#1 Kristy's Great Idea (Chapter 6 - Chapter 10)
I had time, so let's go forth!
CHAPTER SIX
So apparently they did pay for that newspaper ad. Later in the day, they meet up at Claudia's room. On the door is a sign with the logo and hours. Miraculously, nothing is misspelled.
Claudia and Kristy watch the phone and Janine comes by to correct a grammar problem that may or may not exist. I do that too sometimes, wonder if a word is supposed to be descriptive or possessive. The girls act like this is the worst thing in the world and are “saved” when Stacey comes by.
Mary Anne arrives and they all sit around the room in awkward silence. Stacey refuses a jawbreaker. I'm pretty sure people with diabetes can have the occasional sweet, as long it's not too sugary or not too much.
They get a call at 5:30 sharp from Kristy's mom. The dialogue when Kristy answers sounds like actual phone talk, unlike later books which had them repeating everything the caller said. Compare this book's “What? You do? Oh.” to a later book's “You want a sitter for Jamie Newton on Saturday?”
David Michael still needs a sitter. Only Stacey and Kristy are free. Stacey says Kristy should take it since DM's her brother, but takes it back when Kristy mentions her older brothers. Stacey's never had a Stoneybrook boy before, so she takes the job.
They get a prank call that they don't get and a call from Mrs. McKeever for her three year-olds, Buffy and Pinky. If I were them, I'd double check because there is no way in hell someone named their kids Buffy and Pinky. Unless they were one of those weird fans who names kids after TV show characters. My English teacher's daughter is named Katana. It's both sad and kickass.
They get prank called three more times and for some reason never catch on that it's a prank call. Claudia mentions that she's gotten weird calls before. I wonder what kind.
Elizabeth calls again. Watson needs a sitter for Hellspawn and Andrew. Kristy refuses but MA accepts, shrugging off that bad feeling creeping up on her. They get prank called a final time and turns out it's Sam. I'm surprised Kristy didn't figure out sooner.
Kristy and MA think he's a dick but because Claud and Stacey are into those they think he's hilarious. And I do admit, that is a better prank call than “Is your fridge running?”
Kristy gets home and fights with Sam, which gets them a time-out. Claud calls to tell Kristy she got a job for Jamie Newton after hours. Kristy feels hurt because she usually sits for Jamie. She flashes the news to MA later, and MA responds with TOO BAD. The way it's written in all caps makes it look hilariously sarcastic.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kristy goes to the McKeever's and notices that there seem to be no signs of children. This makes Kristy think they're “boring children who wanted to spend the afternoon learning about butterflies or food groups or something”. Okay, shut up, that is a very normal thing for children to do. Sometimes children like to learn. That's why Jamie and DM were watching Sesame Street earlier. Then again, Kristy gets a pit in her stomach if Janine knocks on the door.
Miss Hargraves, Mrs. McKeever's niece, answers the door. For some reason, the house is filled with fine china but Hargraves describes B&P as “unruly”. Okay, small children or dogs, you don't put fragile things all around your house if you have them.
Hargraves introduces Kristy to B&P, two rowdy St. Bernards. I was never really a dog person. I prefer to have cats, but I have a goldfish called Mr. Fish XV, so that's not happening soon. My cousin got a puppy named Charcoal from my classmate as a graduation present though, lucky her. My classmate wore a black shirt so he snuck it in the school nested in his jacket, camoflagued from the teachers. It sat in our classroom hiding for half the day and it was adorable.
The reason why I veered off-topic is because the B&P sitting job ispredictable. Wacky hijinks ensue and Kristy gets the idea for the notebook, plus $3.50. I'm pretty sure that rate should be higher. But then again this was before inflation.
The notebook's supposed to be about sitting jobs where the members could learn from each others' mistakes, but later it seems to be more like a bunch of suburban soccer mom stories in bad handwriting. “Karen killed a cat today because she thought it was Morbidda Destiny's familiar! That Karen, with her big imagination!” “I was babbystitting fore Jinny Prezsiozio todoy.” “Ew ew ew!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
It's Claudia's sitting job for Jamie, and her notebook entry doesn't have as much errors as the later books do. That also means I can't make fun of her. The day will come.
