BSC032 - Kristy and the Secret of Susan - Martin, Ann M.

Chapter 1.

"Kristy! Emily did it again!" "What? What did she do?" I asked.

My brother David Michael was yelling to me from the den, where he and our little sister Emily were playing. I was in the kitchen fixing an after-school snack for David Michael and a bottle of milk for Emily.

"She got the remote control," David Michael yelled. "She's changing channels on the TV. And I want to watch Gorilla Man." "Well, put the remote control up high where she can't reach it," I called back.

I was screwing the lid on Emily's bottle when I heard a shriek. It was Emily. When you're around kids as much as I am, you get to know whose shriek is whose.

"Now what's wrong?" I asked as I entered the den, carrying the bottle and David Michael's snack. Emily was jumping up and down and crying. Well, she wasn't exactly jumping, since she can't get her feet off the ground yet. She was just doing fast knee-bends. And her face was as red as a tomato.

"Wah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah," she wailed in frustration.

David Michael looked flustered. "I did exactly what you told me to do," he said. "I put the remote control up there," (he pointed to a shelf) "and Emily began crying." "Well, don't worry," I said. "You didn't do anything wrong. Look, here's your snack." I handed him half a sandwich. "You eat that and I'll calm Emily down." What a wild family I have. I love baby-sitting for my little brothers and sisters (there are four of them all together - I'll explain that in a minute), but sometimes things can get touchy.

David Michael sat at one end of the couch in the den, eating his sandwich, watching Gorilla Man, and occasionally casting wounded glances in my direction.

Meanwhile, I tried to calm Emily down. I sat her on my lap in the armchair and explained that the remote control is for bigger people who know what all the buttons do. Then I said that it was polite to ask somebody if you could change channels before you actually did it. I purposely said that, instead of saying that what Emily had done was rude or wrong or bad. With children - or with any one for that matter - it's much more helpful to tell them what to do instead of what not to do. Also, children are sensitive and I didn't want to hurt Emily's feelings.