Baby-sitters' Mystery in Maine

I've already read and reviewed all fifteen Super Specials, so I thought it would be time to read and review the Super Mysteries! And we're going to start with the first one, Baby-sitters' Haunted House. (Technically, it's a mansion, but they already had a mystery called Kristy and the Haunted Mansion, so I guess they thought that would be too repetitive. And no, it's not the same haunted mansion). So I actually never read the super mysteries when I was younger and this was my first time reading them, so I was sort of trying to guess the mystery along the way. Obviously, it goes without saying that there will be spoilers so only read this if you don't care about being spoiled or you've already read the book! I will also be doing this in a bit of a different structure than I did for the regular SSs. For those, I went through each character, but for this, since it's a mystery, we will be going (mostly!) in chronological order. 

So the first thing I noticed about this book is that it takes place during the time when Stacey quits the BSC. Stacey is not in this book at all. She gets mentioned a couple of times, but other than that, we never see or hear from her and she has no chapters (that would have been fun if there was a random chapter from her just to see what she was up to). Claudia tells us:

My best friend, Stacey McGill, is a former member of the BSC. In fact, she's also my former best friend. Recently, there was a fight between Stacey and the BSC, and as a result of that she quit - or was fired, depending on who's telling the story. She and I haven't completely made up, but at least we're talking. No one else in the club is even speaking to her. It's still a big mess, and I'm torn up over it.

Now, I'm pretty sure this is the first time that a Super Special/Mystery hasn't featured a chapter from one of the members. And Jessi not being in the first SS and Abby not being in this one or the first 12 SSs doesn't count since they hadn't moved to Stoneybrook yet and we didn't even know they existed! I bet Jeanne Betancourt (the ghost writer) was relieved there was one less baby-sitter she had to write for! Also, I had never heard of Jeanne Betancourt before I looked up to see who ghost wrote this book. I figured it was Ellen Miles, but wanted to double check and good thing I did because that would have been embarrassing to have the wrong ghostie! 

Another interesting thing about the timeline was that it was written after Dawn spent her "six months" in California, then returned to Stoneybrook. She hasn't yet moved permanently back to the West Coast and therefore Abby hasn't moved to town yet. 

It's summer break and it's established that the baby-sitters have been extremely busy. They are complaining to Kristy that they need a vacation and she thinks they may be right. Uh, what the hell can Kristy do about that? I guess you can tell her you don't want any sitting jobs for awhile, but I don't know how well that would fly with her. 

Claudia has a two week gig sitting for Karen and Andrew at their mother's place. Have any of the BSC ever baby-sat for them while they were staying at Lisa's and Seth's? I only read the first four books from the Little Sisters series when I was eight before I graduated to the more advanced and sophisticated Baby-Sitters Club, so I virtually know nothing about Lisa and Seth (Karen and Andrew's mom and stepdad). I don't even know Seth's last name. Oh, wait, I just looked it up. It's Engle. I honestly would not have gotten that without looking it up. They seem to be the rare adults in Stoneybrook that the BSC refer to as their first names. Lisa must be a stay at home mom because they state that Seth's assistant (he's a carpenter) broke her wrist and Lisa is filling in for her. Oh, and if you're wondering why Claudia got the job and not their stepsister, Kristy, it's because she's already booked a lot of sitting jobs for those next two weeks. 

So Claud sits for Karen and Andrew a couple of times until Lisa calls during a meeting and tells Kristy that friends of theirs have "just inherited a mansion in Reese, Maine." (I wish I could "just inherit a mansion" with an ocean view!) They inherited it from the husband's great-uncle or someone. Mary Anne, our geography expert, tells the others, "That's an old whaling town on the Atlantic Ocean." Why is she specifying it's on the Atlantic Ocean? I'm sure all the girls know what ocean Maine borders, even Claudia. Also, it seems redundant that she's even saying "on the Atlantic Ocean." If it's a (former) whaling town, then it's probably not that far from the ocean. Just a theory! 

