Baby-Sitters on Board!

by Ann M. Martin

  I stepped aside and sort of flattened myself against the wall to let them go by, but it wasn’t necessary. The woman stopped when they were still a few yards away from me and entered one of the cabins.

  “This is it!” she announced, steering Marc into the room.

  I didn’t hear Marc’s reply. That was because I was too busy noticing, for the first time, who and what had been behind Marc and his mother. The first person was one of the ship’s stewards, wheeling a huge oxygen tank. He was followed by another steward with a second tank. And he was followed by a well-dressed man (Marc’s father?) carrying a black box labeled: MEDICATION — REFRIGERATE. They all disappeared into the cabin with Marc and his mother, and the door closed behind them.

  Wow. What was that all about?

  I barely had time to scribble a few notes about Marc in my spying book before someone else came through the corridor, and when I saw him I nearly passed out.

  The guy was about twenty years old with thick red hair. You know, that color that is so red you’re just sure he was called Carrot-Top when he was little. He had flashing blue eyes, and when he grinned as he squeezed by, I could see that he was missing one of his bottom teeth.

  Why did I almost faint? Because the guy was Spider from the Insects, my favorite group. I was sure of it. He’s famous for that missing tooth. He lost it during a show when he hit himself in the mouth with his own electric guitar. I was just dying to ask him for his autograph, but I couldn’t work up the nerve. What if he was one of those famous people who hated to be asked for his autograph? I watched him disappear.

  Little did I know, there was even more excitement to come. I had barely recovered from my Spider-sighting when I stepped onto the deck (for some fresh air) and what should I see but a sandy-haired boy who climbed out of a huge pile of coiled rope, looked cautiously in all directions, and then ran through a corridor into the ship.

  A stowaway! I wrote in my notebook. I think there’s a stowaway on board the Ocean Princess. It was almost too much to take. What an afternoon I’d had — Spider, a stowaway, and all those other people. I decided to keep my notebook with me at all times, if possible. I’d have to figure out some ways to hide it in my clothing. This was going to be one exciting voyage and I didn’t want to miss a thing.

  I love my big stepsister, Kristy. She is very, very fun. But here’s one thing I don’t love about her. Sometimes she doesn’t believe the things I say. And just because I’m only six years old. I don’t think that’s fair. But it happens. Also, sometimes she says I’m too little to do things. I don’t think that’s fair, either. But it happens.

  It was our first day on the big ship called the Ocean Princess. Andrew and I were really excited. We wanted to go swimming. We wanted to go exploring. And we wanted Kristy to go with us. But Kristy and her friend Claudia had gone off on a walk. Andrew and I hoped they would come back soon.

  “Here they come! Here they come!” Andrew shouted a little while later.

  I ran out into the corridor to see. Sure enough, there were Kristy and Claudia.

  “Kristy!” I called. “Me and Andrew want to go swimming. Will you take us? Daddy and Elizabeth say they want to take naps after they finish unpacking.” (Elizabeth is Kristy’s mother, my stepmother.)

  “Sure,” said Kristy. “You don’t mind, do you, Claud?”

  Claudia shook her head. “Maybe I’ll go look for Dawn.”

  “Are you mad at Dawn, Kristy?” I asked as she helped me change into my bathing suit.

  “No. Why do you think that?”

  “I just do. I can tell.”

  “Were you eavesdropping?” Kristy asked. Now she was helping Andrew with his suit.

  “No, honest,” I said.

  Kristy gave me one of her I-don’t-believe-you looks.

  “Never mind,” I told her. “Let’s go.”

  Kristy changed into her suit, too, and then we were all ready.

  “Let me just get David Michael,” Kristy said, stopping by her brothers’ cabin. “I bet he’ll want to come with us.”

  He did. A few minutes later the four of us were way up on the Moondance Deck, standing at the edge of the children’s pool. And that was when I remembered something important.

  “Uh-oh,” I said. “Kristy, I forgot my earplugs. I can’t go swimming without them. I’m not allowed. I’ll get an earache.” Then I had a terrific idea. “Can I go get them myself, please? I know the way back to our cabin. Really I do.”

  “Oh, no,” said Kristy. “You’re not going alone. I’ll have to go back with you. I mean, we all will.”

