Memories

BSC Super Special #11, The Baby-sitters Remember, is structured a little differently than other Super Specials. Instead of the girls' chapters being sporadicly placed, we get all the Kristy chapters together, all the Stacey chapters together, etc. (Mind you, nobody gets more than three chapters). They're all at a sleep over at Kristy's house when the subject of what their most vivid memory is comes up. Wait, scratch that. They're not all there. This is during the time when Dawn has temporarily moved to California (before she will permanently move there. I never understood why she just couldn't wait five years, then go there for college. Oh, right, because she will never age out of being 13!) On the cover, I was trying to decipher which one was Stacey and which one is Dawn, but turns out the other blonde is Shannon who is at the slumber party. And Shannon and Stacey look exactly alike, so I have no idea who is who! At least with Dawn, sometimes her hair style would be a little different the Stacey's so it was easy to tell them apart (not always, though!) Let's take a closer look at the cover:

Seriously, which one is Stacey and which one is Shannon? How can you differentiate between the two? I'm going to guess Stacey is on the bed, next to Claudia (you know, since they're best friends, it would make sense they're on the bed together. Does that logic make any sense?) and Shannon is the one having her hair brushed by Claudia. It would make sense that Claudia would want to brush her hair since Shannon doesn't really hang out with the girls on a regular basis, so I can see Claudia wanting to experiment with "new" hair. I don't really have any issues with the pajamas except for Claudia's and Mary Anne's. Claudia's don't look like pajamas: they look like regular clothes! It looks like she's wearing an oversized green top with black leggings. I suppose they are comfortable to wear to bed, so I can't fault her for that. Sometimes I wear a comfy everyday top with leggings or yoga pants to bed. Mary Anne is the only one wearing a nightgown (and it looks really long...I bet she trips on that thing when she has to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom). I haven't worn a nightgown since I was five years old! (Mine was white with flowers on it). I feel like only little girls and old ladies wear nightgowns. 

So anyway, every member of the BSC (including Shannon and Logan) talk about their most vivid memory. Being that they're all only 13 years old (or 11, in the case of Jessi and Mal), most of them don't take place all that long ago! In fact, many of their most vivid memories take place within the last couple years. 

You would think Kristy's most vivid memory would be starting the BSC, but thankfully we're spared the story of hearing about how she got the idea for the BSC. God knows we've heard it 50,000 times already. Kristy's most vivid memory IS baby-sitting related, because God forbid she has anything else in her life. It takes place when she's ten and it's about her first baby-sitting experience. (Does it really count if it's for your own brother?) Back then, Mrs. Thomas had a housekeeper name Mrs. Culp, who besides helping with the cooking and housework, would also watch David Michal (who is 4 at the time) so he wouldn't have to spend all day at day care. The problem was Mrs. Culp often just blew off her responsibilities and didn't even show up or would call Mrs. Thomas at the last minute to tell her she wouldn't be there. Let me tell you something: this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Nothing irritates me more than people who call into their job ALL. THE. TIME. And then they never get reprimanded for it or fired! I don't understand why Elizabeth kept dealing with this Mrs. Culp's shit for so long. (I'd be interested to know how old she's supposed to be). Yes, perhaps she didn't have any better alternative, but I would give Mrs. Culp two strikes, but the third time she pulled that stunt, I would have fired her ass! 

Mrs. Culp has called Mrs. Thomas one morning to tell her she won't be able to make it and Mrs. Thomas calls Mrs. Pike to ask her if she can pick up David Michael from day care and bring him home. She then asks Sam or Charlie if they can watch him until she gets home from work. (Why didn't she just ask Mrs. Pike if DM could stay at the Pikes' house? I'm sure they wouldn't notice one more kid!) Neither boy can watch their little bro and that's when Kristy tells her mom she could do it. After some hemming and hawing, Elizabeth agrees. 

They make the hugest deal out of this. Look, I was the youngest, so I never had the responsibility of watching a younger sibling, but by the time I was ten, I was definitely allowed to be home alone after school. Not that it happened a lot, but when it did, it was no big deal. Kristy only has to watch DM for two hours before her mom returns home from work and during those two hours this is how many people check up on them:

-Mrs Newton calls the minute Kristy gets home from school to asks what she's up to? (Gee, invasive much? Obviously, Elizabeth must have asked her to call the second Kristy got home.)

