Thud!

Thud!

WHOOMP!

Claudia's suitcases landed in our trunk.

"I think you're prepared for anything," I said.

She hugged her parents and sister. Everyone said good-byes.

We gabbed nonstop in the car. Soon we were pulling up to Kristy's house, which is in Stoneybrook's wealthy neighborhood.

No, Kristy is not a rich snobby type. Far from it. Most of her life she lived in a normal house across the street from Claudia. Her dad abandoned the family when she was little (yes, abandoned, without even a good-bye), so her

mom had to raise Kristy and her three brothers — Charlie (who's now seventeen), Sam (fifteen), and David Michael (seven). In fact, Kristy dreamed up the idea for the Baby-sitters Club because she saw how tough it was for her mom to get a sitter.

How did everything change for Kristy? If s right out of a soap opera. Mrs. Thomas met this nice guy named Watson Brewer, who happened to be a millionaire. So Kristy got a new dad, a mansion to live in, two stepsiblings (Karen and Andrew), and later an adopted sister (Emily Michelle).

And they were all there to say good-bye when we arrived. Kristy came bounding down the front steps with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

"Is that ill" Claudia asked.

Kristy shrugged. "I'm not moving." And that was that.

To a loud chorus of " 'byes" and "have funs," we drove off.

On the highway we played a memory game called "I Packed My Grandmother's Trunk." Everyone has to add one item, but only after repeating every item that’s already been added.

By the time we got to the airport, we had packed (among other things) a bathtub, a flugelhorn, five frozen dinners, a dead wombat, a year's supply of toilet paper, and a collapsible helicopter. (Don't ask me.)

It was 5:30 when we got on the ticket line. The terminal was packed. Kids were squirming in their down coats, couples were crying, huge families were wandering around like schools of fish.