"Now," she began, "I will be playing Mrs. Kennelworth, a very, very rich lady who is going to stay at the hotel. Emily, you will be my little girl. Andrew, you will be my pet monkey." "What?" cried Andrew.

Karen ignored him. "David Michael, you go downstairs and get ready in the living room. Stacey, you go with him and make sure you have a pad of paper for our guest book." "Okay," agreed Stacey. She and David Michael went into the living room and waited for the others to arrive.

A few minutes later, "Mrs. Kennelworth" made her entrance. She was very dressed up.

Karen had found a long, fancy-looking dress, silver high heels, a sequined hat, a fake-fur muff, and plenty of necklaces and bracelets.

"Good evening," said Karen. "I am Mrs. Kennelworth, here for the night with my - " (she turned around and pulled Emily and Andrew into the living room) " - with my little girl, Perdita, and my little monkey, Spunky." In came Emily wearing her Sunday best - a white dress with pink ribbons down the front and her black Mary Jane shoes - and Andrew wearing a hat with ears on it, mittens for paws, and a realistic-looking tail.

"I'm sorry," said Stacey, the desk clerk. "No monkeys allowed in the hotel. Only people." "But my dog - my Mexican shorthair - came last time," replied Karen. "Besides, I am very, very rich, and anyway, where are my lovely little girl and I going to stay tonight if we can't sleep here? We're on our way to Istanbul, you know. . . . Bellman, take our bags. Here's a one hundred-dollar tip." Stacey pretended to look agitated. "Very well then, Mrs. Smellyworth - I mean, Mrs. Kennelworth. Sign the register, please. Sign in Perdita and Funky, too." "Spunky," Karen corrected her. She turned to Emily. "Say, 'Thank you, nice lady,' " she instructed her.

Emily loves being included in the game. "Fank oo, nice wady," she repeated proudly. (She has no idea what she's saying when she repeats these things.) "Say, 'My, but what a beautiful hotel,' " Karen went on.