Anyway, the mansion has been given to their friends, the Menderses, by an uncle, but they don't know if they want to live there. The Menderses (their last name is Menders, why the fuck couldn't they choose a last name that didn't end in s?  I want to pronounce it Menders-sss--sss--sss! Too many damn s sounds!) Anyway, they have four children and live in Boston. They have decided to go to Reese for ten days to decide what to do and have invited Lisa, Seth, Karen, and Andrew to "help them decide what to do". ::::Major eyeroll here:::: Why do they need help from them to decide? Can't they make up their own damn mind? I know, I know, it's all because of the plot. This reminds me when Watson is trying to decide if he wants the cabin in Shadow Lake. Also, I don't understand why they would have to live in Reese permanently if they took the mansion. Why not just use it for summer getaways or make it available as a timeshare? I know AirBnB or Vbro didn't exist back then, but I'm sure they could have figured out a way to rent it out. Or just sell the damn thing and enjoy the money you made from it! 

I don't knows what the Mendersessss do in Boston, but they want to open a health food store. I bet Dawn loves that! Probably makes up for them moving to a (former) whaling town. They try to justify the Engles going up with them since Seth is a carpenter and he can tell them how much it would cost to set up and do measurements for them....I guess? 

Since Claudia already has the sitting gig with Karen and Andrew, they invite her to go with them so basically they don't have to worry about the kids because the adults "want to be free to explore the area." Heh, this reminds me of any of the Sea City books with the Pike parents not wanting their kids around, like, ever.  They also want another sitter to go with them since they'll be six kids total (though one is fourteen, but I'll introduce everyone later). Of course, everyone wants to go. Dawn volunteers first. She stupidly thinks just because she's been in a lot of health food stores, she can help them open one. STFU, Dawn. Then Mary Anne volunteers because she's always wanted to go to Reese. Okay, then ask your dad and Sharon to take you when you have free time...Reese can't be that far from Stoneybrook. STFU, Mary Anne. Kristy says it should be her since Karen and Andrew are her stepsiblings. And you know what? I agree with her. It SHOULD be Kristy. Lisa should have called Claudia and Kristy separately and privately to discuss the details of the trip with them and if Kristy wasn't able to go, then she could have asked Kristy if any other club member was available. 

Anyway, back to the other sitters. Shanon can't go because she has camp starting soon. Mal and Jessi would also like to go. Mal says, "I'd love to go. I'm used to taking care of a lot of kids." God, that sounds depressing. Mal, as an eleven-year-old, you should not be "used" to "taking care of a lot of kids." In the end, it won't matter because their parents won't allow them to go. Ha ha. I'm not really surprised that the Pikes won't allow Mal to go, but you would think Jessi would get permission....after all she was allowed to baby-sit her siblings by herself during a whole weekend! 

They're supposed to leave on Saturday. It's Wednesday when Lisa calls. They need to have an answer for her by Friday.  This seems kind of short notice, no? Instead of calling Lisa themselves and telling her who will be accompanying Claudia on the trip as the second baby-sitter, Lisa calls herself at the Friday meeting to ask if they've found a second baby-sitter. Kristy admits they're having a tough time since they all want to go, and, what do you know, Lisa invites them all! It will be fun and the mansion is huge! Gee, problem solved! I'm sorry, but wtf? First of all, Lisa should be more irritated them merrily inviting four thirteen year old girls. She shouldn't have to be calling them to ask if they've found another baby-sitter and they should have had somebody ready to go. I still maintain it should have been Kristy because Karen and Andrew are family members. I don't give a flying fuck if Dawn and Mary Anne wanted to go; there is absolutely no reason for them to go. If they want to go to Reese so bad, they can ask Richard and Sharon to take them sometime.  Also, keep in mind that Lisa and her family are guests themselves, being invited by the Menderses. I assume they were okay with two baby-sitters, but were they expecting two more? 

