Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job Read Online Free PDF Page A

think you’d better call any more, unless Mrs. Murphy says you can.”
    â€œShe won’t let me call,” Jeremy said, smiling. “Where’s Melissa?”
    That was the way it went. I only had two arms; I couldn’t keep hold of all three of them at once, and if I knew where two of them were, the third disappeared. Nothing else horrible happened, but I was sure glad when Mrs. Murphy came home.
    â€œDid it hurt?” I asked sympathetically. I never had a root canal, and Mom says if I go every six months for checkups and brush and floss between times, I probably never will. But it made me feel peculiar, thinking about it.
    â€œOh, Dr. Hughes is a very good dentist,” the housekeeper said. “I was nervous and tense. But it wasn’t too terrible. How did things go here?”
    I hesitated. “Well, Shana got into her mother’s makeup, but it all washed off. And a platter melted in the microwave. I had to throw it in the garbage can. A yellow plastic platter.” I held my breath, waiting to hear that it was somebody’s favorite one.
    â€œJeremy cooking in the microwave again? Last time he heated rolls without wrapping them in a napkin first, and they came out hard enough to be bullets.” She sighed. “You’ll have to be careful, or they’ll talk you into things.”
    I wanted to ask what things; how was I supposed to know what they were allowed, or not allowed, to do? She didn’t give me a chance, though. She was heading for the kitchen.
    â€œTime to put the roast on, they’re having company tonight. Then I think I’ll rest a bit, in my room.”
    â€œDo you dare lie down when they’re playing?” I asked.
    â€œOh, yes, they’ll stay outside,” she said, and I wondered if she locked them outdoors as well as out of some of the rooms.
    â€œThere was a gas man here,” I said hesitantly, standing in the kitchen doorway. “He wanted in, but I couldn’t see his ID, so I told him I couldn’t open the door.”
    She was tying on an apron. “Oh? Well, if it’s important, he’ll be back, no doubt. My next appointment is day after tomorrow, same time. You’ll be here at one again then?”
    â€œSure,” I agreed. “Good-bye until then.”
    Melissa hung onto my hand, walking me to the front door. “I like you for a sitter,” she told me, and I squeezed back on her hand.
    â€œOh. I forgot to tell Mrs. Murphy that Jeremy called his uncle in Hawaii.” I wondered if I should go back.
    â€œOh, Daddy will know when the bill comes,” Melissa said. “He always says, ‘That kid’s been calling long distance again,’ and Mama tells Jeremy not to do it anymore. Next time,” she said, quite complacently, “he’s going to call Grandma Foster. She lives in Texas. She has a dog. Mama won’t let us have a dog. Our other grandma lives in Seattle. She has three cats. We called her last week.”
    â€œHow do you know the numbers?” I asked. Jeremy surely couldn’t read very well, at six years old.
    â€œOh, Jeremy has them marked in Daddy’s book. He watched when Daddy called each of them, and then he made a secret code sign by the name, so he knows which number belongs to which person. Uncle Rick’s sign is like this.” She marked an invisible X in the air.
    Well, if they couldn’t keep Jeremy from calling people all over the world, I didn’t see how they’d expect me to do it. “I’ll see you again day after tomorrow,” I told her, and let myself out the front door.
    I rode home, not sure how well it had gone. At least nobody’d gotten hurt. I couldn’t judge how serious the Fosters would consider the damage of the platter or the eye shadow. But though it was a relief to have the first day over, I wasn’t too apprehensive about the next time I would stay with the kids.
    Irene was sitting in