-Kristy's mom calls shortly after Mrs. Pike drops off DM. (Honestly, I'm surprised Mrs. Pike didn't come in to do an inspection and make sure the stove wasn't on!) 

-Mimi comes over to ask how everything is going and if she can help with anything. Not sure if Elizabeth asked her to do that, but obviously she must have told her that Kristy would be alone with DM. 

-Mrs. Newton calls AGAIN.

-Mrs. Pike calls.

-Mrs. Thomas calls again.

-Mary Anne has a baby-sitter (older lady from what I gather) and she and Mary Anne come over to check on Kristy and DM.

GOOD FUCKING LORD. Coddled, much? That would irritate me so much if I were Kristy. I can see Elizabeth calling them to make sure everything is fine and having a neighbor check on them, but all of that was so ridiculous! And nothing of note happens while Kristy is baby-sitting DM. She gives him a snack of apples and graham crackers with grape juice (yuck; grape juice!) Somehow, DM manages to skin his knee and cut his hand, but Super Sitter Kristy has him all cleaned up and bandaged by the time Elizabeth returns home from work. She is pleased with how everything went and I guess that's how Kristy got the baby-sitting bug. (Unlike Chris Parker, she does NOT have the baby-sitting blues!) The best part was when Mrs. Thomas fired Mrs. Culp. Thank God! Good riddance to her!

Stacey probably had my favorite section and her memory was the most heartbreaking. It takes place when she was eleven and still living in NYC. She's excited about starting her sixth grade year and she has a goal to make it her best year ever. (Spoiler alert: it won't be; oh, poor Stacey, my heart breaks for her). She plans to get straight A's, she plans to make new friends, and she plans to try out for the soccer team. The last one was a bit odd because I've never seen Stacey as the athletic type. I can't remember the book, but she and Claudia have to coach the Krushers for some reason and they're mostly interested in wearing cute uniforms than the actual game. Also, I don't remember her and Abby ever bonding over soccer. Lately, she's been hungry and especially thirsty, but her parents just attribute it to her being a growing girl. 

Stacey has a group of friends (let's be honest - it's more of a clique; a snobby exclusive clique. Stacey even comments that Laine started the group and gets to decide who gets to be in it) that includes Laine and other girls named Deirdre, Val, and Sally. There used to be a girl named Marty, but she's been sent to boarding school so there's an opening for a place in the Snobby Clique! That girl will be Allison who is from Texas and Stacey really likes her when they first meet. Laine does't like Allison at first, but once she finds out that she sucks just as much as Laine herself does, Laine thinks she's great! 

Deirdre has a slumber party planned for the group of friend (including Allison) the next Friday night. Stacey mentions that she's been feeling "funny"; "kind of dizzy and weird". She's still always hungry and thirsty. By the time she reaches Deirdre's apartment, she feels shaky, but is determined not to miss this sleepover. I think by this point, maybe it's time to tell her parents her symptoms! 

Everything seems normal at first for a sleepover. The girls eat pizza and drink soda while watching a movie (on the VCR; snicker, snicker). The movie is something that Deirdre's dad told them they would like, but they just thought it was "weird and old". I'm guessing it's some movie from the '70s. Probably some Stanely Kubrick movie. Not sure which 13 year old girl would like that! I'd be curious to know what it was supposed to be!

Stacey and Laine end up sharing Deirdre's bed (the girls draw straws to see who would get it). Honestly, either the owner of the bed should sleep in the bed or all the girls should sleep in sleeping bags. I used to have sleepover around this age and I always slept in a sleeping bag. We never slept in my bedroom; we were usually in the family room or living room. But, this will be part of the drama that will soon begin to unfold, though I thought it was going to be Allison sharing the bed with Stacey instead of Laine. 

