Jessi Ramsey, Petsitter Read online

  My mother smiled at him, but headed for seats as far from the boy as possible. She sat Squirt safely in her lap. "All right, honey," she said to me, "you better go tell the receptionist about your hamster and explain why you don't have an appointment."

  "Okay." I carried the hamster across the waiting room, skirting around the boy with the snake, and stepped up to the desk. I placed the box on the desk and opened it.

  "Yes?" said the receptionist.

  "Hi," I began. "My name is Jessi Ramsey. I'm pet-sitting for the Mancusis this week and one of their hamsters is sick."

  "Oh, the Mancusis," said the woman. She seemed to remember the name. I realized that with all their animals, they must have to go to the vet fairly often. "What seems to be the trouble?"

  "Well, it's just that he doesn't sleep with the other hamsters and he's very bad-tempered."

  I edged the box forward and the woman peered in at the hamster.

  "Fat, isn't he?" she commented.

  "Yes," I replied. "In fact, he's fatter than he was a week ago. I think maybe he's in pain. Something just doesn't seem right."

  The woman nodded. "Okay. If you're worried, it's better to have things checked out. I have to tell you, though, that because you don't have an appointment, and because this isn't an emergency, you might have a long wait. It's hard to tell. There are five doctors in today, which is a lot, but there are also a lot of animals waiting."

  "That's okay," I told her. "Just as long as he gets checked." I started to stroke the hamster's head before I replaced the lid on the box, but thought better of it. Then I made my way back to Mama.

  I was beginning to feel awfully nervous. I checked my watch. Two forty-five. A quarter to three. Our special meeting would start in a little over an hour. Could I possibly make it? Was there any way?

  I sat down next to Mama and tried hard not to bite my nails.

  Then Squirt leaned over from his place on Mama's lap and said, "Pockita?" which is his

  way of asking to play patty-cake. We played patty-cake until a girl about Becca's age came into the waiting room with her father. She was holding a kitten, and she headed for the empty seats next to Mama. Her father spoke to the receptionist.

  "What an adorable kitten," said my mother as the girl settled herself in a seat.

  Immediately the girl stood up again. "Her name is Igga-Bogga," she said. She offered Igga-Bogga to us, and Mama and I took turns holding her, while Squirt patted her.

  Igga-Bogga was skinny. And she was pure white, not a patch or a stripe or even a hair of another color anywhere. If she were my cat, I would have named her Misty or Clouds or Creampuff.

  I was about to mention those names to the girl, when she spoke up again. "Guess what. It's so sad. Igga-Bogga is deaf."

  "Deaf!" I cried.

  The girl nodded. "That happens sometimes with white cats."

  Her father joined us and he and Mama began talking about white cats being deaf. I looked at my watch. Three-ten. Less than an hour until the special meeting. What could I do? The hamster was my responsibility, my sitting responsibility. If I were baby-sitting on a week-

  day afternoon and the parents didn't come home and I had a club meeting to go to — well, I'd just have to miss the meeting, wouldn't I? Sitting responsibilities come first. So right now, a sick hamster came first.

  I knew I was right, yet I started tapping my fingers and jiggling my feet. Oh, I hate being late and missing events I'm supposed to go to, and I especially hate upsetting Kristy.

  "Miss Ramsey?" It was the receptionist.

  My head snapped up. "Yes," I said. "I'm right here."

  I picked up the hamster and his box and got to my feet. Next to me, Mama gathered up Squirt and his toys.

  I checked my watch for the umpteenth time. Three-thirty! How did it get to be three-thirty? I would have to call Kristy as soon as I could safely step out of the doctor's office.

  A nurse led Mama and Squirt and me through a doorway, down a corridor, and into an examining room.

  "Hi, there. I'm Doctor West," said a friendly looking man wearing a white lab coat. He stuck his hand out.

  Mama and I shook it, and I introduced us.

  "So you've got one of the Mancusi pets here?" said Dr. West when the introductions were over. "Let me take a look."

  Ill

  While Dr. West examined the hamster, I ducked into the waiting room to use the pay phone I'd seen there. First I called Kristy.

