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

"Hey, good idea!" I said, before 1 remembered that Dad is not in love with the word "hey."
But all he said was, "Don't even think about
it. I was just kidding. You've got enough to do between school and baby-sitting."
I knew he was right.
We talked about Mrs. Schafer's surprise for most of the rest of the meal. One thing seemed odd to me: This birthday wasn't going to be a big one for Mrs. Schafer. I know because I said, "So how old is your mom going to be, Dawn?" (I didn't even look at Dad. I was sure he would have disapproved of the question. Dad is so old-fashioned. He still thinks it's rude to ask "a lady" her age.)
"Forty-three," Dawn replied, without blinking an eye.
Hmm. Why was Dad making such a big fuss over a forty-third birthday. Why not wait until her forty-fifth? Oh, well. Maybe he just wanted to do something nice. After all, it would be the first birthday Dawn's mom had celebrated since she and Dad started going out together.
When dinner was over, Dad volunteered to do the dishes so Dawn and I could start our homework. We didn't tell him that we had only a little homework that night. We wanted a chance to talk. So we did our math and science problems in a flash and just hoped we'd gotten the right answers.
As soon as we were finished, I said, "What are you going to give your mom for her birthday?"
Without hesitating, Dawn replied, "A day-planner. You know, one of those fancy books that help you organize your whole life. She really needs one. And she said she wants one."
"Oh. I'm not sure what to get her. Maybe 1 could get a pen to go with the day-planner. 1 mean, a nice pen. Not just a Bic or something."
"Nah. She'd lose it."
"Oh. Then how about a book?"
"I don't know. She's pretty picky about what she reads."
1 felt sort of hurt. Why couldn't Dawn be helpful? Then 1 got a terrific idea. Mrs. Schafer loves jewelry. "I know! A nice piece of jewelry!" I cried.
"Great!" exclaimed Dawn.
"Maybe a pin shaped like a cat. I saw a really pretty one in - "
"Forget it. Mom doesn't like cats."
Finally 1 lost my temper (sort of). "Well, could you give me some help here? You're just shooting down all my ideas."
"I'm sorry. It's just that I know my mother
better than you do, and your ideas aren't - aren't - "
"Aren't what?" I demanded.
Dawn shrugged. "Mom and I are so close, that's all. I guess it's hard for me to be understanding when someone has the wrong idea about her."
I jumped off the bed and faced Dawn with my fists clenched. "I don't have any wrong ideas about her. You make it sound like I think she's some sleazy old ... I don't know ..."
"Sorry," said Dawn, not sounding sorry at all.
I sat down on the bed again, and Tigger crawled into my lap for comfort. He hates fights and commotion. Usually he leaves the room.
Dawn and I were silent for a few moments. At last Dawn asked how my baby-sitting job had gone that afternoon. I told her about the twins and their new friends.
"Gozzie Kunka?" Dawn repeated in amazement when I told her about Marilyn's friend.
"That's what she said her name is."
"I've never heard of a name like that."
"Neither have I. But you never know."
Dawn smiled. "For the longest time," she
said, "I thought Logan Bruno was a pretty weird name."
I threw a pillow at Dawn and she threw one back at me. We started giggling and couldn't stop.
Our fight was over.
Chapter 6.
In case you don't know, Matt and Haley Braddock are two of our regular sitting charges. Matt is seven and Haley is nine. They're great kids. The unusual thing about their family, though, is that since Matt is profoundly deaf and doesn't speak, he and Haley and their parents communicate using sign language. All us sitters, especially Jessi, and even some of the kids in the neighborhood, have learned a little about signing. If we couldn't sign, we couldn't "talk" to Matt. (He doesn't read lips. Reading lips is very difficult. Try watching TV sometime and blocking your ears. Then see how much you understand. I'll bet it's hardly anything. The "p" and "b"
sounds look exactly the same. So do the "d" and "t" sounds. Plus, try lip-reading someone who's got a mustache. Forget it. You can barely see a thing.)
Anyway, Matt talks with his hands just like most people talk with their mouths. There are signs for tons of words (like "owl," which Jessi learned today). If you don't know the sign for a word, you can spell it, since there are also signs for the letters of the alphabet. When you spell out a word, it's called finger spelling. Matt is the best signer of all of us, since he signs all day long at his special school, but Haley and their parents are almost as good as Matt is, and when we're having trouble communicating with Matt, Haley is our interpreter.
Jessi arrived at the Braddocks' right after school let out. Not long after Mrs. Braddock had left, the doorbell rang. (A light flashed in every room of the house at the same time, so Matt knew the bell had rung, too.) Matt and Haley raced for the door.
"It's Carolyn!" Haley cried, signing at the same time. "I just know it."
"Check before you open the door," Jessi warned Haley.
She checked. It was Carolyn.
Carolyn bounced in, wearing an oversized shirt, tight blue leggings, and flat blue shoes.
"Hi!" she cried.
You'd think she and Haley hadn't just seen each other in school. (Well, they are in different grades.)
Jessi gave the kids a snack, and then signed and said, "What do you want to do today? It's really nice outside."
"Ride my bike," Matt signed back.
But Haley and Carolyn looked at each other and just shrugged.
"We could start our club," suggested Carolyn, who only knows two signs - the ones for "flower" and "I'm sorry" - so Haley signed Carolyn's suggestion to Matt so that he would know what was going on.