Even though Stacey had three slices of pizza and lots of soda, she's still hungry and thirsty and pigs out on some munchies. The girls go to sleep by one and at four, Stacey (who is having a dream about drinking sodas under a waterfall) is woken up by Laine who is shrieking and telling Stacey to wake up because she has wet the bed. Okay, I realize it would be gross to be in a bed that someone had peed in, but Laine is being super overdramatic and just a bitch in this scene. I can't imagine acting that way towards your so-called best friend. Laine is making such a scene that she not only wakes up the other girls in the room, but also Deirdre's parents and her little brother. Laine is calling her disgusting, a baby, and will go on to ignore her. I know Stacey and Laine will make up (before they're not friends again), but honestly Laine is such a fucking bitch that I kind of wish Stacey had never forgiven her. This is the scene where we also find out Allison is a mean girl bitch as well and I guess she and Laine must bond over this shared trait of theirs.

Stacey calls her parents who come to pick her up. Stacey (rightly) thinks something is wrong with her body, but her parents thinks she has a psychological problem, which is pretty infuriating. Stacey does tell them, she doesn't feel well and I assume she tells them her symptoms, so I'm not sure why they don't listen to her. Instead they take her to a "fancy child psychiatrist." Stacey wishes that the child psychiatrist was an actual child because they would understand bed-wetting more than an adult. Yeah, but at least this person went to school and did all the work and earned the credentials to understand children and become a child psychiatrist. Kind of a moronic statement for Stacey to make. Anyway, this doctor is smart enough to ask Stacey more questions to further grasp what is going on. He asks her if this was the time first time she wet the bed recently and she admits it wasn't. He asks other questions about how she's been feeling lately and comes to the conclusion that she might have diabetes and recommends that she see her pediatrician immediately, like that same day. At least Stacey's parents take him seriously. 

Of course Stacey does have diabetes and is learning to cope with her new way of life. It's still not easy because she misses school and gets behind in her schoolwork. Everyone at her school treats her like a pariah and call her a hyprocondriac because they think she's just pretending to be sick. When her dad tells her he got a job in Connecticut, she is more than happy to move. Good riddance to those bitches, I say! 

I've never read The Summer Before (the prequel to the BSC that AMM wrote), but I know Stacey is in the book. I think she is still living in New York, so I'd be curious to see what is going on in her life then. 

Claudia's most vivid memory takes place when she is six years old; the youngest age anyone's memory takes place. I had a lot of issues with Claudia's segment; a lot of it didn't ring true to me. So basically it's established that Claudia loves her box of 64 Crayola crayons with the sharpener in the back (heh, I remember those!) She loves to color and make pictures which the Kishis' fridge is covered with. It is also established that Claudia doesn't pay attention during school and fidgets a lot (well, she is only six!) Her only bright spot about the school day is art class which comes at the end of the day. They have their regular teacher, Mrs. Frederickson, who sounds like a mean old hag, and they have an art teacher, Miss Packett, who, um, also sucks. Now, when I was in first grade, I just had one teacher who taught all the subjects. (I do remember our class trading rooms with the other first grade class and that teacher would teach us some subject...couldn't tell you what it was!) If we worked on an art project (don't ever remember doing art in first grade, but I'm sure we must have!), then our teacher would have been the one giving out instructions. We didn't have any special teacher come in just to teach art class! Also, we will soon find out that Miss Packett SUCKS as a human being and especially as a so-called art teacher. 

Miss Packett gives their class homework one day. I am going to quote exactly what she said:

"Your homework is to color a self-portrait. I want each of you to make yours at home because I want you to be able to work on it in peace. I want you to draw yourself the way you see yourself, not the way your friends see themselves. This must be your own work."

When Mary Anne raises her hand to ask a question (kind of surprised that shy six-year-old Mary Anne would do that!), Miss Packett interrupts her and says:

"I want you to draw whatever you want to draw."

Again, she says:

"I want you to draw whatever you want to draw."

I hate this bitch. Their portraits will be due the next day. They will need to hand them into Mrs. Frederickson in the morning, then they will all look at them that afternoon. 

Of course, Claudia is very excited and can't wait to get started. She's also very proud that she has homework which is actually kind of cute. For two hours, she draws the outline of a butterfly body and fills it in with "stripes and splotches and spots" and uses almost every one of the 64 crayons. (She probably only used sixty!) Little Claudia is so proud of her butterfly. Little does she know, a See You Next Tuesday of a teacher will squander that feeling. 