  ". . . so I'm not going to be able to make the meeting," I finished up after I'd told her the story. "I'm really sorry."

  "No problem," Kristy replied easily. "You did the right thing."

  "I did?" I said. "Even though it's a hamster?"

  "The hamster is your sitting charge," said Kristy. "Pets, kids, it doesn't matter. You're being responsible. That's what matters."

  "Thanks, Kristy."

  "Listen, I'll call the others and tell them the meeting has been postponed. We'll try to arrange it for eleven o'clock tomorrow morning, but call me tonight to check on the time."

  "Okay," I said. "Thanks again, Kristy."

  I hung up the phone, then dropped in another coin and called Mal to explain why I wouldn't be stopping by her house to pick her up.

  When that was done, I returned to Dr. West's office. I found him and my mother grinning.

  "What?" I said. "Why are you smiling?"

  "Because," answered Mama, "your hamster isn't a he, he's a she. And she is pregnant!"

  "I'd say she's going to have her babies within the next twenty-four hours," added Dr. West.

  "You were lucky you didn't touch her today. A pregnant hamster should not be handled." Dr. West instructed me to transfer the other hamsters to a separate cage so the mother could be alone with her babies after giving birth. "And don't handle her at all," he said again. "A pregnant hamster is very delicate. Put her back in her cage by lowering the box inside it and letting her crawl out."

  "Okay," I replied. Then I thanked Dr. West.

  I rode back to the Mancusis' in high spirits. "Just think," I said to Mama. "The hamster is a girl, not a boy, and she's going to have babies! I'll have to give her a name. I want to be able to call her something."

  Mama dropped me off and Squirt waved to me from the car window."

  "Good-bye!" I called. " 'Bye, Squirt. Thank you for helping me, Mama. I'll be home as soon as I walk the dogs again and do the afternoon chores."

  Mama beeped the horn as she drove down the street.

  I ran to the Mancusis' garage before I did anything else. There I found the aquarium we had used to capture Barney. I poured shavings into it and added some food and a spare water bottle, and gently moved the hamsters into it. Then, even more gently, I set the shoe box in

  the old cage and let the pregnant hamster crawl out.

  "What should I call you?" I asked aloud as she settled into her nest in the corner of the cage. "Maybe Suzanne. I always liked that name. . . . No. Suzanne is dumb for a hamster. Chipper? Nah, too cute. And it sounds like a boy's name. Sandy? You are sand-colored. Nah, that's boring. After lots of thinking, I decided to call her Misty, which is what I would name a white kitten if I had one. The hamster wasn't anywhere near white, but I decided that didn't matter. Misty was a good name.

  I went home feeling excited. When I came back in the morning, Misty would be a mother!

  Chapter 13.

  Sunday morning I woke up super-early. I had a lot to do at the Mancusis' before I left for Claudia's. I had to walk the dogs, feed the dogs and cats, and finish the chores I had begun the day before. And of course I wanted to check on Misty and her babies.

  I ran straight for Misty as soon as I'd closed the Mancusis' door behind me. When I reached the kitchen, though, I slowed down and tiptoed inside. I peeked into Misty's cage.

  Nothing.

  Just Misty and her nest and a pile of shavings.

  "Oh, you didn't have them yet," I said, feeling disappointed. I began to wonder if Dr. West had b
een wrong. Then what? Well, the Mancusis would be home in the afternoon. I would tell them the story and let them decide what to do. At least Misty had been to a doctor.

  Besides, worrywart, I told myself, Dr. West said the babies would be born in the next

  twenty-four hours. There were about seven more hours to go until the twenty-four were up.

  So I left Misty to herself, walked the dogs, fed them and the cats, finished the cleaning, and then . . . took off for our special club meeting. I dropped by Mallory's house on the way, since we were still planning to arrive at Claudia's together.

  Mallory was waiting on her porch steps. "Hi!" she called when she spotted me.

  "Hi," I replied.

  Mallory ran across her front lawn. "Did the hamster have her babies yet?" she asked breathlessly. (I'd told Mal everything the night before.)

  I shook my head. "Not yet. I wish she had. I wanted her to have them before the Mancusis get back."