But Lisa invites them all, with one little hitch: instead of paying them, they will all get an "all-expense paid trip to Maine." After Kristy tells the others (well, excluding poor Mallory and Jessi) they can all go, they're all happy and hugging each other at first, then Mary Anne asks who will handle their jobs while they're gone. The thing is, literally, minutes before when Mal and Jessi announced they couldn't go, Mal had told them that they would be able to cover any sitting jobs that were already scheduled. Good Lord, does nobody pay attention to Mallory? Shannon and Logan will also be helping to cover any extra jobs. 

So you would think since they're leaving tomorrow morning, the four baby-sitters who are going to Maine will pack as soon as the BSC meeting is over, right? Wrong! Well, at least Mary Anne and Dawn don't because they still need to pack the next morning? WTF? I understand they found out yesterday they were going, but they could have packed last night. They come home from the meeting, have dinner, then pack. Easy, right? Also, you think that ultra organized Mary Anne and Dawn would be ready and packed. This reminds me of Aloha, Baby-sitters! when Abby hasn't even packed for Hawaii the day they're supposed to leave. Just insanity. Dawn asks Mary Anne if she should pack her cowboy boots. Dawn owns cowboy boots? I can't see that. Also, no, Dawn, you're not going to a dude ranch in Texas.

They're all riding with the Engles in a van that Seth rented. We get a description of Claudia's outfit, which is very colorful: bright blue Lycra biker shorts, a black lacy tank top, a man's white dress shirt, baggy purple and white checkered socks, red high-tops, and a pair of gold hoop earrings with a "brightly colored wooden parrot perched on each ear." Biker shorts must have been all the rage in the '90s (which I do remember to some extent) because it seems like Claudia and Stacey are usually described as wearing them. Also, does Claud raid her dad's closet a lot because it feels like she's constantly wearing a "man's white dress shirt". The outfit isn't the craziest thing she's ever worn, but if I was on a road trip for a few hours with seven other people in a van, I'd just be wearing shorts, t-shirts, and sandals. Probably something similar Kristy, Dawn, and Mary Anne were wearing, I'm sure! The best accessory Claudia is sporting is a "humongous, bright yellow, plastic beach bag stuffed with junk food for the trip." Now that's what I'm talking about!

The drive should have taken six hours, but they had an extra three and a half hours added to the trip which seems pretty extreme. One hour was for lunch at a diner, one hour was lost when they themselves got lost, and they took a picnic supper that took and hour and a half. Look, I understand GPS like it is now didn't really exist back in the mid '90s, so I can excuse them getting lost, but why the hell does it take them so long to eat? Yeah, there's two young kids, but neither of them are babies. 

Since I myself recently visited Maine (a couple years ago, I went to Ogunquit, Boothbay Harbor, and Bar Harbor (also visited Acadia National Park, naturally), I was curious to see if I could find the fictional town of Reese. Or at least see where it would be along the coast of Maine. So I went to Google maps and started at Stamford and came to the conclusion that Reese is close to Camden, as Camden is about a six hour drive (sometimes more, sometimes less, I guess it depends on heavy the traffic is). Although there is a mention later of a character driving to New Hampshire just to pick up some paint and when I Googled the distance from Camden to Portsmouth, NH, which is vey close to the Maine border, that was a two and a half hour drive which seems very far to drive just for some paint! So then I thought maybe they were closer to the southern coast of Maine, not far from the New Hampshire border at all and the reason it took to drive was all the summer traffic. York, Maine is only twenty minutes from Portsmouth and it's an almost a five hour car ride from Stamford. Therefore, I am going with that Reese is very close to the New Hampshire border. 

Hilariously, Mary Anne is thrilled when they get lost (they end up taking a wrong turn and going through part of Vermont) because this means they get to see charming historic small towns in four northeast states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont). She reads aloud about each little town from her guide book until Lisa basically tells her to shut up (in a nice way). 

Dawn is listening to her Walkman. Heh, I remember those. I also remember my Discman. God, I was so deprived not having an iPod or a smart phone when I was younger. Just as deprived as the BSC were, apparently! 

