Kid-Kits were something Kristy had dreamed up to make us baby-sitters as much fun as possible for our charges. Each of us had decorated a cardboard carton which we'd labeled KID-KIT. We kept the boxes filled with books and games (our own) plus activity books that we paid for out of our club dues. The kids we baby-sit for love the Kid-Kits and look forward

to our visits because of them.

But Jenny had never seen one. "What's a Kid-Kit?" she asked.

"Oh, just something I brought with me." I'd left it on the front porch so I could surprise Jenny with it after the Prezziosos left. I retrieved it and sat down on the floor in the middle of the playroom. I opened the box and began pulling things out: three books, two games, a box of Colorforms, a sticker book, and a paint-with-water book. I turned my back on Jenny and began peeling balloons off the back page of the sticker book.

After a moment, Jenny left the couch and edged toward me and the Kid-Kit. She watched me put stickers in the book. Then she glanced at the things I'd pulled out. She opened the box of Colorforms. It was an old set of mine called Mrs. Cookie's Kitchen. She touched the flat plastic pots and pans and food. Then she put the lid back on the box.

"I can play with this stuff?" she asked.

"Sure. That's why I brought it."

"I can play with anything I want?"

"Of course."

"Is this a painting book?"

I glanced up. "Oh . . . yes. Here, how about the stickers? Don't they look like fun?"

"I WANT TO PAINT!"

"Okay, okay." I looked at Jenny's pristine white dress. I looked at the paint-with-water book. Wasn't the point of painting with water that it wasn't messy?

I went to the kitchen and half-filled a paper cup with water. Then I brought it to Jenny, opened the paint book for her, and settled her on the floor. "Okay, go to it," I said. "All you have to do is brush water over the pictures, and the color will appear. Make sure you rinse the brush off pretty often so the colors don't mix together. Okay?"