  "Maybe we could check on her after the meeting," suggested Mal.

  "Oh! That's a good idea. We could all come."

  Mal made a face at the thought, but the only thing she said was, "Do you know who you're going to vote for?"

  I nodded my head slowly. "I think so. I probably won't know for sure until I'm actually voting, but right now I think I know."

  "Funny," said Mal. "I feel the same way.. . .

  Should we say who we're going to vote for?"

  "No," I replied. "Better not. We should go ahead with what we've planned on. If we say anything, we might change each other's minds."

  "Okay."

  A few more minutes and Mal and I had reached the Kishis' house. We looked at each other.

  "Dum da-dum dum," sang Mal ominously.

  I laughed — or tried to.

  Mal opened the door. We went inside and straight up to Claud's room. Kristy was already there, busily sorting through some slips of paper.

  "Hi, you guys," Claud greeted us.

  "Hi," we replied, settling into our places on the floor.

  "What — " Claud started to say, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Mary Anne and Dawn, both looking a little sleepy.

  When everyone was sitting in her usual spot, Kristy surprised us by beginning the meeting with, "Tell us about the hamster, Jessi."

  I jerked to attention. I'd been preparing for the voting. Now I had to switch gears. "Well," I said, "this is good news. The hamster isn't sick — "

  "Oh, that's wonderful!" cried Dawn. "So it was a false alarm?"

  "Not exactly," I answered. "The hamster turns out to be a she. By the way, I'm calling her Misty for the time being. And Misty is. . . " (I looked at Mal, dragging out the suspense.)

  "Yes?" shrieked Mary Anne.

  "... Going to have babies!" I exclaimed. "Probably lots of them. Doctor West said hamsters usually give birth to six to twelve young. Those were his exact words. And it should happen any minute now, because yesterday afternoon he said it would happen within the next twenty-four hours."

  "That is so exciting!" squealed Dawn.

  "Babies!" exclaimed Mary Anne.

  "Lots of them!" added Claudia.

  "The Mancusis will be thrilled!" cried Kristy.

  For a moment, I felt as if I were in a regular club meeting, back before we had started fighting all the time. Then Kristy said, "When the meeting is over, maybe we could go to the Mancusis' and see how Misty is doing." (Mal elbowed me.) "But right now," she went on, "we have a job to do."

  I watched the faces of the other club members turn from happy and expectant to worried and uncertain.

  Kristy organized the pile of papers before her into a neat stack. "Now," she said, "I've

  made those special ballots, just like I said I would. Each piece of paper is headed with the name of one of the offices. Below that are the names of the four officers. All you have to do is make an X in the box by the name of the person you'd like to see in the office. Okay?"

  The rest of us nodded our heads.

  "Great," said Kristy. "Let's start with treasurer." She handed blank ballots to Mary Anne, Claudia, Mal, and me, and then gave one to herself.

  "Everyone votes except Dawn," she reminded us.

  Mary Anne raised her hand. "Uh, Kristy," she said timidly, "I'm — I'm really sorry, but I have to say something about that."

  "Yeah?" replied Kristy.

  "Well, it's just — it's just that, for instance, Dawn might not want to be the treasurer anymore, but maybe she's got a good idea about who the new treasurer should be. Who would know that better than Dawn? I understand what you said about ties, but I think we should all get to vote. If there's a tie, we'll have a re vote. If we have to have too many revotes, then we'll think about letting only five people vote. But we should vote with six first."

  I have to hand it to both Kristy and Mary

  Anne. Kristy listened to Mary Anne's suggestion and took it seriously, and Mary Anne didn't cry.

  "Okay," said Kristy, "let's vote on what Mary Anne said. Nothing fancy, just a show of hands. All those in favor of letting everyone vote in the elections, raise your hand."

  Five hands went up. (Guess which one didn't?)

  "Great. I guess we're all voting," said Kristy. "Luckily, I made extra ballots, in case of mistakes, so we're ready."

  Kristy handed a ballot to Dawn. Then she gave each of us a blue ballpoint pen.

  I looked at my ballot, my heart pounding. TREASURER was written across the top. Below it were the names Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn. A box had been drawn to the left of each name.