So before I get into the Maine (heh) portion of this book which includes the big mystery, I'm going to first discuss what is happening with Mallory and Jessi back in Stoneybrook. They have their own storyline that has nothing to do with the mystery plot at all, so I'll just address that first, then we can get back to Maine and the mystery. (Hey, this book should have been titled The Baby-sitters' Mystery in Maine! That would have been so much better! In fact, that's what I'm going to call this blog post!) 

So Mal and Jessi are holding a "special" meeting of the BSC on a Sunday at one o'clock. They're still meeting at Claud's house even though Claud isn't there, which is kinda weird. I don't know why they just didn't leave a message on Claud's answering machine, telling their clients that the majority of them were out of town and if they wanted a baby-sitter, they should call Mal, Jessi, Shannon, or Logan and just give them those numbers. Yes, I understand it defeats the purpose of only calling one number, but it's just weird that they're going over to a friend's house when said friend isn't even there. I wouldn't want my friends hanging out in my room if I were gone! 

The point of their meeting on this day is to call all the clients who already have jobs lined up with the sitters who went to Maine and tell them someone else will be there. Shouldn't they have done this on Friday? Just have everyone stay late and figure this out and call the clients? Also, is this really necessary at all?  Can't they just show up and tell them so-and-so is out of town and they'll be sitting? I could understand if they were sending someone new, but all the clients know Mal and Jessi. Unless they're doing it because some families may not be familiar with Shannon; I'm not sure how much she's baby-sat for families who don't live in her neighborhood. 

Haha, Mal is so lame. She tells Jessi that they should take turns being president. Good Lord, there's only two of them, how exactly are they going to run the meetings? Mal tells Jessi she can be president first (what a nice friend) and she'll be secretary. Actually, Mal should just be secretary the entire time because her handwriting is MUCH easier to read than Jessi's....not to mention she can probably fit her font better in the calendar squares than Jessi's. Have I ever mentioned how much of a headache Jessi's handwriting gives me? 

The two eleven-year-olds aren't the only ones there; Shannon also attends. She arrives at 1:14 (not sure why she was late) and tells them her dad is picking her up at 1:30. WTF? So she's only there for sixteen minutes? Doesn't it take ten minutes to drive from her neighborhood to Claudia's house? So that's twenty minutes of driving back and forth, and she's only there for sixteen minutes? Like, what is the point of her even coming? I'm so confused. Heh, Shannon clearly has no respect for Mal and Jessi cuz she tells them they need to get started since she won't be there that long (yeah, no kidding!). We get this narration from Jessi: 

Mal and I exchanged a glance. Who was running this meeting anyway? Shannon would never act this way if Kristy were sitting in the director's chair.  

Shannon also wouldn't be fourteen minutes late if Kristy were there! Logan's working at the Rosebud Cafe, but he gave the girls his schedule for the next two weeks so they know when he'll available.  

So they start calling clients and the first two families they call, the kids answer (first Jake Kuhn, then Melody Korman). Jessi tells Jake she will be sitting for him and he starts whining because he wanted Kristy (the original sitter) to teach him how to throw knuckleballs. When Mallory tells Melody she'll be sitting for her and her siblings, Melody starts whining because Mary Anne (the original sitter) was supposed to help her make doll clothes. Okay, while it is a little funny that the kids are pretty much groaning over having Jessi and Mallory sit for them, I don't know why they didn't just ask to speak to the adults. Duh, that's what they should have done. 

