out," Mary Anne told her. "And wait until you hear." "You won't believe it," Logan added.
Logan told us he wasn't paying too much attention at first to Kerry and her mysterious phone calls. He figured she was just being silly with her friends. He sat down with Hunter at the family's new computer to fool around with a CD-Rom program they'd just bought.
He was busily zooming around a "virtual" road when the doorbell rang. Logan handed Hunter the computer mouse and ran to the door.
Opening the door, Logan looked out on the rainy day but didn't see anyone. Then, he glanced down and saw a soggy envelope struck under the doormat.
Logan was pretty sure he knew what it was. This wasn't the first time that week that an envelope had been delivered by some ring-and-run phantom. Here's what the letter said.
Crumpling the note, he tossed it into the wastebasket and returned to Hunter at the computer. "Who was it?" Hunter asked as his "virtual" sportscar crashed into a "virtual" brick wall.
"Just some idiot playing a joke," Logan said lightly, taking back the mouse.
"Huh?" "Never mind." Logan laughed. "What's the score?" While Logan continued playing, he wondered about the letters he'd been receiving. Who was sending them? And why? He had no idea. He tried to remember if he'd made any kids mad while baby-sitting, but he hadn't even been sitting much lately.
About five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. This time Logan was in no mood to get up and answer it. (Besides, he was in the process of beating his previous score.) "Kerry!" he bellowed. "Kerry, get the door!" Kerry popped up from behind the living room sofa still clutching the cordless phone. "You don't have to shout," she said huffily. "I'm going." When Kerry didn't return in nearly five minutes, Logan assumed one of her friends had been at the door. But then the responsible sitter in him surfaced and he decided he'd better check on her. "Take over for me," he told Hunter as he handed him the mouse once again.
"Is this my score now?" Hunter asked enthusiastically.
Logan hesitated for a moment. "Uh . . . yeah . . . sure. It's yours." Just as he stood up, Kerry came into the room. "There are some people outside to see you," she said in a strangely superior tone.
"What people?" Logan asked, frowning.
"People who have something to say to you." Logan shot Kerry a confused, questioning look and headed for the front door. When he opened it, he came face-to-face with ten of the kids we baby-sit for, and they were all scowling furiously at him. (Even Dana Cheplin was there. Apparently she's a friend of Vanessa's.) "What's up, guys?" Logan asked.
"That's what we came to ask you!" said Vanessa dramatically.
"What are you talking about?" Logan asked.
"Oh, sure, like you don't know," Haley Braddock scoffed.
Claire Pike stepped forward, her arms folded tightly. "You two-dimer!" she scolded.
"What?" asked Logan.
"That's two-timer," Nicky corrected his sister.
"Two-timer?" Logan echoed in bewilderment.
Just then, Mary Anne came up the walk. Logan was glad to see her. Maybe she knew what was going on.
"What's all this?" Mary Anne asked when she reached the front door.
"I was hoping you knew," Logan said.
Jenny Prezzioso and Margo Pike ran to Mary Anne and put their arms around her. "Poor Mary Anne," said Jenny.
"Poor, sweet, trusting Mary Anne," Margo agreed, gazing up at Mary Anne with wide, pity-filled eyes.
Logan and Mary Anne exchanged glances of complete bewilderment. What was going on?
Haley stepped up to Mary Anne and took her hand. "Logan has a confession to make.
It won't be easy for you, but you have all of us to lean on." "Th-thanks," Mary Anne said.
"What confession?" Logan yelped indignantly.
"A confession about the ring you gave to another woman!" Kerry cried accusingly.
At that point, Mary Anne became just a little alarmed. "What is she talking about, Logan?" she asked.
Logan was laughing too hard to reply.
"He thinks this is funny!" Vanessa cried, outraged.
"It is funny," Logan sputtered through his laughter. "It's very funny." "It is?" Mary Anne said. "Maybe someone better tell me what's going on." "Logan has lost his mind," Haley said. "That's what's going on." "Just great!" exclaimed Kerry, throwing up her arms in exasperation. "First he acts like a rat, then he covers up by acting insane." "I'm not a rat and I'm not insane. This is all a big mistake." "You can't get out of it," Becca said. "Vanessa and I saw you buy that ring for Kristy!" "You bought Kristy a ring?" Mary Anne gasped.
"Oops," said Becca, covering her mouth.
Apparently she hadn't meant for that to slip out then.
"Mary Anne, I bought the ring for you," Logan explained patiently. "Kristy was helping me pick it out. It was supposed to be a Valentine's Day surprise." "Oh, Logan, thank you," Mary Anne said, growing misty-eyed.
"You're welcome, but thanks to these guys the surprise is ruined." Logan gave the kids an annoyed stare. "Luckily I have one more valentine surprise lined up." Kerry cleared her throat uncomfortably. Her face was red around the temples and chin. "Uh ... no you don't," she said in a small voice.
Logan looked at her sharply.
"I ... uh ... I ... uh," Kerry stammered.
"You what?" Logan demanded.
"I kind of canceled your reservation at Chez Maurice," Kerry said quickly.
"You're taking me to Chez Maurice!" Mary Anne cried.
"Not anymore," said Logan. "I won't be able to get another reservation there this close to Valentine's Day." He turned angrily toward his sister. "Kerry, I'm going to brain you! Why did you do that?" "I heard you make the reservation. Becca had called to tell me about you and Kristy.
So I put two and two together and - " "And you got six," Logan filled in for her.
"Well, we thought you were being untrue to Mary Anne," Vanessa said defensively.
Mary Anne took Logan's hand. "Logan would never do something like that," she told the kids. "But I do appreciate your sticking up for me. That was very sweet." She turned to Logan. "You have to admit, it was sweet." Logan just scowled.
"Sorry, Logan," said Buddy Barrett. One by one the kids apologized as they turned and slunk away from the front door.
"At least that solves the hate-mail mystery," Mary Anne said with a rueful laugh.
Logan nodded. "It sure does. Now the mystery is what we are going to do to celebrate Valentine's Day." Chapter 13.
When I reached the Cheplins' on Thursday I was happy to see that Mrs. Cheplin had scaled her chore list back to one page. Maybe that was her way of making up for being so obnoxious before. I was especially glad because I was hoping to find a little extra time to make a valentine card for Robert.
I'd been so crazed lately that I hadn't gotten anything for him. If I hadn't heard Logan's story at the Wednesday meeting I might have forgotten about Valentine's Day altogether.
I was racing through my first chore, unloading the dishwasher, when Dana came into the kitchen wearing her jacket. "Adam and I are going over to Kerry Bruno's house," she announced.
"Sorry, but I don't think so," I told her. "Are you allowed to walk down the hill alone? There aren't any sidewalks." "No, but Kerry really needs us and I said we would come," Dana pleaded.
"Needs you for what?" "For the Valentine's Day dinner," she told me. "It's to make up to Mary Anne and Logan for the trouble we caused." "Oh," I said thoughtfully. That was awfully sweet of them. I hated to say no. But I had so many chores to do! "I'll walk you down there," I said finally. "We can't stay long, though." "Yea!" Dana cheered.
