Kerry Babysits

Hello future readers!

This past Tuesday Kerry came over to babysit me and Susan. I normally don't need a sitter, (man, I hate that it's called a BABYsitter!), because I can always go to my friends' houses on he weekend. But this was on a school night. My mom and Susan's parents went to a dinner party. My mom and Susan's mom work together at the Springfield Canning Company. They're in charge of getting the canned foods shipped out to different places. Anyway, one of their co-workers is moving away, so they had to go to this party. Susan's older sister, Cathy couldn't watch us, 'cos she had to go to the library to look up some information for a paper she had to do for school, so that left Kerry. I like Kerry. She was a groovy counselor at Camp Echo Hill, so I thought she'd be a good sitter, too. Well, Susan was coming over at 4:30, so when I got home from school, I did all my homework right away. We wanted to play for awhile before Kerry came over at 6:15.

I ran to answer the door when Susan rang the bell at 4:30. We couldn't wait to start having fun!

We went outside to play helicopter. In case you don't play that game in the future, it's when you hold a jump rope by the end, bend down and spin slowly around in a circle, letting the rope drag on the ground. The other person has to jump over the rope as it passes them. Susan really likes this game, so I spun the rope so she could jump.

After a while, we came back inside, 'cos it was almost time for "Zoom"! (I talked about that show on my "Snail Hopscotch" entry) I brought the bean bag chair down from my room and put it in the TV room, and Susan flipped on the set. We love this show!

Our show was almost over when I heard Mom let Kerry in. She told Kerry she had to go, but she left a note with instructions on the kitchen table.

Kerry found us in the TV room just as Zoom was ending. We were glad to see her.

She told us to go wash our hands while she got dinner on the table. My mom bought some frozen TV dinners and put them in the oven before she went out. This was a treat, 'cos my mom doesn't usually buy TV dinners. She likes me to eat home cooking, but she lets me have them every once in awhile. And she even got my favorite kind; salisbury steak, potato wedges, peas and cherry cobbler for dessert! Far out!

I asked Kerry if she was gonna eat with us, but she ate at Sam's Snack Shack before she got here. Lucky! She told us to enjoy our dinner, and that she'd be right back, 'cos she had to make a phone call.  So Susan and I kept eating and talking. Now I wasn't trying to listen in on Kerry's conversation, I really wasn't, but I heard her say the name Artie. I think he's Kerry's boyfriend. Raychel's brother Randy says he's some big shot player for Springfield High School's basketball team. Once when I was in the park with my mom, I saw Kerry walking hand in hand with a tall boy. I think that must have been Artie. I don't know what came over me, but all of a sudden I got very curious. I wanted to hear what teenagers talk about. I know I'm not supposed to listen to other people phone calls, but I wondered if Kerry went all goofy over boys, like Marsha Brady does on 'The Brady Bunch". I asked Susan if she wanted to listen, just for a minute. She got this funny smile on her face and nodded. We were finished with our dinner anyway, so we threw away our trays, put our cups and forks in the sink, and went towards the TV room. We peeked around the hallway door so we could hear better. Kerry couldn't see us, so as long as we were quiet, she wouldn't find out.

We think they were talking about their date Saturday night. It sounded like they were going to the movies. It also sounded like they didn't care what movie they were gonna see because they'd be kissing the whole time anyway! Ewwwww! Susan covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud! Then Kerry said, "I think you're the grooviest guy I've ever met, Artie. I love you, too!" It was my turn to cover my mouth! I almost started cracking up, so I had to hold my breath! Yep, just like Marsha Brady! Man, are teenagers ever mushy! I hope I'm not like that when I get older! Well, Kerry hung up, so I asked Susan to go up to my room while I went to the TV room to get my bean bag chair. I invited Kerry to come upstairs to check out my room. She'd never seen it before.

Kerry liked my room. She liked the way I had decked it out with posters and stuff. I turned on my radio, and we rapped awhile. We talked about camp, and what going to high school is like, and stuff like that.

Kerry suggested we all play a game, so I got out my "Barrel Full of Monkeys" game and we all played in the living room.

We played until bedtime. Of course, Kerry was better at linking the monkeys than we were. Susan and I went back up to my room and got our pajamas on. Then Kerry came up and read a couple of chapters of "Harriet The Spy".

Kerry read the chapter where Ole Golly and her friend take Harriet to the movies and her parents fire her! Wow! Just for taking her to the movies? I thought that was so mean! While Kerry read the next chapter, Susan fell asleep, then I did. I love to be read to. "Harriet The Spy" is such a good story. But I'm glad I don't need to have a nanny like Ole Golly. Kerry's a good sitter, but I'd be sad if I had to spend most of my time with her, and not my mom..

I guess Susan's parents picked her up when they came back, because when I woke up to go to the bathroom, she was gone. I had fun with Kerry. I wonder if kids still need sitters in the future. Maybe they have robots who watch kids when parents go out. I don't think I'd want a robot watching me. And even though I hardly ever need a sitter, I hope Kerry comes back to sit for me again, soon

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman