by Laura Dower
Splash!
Madison turned back around again to see what Eliot was doing. But he wasn’t in the water anymore. He had jumped up onto the main pool deck and glanced back as if to say, “Wheee! I’m free!”
“Eliot!” Madison yelled. “What are you doing? Come back here, Eliot.”
“No!” he yelled, laughing. He started to skip away. “No, no, no!”
“STOP THAT KID!” Madison yelled.
She nearly landed flat on her face as she jumped out of the pool after him.
Chapter 6
“I DON’T THINK SO!” Hart said as he grabbed Eliot and held him close.
Madison scampered over to where Hart and Eliot stood, a few yards from the kiddie pool.
“Oh—thanks—Hart—Eliot—why?” Madison was breathless.
Hart smiled. “This little guy’s fast.”
“Fast!” Eliot repeated. “FAST!”
Madison quickly looked around to see if Mrs. Reed had seen what happened. She was over by the snack shop, holding Becka and chatting with another mom.
Whew.
Madison wiped her brow dramatically and tried grabbing Eliot’s hand, but he started to wiggle away again.
Hart leaned down and grabbed Eliot’s plastic horsey. Hart reeled him in.
“So you want the tickle monster, huh?” Hart said to Eliot. “Well, that’s what you’ll get, then!”
Eliot looked like he might cry, and Madison prepared herself for the worst. But when Hart tickled him behind his knees and by his armpits, he began to squeal with delight.
“Stop! Stop! Ahhh!” Eliot was laughing so hard that his nose started running.
“Now you laugh?” Madison moaned. She told Hart about the morning’s experiences. “Hey, Eliot, why don’t you laugh for me?” Madison said playfully.
Of course, she was only half kidding.
Why hadn’t he laughed for her?
Egg and Drew walked over. Their arms were still filled with towels.
“Excuse me, who said you could lounge around while we do all the work?” Egg said. “And who’s this, Maddie? Your new boyfriend?”
Drew snorted a laugh. “He’s the junior, junior lifeguard.”
“Ha-ha-ha,” Madison said. “Very funny, you guys.”
Eliot was still wriggling. Madison took his hand in hers. “Let’s go find your mommy,” she whispered. “We can play a game with Becka, okay?”
“Mama.” Eliot nodded.
Madison grabbed a dry towel from Egg and Drew and quickly led Eliot away from the boys, who were cracking jokes.
“Mama,” Eliot said again. “Go see Mama!”
Whew.
He sounded happy. Madison was relieved. She took off the inflatable horse and headed over toward the snack shop and Mrs. Reed.
“Ooh, is someone getting a sunburn?” Mrs. Reed said when Madison approached. Becka was asleep in her stroller.
Madison shook her head. She was worried.
“I—I put on the waterproof sunblock, Mrs. Reed,” Madison stammered. “Should I put on more? I’m so sorry—”
“Madison, don’t worry,” Mrs. Reed said, taking Eliot into her arms. He nuzzled his mom’s neck. “Are you having fun with Madison, sweetie?”
Madison waited for Eliot to scream, “NOOOOOOOOO! I hate her!” but he didn’t. He was sucking his thumb and asking for ice cream.
The rest of the afternoon was surprisingly uneventful. Madison lingered close while Eliot played with some of his toys in the shade. They ate snow cones together. Things were much easier when the four of them were all together.
Sometime after three o’clock a tall man walked up to Mrs. Reed. With his suit and dark glasses, he looked like a secret service agent, Madison thought. The man threw open his arms, and Eliot dove in for a giant hug.
“Daddeeeeeeee!” Eliot cried.
“Hey, big shot,” Mr. Reed said. He leaned over and gave his wife and daughter a kiss. “So you must be Madison Finn?” he asked.
Madison smiled and extended her hand. “Yes,” she said meekly. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Reed. Thanks for giving me this summer job.”
Mr. Reed winked. Up close he looked like an important movie actor.
After chatting about swimming and suntans and Eliot’s afternoon by the pool, the Reeds and Madison packed up the two tote bags. It was time to go.
Madison had survived—barely survived—her first day as a mother’s helper. She looked around the pool one last time to see if Aimee or Fiona would magically appear, but neither BFF was there. Even Hart, Egg, and Drew were missing. “Oh, well,” Madison told herself. “I guess I’ll see them tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much, Madison,” Mrs. Reed said, grabbing Madison’s hand and shaking it. It seemed like a weird thing to do, but Madison shook right back.
“Eliot, what do you say to Madison?” Mr. Reed said.
“I want a piggyback, Daddy,” Eliot said. He looked up at the sky.
“Eliot,” his father said again. “Don’t you have something to tell Madison?”
Madison leaned down close to Eliot’s face. “See ya tomorrow,” she said. “We can play trucks again.”
Eliot looked down at his feet. “Tucks,” he said simply. Then he turned around to his dad. “Up, Daddy, up.”