Turns out Mrs. Newton forgot to mention the three other kids coming over. Jamie and Rosie hate each other, Brenda was getting over chicken pox and Rob hates women, even his own mom. The day goes as expected, with Brenda acting out and Rob and Jamie thinking girls are dumb and fighting with Rosie.
Claudia tries to make them behave, which makes the kids (except Jamie) start a rebellion. Jamie sits down because he was raised better and the other three start making a ruckus. Claudia panics but gets inspired by Jamie behaving and remembers when her parents would ignore her and Janine if they acted out. Claudia manages to spell ignore correctly too.
While that isn't the best method when it comes to regulating children’s behavior, it works for Claudia. She starts reading to Jamie and as she goes on, the kids realize she isn't paying attention and start listening to the stories.
All I did when my second cousin started running around the house making noise was turn off all the lights in the house except the living room to confine him to one space then I put on Blue's Clues. That gave me an hour of quiet reading.
CHAPTER NINE
Sam wouldn't be caught dead with a junior high girl, but when he saw Stacey, and Stacey showed him what she had to offer, he went back on that pledge.
DM was introduced to Stacey and Sam came home punching a baseball glove. He promptly used the glove to cover his crotch when he laid eyes upon the “foxy” Stacey.
Okay, I buy that Stacey could look attractive to a 14 year-old, but I doubt that any 12 year-old could be called “foxy”. Then again, sophisticated is a synonym for stacked in the BSC-verse, so I guess this could happen.
Also, there's only a two year age gap between 12 and 14, but the maturity gap is wider. I'm only 15 and I still remember those years clearly.
Kristy mentions that she has no idea what they see in each other, because she has “absolutely no interest in boys”. I have another great idea.
Book #626, Kristy and the Rainbow Girl.
Tagline: Kristy's always felt different, and know she knows why.
Kristy meets a lesbian in school who inroduces Kristy to LGBT. Kristy finds out that she's bi. Kristy works out both her feelings towards her sexuality and her growing feelings towards Abby. More importantly: Does she tell her friends and family, or will they kick her out for being “different”?
...You know what, the world is better off without that book. Just like the abuse book, the anorexia book, and the many diabetes books, AMM and the ghosties would find some way to make it weird and fuck it up.
Stacey was wearing this weird mess:
And Sam was wearing a stupid shirt and hobo jeans. I have no idea what they saw either.
Stacey wipes her mouth and Sam lays it on smooth. Stacey plays shy and nervous. DM doesn't care and gets Twinkies. Sam offers half of his to Stacey and she refuses. Sam goes “Right, the diet, Takes a lot of willpower to resist...temptations.” Stacey almost goes for it and remembers that DM is still in the room so she asks DM if he wants to play Candy Land. Stacey creams when Sam says seductively: “I'm the Candy Land World Champion.”
So the three spend the rest of the time playing Candy Land. Stacey leaves when Kristy arrives, but not without making an offer to play with Sam again. Wink wink.
CHAPTER TEN
It's MA's turn. Time for the sitting job with Hellspawn and Andrew. Cue the mood music:
On second thought, maybe that music is way too epic for Hellspawn. Plus, she hasn't become Hellspawn yet at this point. No, the transformation from Karen to Hellspawn is gradual, just like everyone else's transformations.
MA actually says that Karen has a problem in the notebook entry instead of just shaking her head and chuckling like she would later in the series. MA meets Boo-boo the cat and gets an intro to Mrs. Porter, who will gradually become known solely as Morbidda Destiny as the books go on.
Andrew and Karen are actually pretty cute, until they go outside and Karen tells MA about Morbidda Destiny. MA thinks that telling her the truth would make her a bad baby-sitter, but agreeing would make her a liar. MA loses the chance to stop Hellspawn from ever forming by choosing not to tell the truth. You fool!
Mrs. Porter sticks her face at her window and Karen and Andrew freak out. For some reason MA can't stop calling Mrs. Porter Morbidda. She can't actually be buying Karen's shit, can't she? I mean, she's emotional but she's not stupid. That's Claudia's character trait.
Boo-boo gets into trouble and MA buys Karen's shit. Mrs. Porter is not a witch! Nor is Janine a weirdo. What is with the BSC and not liking people who are slightly different from their definition of normal?
