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

When he heard about a girls' club, he made a face.
"How about going over to the Pikes'?" Jessi signed (speaking at the same time, of course, so that Carolyn wouldn't be left out of the conversation). "Mal's there sitting for Nicky, Vanessa, and Claire."
Haley and Carolyn looked at each other and grinned. Jessi knew they were thinking of talking to Vanessa about their club.
Matt grinned, too. He's become friends with the Pike boys and would be happy to see Nicky.
So Jessi called Mallory and they agreed that the kids could play together.
When Jessi and her charges arrived at the Pikes' they were greeted at the door by an exuberant Claire. "Let's play Sardines! Let's play Sardines!" she cried, jumping up and down.
Haley didn't know the sign for "sardine," so she finger spelled it to Matt. Then Claire and Vanessa had to explain what Sardines is, and a lot more signing went on. In the end, the girls seemed to have forgotten about the club. Sardines sounded much more interesting.
Have you ever played that game? If not, this is how it goes: It's a version of Hide-and-Seek, only you have one hider and all the other players are seekers. When a seeker finds the hider, he doesn't just win that round of the game, he hides with him. The next person to find the hiders hides with them, too, and so on until one seeker is left. That seeker is the loser and starts out the next round of the game as the hider. The tricky thing when you're the hider is finding a big enough hiding place in which
to fit a whole lot of other people.
Jessi and Mal took the kids into the backyard. You can play Sardines indoors, but ever since the triplets broke a chair playing the game one rainy day, Mrs. Pike has said the game must be played outdoors. The kids didn't mind. It's easier to find big hiding places in the yard.
"Okay,"' said Haley, signing at the same time. "We'll say 'eeny-meeny-miny-moe' to see who'll hide first."
"Meeny-miny-mony-moo?" repeated Claire, and everyone giggled.
"No," said Haley. "Eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Here. Everyone stand in a circle and put one hand out. Mal or Jessi, will one of you come help us?"
Jessi stood in the middle of the circle.
"You know what to do?" asked Haley.
"Sure," said Jessi, and she recited, "Eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers let him go. Eeny-meeny-miny-moe.'" As she recited, she went around the circle of kids, touching each of their hands in turn. When she got to that final moe, she was touching Vanessa, so Vanessa became the first hider.
"Okay," began Vanessa. "You guys all have
to stand on the patio facing the house and close your eyes. Jessi will count to a hundred. Then you can start looking for me."
This was a good arrangement since Claire can't count to a hundred yet, and it would eliminate any "speed-counting."
So Matt, Haley, Carolyn, Nicky, and Claire stood on the patio with their eyes closed while Jessi counted. Vanessa knew exactly where she wanted to hide, and it was a good choice, too - under the low branches of a pine tree. She made a dash for the tree, huddled herself against the trunk, and was well hidden before Jessi had even reached twenty. When Jessi finally called out, "One hundred!" she added, "Okay, open your eyes, you guys," and tapped Matt on the shoulder so he'd know the searching had begun.
Jessi got the feeling right away that the pine tree was a favorite hiding spot of Vanessa's, because Nicky and Claire made a beeline for it. But they managed to creep in without the others seeing them.
Haley, Matt, and Carolyn searched the yard high and low.
Not a sound came from the pine tree.
Matt looked under an overturned wheelbarrow.
Haley climbed up and looked in the Pikes' tree fort.
Carolyn peered behind the toolshed.
"Where are they?" Haley finally exclaimed - and Jessi and Mal heard a giggle from under the pine tree. It was Claire. She just couldn't help herself. Unfortunately, Haley heard the giggle and made a dash for the pine tree. Matt saw her and followed.
So Carolyn was left alone. That meant she was the next hider, and she chose the tree fort. Once again Claire's giggles gave the spot away when she found Carolyn.
"I think Claire should have to be the next hider, just for giggling," announced Nicky, when the kids had gathered in the yard again.
"I should not!" exclaimed Claire.
"Should too."
"Should not."
"Should too - monkey-breath."
For a moment, Claire looked as if she were going to cry. But then her giggles erupted again. Nicky laughed, too, and so did the others, even Matt, once Haley had finger spelled "monkey-breath" to him.
Matt was the next hider and he found a wonderful spot beneath the overturned wheelbarrow. Nobody could see a speck of him.
Also, nobody else could hide in there with him. Matt realized this too late when Claire discovered him. She made a huge racket and everyone saw her and came running.
No one would confess to being the last to have seen her.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" everyone kept saying.
Then Nicky said that he was thirsty, so Mallory brought a pitcher of ice water and a stack of paper cups out to the back patio. Sardines was over. Claire drank her water and wandered over to the swing set. Nicky and Matt decided to hold batting practice. (They're members of Kristy's Krushers.) And Carolyn, Haley, and Vanessa sat on the patio with Jessi and Mal.
"Where's Marilyn?" Mal asked Carolyn.
Carolyn shrugged. "At home, I guess. She never plays with me anymore."
"I guess you've got your friends now and Marilyn's got hers," said Jessi.
Carolyn made a face. "Marilyn doesn't have any friends. She's too bossy."
"What about Gozzie Kunka?" asked Mal, who'd heard about her from Dawn and me.
"Who?!" exclaimed Haley.
"Gozzie Kunka. The foreign girl. The one who's new at your school."
"I never heard of anyone named Gozzie Kunka," said Haley, frowning.
"Me neither," said Vanessa.
"I have," said Carolyn. "I wouldn't exactly call her Marilyn's friend, but Marilyn's been talking about her a lot. She says she's been all around the world. Gozzie's father is with the government, only now they've settled down."
"You'd think a fancy family like that would settle down in Washington, D.C., or New York or some other big city," said Jessi. "Not in Stoneybrook, Connecticut."