"Yeah." I hoped the trick would work.

Jenny let me take her dress off. She followed me into the kitchen and sat on the counter while I held the dress under a stream of water from the faucet. She watched as the color flowed out.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Does your mommy have a hair dryer?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Come show me where."

So Jenny, giggling, helped me blow-dry her dress. Then I told her that she would have to wear playclothes if she wanted to finish painting. She took me to her room, pointed to a drawer in her bureau, and said, "That's where the playclothes are."

I opened the drawer and found myself looking at three piles of neatly folded, spotless, almost-new shirts, blouses, and slacks. "These are your playclothes?"

Jenny gave me a look that plainly said, "I told you so."

I closed the drawer. "Okay, Jenny-bunny," I said. "Do you want to finish painting?"

"Yes."

"All right. Come on." We went back downstairs and Jenny spent the rest of the afternoon painting in her underwear. I got her dressed just five minutes before the Prezziosos came home.

"How was she?" Mrs. P. asked.

I glanced down at Jenny. "An angel," I replied. "An absolute angel."

Jenny smiled at me. Our secret was safe.

Chapter 7.

I couldn't stand it any longer. I decided to ask my father if he would extend my babysitting hours. If all the other members of the club were allowed to stay out until ten o'clock, I ought to be able to as well. After all, I was the same age as they were, I was just as responsible as they were, and I had just as much homework as they did.

The one job that I had had to turn down, when I was taking club phone calls the Friday after our fight, had been for a client who needed a sitter until ten o'clock on Saturday night. Kristy had taken the job.

I felt humiliated.

But I was nervous about facing my father. He wouldn't be angry; he just wouldn't see my side, unless I figured out exactly the right