Fast forward the next day to art class. All the students have rolled up their projects, so when Miss Packett unrolls each one and shows them to the class, this is the first time anyone is seeing everyone else's work. All the kids had drawn a face (sometimes with a body) with hair and eyes and a mouth and nose. Claudia begins to "have a funny feeling in [her] stomach." When Miss Packett unrolls Claudia's drawing, she asks who it belongs to because Claudia had forgotten to put her name on it. Miss Packett asks if it's some kind of joke...which I don't understand. If it was supposed to be a joke, I think Claudia would go for something more immature...like a farting dog? IDK! She pretty much reprimands Claudia and says she can't do anything seriously. Hey, you fucking bitch, you told the students, "I WANT YOU TO DRAW WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DRAW!!!" 

I do find it hard to believe a teacher, especially one who works with six-year-olds would berate one of her students over an ART PROJECT. Isn't art subjective, anyway? You would think a TRUE teacher who loved children and had a passion for art would LOVE that Claudia thought outside the box and drew a butterfly as her self-portrait. Clearly, when it comes to art, Claudia is a genius. Also, maybe she should have made her instructions a little more clearer! Did I mention I hate that bitch? 

So because of this bitch, Claudia is upset and comes home crying. Sweet Mimi, who has always been an advocate for Claudia, wants to know what happened and Claud tells her. She claims she is dumb because she didn't understand the instructions. We get Awesome Mimi next:

Mimi had set her mouth in a firm line She stood up. She took my hand in hers. And she said, "Oh, no, my Claudia. That is not true at all. You understood the directions better than anyone else."

They go to the school where Mimi confronts Miss Packett and says to her:

"Miss Packett, I would like you please to respect my Claudia's intelligence and imagination. She told me what happened in school today, and I believe you are mistaken. Of all your students, Claudia is the only one who truly understood your assignment. You asked the children to draw themselves the way they see themselves. And my Claudia sees herself as a free spirit, like a butterfly. So that is what she drew."

Then Mimi drops the mic and walks away. YEAH, YOU GO, MIMI! Everything she said was true, so shove it up your butt, Miss Shitty Teacher. She does apologize to Claudia the following Monday, so at least she had the decency to do that.

I was a bit shocked that Jessi's most vivid memory did not involve dancing. No, it it about the birth of her brother, so she is nine and living in Oakley, NJ. We find out that before Squirt was born, Jessi's parents had tried for a third baby twice, but Mrs. Ramsey had had a miscarriage both times. Jessi does not want the baby because she know he will just pretty much disrupt her life with crying and smelly diapers and that everything is going to change. (She sure changes her tune in Jessi's Baby-Sitter when she thinks her mom is pregnant again and is thrilled!) 

Jessi is also mad because Becca will be moving into her room so the baby will have his own room. Neither girl is happy and I don't blame them one bit. I would have hated to share my room. I was lucky that I always had my own room growing up. It was just my brother and me, so we both had rooms of our own. Jessi is smart and knows better than to say anything about not wanting another sibling (she isn't totally insensitive! She also doesn't want to jinx the baby.) and not to whine about the room situation (though Becca does! But, to be fair, she is only six when this is going on). 

The baby is due in four weeks, but looks like Mrs. Ramsey is going to be giving birth a bit earlier much to Jessi's dismay. Aunt Cecelia is summoned to take care of the girls while their parents are at the hospital. Neither girl is too excited about their little brother (poor guy!) and don't care for his nickname, which I kind of have to agree. "Squirt", like "moist" is just a gross word. And it should not be used as a nickname for anybody. Why not just call him Johnny? Or JP (for John Phillip). That would be cute. 

Squirt is a crier; he seems to cry abnormally more than other babies. Turns out he has colic. I'm glad Jessi looked it because I don't really know what it is. Jessi (and I) find out it involves "infants who might cry for hours on end...the cause of colic was very bad stomachaches, which doctors don't really know the cause of." Ugh, that sounds terrible. Terrible for the baby. And terrible for everyone living in the house with that crying baby. 

One day (Jessis' most vivid is coming up!), Jessi finds herself alone with Squirt who is crying his little head off. Technically, Mrs. Ramsey is home too, but she's sleeping (that poor woman...she needs all the rest she can get!) Jessi is just waiting for her mom to hear her brother and get up, but she never does, so Jessi realizes she's going to have to console him. She must have the Midas touch because she rocks him and sings him songs from Annie and soon his cries fade away until they stop altogether. It is a very sweet scene. Mrs. Ramsey even sees this and comments that Jessi is the only one to calm Squirt down. Clearly, Jessi was meant to be a member of the BSC! 