  I paused for a moment, but I knew what I was going to do. I picked up the pen and made an X next to Dawn's name. She was the best treasurer I could think of. But I was pretty sure she was going to kill me when she found out what I'd done (zfshe found out). The business of elections had started because the girls were tired of their old jobs and wanted a change. Well, too bad. I couldn't help that. Dawn was my choice for treasurer.

  I glanced around Claudia's room and tried to measure the tension in the air. Funny, but there didn't seem to be much of it. The club members were busy voting, that was true, but more than that, no one was arguing. I think we were relieved that election day had finally come, no matter what it would bring.

  When everyone had voted, we folded our papers in quarters and gave them back to Kristy, who carefully put them in a pile. Then she handed out the ballots for secretary, a few minutes later the ones for vice-president, and last of all, the ones for president. Each time, I voted quickly, knowing just what I had to do.

  After the ballots for the office of president had been collected, Kristy said, "Let me just take a fast look through the ballots. If I see a lot of problems, I'll ask you guys to help me count."

  Kristy picked up the ballots for treasurer and glanced at them.

  "Hmm," she said.

  She looked at the ballots for secretary.

  "Huh," she said.

  She looked at the ballots for vice-president.

  "Well," she said,

  And then she looked at the ballots for president.

  She burst out laughing.

  "What is it?" cried Claudia.

  "You will not believe this," Kristy told us. "I hardly believe it myself."

  "But?" Dawn prompted her.

  "But we unanimously voted ourselves back into our old offices! We all voted for Dawn for treasurer — even Dawn did. We all voted for Mary Anne for secretary — even Mary Anne did. And so on. You guys even voted for me for president."

  There was a moment of silence. Then every single one of us began to laugh. Dawn laughed so hard she cried. Kristy laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall out of the director's chair. And all the time we were laughing I was thinking. Now I understand what Mama meant when I asked her to tell me how to vote. She meant (but wanted me to figure out for myself) that we shouldn't worry about who thought what or who would be mad or who would laugh about our choices. The purpose of an election is to vote t
he best person into an office. Period. And we realized that. We realized that the best people were already in the offices and we wanted to keep them there.

  The laughter was fading, and Kristy straightened up in her chair. "What happened?" she asked us.

  I raised my hand, heart pounding. I usually

  don't speak up much in meetings, but I was pretty sure I had the right answer this time. "I think," I began, "that we realized the best people had already been elected to the offices. I mean, Dawn is organized, but Mary Anne is even more organized, and Dawn is better at keeping figures straight, so Dawn's the perfect treasurer and Mary Anne's the perfect secretary. It would be tough to name anyone but Claudia as vice-president, and Kristy, you really deserve to be president since the club was your idea."

  Everyone was looking at me and nodding. I added one more thing. "Can you live with the results of the election?" I asked the four officers. "You were pretty fed up with your jobs a little while ago."

  "I can do it," said Dawn quickly, and the others agreed. "There are parts of my job that I don't like, but I guess I know I'm best at this job. And it would really mess up the club to start switching things around."

  My friends were smiling again. Then Kristy's smile faded. "I have something to say," she began. "Okay, we realized we were in the right offices. But 1 have to admit that right office or not, I have been too bossy. Maybe I do come up with good ideas, but I shouldn't force them on you. It's — it's just this thing

  with Charlie, I guess. You know something? I don't think he's acting like a big shot because he'll be in college. I think he's worried that he won't get into college, and he's taking his worries out by bossing me around. Then I take things out by bossing everyone else around. Jackie Rodowsky pointed that out to me. I mean, he pointed out that I was bossing him around. So I'm going to try to be better. No more forcing rules on you guys. When I get a new idea we'll vote on it, okay?"

  "All right!" cried Claudia.

  So the meeting ended happily. And when Kristy suggested again that we go over to the Mancusis', everyone wanted to see Misty. And Mal didn't mind. She was glad our club was a club again.

  So was I.

  Chapter 14.

  We arrived at the Mancusis' just before twelve-thirty. Mr. and Mrs. Mancusi wouldn't be home until later in the afternoon.