Then they start listening to messages on the answering machine and I'm so confused why they even have messages on the machine. It's not like they missed a meeting. They were all there for the Friday meeting and it's Sunday. And we've already established they're just there to call clients who have already lined up jobs to tell them another sitter will be there instead. I guess Claudia sometimes gets messages on her machine in the off hours, but their regular clients know when they meet. Mrs. Prezzioso leaves a message (must have been a last-minute thing; who knows) and she needs two sitters for Jenny and Andrea, plus her sister-in-law's two-year-old twin boys. Everyone is busy (or on vacation!) except for Mal who says she can baby-sit for the kids by herself. She says the dumbest thing: she thinks that since she often baby-sits for her triplet brothers, that "twins will be a piece of cake after triplets." Uh, Mallory, your brothers are TEN and the twins are TWO-YEARS-OLD, not to mention that you will also be sitting for a baby and a four-year-old. Major difference! Mrs. P. seems just fine that an eleven-year-old will be taking care of four very young children all by herself, but warns Mallory that her nephews are "a handful." 

The Arnolds have also left a message on the machine. They need a sitter for the twins tomorrow night. Shannon is already booked with a job and neither Mal or Jessi can take the job since it's at night. Logan has a shift at the Rosebud Cafe (seriously, what kind of place is employing thirteen year olds? I know he's just a busboy and clears tables and maybe does dishes, but wtf?), so he could technically do it because his shift ends at 6:30 and the sitting job starts at 7:30. I would be dead tired working a shift (although his shifts are probably three or four hours, but still), then having to baby-sit. 

In a really stupid move, Mallory tells Jessi to call Mrs. Arnold to tell her that Logan will be there...even though they haven't even consulted with Logan about this first! Jessi logically points out they should call Logan first (good idea!), but Mal tells her he told them not to call during work. What if he already made plans or has to work a double shift? (Spoiler alert: he does). Can't they make an exception for the junior officers to sit at night if there are no other options? I could understand if the job was too far away, but I looked at the map of Stoneybrook in the back of The Complete Guide to the BSC, and from what I could tell, Mallory either lives across the street or around the block from the Arnolds, so she's not that far away. Surely her parents could make an exception for her to baby-sit and she could call every half hour to ease her parents' mind and one of them could drive her there and pick her up if they don't want her walking home at night. Plus, it's summer, so it's not like they have to worry about her being out late on a school night. 

Mrs. Arnold is happy to have a sitter because she and her husband are "hosting the auction for the Stoneybrook Ambulance Services" (whatever that is, but it sounds important, so another good reason for the Pike parents to let Mal baby-sit this one time at night). 

These girls really must have no brain cells when they don't have a leader like Kristy to tell them what to do. The meeting ends and Jessi has a sitting job in ten minutes, so I understand she's in a bit of a hurry, but neither discuss which one is going to call Logan and let him know he's booked for a job the next evening. D'oh! Girls! Seriously! WTF? Gee, nothing can go wrong here! 

Well, guess what happens? During the meeting on Monday, our junior officers (junior dumbasses is more like it!) realize that neither of them told Logan about the job. Actually, this is a Logan-narrated chapter, but most of it is a flashback to Monday's meeting with Mallory and Jessi. They should have just made this a Mallory chapter. 

So at the meeting, they first check the messages, but there aren't any. I'm still confused....do many clients call and leave messages during off hours? If this has ever been mentioned in a Claudia book, I sure don't remember. 

This is funny:  

"Do you think that's because people know Kristy and the others aren't here?" Jessi asked. "Maybe Jake told all the other kids that they'd get us if they called for sitters."

Do they kid not like Mal and Jessi? Also, this sound like something Mallory would think because she comes off more insecure than Jessi, who is usually pretty confident. (I would be too if I got the lead in all my ballet performances!) 

Jessi asks Mal how her job with the Prezziosos and the twins went and Mal said it would have been better with two sitters there. Yeah, no shit, Mal. I guess she did a good enough job that she'll be sitting all of them again tomorrow. Sadly, we never actually see either of the sitting jobs. I just don't understand how there can be no other baby-sitters in Stoneybrook. I know it's a small town, but surely there are other high schoolers who can help. Actually, let's put a pin in this because the is something I'm going to revisit. 