I'll leave it off here. See you later!
CHAPTER SIX
So apparently they did pay for that newspaper ad. Later in the day, they meet up at Claudia's room. On the door is a sign with the logo and hours. Miraculously, nothing is misspelled.
Claudia and Kristy watch the phone and Janine comes by to correct a grammar problem that may or may not exist. I do that too sometimes, wonder if a word is supposed to be descriptive or possessive. The girls act like this is the worst thing in the world and are “saved” when Stacey comes by.
Mary Anne arrives and they all sit around the room in awkward silence. Stacey refuses a jawbreaker. I'm pretty sure people with diabetes can have the occasional sweet, as long it's not too sugary or not too much.
They get a call at 5:30 sharp from Kristy's mom. The dialogue when Kristy answers sounds like actual phone talk, unlike later books which had them repeating everything the caller said. Compare this book's “What? You do? Oh.” to a later book's “You want a sitter for Jamie Newton on Saturday?”
David Michael still needs a sitter. Only Stacey and Kristy are free. Stacey says Kristy should take it since DM's her brother, but takes it back when Kristy mentions her older brothers. Stacey's never had a Stoneybrook boy before, so she takes the job.
They get a prank call that they don't get and a call from Mrs. McKeever for her three year-olds, Buffy and Pinky. If I were them, I'd double check because there is no way in hell someone named their kids Buffy and Pinky. Unless they were one of those weird fans who names kids after TV show characters. My English teacher's daughter is named Katana. It's both sad and kickass.
They get prank called three more times and for some reason never catch on that it's a prank call. Claudia mentions that she's gotten weird calls before. I wonder what kind.
Elizabeth calls again. Watson needs a sitter for Hellspawn and Andrew. Kristy refuses but MA accepts, shrugging off that bad feeling creeping up on her. They get prank called a final time and turns out it's Sam. I'm surprised Kristy didn't figure out sooner.
Kristy and MA think he's a dick but because Claud and Stacey are into those they think he's hilarious. And I do admit, that is a better prank call than “Is your fridge running?”
Kristy gets home and fights with Sam, which gets them a time-out. Claud calls to tell Kristy she got a job for Jamie Newton after hours. Kristy feels hurt because she usually sits for Jamie. She flashes the news to MA later, and MA responds with TOO BAD. The way it's written in all caps makes it look hilariously sarcastic.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kristy goes to the McKeever's and notices that there seem to be no signs of children. This makes Kristy think they're “boring children who wanted to spend the afternoon learning about butterflies or food groups or something”. Okay, shut up, that is a very normal thing for children to do. Sometimes children like to learn. That's why Jamie and DM were watching Sesame Street earlier. Then again, Kristy gets a pit in her stomach if Janine knocks on the door.
Miss Hargraves, Mrs. McKeever's niece, answers the door. For some reason, the house is filled with fine china but Hargraves describes B&P as “unruly”. Okay, small children or dogs, you don't put fragile things all around your house if you have them.
Hargraves introduces Kristy to B&P, two rowdy St. Bernards. I was never really a dog person. I prefer to have cats, but I have a goldfish called Mr. Fish XV, so that's not happening soon. My cousin got a puppy named Charcoal from my classmate as a graduation present though, lucky her. My classmate wore a black shirt so he snuck it in the school nested in his jacket, camoflagued from the teachers. It sat in our classroom hiding for half the day and it was adorable.
The reason why I veered off-topic is because the B&P sitting job ispredictable. Wacky hijinks ensue and Kristy gets the idea for the notebook, plus $3.50. I'm pretty sure that rate should be higher. But then again this was before inflation.
The notebook's supposed to be about sitting jobs where the members could learn from each others' mistakes, but later it seems to be more like a bunch of suburban soccer mom stories in bad handwriting. “Karen killed a cat today because she thought it was Morbidda Destiny's familiar! That Karen, with her big imagination!” “I was babbystitting fore Jinny Prezsiozio todoy.” “Ew ew ew!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
It's Claudia's sitting job for Jamie, and her notebook entry doesn't have as much errors as the later books do. That also means I can't make fun of her. The day will come.
