Free Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin Page B

bats’ feet?”
    â€œNo …”
    â€œDid you see her crushing toadstools or stirring things in a cauldron?”
    â€œNo …”
    â€œThen how do you know she cast a spell?” asked Mary Anne triumphantly.
    â€œShe’s a witch. She can do anything she w—hey!” shrieked Karen, pointing.
    Mary Anne’s stomach flip-flopped. She immediately looked over at Mrs. Porter’s yard, sure she was going to see the old woman flapping across the lawn in her funny black dress. But Mrs. Porter wasn’t in sight. Karen was pointing at Boo-Boo.
    â€œLook at that!” cried Karen. “He’s going crazy.”
    Boo-Boo did, in fact, look a little crazy, Mary Anne said later. As she watched, the cat ran partway across Watson’s backyard, came to an abrupt stop, ran around in a circle, then dashed off in the direction he had just come from and scrambled up a tree.
    â€œOh,” said Mary Anne nervously, “he’s just being a cat. Cats do silly things like that all the time.” Mary Anne had never owned a cat, so she’d had very little experience with them, but she had once seen the Pikes’ cat, Sarge, wake up from a sound sleep, leap off the couch, jump up on top of the television set, and immediately fall asleep again. Still …
    â€œ
Boo-Boo
doesn’t do silly things,” said Karen, edging toward Mary Anne. “He’s too fat and old.”
    Mary Anne took Karen and Andrew by their hands. The three of them stood and watchedBoo-Boo. For a while he looked as if he might go to sleep up in the tree.
    Karen grew bored. “Psst,” she whispered after a moment. “Morbidda Destiny’s at her window again—and she’s looking over here.”
    Sure enough, the old face was pressed against the windowpanes. Morbidda raised her right hand to her nose …
    â€¦ and Boo-Boo sat straight up, slipped, slid, and finally fell out of the tree, landed on his feet, and shot past Mary Anne and the kids, hissing as he went by.
    â€œOh,
nooooo,”
wailed Karen. Mary Anne squeezed her hand.
    Boo-Boo tore up the steps to the back porch and waited by the door.
    â€œI guess it would be a good idea to let him in,” said Mary Anne. “At least we won’t have to worry about Mrs. Porter’s garden anymore.”
    So Mary Anne opened the door and Boo-Boo ran inside. He ran straight into the laundry room, jumped into the laundry basket, and stayed there while Mary Anne and Karen and Andrew ate lunch. Every time Mary Anne checked on him, he peered at her through the sides of the basket and yowled.
    Mary Anne started to tell Karen that it was alljust a big coincidence, but then she didn’t know how to explain the meaning of coincidence, so she gave up.
    â€œDaddy, it’s a spell,” Karen told Watson urgently as soon as he came home.
    Watson laughed. “Don’t be silly. There are no such things as spells.”
    But by then, even Mary Anne wasn’t so sure. She was very relieved to go home.

On the Wednesday after Mary Anne baby-sat for Watson’s kids, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, and I were holding a regular meeting of the Baby-sitters Club in Claudia’s room. It was 5:45 and the phone had rung twice. The first call had been Mrs. McKeever, who was back in Stoneybrook. I’d said that, although Pinky and Buffy were very nice, we were not pet-sitters. The second call had been a new customer. Stacey had answered the phone. “Hello. Baby-sitters Club.”
    â€œHello, my name is Mrs. Marshall,” said the voice on the other end. “I live over on Rosedale. I got your flyer, and I need a baby-sitter for Friday night. I’m sorry it’s such short notice, but we had a baby-sitter lined up, and he had to cancel.”
    â€œOh, that’s okay,” said Stacey. “Maybe I should tell you some things about the club, though, first. There are four of us and we’re all twelve