Mrs. Arnold calls to ask the girls to tell Logan to come a little earlier. It's a good think she called or otherwise the girls wouldn't even think to ask each other if the other told Logan about the job. This is when we (and they!) find out neither of them told him. Apparently, Mal "forgot", which doesn't seem like her since she's usually so reliable. Before they have time to call Logan to tell him the news, they get a call from Mal's mom who needs a sitter for the next day, but Mal tells her no one is available and Dee has the gall to say this:

"But I'm one of your oldest and best clients," Mrs. Pike complained, only half-joking.

Only half-joking, eh? And she knows half of the baby-sitters are out of the state. The Pike parents infuriate me so much. They depend on their ELEVEN year old daughter way too much. I could understand if Mal was 16, 17, 18 and her siblings were still the same age, for her to help out. But Mallory is only ONE year older than the triplets, TWO years older than Vanessa, THREE years older than Nicky, etc. In other words, she's not that much older than her siblings. Why not have the triplets help out every now and then? They could watch their younger sisters once in awhile. And once again, I ask the question, are there no other people in all of Stoneybrook who can watch some young children for a few hours? Why not ask Sam or Charlie? I'm sure they wouldn't mind making some extra money and the Pikes know them. I can see the triplets really liking that and I'm sure they would like a baby-sitter who wasn't only ONE year older than them.

Janine comes in to tell them that they hadn't turned the answering machine on and the clients had called the Kishis' home number instead and left messages on their machine. Again, I am confused as to why they aren't calling during regular meetings hours! 

I'm actually surprised when Mal asks Janine if she could help them and Janine agrees to take a job at the Hobarts'. Yes, why haven't they thought of that before? They could have a whole network of baby-sitters if they wanted: their older siblings, Erica Bloomberg, Emily Bernstein, Pete Black, the Shillaber twins, I'm sure Shannon has friends at her school she could recruit. These people would be reserved for if they absolutely had nobody else to sit. It's too bad we didn't get a chapter (and a Janine-written notebook entry about the job!) narrated by Janine about her sitting job. That would have been fun. 

They are so desperate for sitters that Mal considers calling ex-member Stacey, but Jessi points out she might not even show up for a job and that "she puts Robert before anything else." (Me-OW, Jessi!) I don't know, I feel like if one of the sitting jobs was for Charlotte, she would have taken it. Wasn't she still sitting for Charlotte even when she quit the club? To be honest, I don't remember. It's been a while since I read that storyline and I'm curious to read it again.

So now our Junior Officers are back to trying to get a hold of Logan to tell him he has a sitting job that evening. Mal keeps trying to call the Rosebud Cafe to talk to him, but they can't get a hold of him. Apparently, Logan's boss takes the phone off the hook when things get busy. WTF? That seems like bad business practice. I guess they don't do takeout, but what if someone calls to ask about hours. It's too bad this was before smart phones because they could have just texted him! 

The meeting lasts an extra half hour because they're retuning clients' calls. They still haven't reached Logan, so Mal decides to go to the Rosebud Cafe at 6:25. And he's supposed to be at the Arnolds' at 7:15. Uh, why didn't she just let Jessi return the calls and she left early to tell Logan? Duh. Well, surprise, surprise, Logan can't sit because he's working an extra shift. Mal is indignant and asks, "How could you?" since he told them he would be free to sit that night. Logan tells her when he didn't hear from them, he figured they didn't have a job lined up for him which makes perfect logical sense. At this point, maybe Mal should explain the situation to her mom and ask if she can make an exception and let her baby-sit at night just this once. The fact that this thought never occurs to neither Mal or Jessi is mind-boggling. In the end, Logan is able to ask one of his co-workers to cover his shift and he's able to sit for the Arnold twins.

If you thought that was all the drama that happened in Stoneybrook, you thought wrong! The Fourth of July is approaching and the town is having a big Celebrate America! day at the park. Mal is supposed to take her siblings and the Rodowsky boys. Mrs. Pike and Mrs. Rodowky will be there, working at booths. They think Mal can handle ten kids since they'll be there too (true, but they'll be busy!). Jessi is taking Becca and Matt and Haley Braddock and Nina and Eleanor Marshall. Again, for the 10000th time, are there no other baby-sitters in Stoneybrook? I feel like a broken record! 

