Chapter 2.

Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck by the time I got home. All sorts of horrible thoughts ran through my mind as I dashed fromBradford Court , where Claudia and Mary Anne live, to my own street. Maybe my grandfather was sick ... or worse. Maybe my dad had been in an accident driving home from his job inStamford . Maybe, maybe . . .

But when I burst through the front door of my house, I found both Mom and Dad in the kitchen, putting supper on the table. Whatever it was couldn't be too bad, or they wouldn't be folding napkins and filling glasses with milk.

"Here I am!" I exclaimed. "Mom, what's the matter? I thought someone had died or something!"

"Oh, Stace, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you." My mother kissed my cheek. "We have something important to tell you, that's all. Now sit down. Supper's almost ready."

"You're not making me go to another doctor, are you?" I asked warily as I slid into my seat.

When I'd first gotten diabetes, Mom and Dad had been scared to death. They'd dragged me from one strange doctor to another, trying to find a "cure," even though there is no cure for diabetes — just ways to control it. They'd nearly driven me bananas. As it was, all my friends thought I was either crazy or contagious. Things got so bad for us that when Dad's boss offered him a job heading up a new branch of his company inStamford,Connecticut , he took it, and we moved out ofNew York and up here to Stoneybrook. My parents finally calmed down about my disease, and I made friends with Claudia and the other members of the Baby-sitters Club. After a while, I even made up with Laine, myNew York best friend. (She was mad at me for keeping secrets from her, and we'd had a fight.) So I hoped Mom and Dad weren't going to ruin things by getting weird about my diabetes again.

"Another doctor?" my mother repeated, "Oh, no. Nothing like that." She set out a bowl of broccoli, a fresh green salad, and a plate of baked chicken legs, all foods I can eat. When we were done serving ourselves, I looked expectantly from my mother to my father. One of them had better start talking soon, I thought.