Mary Anne checked. “Claudia’s free,” she said. “She’s the only one.”

     I glanced at Claud and she nodded.

     So I called Mrs. Newton back. “Claudia will be there,” I told her. We said good-bye and hung up. The Newtons are some of our oldest clients. They have two kids — Jamie, who’s four, and Lucy, who’s just a baby. We all love sitting at the Newtons’, but Claudia especially loves it. I knew she was happy with her job.

     The phone rang several more times after that. All job calls. Then, toward the end of the meeting, we began talking about Mother’s Day again. We couldn’t help it. We knew Mary Anne felt sad, but the rest of us really needed

to think about what to give our moms.

     “Flowers?” suggested Jessi. We shook our heads. “Chocolate-covered cherries?” suggested Claudia.

     We shook our heads.

     “Oh, well. It’s six o’clock,” I announced. “Meeting’s over. Don’t worry — we have plenty of time to think of presents. See you guys in school tomorrow.”

Chapter 3.

When I left Claudia’s house, Charlie was waiting for me in the Kishis’ driveway. He has been really good about remembering to drive me to and from the meetings of the Babysitters Club. We are paying him, but still . . . I keep thinking he might get tied up with an after-school activity and forget me sometime.

     Moving across town was so inconvenient. I’m not near any of my closest friends, and I’m not near my school. Now I have to get rides all the time and take the bus to school. The other kids in my new neighborhood go to private schools. But I wanted to stick with my regular school (so did my brothers), so we’re the only ones who go to public. We really stand out.

     Charlie pulled into the drive, and Watson’s huge house (well, our huge house) spread before us. I am amazed every time I see it. We parked, and my brother and I went inside.