Mrs. Prezzioso calls, looking for someone to take her daughters and twin nephews to the same event and they obviously can't accommodate her. Shannon and Logan are also busy. I wanted to smack Mrs. P. when she tells Mal, "I thought the point of the club was to have sitters available. I'm very disappointed." Well, maybe you should be angry at the two extra baby-sitters for going to Maine when there was absolutely no reason for them to. Maybe you should be angry at Kristy for allowing this to happen. Why are you getting an attitude with Mallory? Sure, she and Jessi may be doing some stupid things during this whole ordeal, but at least they're trying to accommodate everyone and doing their best. It's not their fault (entirely!) that everything is such a mess. The hilarious thing is that there are still a few members that are in Stoneybrook. What the hell happened when ALL of the sitters were out of town - whether it be at summer camp, a ski lodge in Vermont, California, New York, Shadow Lake, Sea City, etc. Do Logan and Shannon just pick up all the jobs? Sometimes Logan is with them on some of these trips! How come we never hear about problems when everyone is on vacation?  

Jessi asks Mal what they should do and states that they ruined the club. No, you didn't, Jessi. You and Mal are actually trying to help the best you can, but what do you expect from two eleven years old? (No offense!)  These adults should be more understanding. Maybe when Kristy and the others get back, they should have an emergency meeting and discuss what to do when they're on vacation. Maybe they can recruit Janine, Sam, Charlie, and friends from school to help them like I suggested earlier

Mal suggests putting posters up or sending letters to clients. How hilarious! And cute! Living in a pre-social media world doesn't help these girls! Why not just leave a message on the machine, explaining what's going on? This is so stupid. They're making everything way more difficult than it needs to be. 

In the end, Mal and Jessi decide call the clients to apologize for leaving the answering machine off for 24 hours and tell them when the other girls will be back and if they (the clients) have been disappointed by the club, it's because of them (Mal and Jessi). Once they start calling clients, their realize they've been on vacation or are about to go on vacation. What the huh? I'm so confused? I thought that they were getting so many calls and jobs that they didn't have enough sitters to go around? And now everyone is on vacation? I guess that explains why they're not getting many messages on their machine....maybe it's because the clients are calling during the regular hours like they know they're supposed to. Seriously, can someone please explain to me why they have the answering machine set up if Mal and Jessi are still conducting meetings at regular hours in Claudia's house. Again, I feel like a broken record. 

We get a weird moment when Mal calls the Perkins to issue their apology. They get a message that tells them that they're on vacation (maybe not advertise you're on vacation, Perkins!), and it also tells them "Messages for Bill Murphy can be left with this machine." Who the fuck is Bill Murphy? At first I thought it was the actor, but then realized I was thinking of Bill Murray. But, seriously, who is Bill Murphy? Does Mr. Perkins go by another surname? 

Mal and Jessi have been eating Claud's junk food (another reason she shouldn't want them there!) and they eat something called Chuckle Rings which I had never heard of. At first, I thought they were something gross, like Circus Peanuts, but when I looked them up, I actually did recognize them as these gummi peach rings that my store sells. But they're just called gummi peach rings, not Chuckle Rings. 

The whole Mal/Jessi storyline in Stoneybrook ends with them thinking of an idea for all the kids they're taking to Celebrate America! day to do. Mal has been inspired by the Chuckle Rings and thinks all the kids should make their own little parade and decorate any wheels they have, whether it be a bike, roller skates, skateboards, or Big Wheels. They'll call it "BSC on Wheels" because of course they will. 

I rolled my eyes when Mr. Pike tells Mallory, his own eleven-year old, that he can help out and be an extra sitter for the fifteen kids that she and Jessi will be watching that afternoon. Well I should sure hope so! What else does he have going on? What a swell guy! 

