"Yeah."

He didn't sound too thrilled. "Jeff, are you being nice to her?"

"Yes," he said, in a way that meant no.

I just had to ask the next question. "Has Dad said anything about marrying her yet?"

"Nope. You want to talk to him? He's right here."

"Sure."

After a moment Dad got on the phone. "Hi, Sunshine!"

"Hi, Dad. I miss you."

"I miss you, too. We just got back from roller skating at the beach. Jeff's getting too fast for me."

"Oh, I wish I could come out and see you!"

"Well, Thanksgiving's around the corner."

Yeah, a far corner, I thought. "Uh-huh."

We talked a little more. Carol was there, so she got on the phone for awhile.

After the conversation was over, I went to my room and looked out the window. The leaves on the old maple were starting to turn yellow.

I narrowed my eyes and tried to imagine it was a palm tree.

Chapter 2.

RRRRINNGG!

Horrors. It was 5:28 on a Friday afternoon. Starting time for our Baby-sitters Club meeting was still two minutes away, yet the phone was ringing already.

"Boy, are we popular," Claudia Kishi said. She picked up the receiver. "Hello, Babysitters Club. . . . Oh, hi, Mrs. Papadakis. . . . A week from Saturday at eleven? Um, let me find out."

She looked at Mary Anne, who was checking the record book. "Jessi, Kristy, and Stacey are free," Mary Anne said.

"I can't," Jessi Ramsey informed her. "I'm going away."

"I'll do it," Kristy volunteered. (Which made sense, because Kristy lives across the street from the Papadakises.)

"Kristy'll be there," Claudia said into the phone. "Great. Okay, 'bye."

There. You have just seen the BSC at work. Simple, huh? Parents call us, we set up sitting jobs. There are seven regular members (and two associates), so someone's always available. Well, almost always.