  “No way,” said David Michael. “We just got here.”

  “Please let me go, Kristy,” I said. “Please?”

  Kristy scrunched up her face. “All right,” she said at last. “You can go by yourself. But come right back, understand?”

  “I understand! And I promise!” I cried. I dashed down one flight of stairs, then another. I knew I had two more flights to go before I reached my cabin, but I had to stop and look around the Coastal Deck. I had to. From where I was standing, I could see a big restaurant. Even better, I could see a beauty parlor.

  I just love beauty parlors.

  Sometimes my friend Hannie and I play Beauty Parlor and fix our dolls’ hair. We make them look very, very lovely.

  This beauty parlor was called the Seven Seas. I peeked inside. A lady was having her nails painted. A big girl about Kristy’s age was having her hair trimmed.

  I forgot all about my promise to Kristy. I stepped up to the desk and stood on tiptoe. “Hello?” I said to the lady there.

  “Yes?” she replied, smiling. She peered down at me.

  I put on my most grown-up voice. “I would like to have my nails painted, please, madame,” I said. “Just charge it to my cabin.”

  The lady opened her eyes wide. She looked a little surprised. “Just charge it?” she repeated.

  I nodded. I know all about charging. Andrew and I have stayed in hotels lots of times with Daddy. Twice we stayed in a hotel in New York City, and another time in a hotel in Chicago. Whenever we’re in hotels, Daddy hardly ever spends any money. He just says, “And charge it to our room, please.” So I know you can do this. Except here on the Ocean Princess, I was guessing you were supposed to say “cabin” instead of “room.”

  The lady behind the counter leaned over a little further and peered at me closely. “Do you have permission to charge things to your cabin?” she asked. “Did your parents say you could?”

  Daddy had not said anything about charging. Neither had Elizabeth. They hadn’t said I could, they hadn’t said I couldn’t. But before I answered the question, I had to straighten the lady out about something.

  “I’m not here with my parents,” I told her. “I’m here with my Daddy and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is my stepmommy. Not my real mommy. My parents are divorced.”

  “Tsk, tsk,” the lady clucked. She looked very concerned. “Poor little thing,” she muttered. “What’s your cabin number, sweetie?” She was checking a long computer list.

  “It’s P nine,” I told her.

  “P nine … P nine. Your daddy’s name?”

  “Watson Brewer.”

  “Right-o. Okay. If you’ll wait just a moment, Judith will take care of you. She’s the one over there,” the lady said, pointing. “See her name tag? Why don’t you sit down while you wait?”

  I sat.

  Soon Judith called, “Miss Brewer?”

  I got to my feet feeling very grown-up.

  Judith showed me bottles and bottles of nail polish and told me to choose a color.

  It was hard to make up my mind. Finally I chose light purple.

  “Splendid!” exclaimed Judith. “That will look divine.”

  And it did. But a manicure takes much longer than I thought it would. First Judith soaked my fingers, then she cleaned my nails, then she fussed with the skin around my nails, then she put on some clear stuff, then she put on the purple polish, then she put on m
ore clear stuff, and then I had to wait for everything to dry.

  “Now you be careful,” Judith said to me when she finally let me go. “That polish isn’t quite hard yet.”

  “I’ll be careful,” I promised. “Thanks, Judith.”

  While I was thanking Judith, the big girl who was having her hair trimmed was standing up and saying, “Thanks, Lynnette,” to her hairdresser. She handed Lynnette some money. I guess she didn’t know how to charge.

  Lynnette glanced at the money. “Thanks. Let me get this changed for you.”

  “Oh, don’t bother,” said the girl. “Keep the change.”

  “But this is a hundred-dollar bill.”

  The girl waved her hand in the air. “Oh, it doesn’t matter. My aunt is a countess. I have tons of money.”

  “Well … well, thank you,” said Lynnette. She and I both watched the girl leave the beauty parlor. I was amazed. A countess — like a person in a fairy tale!

  I remembered that I was supposed to be getting my earplugs, so I ran down to Cabin P9. I opened the door quietly and tiptoed in. Sure enough, Daddy and Elizabeth were taking naps. I found my earplugs and started up to the Moondance Deck. Halfway there, I decided I was thirsty. Very thirsty. I hadn’t had anything to drink since I was on the plane.

