The other thing that makes Stacey's life hard is that she has diabetes. That's a life-long disease in which the body doesn't process sugars correctly. What it means for Stacey is that she has to be very, very careful about what she eats (no sweets) and that she has to give herself shots of insulin (which her body doesn't produce the way it should) every single day. If I had diabetes, I'd probably complain about it to anyone who would listen, but Stacey hardly ever complains. She just deals with it.

Have I made Stacey sound like a hard luck case? She's not. She's full of fun and always ready to jump into whatever's happening. She's a little boy-crazy, wild about shopping, and a great baby-sitter.

Those last three things would also describe Stacey's best friend, Claudia Kishi. Claudia is Japanese-American, and really gorgeous. She has long black hair, almond-shaped brown eyes, and a beautiful complexion. Like Stacey, she's a wild dresser. But while Stacey's outfits tend to be trendy, Claudia's are better described as — well, as creative, I guess. Claudia's a terrific artist, and she applies her artistic ideas to her clothing. She might wear a hand-painted silk scarf to top off a polka-dotted jumpsuit, for example. Or two handmade papier-mâché earrings: that look like little donuts, with a third that looks like a cup of coffee. (Claud has two holes pierced in one ear, and one in the other.)

Claudia is vice-president of the BSC, but just like the vice-president of the country, she doesn't have a lot of official duties. She's vice-president mainly because we use her room — and her phone — for our meetings. Claud has a private line, and without it we wouldn't have a club. We could never tie up anyone else's line the way we do hers. She does have one official duty: answering the phone when clients call outside of meeting hours. And she has one unofficial duty: supplying the refreshments for our meetings.