Jessi and Mal are our junior officers. Neither of them is allowed to baby-sit during the evenings, unless it's for their own siblings (and boy, do they complain about that), but they do a lot of sitting on afternoons and weekends. They are absolute best friends. They are also certified horse fanatics (I think they have memorized the plot of every single Saddle Club book).

Like Mal, Jessi's the oldest in her family, and is convinced that her parents treat her like a baby. Unlike Mal, Jessi has a normal-sized family, with two siblings. Also, Jessi's African-American and Mal's white.

"No, no!" Jessi was saying to me. "You shift your weight on a falap. That's what makes it different from a shuffle!" Uh-huh.

My dreams of stardom were flying out the window.

By now, the rest of the members of the BSC had arrived. I figured we could settle down and forget I even mentioned tap.

But noooo. Shannon Kilbourne and Dawn Schafer were holding onto a bookshelf and doing perfect falaps (or maybe shuffles). Kristy was trying to imitate them, but her tap-dancing looked like soccer practice.

Only Mary Anne Spier had the good sense to stay seated.

"Come on, Mary Anne," Kristy urged her.

"I, uh, have to do some updating," Mary Anne replied, blushing. She was holding the BSC record book in front of her, like a shield.

Mary Anne blushes a lot. She's the shyest, sweetest, most sensitive person on earth. Also the most organized. Which makes her a perfect club secretary. You should see that record book. In her neat handwriting, she fills a calendar with all our jobs and conflicts (doctor and dentist appointments, family trips, Kris-ty's practices, Jessi's dance classes, and so on). She also keeps an up-to-date client list, with addresses, phone numbers, rates charged, and special needs, likes, and dislikes of the kids we sit for. And, believe it or not, she enjoys doing this! Like Kristy, Mary Anne used to live on my street. You'd never think those two opposites would be best friends, but they are. Actually, they do have things in common. Both are short and brown-haired. And they both had pretty sad lives that changed for the better.