Okay, I just thought of something I've never given any thought to until now. Jessi and Becca sharing a room in their NJ house made me think of this. When they move to Stoneybrook, they move into the McGill's old house. Now I'm pretty sure Jessi and Becca have their own rooms in this house. I remember a book where Jessi is baby-sitting for Jamie Newton and it must be close to Halloween because he's scared of ghosts, so Jessi takes him to her house to show him some Casper the Friendly Ghost books that Becca has and she mentions they go to Becca's room. I've come to the conclusion that their Stoneybrook house must have five bedrooms: one for the parents, one for Jessi one for Becca, one for Squirt, and a guest room that Aunt Cecelia will eventually get when she moves in with them. I'm pretty sure Aunt Cecelia has her own room; I don't remember her having to sleep in the den or anything. So this means the McGills lived in a five-bedroom house? WTF? Why? They only need three bedrooms: one for the parents, one for Stacey, and a guest room. MAYBE four bedrooms if they wanted a guestroom and an office for Ed, but why would they need five bedrooms? Or maybe it was three or four bedroom and the Ramsey did some renovation and added more rooms? Has anyone ever given any thought to this? Inquiring minds want to know! 

Logan's most vivid memory is meeting Mary Anne for the first time and we get his perspective from (some of) the events of Logan Likes Mary Anne! Turns out that book should've been called Logan Stalks Mary Anne! Yikes! His family has just moved to Stoneybrook from Louisville and it's his first day at SMS. He makes friends with Pete Black and Rick Chow and Alan Gray and all the SMS 8th grade boys who have lines in the BSC books and when he sees Mary Anne for the first time, he has "no idea why [he is] so drawn to her." He doesn't want to ask his new friends about her because he's embarrassed they'll give him a hard time about it. So instead he decides to follow her. He follows her out of the cafeteria, but she ends up going to the girls' room. He comments he was too embarrassed to wait around outside for her. Yeah, it also makes you look like a weird creep-o too. Did you ever consider that, Logan? Then he follows her again and she just goes into a classroom (well, duh, you're at school, dumbass). I don't know why anyone thinks it's okay to follow somebody. This actually happened to me when I was in my early twenties. I was at the movies by myself and this guy fucking followed me home! I'm not sure if he was at the same movie I was or at a different one and saw me in the parking lot when I was leaving. I didn't realize I was being followed until I got to my apartment's parking lot and he approached me and admitted he saw me at the movies and followed me. I honestly can't remember everything he said because a)it happened a while ago and b)I was so freaked out I was only half listening. He must have asked me out and I probably said "no thanks" and walked away. (I should point out that my front door was on the opposite side of the parking lot so thank God he didn't see where I lived!) I think he realized he freaked me out and hopefully he learned his lesson not to fucking follow people! I realize that I am very lucky nothing happened to me; it could have been much, much worse. But, yeah don't fucking follow/stalk people. Not. Cool.

So Logan finally just asks the guys what the girl's name is and they tease him about it, but they tell him how Mary Anne is shy and she belongs to the BSC and all that. We then get his POV when he joins the girls at lunch to tell them he's baby-sat before, the meeting he attends where everyone is embarrassed by his presence (Logan included), and when he baby-sits for the Rodowskys with Mary Anne. There's really nothing new being added here with seeing it from Logan's view. I think it would have been more interesting to get his view of the dance they attend or Stacey's party that turns into a surprise party for Mary Anne. C'mon, give me something juicy! Baby-sitting is really not it.

