"Babysitters Club 030 Mary Anne And The Great Romance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

However, only one pair of feet dashed to the door. Marilyn's. As soon as she opened it, 1 recognized her. Here's why. Up until the girls were eight years old, their parents were so thrilled with the idea of identical twins that they insisted on dressing Marilyn and Carolyn in exactly the same outfits every day, right down to their jewelry. And their hair was styled the same way. Furthermore, they were given the same toys. And they still share a room with identical furniture on either side. Carolyn's half of the room looks like a mirror
image of Marilyn's half. It used to be that the only difference between the girls is that Marilyn takes piano lessons (Carolyn is tone deaf), while Carolyn likes science.
Those two things haven't changed, but a lot of others sure have. When Mallory was sitting for the twins she saw how miserable they were. The kids at school couldn't tell them apart, so they called both of them "Marilyn-or-Carolyn." Even Mallory couldn't tell them apart unless they wore their name bracelets. What no one knew (because the girls just weren't mature enough to figure out how to tell their parents) was that Marilyn and Carolyn desperately wanted their own, personal, separate identities. Marilyn wanted to grow her hair out. Carolyn wanted hers cut. Neither one liked the frilly clothes their parents chose for them. Marilyn wanted simpler clothes, Carolyn wanted trendier clothes. Furthermore, Marilyn was the more dominant twin. She's kind of like Kristy. But Carolyn was more outgoing - like Claudia or Stacey.
They were two different seven-year-olds when Mallory first met them - only no one knew it. Not, that is, until Mallory started talking to the twins and finally came to understand them. Then she found the nerve to help
them have a discussion with their mother and even convince Mrs. Arnold to let them spend their birthday money (they turned eight recently) on new clothes. New nonidentical clothes. Later, Carolyn got her hair cut short - very stylishly, with longer curls down the back of her neck - and now Marilyn's hair has grown out an inch or two.
So when a girl with longish hair, wearing a simple gray skirt, a white blouse, white knee-socks, and red shoes opened the door, 1 knew right away that it was Marilyn.
"Hi!" I said.
"Hi!" she replied. She was trying to sound happy, but 1 could tell that something was bothering her.
1 stepped into the Arnolds' front hall. "Where's Carolyn?" 1 asked.
"Out."
"Out? Out where?"
"With her friends."
Obviously, this was a touchy subject, so 1 didn't pursue it. Anyway, Mrs. Arnold came bustling in from the living room then. Somehow when she's around, the calmest situation can turn into a flurry of excitement.
"Hello, Mary Anne," she greeted me. "Oh, you brought your Kid-Kit. Great. Now, Marilyn's the only one here. Carolyn's off with her friends. She's over at Haley Braddock's. There was a chance she and Haley are going to visit Vanessa Pike, so if you need Carolyn, try one of those places." (I noticed Marilyn scowling then, but Mrs. Arnold didn't see it.) "I'll be at Stoneybrook Elementary," Mrs. Arnold went on. "The number for the school office is posted by the phone. Mr. Arnold's office number is there, too, along with the emergency numbers. I should be back in about two hours. Maybe two and a half. Marilyn, you have fun with Mary Anne. And if Carolyn comes home, be nice to her," she added ominously.
"Okay," said Marilyn sulkily.
Mrs. Arnold left then, and I said brightly to Marilyn, "You know, you can go play with Carolyn, if you want. I won't mind."
Marilyn looked sad. "You don't want to play with me, either?" she said.
Oops. What did Marilyn mean? "Of course I want to play with you," I assured her. "I brought the Kid-Kit with me, didn't I?"
Marilyn nodded.
"I just thought you might want to play with your sister and your friends," I added. "I'd come with you."
"Nah," said Marilyn. "They're not my
friends. I don't have any. I mean, I have a - a different friend."
"Oh. Well, that's nice. What's her name?"
"Her name is ... Gozzie Kunka."
"Gozzie Kunka!" 1 exclaimed. "What kind of name is that?"
"Foreign. She comes from a faraway place," replied Marilyn. "She's new at school," she went on. "She's not in my grade, but I met her on the playground. She didn't have anyone to play with or talk to, so 1 sat down next to her on the swings."
"Does she speak English?" 1 asked.
Marilyn and 1 had moved into the living room and were opening the Kid-Kit.
"Oh, yes. Very well. She just has a sort of - what do you call it?"
"An accent?" 1 suggested.
"Yeah, an accent. But I can understand her."
Marilyn took a puzzle out of the Kid-Kit, but she didn't dump it out. Instead she said, "You know what Gozzie told me? She told me that she can ride a horse bareback. And that once when she and her family were in Paris, they ate snails and frogs' legs."
"Ew," I said.
"I know. That's what 1 said, too. But Gozzie
said the frogs' legs were good - kind of like chicken. She didn't like the snails, though. They were rubbery and covered with garlic. . . . You know what else Gozzie has eaten?"
"What?" I asked.
"Sushi, elk meat, and rice paper. She has traveled everywhere."
"She sounds fascinating."
"Oh, she is." I thought Marilyn would dump the puzzle out then, but instead she said, "Once Gozzie and her family were on a plane, and a man said he was going to hijack it. It turned out he was only fooling, but he got arrested anyway. The plane made an emergency landing in Brazil and a whole bunch of police officers trooped onto the plane and arrested him. They had to carry him out because he made a fuss and wouldn't walk."
"Gosh," I said, "that must have been awfully "scary."
"It was. Gozzie's family was too upset even to eat the meals on the plane trip." Marilyn finally spread the puzzle pieces on the floor and began fitting them together, but while she did, she kept talking.
"Carolyn has gotten to be an awful pain. She spends all her time with Haley and Vanessa and some other girls around here. Haley
and Vanessa aren't even in our grade. They're a whole year older."
"Sometimes that doesn't matter," 1 told her. "I'm friends with Mallory Pike and Jessi Ramsey and I'm two years older than they are."
Marilyn shrugged. She worked on the puzzle for awhile. Then she read to me from Pippi Longstocking. We were in the middle of a chapter about a very funny tea party when Carolyn came home.
"Hi, Mary Anne!" she cried.
"Hi, yourself," I said. "You look terrific."
Carolyn, with her snazzy haircut and in her equally snazzy clothes, grinned broadly.
Marilyn scowled.
Then Carolyn said, "Me and Haley and Vanessa and maybe Charlotte Johanssen are thinking of forming a club. A club for girls. We will only let certain people be in it."