  Where could I get something to drink? I wondered. I didn’t want water from a fountain. I wanted something more special. I climbed the stairs from deck to deck slowly. Each time I reached a new deck, I stopped to look around. And on the Tropical Deck I saw something called the Moonlight Cafe.

  A cafe is an eating place! Daddy and Andrew and I ate at one in New York City. We sat at a little round table on the sidewalk. There was an umbrella over us. The pole went right through a hole in the middle of the table. Daddy said we could order whatever we wanted. I ordered crab’s legs. But I didn’t eat them.

  The Moonlight Cafe didn’t look anything like the cafe in New York, but I decided to try it anyway. I sat down at a table. The cafe was crowded. The waiter who came over seemed very busy.

  He flipped open his order pad. “Yes?” he said. He didn’t look at me.

  “One Coke, please, sir,” I told him. “And charge it to Cabin P nine. Watson Brewer.”

  “You got it.”

  The waiter brought my Coke. I drank it pretty fast. I realized I’d been gone an awfully long time for someone who was just supposed to be getting her earplugs.

  As soon as I was finished, I ran upstairs to the Moondance Deck and found the swimming pool. Andrew and David Michael were in it, but Kristy was sitting nervously in a lounge chair.

  “Karen Brewer!” she cried as soon as she saw me. “Where on Earth have you been? I was worried!” She got up and ran toward me.

  I thought Kristy was mad at me, but when she reached me, she gave me a hug. “Don’t ever do that again!” she said. (Her arms were still around me.) “I was about ready to get a search party going. Or call the Boat Police or something.”

  “The Boat Police! Are there really Boat Police?” I asked.

  “No,” said Kristy, pulling away from me. “Just kidding. But where were you? You better have a good story.”

  “We-ell,” I said slowly. I hoped a manicure and a Coke were good stories, but I had a feeling they weren’t. Kristy probably thought I’d gotten lost, or gotten into some kind of trouble. I couldn’t lie to her, though. I held out my hands. I told her what I’d been doing. When I was finished, Kristy burst out laughing.

  “You were getting a manicure?!” she exclaimed.

  I nodded.

  “How did you pay for it? And the Coke?”

  “I charged them to our cabin.”

  Kristy shook her head. “You’re too much,” she said.

  She gave me another hug. Then she got out her camera. “Hold out your hands again,” she said. “Let me take a picture of you with your manicure.”

  I held out my hands and put on a great big grin, even though I am missing two teeth.

  Kristy snapped my picture. Then she snapped pictures of Andrew and David Michael in the water.

  I put on my earplugs and jumped in the pool. I am so, so glad that Kristy is my big sister.

  I’ll tell you something: I have never woken up on a ship before. It was kind of interesting going to sleep in my bunk last night. The ship was rocking back and forth very gently. I felt like I was falling asleep on a giant waterbed. And then this morning I woke up to feel the sway, sway, sway of the ship.

  Except for our alarm clock, which rang at 7:30, I’d never have known it was morning, though. Our cabin is in the middle of the ship, so there’s no window for the sun to shine through. And of course, since I wasn’t at home, there were no shouts of, “Claudia, get a move on!” or “Mimi, I can’t find my sweater!” There wasn’t even the nice smell of coffee.

  Nevertheless, as soon as the alarm went off, I sprang up. Luckily, I remembered just in time that I was on the top bunk. I lowered myself to the floor, stepping on Kristy’s hand on the way down.

  “Ow!” she cried.

  “Sorry,” I said, “but it’s time to get up anyway. Hurry, you guys.”

  It was our second day on the Ocean Princess, and later in the morning, the ship was going to dock at New Providence Island in the Bahamas. We were going to spend one glorious day in the town of Nassau. I couldn’t wait. Think of it. Me, Claudia Kishi, in the Bahamas. It was almost as good as saying I was in Hawaii, or on the shores of Tahiti. Tropical beaches, white sand, palm trees, cloudless blue skies, shells, maybe a cute guy….

  I woke up Dawn, who was sleeping in the bottom of the other bunk bed. (We were using the top of the bed for all the clothes I’d brought that I couldn’t squeeze into our tiny closet or the dresser drawers.)