Turns out Mrs. Newton forgot to mention the three other kids coming over. Jamie and Rosie hate each other, Brenda was getting over chicken pox and Rob hates women, even his own mom. The day goes as expected, with Brenda acting out and Rob and Jamie thinking girls are dumb and fighting with Rosie.
Claudia tries to make them behave, which makes the kids (except Jamie) start a rebellion. Jamie sits down because he was raised better and the other three start making a ruckus. Claudia panics but gets inspired by Jamie behaving and remembers when her parents would ignore her and Janine if they acted out. Claudia manages to spell ignore correctly too.
While that isn't the best method when it comes to regulating children’s behavior, it works for Claudia. She starts reading to Jamie and as she goes on, the kids realize she isn't paying attention and start listening to the stories.
All I did when my second cousin started running around the house making noise was turn off all the lights in the house except the living room to confine him to one space then I put on Blue's Clues. That gave me an hour of quiet reading.
CHAPTER NINE
Sam wouldn't be caught dead with a junior high girl, but when he saw Stacey, and Stacey showed him what she had to offer, he went back on that pledge.
DM was introduced to Stacey and Sam came home punching a baseball glove. He promptly used the glove to cover his crotch when he laid eyes upon the “foxy” Stacey.
Okay, I buy that Stacey could look attractive to a 14 year-old, but I doubt that any 12 year-old could be called “foxy”. Then again, sophisticated is a synonym for stacked in the BSC-verse, so I guess this could happen.
Also, there's only a two year age gap between 12 and 14, but the maturity gap is wider. I'm only 15 and I still remember those years clearly.
Kristy mentions that she has no idea what they see in each other, because she has “absolutely no interest in boys”. I have another great idea.
Book #626, Kristy and the Rainbow Girl.
Tagline: Kristy's always felt different, and know she knows why.
Kristy meets a lesbian in school who inroduces Kristy to LGBT. Kristy finds out that she's bi. Kristy works out both her feelings towards her sexuality and her growing feelings towards Abby. More importantly: Does she tell her friends and family, or will they kick her out for being “different”?
...You know what, the world is better off without that book. Just like the abuse book, the anorexia book, and the many diabetes books, AMM and the ghosties would find some way to make it weird and fuck it up.
Stacey was wearing this weird mess:
And Sam was wearing a stupid shirt and hobo jeans. I have no idea what they saw either.
Stacey wipes her mouth and Sam lays it on smooth. Stacey plays shy and nervous. DM doesn't care and gets Twinkies. Sam offers half of his to Stacey and she refuses. Sam goes “Right, the diet, Takes a lot of willpower to resist...temptations.” Stacey almost goes for it and remembers that DM is still in the room so she asks DM if he wants to play Candy Land. Stacey creams when Sam says seductively: “I'm the Candy Land World Champion.”
So the three spend the rest of the time playing Candy Land. Stacey leaves when Kristy arrives, but not without making an offer to play with Sam again. Wink wink.
CHAPTER TEN
It's MA's turn. Time for the sitting job with Hellspawn and Andrew. Cue the mood music:
Click to viewOn second thought, maybe that music is way too epic for Hellspawn. Plus, she hasn't become Hellspawn yet at this point. No, the transformation from Karen to Hellspawn is gradual, just like everyone else's transformations.
MA actually says that Karen has a problem in the notebook entry instead of just shaking her head and chuckling like she would later in the series. MA meets Boo-boo the cat and gets an intro to Mrs. Porter, who will gradually become known solely as Morbidda Destiny as the books go on.
Andrew and Karen are actually pretty cute, until they go outside and Karen tells MA about Morbidda Destiny. MA thinks that telling her the truth would make her a bad baby-sitter, but agreeing would make her a liar. MA loses the chance to stop Hellspawn from ever forming by choosing not to tell the truth. You fool!
Mrs. Porter sticks her face at her window and Karen and Andrew freak out. For some reason MA can't stop calling Mrs. Porter Morbidda. She can't actually be buying Karen's shit, can't she? I mean, she's emotional but she's not stupid. That's Claudia's character trait.
Boo-boo gets into trouble and MA buys Karen's shit. Mrs. Porter is not a witch! Nor is Janine a weirdo. What is with the BSC and not liking people who are slightly different from their definition of normal?
I'll leave it off here. See you later!