I giggled. Claud is just like a squirrel. She hides food - then forgets where she hid it.

"I'll look under your bed for you," I volunteered.

I flopped onto my stomach, scrunched underneath the bed, and poked around in the art supplies Claudia keeps there. "Jackpot!" I exclaimed. "Here are the Cheese Doodles and a whole pack of those mini candy bars."

"Oh, goody!" said Claud. Even though our meetings are held just before dinner, Claudia always provides us with snacks, since we're starving by five-thirty. Well, she provides most of us with snacks. Dawn won't touch much of Claud's junk food.

"Hi, you guys!" Mary Anne came in just as I was crawling out from under the bed. "I brought Tigger over. I hope you don't mind. He needed a change of scenery." Mary Anne set her gray kitten on the floor. Tigger immediately found a piece of ribbon and began batting it around.

Dawn and Mal showed up next, and Jessi appeared last. She usually does. She's very busy in the afternoons, between ballet classes and a steady sitting job.

My friends were all crawling around on the floor playing with Tigger, so 1 called the meeting to order.

"Any club business?" 1 said loudly.

At the sound of my voice, everyone scrambled to their usual places - Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn on Claudia's bed, and Mal

and Jessi on the floor. I always sit in Claud's director's chair. And I wear a visor.

I am the president and I must look like I mean business.

"The treasury is getting low," spoke up Dawn, our treasurer. "But when I collect dues next week, I think we'll be okay."

Maybe I better stop for a moment and tell you how our club runs.

As I've said, I'm the club president. This is because the idea for the club was mine. I got it way back at the beginning of seventh grade when my mom and my brothers and I were still living next door to Mary Anne. Mom was just getting to know Watson then. Anyway, one evening, Mom realized she needed a sitter for David Michael. Sam and Charlie and I were all going to be busy. So Mom had to find someone else. I watched her make call after call. And as I was watching, it occurred to me that Mom could save herself a lot of time if she could call one number and reach several sitters at once.