  Then the three of us got dressed quickly, but silently. Well, I got dressed quickly. This was because while I’d been lying in my bunk the night before I’d planned exactly what I was going to wear. I put on my new blue-and white bikini and over that, a pink sundress with spaghetti straps at the shoulders and big blue buttons down the front. Then I accessorized. I tied a pink-and-blue scarf around my waist, knotting it in the middle, added my snake bracelet and feather earrings, wound my hair up on top of my head, and finally put on these white sandals with long laces that you crisscross up your legs and tie in a bow.

  When I was dressed, I sat at the desk and watched Dawn and Kristy. Dawn took off her nightgown, folded it, and placed it in a dresser drawer. Kristy slipped her pajamas off, leaving them in a puddle around her feet. Then she stared at Dawn, waiting for a reaction. After a moment, she stepped aside and Dawn whisked them off the floor and handed them to Kristy. “There,” she said. “Are you satisfied? You wanted to make me mad and it worked, okay?”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, chill out, you guys,” I told them. “Kristy, grow up.”

  Kristy stuck her tongue out at me.

  That morning we ate breakfast at the Flamingo Cay Restaurant with Kristy’s family. We sat at two tables — Kristy, Dawn, Karen, Andrew, David Michael, and me at one; Mr. and Mrs. Brewer, Sam, and Charlie at the other.

  Breakfast at our table was just a little strained, but I forgot about our problems as soon as our orange juice was served. The waiter brought over a tray with six little glasses of juice, each one on a plate. My juice was the only one that was also on a napkin. When I lifted my glass, I saw that something was written on the napkin. It said, “I think you are beautiful.” And it was signed, “A Secret Admirer.”

  “Kristy!” I yelped. “Dawn! Look!”

  I showed them the napkin.

  “Who could have written it?” asked Dawn.

  “The waiter?” suggested Kristy.

  “No way,” I replied. (Our waiter was about eighty-seven years old.) Then I got a flash of inspiration. “You guys,” I whispered, and everyone leaned forward, even the little kids. “You know who’s on board the ship?

  “Who?” they asked.

  “Spider. You know, from the Insects. Mallory Pike told
me so. She saw him yesterday with her own eyes.”

  “No!” cried Kristy and Dawn.

  “Yes!” I said. “I forgot all about it until right now. What if this note’s from Spider? A rock star. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

  “It would be amazing, all right,” agreed Kristy drily.

  I made a face at her. Then I glanced at Dawn. Dawn wasn’t listening to our conversation anymore. Her eyes were glued to something across the room. I looked where she was looking and saw a Gorgeous Guy.

  I nudged Kristy and pointed to Dawn. “Psst,” I whispered. “I think Dawn’s on the prowl!”

  We started giggling and couldn’t stop.

  * * *

  It turned out that I was right. Later that morning when the ship docked at Nassau, Dawn walked off like a zombie. “See you guys later,” she said vaguely.

  (Kristy’s mom and stepfather had told Dawn and Kristy and me that we didn’t have to stick with them. They said that Nassau wasn’t that big a place, and we were old enough and responsible enough to go off on our own, as long as we returned to the Ocean Princess by five o’clock.)

  No sweat.

  The only thing was, Dawn the zombie had her eye on Mr. Gorgeous, and Kristy seemed to want to stay with her family. I could have stayed with them, too, but I knew this was the first vacation they’d taken since Kristy’s mother had married Watson. So I felt that I should leave them alone and let them be a family.

  “Well,” I said brightly, as our feet touched solid ground again, “I’m going shopping. See you at five o’clock!”

  I headed for the nearest store.

  I just love to shop.

  But I felt a little lonely and left out. I hadn’t exactly expected to spend my first day on a tropical island alone. I guess I could have joined up with Stacey or Mary Anne and the Pikes, but I also hadn’t expected to spend my first day on a tropical island baby-sitting.

  I stood around in the store until I was sure Kristy and her family were gone. Then I stepped outside and took my first good look at Nassau. Little streets lined with shops twisted and turned in several directions. Palm trees and flowering plants were everywhere. The smell of the blossoms mingled with the salty air. I breathed in. Heavenly.