Madison shrugged. “I’ll see you at the same time tomorrow,” she said, smiling.
Mrs. Reed smiled back. “See you then.”
Dad was standing in the doorway of Madison’s room in his apartment, drumming his fingers against the door frame. “So, tell me what else happened on your first day, working girl. You haven’t said much since I picked you up.”
“Oh, Dad,” Madison said, covering her face in mock embarrassment. “I told you.”
“You haven’t told me anything!” Dad said. “Do you like him?”
“Eliot is a nice kid, I guess. Well, he’s a little crabby sometimes, but it could just be the first-day thing. I mean, it takes a kid a while to get used to a new person, right?”
“Right,” Dad said.
“It’s a little harder than I thought it would be, but that’s okay. I’ll survive, right?”
“Right,” Dad said.
“We went to the pool and he almost ran away but that’s not a bad thing, is it? I mean, he was just being a normal two-year-old, right?”
“Absolutely, Maddie,” Dad said. He reached over and rubbed Madison’s shoulders. “You’re going to be great at this. You’re a star at whatever you try to do, honey. Trust me. I know these things. I’m your dad.”
“Oh, Dad,” Madison moaned again. “You’re a big sap.”
“Well, maybe I am,” Dad said with a chuckle. “But I’m proud of it.”
They joked around for a few moments more before Dad returned to the kitchen to finish making his meat loaf. Madison powered up her laptop and went online. Although her e-mailbox was empty, she surfed around for a while before dinner.
Madison logged on to TweenBlurt.com to see if the site had a chat room or a bulletin board just for baby-sitters. Now that she’d started her real job, she thought it would be smart to learn about good games to play and songs to sing with Eliot. But just as she typed the word BABY-SITTER into the site search engine, she got an Insta-Message.
It was Fiona. Madison soon discovered that Aimee was also online. The three BFFs agreed to meet up in a private chat room they called SUNGRLS.
me into the bookstore!
After her BFFs disappeared offline, Madison was pleasantly surprised to see an e-mail flashing in her mailbox.
From: Bigwheels
To: MadFinn
Subject: BABYSPITTING—HA HA
Date: Fri 20 June 6:02 PM
I’ve been thinking about ur babyspitting HA HA baby-sitting job. How’s it going? When u said he was 2 and a half or something I knew u would probably have 2 deal with some kid who’s screaming and whining about EVERYTHING. U have 2 hang in there even if it’s hard. My mom told me once that being patient is the best thing u can do EVER. It WILL get better I swear. But don’t ever ever let the kid bite you. That happened to my friend Josie once and she had 2 get a tetanus shot or something like that. Have u ever gotten a tetanus shot?
WBL or else :>) I’m going CRAZY until camp!!! My little brother and sister are soooo annoying.
Yours till the baby sits,
Bigwheels, aka Vicki
Madison chuckled to herself. As usual, Bigwheels was getting dramatic. Bite her? Madison couldn’t imagine Eliot doing that. But then again…so far he was full of surprises.
After hitting SAVE, Madison stretched backward on the bed and scanned the bookshelves. She felt like reading and regretted not getting a book or two out of the library with Fiona. The only books on the shelves here at Dad’s were the books Madison didn’t want to keep at home. She absentmindedly flipped through her old American Girl books and a copy of Pippi Longstocking that she’d read a hundred times in fourth grade.
“Rowrrrooooo!”
Phinnie, who’d been lying on the floor snoring the whole time, howled and jumped up onto the bed with Madison. Being so busy with her first day of Eliot meant that Phin hadn’t gotten the attention he deserved. He wanted some now.
“Aw, Phinnie, are you a good boy?” Madison said in a squeaky voice. She rolled over and kissed his cold, wet nose by accident. “Blech!”
Phin panted back at her and jumped off the bed. After chasing his tail for a little while, he trotted out of the room. Dinner was starting to smell yummy. Madison could smell it cooking and guessed he smelled it, too.
Madison wondered if she would be able to survive being a mother’s helper. It had only been one day, and she was already stressed. And as good as the job was, would it take her away from everything and everyone she really wanted to enjoy over the summer? Was she up for this challenge?
Madison sat upright and faced the computer screen again.
It was time to type up a new file.
Sink or Swim
Bigwheels is like my own personal baby-sitting adviser. She makes me feel way better about the whole Eliot sitch. I just need to keep up with him, that’s all. That’s what she said. But I can’t believe it’s only been a day with the Reeds—it feels like way more. How can I keep up? Will I sink or swim?
Rude Awakening: It should be called baby-running, not baby-sitting.
I thought being a mother’s helper this summer would mean hanging by the pool and soaking up some rays! But this is a little more complicated than I expected.
And tomorrow is only day two.
Chapter 7
MADISON RINSED OFF ELIOT’S spoon and handed it back to him. He was sitting up in his high chair, waiting for lunch, and Madison didn’t want him to get cranky. She’d already spent the entire morning of her second baby-sitting day with Eliot, Tantrum Boy.