Mallory has a cute memory. It's when she is ten (and still getting baby-sat for by the BSC, hehe) and she decides to write to her favorite author, Amelia Moody. She gets the idea from Mary Anne (who is baby-sitting the Pikes that day with Claudia). Mary Anne tells her how she can find the address of the publishing company at the front of the book. Heh, I have to wonder how many kids read this chapter and decided to write to Ann M. Martin. Funnily enough, I never wrote to her (or any author, for that matter) even thought I was (still am!) a huge book nerd. I used to write to Pleasant Company all the time and I would get postcards back from them, answering my questions. (I still have them!) I remember I had this teddy bear calendar that would pose the stuffed animals in cute scenes and they used many of the American Girl doll accessories because they were the perfect size. I totally narced on them and told PC about this, but I don't think they cared because I got a postcard back saying something along the lines of, "You're right; the accessories are the perfect size for that teddy bear calendar" or something like that. I also wrote to Purina (and included a photo of my cat eating it from his bowl; they thanked me for sharing it with them and returned it since they thought I'd want to keep it) and they wrote me back to tell me they're glad my cat enjoys Purina Premium brand cat food and appreciated that I took the time to write to them. (Heh, I have to wonder if they knew an eleven-year-old was writing them. I assume my handwriting gave it away!) They included some coupons for more Purina cat food. But yeah, I'm surprised I never thought about writing an author! 

Mary Anne says she once wrote to Louisa May Alcott and I would love to know how old she was when this happened. How did she not know she was dead? Obviously the book was written in the 1800s. I always thought Mary Anne to be fairly smart; I don't buy that she would think the author of Little Women was still alive. Now Claudia, maybe (if she read the book and wanted to write the author!) Even Vanessa doesn't realize that Louisa May Alcott is dead because she doesn't understand why Mary Anne and Mal are laughing over it. WTF, isn't Vanessa supposed to be a big bookworm like her sister? At least Mal knew she was deceased. 

So Mal writes to Amelia Moody and includes her school photo. Four weeks go by and she gets a form letter from the author who has added in her own handwriting (I guess it could have been an assistant, but I think we're made to believe it was from Ms. Moody herself) telling Mallory that she will be at a bookstore in Washington Mall signing books on May 2nd from noon to two. Hey, isn't that Mal's birthday? They don't mention that at all, which is kind of surprising since she is ten during this, so she could have turned 11 (and stay there for the rest of her life! God, what torture to be eleven for the rest of your life!) 

Mal decides to wear the same outfit she's wearing in her school photo so Ms. Moody will be able to recognize her. (Doe Mal not realize how many letters she probably gets?) She also has a whole spiel planned to say when she meets Ms. Moody:

"Hi. My name is Mallory Pike. I wrote you a letter and you wrote back. I'm the one with seven brothers and sisters. And I said was our number one fan."

Okay, so I can maybe see mentioning the thing about her siblings because that is unique, so maybe Ms. Moody MIGHT remember that (if she did indeed actually read the original letter!) But good Lord, Mal, I'm sure everyone says they are her number one fan. 

Mrs. Pike tells Mal that it's going to be a mother-daughter day which is very sweet. After the signing, they'll have lunch and do some shopping at the mall. But being the extremely lax parent that she is, she tells Mal that they won't be leaving until 11:30. Okay, what the fuck, Dee? The thing starts at noon and I remember reading in another book (Snowbound, maybe?) that it TAKES half an hour to drive to Washington Mall! So what a fucking shock when they get there (they reach the mall at noon) and Mal sees "a line of kids woud around and around the store and then stretched partway down the mall." Mrs. Pike is shocked by this. Well, what the fuck did you expect, DEE? This is a big time author who has lots of fans who probably came from all over Connecticut (and probably surrounding states as well). You don't fucking get to a big event at the time it's supposed to start...no, you get there at least an hour in advance to insure you're near the front of the line. Any fucking idiot knows that. Ugh, this reminds me when I saw a movie (can't remember which one it was, but I'm sure it was some popular one because the theater was packed) and some stupid idiot with a couple of her kids comes in ten minutes after the previews started and is shocked she can't find a seat. Well, WTF do you expect when it's the opening day of some Harry Potter or Marvel movie? (I don't think it was one of those, but just giving an example). I bet Mrs. Pike is like that. If I was Mal, I would be LIVID. Luckily, though the line moves quickly and she is able to meet Ms. Moody, who has a new book out that Mrs. Pike agrees to buy for her daughter and will be the one that the author will sign. 

