I was growing sleepy, and I forgot about my father. Instead, I thought of my gigantic family. I fell asleep smiling.

Chapter 2.

As president of the Baby-sitters Club, I get to run the meetings. I adore being in charge. Club meetings are the best times of my week.

     “Order! Order, you guys!” I said.

     It was Monday afternoon at five-thirty, time for our meeting to begin. Everyone had arrived and was sitting (or sprawling) in her usual place. As president, I always sit in the director’s chair and wear my visor. I stick a pencil over my ear. That way, I look like I’m in charge. Claudia, Dawn, and Mary Anne loll around on the bed, and Jessi and Mal sit on the floor.

     We hold our meetings in Claudia’s room. She has her own phone.

     This is how our club works: Three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from five-thirty until six, our club meets in Claudia’s bedroom. People who need sitters call us during our meetings. They’re practically guaranteed a sitter. With six club members,

one of us is bound to be free. So we wind up with lots of jobs. Pretty neat, huh?

     The idea for the club was mine. (That’s how I got to be the president.) It came to me way back at the beginning of seventh grade, before Mom was really thinking about marrying Watson. We still lived in this neighborhood then. In fact, we lived right across the street from Claudia. Anyway, one day Mom needed a sitter for David Michael, who had just turned six. I wasn’t free and neither was Sam nor Charlie. So Mom got on the phone and began making call after call, trying to find a sitter. I felt bad for my mother, and even worse for David Michael, who was watching everything. And that was when I got my great idea. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mom could make just one call and reach a whole bunch of babysitters at once? She’d find a sitter much faster that way.