“NO!” Eliot cried. He sucked on the spoon and then hurled it across the kitchen. “NO! I want yogut!”
Carefully Madison spooned some pink cherry yogurt into a small plastic bowl. She handed it over to Eliot. He took one big scoop with the spoon and swallowed.
“Yummmmm!” he said, a huge smile spreading across his face.
Madison leaned back. Success! It had been impossible to get him to eat something for the last twenty minutes.
“Want some juice?” Madison asked, handing him a sippy cup filled with apple juice.
Eliot picked up the cup and sucked down some juice. Madison was relieved. Another success. And he was still smiling.
“You like that, huh?” Madison asked. She watched him take another long sip. Eliot squinted his eyes very tightly and leaned back in the high chair.
But before Madison could say or do anything else, Eliot threw the cup onto the floor with a loud grunt. Then he looked toward Madison. He wanted a reaction. She picked up the cup and tried to ignore him, replacing it on his tray.
But he only lifted it up once more. And threw it again—harder this time.
Madison gritted her teeth. “Don’t throw,” she told Eliot. “No throwing.”
Eliot giggled. “Okay,” he said. “Oh-kayeeee!”
Madison beamed. Okay? She couldn’t believe he understood. She was making progress now. Eliot even took another quiet sip from the juice cup.
But the happy sipping didn’t last.
After a few seconds he hurled the cup into the air. This time it crashed into the wall. The lid popped off. There was apple juice everywhere—splattered on the wall, floor, and even onto Mrs. Reed’s kitchen curtains. Madison felt nauseous. She wanted to scream.
HE-E-E-E-E-LP!
“Madison?” Mrs. Reed walked into the kitchen just in time to see Madison on hands and knees mopping up the spill. Eliot was leaning over the side of the high chair, dangling his spoon over Madison’s head.
When she heard Mrs. Reed’s voice, Madison didn’t want to turn around. She dreaded the look. She dreaded the words, “You’re the worst babysitter on the planet, and I don’t want you to set foot in my house ever again!”
Of course, that wasn’t what Mrs. Reed said.
In fact, she helped Madison clean up the mess and scolded Eliot for throwing things. She apologized to Madison for Eliot’s angry outburst.
“He’s been so cranky lately,” Mrs. Reed said, wiping off his hands and face. “Ever since we had Becka…”
Eliot began to pound on his high-chair tray table as if it were his own personal drum set. Mrs. Reed unlatched his safety harness and lifted him out.
“What’s wrong with you?” she said.
“Maybe he’s mad at me,” Madison said. “He doesn’t really know me.”
“Don’t be silly,” Mrs. Reed said, giving him a little kiss. “Okay, now that Becka is napping, Eliot, Mommy is going to do some work around the house. You play nice with Madison, okay?”
Eliot wailed. “MAMA!” He leaned away as Mrs. Reed tried to point him in Madison’s direction. “No, no,
no!” he screamed.
Madison was afraid that with all Eliot’s crying, Becka would wake up—and that somehow all of this chaos was her fault. She glanced up and saw that it was only eleven-thirty on the oven’s digital clock. She still had half a day left to baby-sit.
Mrs. Reed handed Madison a sponge. “Wipe off the seat now. And do it anytime he uses the high chair, okay?”
Madison nodded. She looked forward to the days when all this new stuff was old stuff and she knew exactly what she was doing here.
After the kitchen incident, thankfully, things seemed to cool down for Eliot. He played with Legos in the living room for the next hour and even let Madison build a little Lego helicopter. They turned on a Wee Sing CD and started to sing along.
The more we sing together…together…the happier we’ll be….
Eliot bounced on his toes and shook his head.
“Aimee would love you,” Madison told him. “You’re a natural dancer.”
“Dance-ah!” Eliot said.
They laughed together at the music.
The more we sing together…together…. Madison reached over to grab his hand and dance with him, but Eliot’s happy mood turned to instant distress.
“Noooooooooooooooo!” he cried.
Madison leaned back. “What’s wrong, Eliot?”
His face scrunched up like a wrinkled prune, and he let out a high-pitched screech. Naturally, Mrs. Reed came running.
“What is it? Eliot, what happened? Madison, what is it? Are you hurt?” she asked.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Madison turned and shrugged. “He just started crying for no reason.”
“Oh, dear, there’s always a reason,” Mrs. Reed said.
Madison wasn’t sure she believed that. After only one and a half days, Madison knew that Eliot liked to cry in the middle of lunch, in the middle of playing, in the middle of everything. There was no good reason for it except one.
Eliot didn’t like Madison.
Even worse, Madison wasn’t sure she liked him.
“Please stop screaming!” Mrs. Reed said, picking up Eliot and walking into the next room. “What’s WRONG?” she asked him.
Eliot had drool and sniffle running out of each nostril. He sobbed into his mom’s shoulder.