By the time Mallory gets to Amelia Moody, she can't remember her prepared speech and ends up bursting into tears. Oh, that poor dear. I assume it's because she's so overwhelmed with happiness, but I have to wonder if she got social anxiety and was so upset that she messed up what she had prepared in her head that she burst into tears? Anyway, I do feel a little bad for her because I have social anxiety too and I don't think I could talk to anyone I admired for fear I would sound like a moron. 

While reading Shannon's most vivid memory, all I could think of was, Really, Shannon? This is your most vivid memory? Aren't you filthy rich? Wouldn't an amazing European trip be a vivid memory for you? Aren't you an overachiever at school? Surely one of those award you've won was a vivid memory for you. 

It takes place at the beginning of the school year and there's a new girl at school named Sally White (is this the same Sally that was part of Stacey's friend group?) who everyone is enamored with because she's rich and glamorous (isn't everyone else rich at Shannon's school?) She's from London and her mom is a movie star. Why would a movie star move to Stoneybrook? Yeah, yeah, I know Derek Masters lived there, for like a month, but he was from there so at least it made a little sense. Shannon has other friend named Meg, Greer, Polly, and Lindsey. Sally just hangs out with Meg first and nobody else. Then she dumps Meg because Meg acted over excited when she and Sally went to a Bruce Springsteen concert and Sally told Meg she was acting like a baby. Meg gets replaced by Greer for a few days.

Meanwhile, Shannon wants to join the astronomy club, but needs to pass a test before she can join. She's supposed to be studying for it one weekend when Sally calls her and invites her over. (Not sure what Greer did; Sally probably just got tired of her). Shannon accepts her invitation because she is intrigued by Sally. She spends pretty much the whole day at her house even though she knows she should be studying. On Sunday, Sally invites her over again and Shannon tells her she needs to study because it's important and Sally pretty much gives her an ultimatum: her or the astrology club. Shannon chooses to study. Heh heh. This means Shannon is out and Polly is chosen. And so the cycle continues. Shannon tells us the reason why she was so mean to Kristy when she first met her was because of Sally.

Dawn's most vivid memory is her parents' divorce. She has just turned twelve and has noticed her parents have been fighting a lot lately. It seems to be implied that Jack is having an affair because Sharon asks him (in a snotty tone) how late he will be tonight and he replies, "Late enough." Also, he doesn't even come home at all one night, he doesn't return until the next evening. I refuse to believe he's having an affair with Carol because I like Carol and I refuse to believe she would mess with a married man. I think it's just some floozy at his office, a stupid fling he's having and he meets Carol after he's gotten his divorce finalized.

Jack and Sharon drop the bomb on Dawn and Jeff that they're getting a divorce and Dawn pretty much sees this coming, but is devastated none the less. Of course Jack and Sharon start fighting during all of this and Jack says something to Sharon which makes her reply, "Thank you so much for correcting me in front of the children" and Jeff replies, "I'm not a child!" which made me laugh. Um, yes you are, you nimrod. You're ten-years-old. I mean, I guess if you don't want to be called a child, a tween could work. I've never liked Jeff; he's always seemed like one of those smug asshole precocious kids. 

Now I am not a child of divorce and I don't really know how custody works. Looking back at this, I am kind of surprised that Sharon got custody of both kids when she moves all the way across the country. I would think Jack would have been a better choice for the kids. He seems to be a stable guy with a steady income, and, to be truthful, you think not being scatterbrained like Sharon would work in his favor. Also, why would they want to tear Dawn and Jeff away from the place where they go to school and have friends and are familiar with their environment? You would think Mr. Schafer would get primary customary of them. However, if that were the case, no way Sharon ever moves back to Connecticut. I realize they need to get Dawn to move to Stoneybrook to join the BSC, but now that I think about it, I feel like the kids would have been granted custody to their dad if Sharon had decided to move to the East Coast. But like I said, I really don't know how all that works. 

So Dawn, Sharon, and Jeff move to Stoneybrook and they see their new house (that might have a secret passage! Spoiler alert: it does!) and she talks about her first day at school where she meets Mary Anne. I understand why Jeff moved back to California because he never fully adjusted to Stoneybrook, but it surprises me that Dawn did only because she loved her friends and the BSC and her house, and she seemed pretty close to her mother, not to mention she must have visited California at least 100 times during her eight grade year. She pretty much goes there every time there's a school break (which happens a lot in this time parallel!) 

