Kristy never wastes a second. She's a take-charge, rushing-around kind of person. Sometimes she's bossy, but not too often. Mary Anne says she used to be a lot worse, but now she tries to watch herself.

"Here's the treasury," said Stacey. She dumped the contents of the treasury (a manila envelope) onto the bed. Several dollar bills and a whole mess of quarters fell out. "Seven-fifty," she said, after counting the money quickly.

We each kicked in another fifty cents — our weekly dues — which brought the total to ten dollars.

"Not bad," said Kristy. "Maybe we should buy some stuff for the Kid-Kits."

Kid-Kits are boxes that we baby-sitters sometimes bring along on jobs. Mostly they're filled with our old games and toys and picture books (which are new to the kids we sit for), but we also keep them stocked with coloring books, sticker books, puzzle books, and other stuff that we have to replace from time to time. We pay for those things out of club dues. The stuff we buy is worth it. Kids love our Kid-Kits, so

they ask their parents to use the Baby-sitters Club and we end up getting more jobs. My dad always used to say, "You have to spend money to make money." He's a good businessman. And I guess Kristy is a good businesswoman.

Ring, ring.

Our first phone call. Claudia answered it.

"Hello. Baby-sitters Club. . . . Oh, hi. ... Saturday, from three to five? I'll check around and call you right back. 'Bye." She hung up the phone.

Mary Anne had already opened the record book to the calendar section. "This Saturday?" she asked.

"Nope, the next one," replied Claudia. "That was Mrs. Prezzioso. She needs someone for Jenny for two hours that afternoon. Who's free then?"

The Baby-sitters Club rule for calls that come in during meetings is that every member has a chance at each job. If someone calls one of us at home some other time, that's a different story. We can take those jobs on the spot, of course. But club calls are for the group.