Free Twin Babysitters I: Sherry by Jodi Sylph

 
    He forgot to call the babysitter. Shit.
    He looked at his phone, and Chris would be
home in 20 minutes, no time for finding a babysitter. He flipped
open the calendar on the wall to the last page with the notes
section and a list of possibilities.
    Stacie . He dialed the number and
waited. The voice mail sounded and he decided to not even
bother...surely there would be one on the list.
    Martha, Darlene, Jackie, and Billi Jo… none
of them would even answer their phones. Really, he was a good
employer, he always tipped the girls and he always made sure they
were college kids, so he gave them more money.
    Finally he found Mandy, and dialed her
number.
    “Hello?”
    “Oh…Hi, this is Mark Smith….I have you down
on my babysitter list as a possibility and was hoping you might be
open tonight. I’m sorry it’s so last minute, but I completely
forgot.” He sounded as pathetic as he could, “Do you think you
could help us tonight, Sandy?”
    “It’s actually Mandy, and I’m at the Watson’s
tonight, but, there’s a couple new freshmen this quarter that
transferred here and are in the dorm. I know both of them were
looking for any kind of work they could find.” Mandy was polite and
gave him two numbers, one for Shelly, one for Sherry. He never even
noticed how close the numbers were as he scribbled them on the
calendar.
    He quickly dialed the number repeating it
back to himself, “4828, 4828…” He held the phone up to his ear and
heard a female voice say hello.
    “Hi, is this Shelly?” Mark asked the sweet
young voice.
    “No, this is actually Sherry, my sister is
named Shelly though.”
    Dan looked at the calendar and he had written
Shelly beside the 4828. He scribbled out his mistake as he
spoke.
    “Oh, my name is Mark, and I just spoke with
Sand…. Mandy, and she gave me your number, she’s our
babysitter…well OUR babysitter, we’re a gay couple and we have an
adopted son from Asia.
    “We pay well,” he threw in at the last
second.
    “Oh, well, I can totally babysit for you. Do
you need to see my references? I'm 18 and a student at the
University.” She sounded so nice on the phone that Mark was sure
his day was saved. He hung up after giving her directions and she
said she would be there in a few minutes. When Chris got him he
gave Mark a kiss and then went scurrying off to the nursery.
     
    Mark could hear Chris talking to Sebastian,
and nervously waited for Sherry to arrive. Chris came out of the
nursery and announced he was going to take a shower, and Mark
poured himself a glass of wine hoping this girl was going to show
up. They had no-shows quite a bit; it was because they were gay. So
many people said they were ok with gay people and then when they
were presented with working for one as a babysitter, it caused them
problems.
    Just then the window lit up and Mark put down
the glass on the counter and walked to the window over the sink. A
car pulled up and a young lady got out. She was beautiful. He
couldn’t tell how tall she was, but she wore her blond hair in a
ponytail, and wore shorts that seemed a bit shorter than he would
have worn if he was her.
    “It’s a crazy world, thank heavens she showed
up,” Mark said as he went to the front door and welcomed Sherry
in.
    He walked her straight to the nursery to make
sure she knew where to find the baby. He was sleeping and would
sleep the rest of the night, Mark assured her, just give him a
bottle if there’s any trouble, or if he needs a change…
    Chris was still in their room getting ready,
he walked out as he turned to be quickly introduced to Sherry, and
then they were off.
    Mark and Chris left and Sherry sat down on
the couch to watch TV. They had every channel, and were doing
pretty well, obviously. She thought one of them must be a doctor
because the house was fantastic. They had money that was for
sure.
    She stretched out on the couch. She should
try to study but watching TV was something she hadn’t done for
quite a while. It