“Four. All boys.”
“And how old are they?”
Mr. Morgan gave me all the information, and I hung up the phone with a sinking feeling — not because this new client had four boys, but because I knew none of us was free on Saturday.
“We’ve got to do something about this,” I said. “We’re in a jam. No one can take the job. Logan would be perfect for the Morgans. He’s good with boys and he lives right nearby.”
“But he doesn’t want to join the club,” said Kristy.
“I know. But couldn’t we make him some kind of special member? Someone we could call when we need help, but who doesn’t have to go to the meetings? That way everyone would be happy. Our dub would look good because we’d be able to provide sitters instead of saying no one’s available, Logan would get a job every now and then, and we wouldn’t be embarrassed at the meetings.”
“Well,” said Kristy, “it really isn’t a bad idea.”
“Isn’t a bad idea?! It’s a great idea!” exclaimed Dawn. “Call him, Mary Anne.”
“All right,” I said. I waited for the usual nervousness to run through me, but I felt fine. I dialed Logan.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Guess who.”
“I don’t have to guess, I know,” Logan replied. I could almost hear him smiling.
“Then guess where I am.”
“At a Baby-sitters Club meeting.”
“Very good! And guess what I’m going to ask you.”
There was a pause. “To join the dub?”
“No. I have a better idea. See, a whole bunch of people have called today and, as usual, we’re really busy. A new client just phoned — a man who lives across the street from the Rodowskys. He’s got four boys, and none of us can sit. We don’t want to turn him down the very first time he calls, so I thought of you. Do you want this job?”
“Yes, but … Mary Anne, I’ve got to tell you the truth. I don’t want to come to your club meetings.”
“Why not?” I asked, my heart thumping.
“Because they’re too embarrassing. I didn’t like being the only boy. And Claudia told that story about the … you know.”
So Logan didn’t want to say bra strap either.
“I know,” I replied. I was glad that was the only reason he didn’t like the meetings. “Well, to be honest, we were embarrassed, too. So that’s why I was thinking you could be some special kind of club member —”
“An associate member,” whispered Kristy.
“An associate member,” I said. “And we’ll only call on you when we really need extra help. You won’t have to go to the meetings.”
“Really?” said Logan. “Hey, great!”
“So you want to do it?”
“Definitely.”
I put my hand over the mouthpiece. “He’ll do it.”
“I’ll make it official,” Kristy announced, gesturing for the phone. “Hi, Logan,” she said. “I hereby make you an associate member of the Baby-sitters Club…. You do? Okay, sure. We’ll need to meet them and stuff, but that’s great.”
Kristy handed the phone back to me, and I hung it up, wishing I could have said a more private good-bye to Logan.
“Guess what,” said Kristy. “Logan knows a couple of other guys who might want to be associate members.”
We all began talking. Then we called Mr. Morgan with the news that Logan Bruno would be baby-sitting.
I sat back and let the excitement sink in. Our club had boy members. Well, one anyway. I had Logan. The Fifties Fling was coming up. It was my thirteenth birthday. And when I went home after the meeting, Tigger would be there to greet me.
* * *
Dear Reader,
Logan Likes Mary Anne is not only the first romance in the Baby-sitters Club series, but it introduces Logan Bruno, the first boy member of the BSC. I thought it would be interesting if Mary Anne, the quietest and shiest member, was the first to have a steady boyfriend, so I created Logan. Since most of my relatives are from Louisville, Kentucky, I decided that was the city Logan would move from. It was while I was writing this book that I realized a year had passed in the lives of the BSC characters. Mary Anne was the last of the original club members to turn thirteen, and the series was still going strong. So my editors and I decided that the characters would have to remain this age. Looking back now, I realize this was a good decision. If the girls had continued to get older, they would be college graduates by now! Instead, they’re in middle school forever.
Happy reading,
Ann M. Martin
* * *
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.
There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.) In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.
Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.
Copyright © 1988 by Ann M. Martin.
Cover art by Hodges Soileau
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First edition, 1996
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
e-ISBN 978-0-545-53256-3
Logan Likes Mary Anne! Page 9