Mary Anne's memory takes place when she is eight. Her dad calls a baby-sitting agency (but not the same one from book 3!) to hire baby-sitters for his daughter and Mary Anne never likes any of them. Richard has to go away for a weekend on a business trip to Chicago and needs to find someone to take care of Mary Anne. She asks if she can stay with Kristy or Claudia, which is what I'm thinking would be the logical thing, but Richard says he doesn't want to impose. My parents once went out of town for a week and I got to stay with my best friend's family and it was AWESOME. It was also during the school year which made it even more rebellious (because I was spending a school night at a friend's house). Not sure where my brother was during this time...he must have been at a friend's house too. My parents have also been out of town for a week and they hired this baby-sitter (older woman) from...somewhere and it was not awesome. She wasn't mean, but she was just strict and had rules and regulations and oh boy, it was not fun. Oh, and one time my best friend's parents went out of town for a week and she and her sister stayed with us and that was AWESOME. We would watch BSC videos and act them out and play with our American Girl dolls and my mom took us to an ice cream place where we ordered this thing called the Earthquake, which had, like, twenty scoops of ice cream. (Claudia would be so jealous!) We earned it because we cleaned our massive basement. 

Anyway, so Mr. Spier gets a woman named Mrs. Tate to watch Mary Anne. He knows Mary Anne isn't thrilled about this and asks her what would make it better and she asks if she can invite Kristy and Claudia over for a sleepover and he agrees because he knows that will make the weekend go quicker for her. 

I'm not a big fan of Mrs. Tate when we first met her. This is because when she first meets Mary Anne when she comes home from school, Mary Anne is only answering her questions in one or two words and Mrs. Tate asks her, "Cat got your tongue?" I fucking hate it when people say this. Why the fuck do people need to be Chatty Cathys or Gabby Gabbies? As a quiet, introverted person myself, that shit just infuriates me (and yes, I've had that said to me before). 

Mary Anne asks if she can have a brownie and Mrs. Tate tells her no since she'll be having pizza later and that's too unhealthy and she should have an apple instead. Good God, lady, it's Friday and she's a kid, let her have the damn brownie! Already she's reminding me of the strict baby-sitter I had! I have to laugh when Mary Anne goes over to Kristy to complain about Mrs. Tate and Kristy offers her a cookie, but Mary Anne doesn't take it because Mrs. Tate wouldn't let her have it. Mary Anne! Mrs. Tate isn't even there; take the damn cookie! Look, I was never a rebellious child and perhaps I could be a goody two shoes at times, but dang, even I would have taken the cookie. What she doesn't know won't kill her! Kristy has plans for revenge on Mrs. Tate that evening. Mary Anne isn't so sure about this and comments how Kristy's ideas can get them in trouble, "just like when we experimented with the washing machine." Okay, now that's a story I need to hear! What went on there?

Once Kristy and Claudia are over at the Spiers' for the sleepover, Kristy tells them the grand plan is to sneak down and put pepper in her food. Claudia and Mary Anne distract Mrs. Tate by pretending there's a spider and Kristy puts pepper on her salad. Surely, Mrs. Tate saw all this pepper, right? But Mary Anne comments that Mrs. Tate takes a bite and makes a face before she just dumps it out and makes a new salad. The girls continue to play pranks on the woman, including nailing her slippers to the floor and hanging a scary rubber mask in the fridge (okay, that would probably freak me out, not gonna lie! - and I'm going to assume it belonged to Sam or Charlie and Kristy brought it over). 

I have to give Mrs. Tate credit; she seems to be enjoying the jokes and even commends the girls on some of them, calling them creative. Mary Anne says Mrs. Tate told them about "a very wonderful practical joke - spreading plastic wrap over a toilet bowl so tightly that when someone sits down they don't know it's there and, well, you can imagine the rest." Yeah, Mary Anne, I wouldn't call that "very wonderful". I've heard of that joke and it just sound awful and disgusting and I would be pissed (for lack of a better word) if someone ever did that to me. Also, Mrs. Tate is walking into some dangerous territory by telling the girls that. I hope she at least checks the toilet before she uses it in the morning! 

And that is The Baby-sitters Remember! Cue Sarah McLachlan singing "I Will Remember You".