And that's it for Mallory and Jessi. As far as I know, Kristy and the others never learn about the debacle, but I'm sure Logan told Mary Anne, who told Kristy. They really do need to make a game plan when half their sitters are out of town.

Okay, let's get back to the Maine story (haha, I love a good pun - I'm such an Abby! Kinda ironic since she hasn't even been introduced yet). The house they're staying in is described as being four stories with six columns in the front, five chimneys, and a widow's walk. 

We are now introduced to the Menderseseseseses. (Don't get too attached; we will never see or hear from any of them ever again). Just a quick observation: I wonder why some adults are referred o as their first names (Seth and Lisa) and others are referred to in a more formal manner (Mr. and Mrs. Menders). And it's not like the BSC know Lisa and Seth that well to call them by their first names. But, anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Menders have four children:

Lionel is the fourteen-year-old I mentioned earlier. He's not at all excited to be in Reese. Just the way he talks for a fourteen-year old is weird:

"I'm not sure why we have a gaggle of sitters in the first place. We don't need help to figure out that Reese is a nowhere place. I mean, the house is swell, but the town is nothing." 

When was the last time your heard somebody who wasn't over the age of 75 use the word swell as a synonym for "cool" or "great"? Also, the only time I say the word "gaggle" is if I utter the phrase "a gaggle of geese." So I guess group of baby-sitters is called a gaggle of sitters? Heh. His parents tell him they think he could use the company and the girls can help him make friends since they're the same age. Honestly, if I were him, I would tell his parents to fuck off. How the hell can a bunch of girls he's never met before help him make friends in a town that none of them are from? Now if this family was moving to Stoneybrook, then sure, I could buy that, but why all of a sudden are Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Dawn experts on this town and how to make friends and influence people? It's so stupid. 

Mary Anne's "instant assessment" of Lionel is "pretentious and unhappy". (You know, for someone who is supposed to be so sensitive, Mary Anne sure is judgmental a lot of the time!) I'm not sure if I would call Lionel pretentious; but perhaps she thinks that because of his peculiar vocabulary. Lionel likes to do different voices (which will become part of the plot a little later....so foreshadowing!) and wants to be an actor. 

Jill is ten and her only storyline is that she's obsessed with Dawn. Seriously, she follows Dawn around everywhere, wears her hair like Dawn's, dresses like Dawn, wants to get Dawn's approval about everything, etc. It's so bizarre because we're never given a reason WHY she does this. If we found out Jill had gone to California last summer and loved it or she was a health food nut (would make sense why her parents want to open a health food store) or if she was into conservation and saving the planet, then sure, that would make sense why she would have a strong kinship with Dawn, but there is absolutely no reason why she's so enamored (for lack of a better word!) with Dawn. It's just so weird...and pretty annoying. If I were Dawn, I would tell this girl to scram. 

Besides Dawn, Jill likes swimming, dressing up, dancing, summer, and teenagers. I'm not sure if "dressing up" means dressing up in costumes or dressing formally. Also, what's her deal with teenagers? Does she like them because Dawn is one or is she like Mal and can't wait to be a teen? Jill doesn't like people who act like babies, winter, and being bored. You know what, Jill? I concur. Although I'm hardly bored...thank God for Netflix and other streaming services, am I right? 

Jason is nine and his whole storyline is that Kristy takes him to the park to practice softball stuff. BORING! I'm sorry, but any Kristy book that revolved around the Krushers always bored me because I really don't care. 

Martha, the youngest, is seven. She's shy and Mary Anne notices she's a little overwhelmed by Karen's exuberant personality. Karen says this to Martha: 

"We are going to have so much fun. I am great at meeting new people. You will be the most popular person in Reese in no time."

Shut up, Karen. God, she's so fuckin' obnoxious. 

Lionel and Martha are the most interesting of the Menders children. Jill and Jason are just there. (Heh, they are such nothing characters that when I was reviewing this, I noticed I had accidentally called Jason "Kevin" here and I was like, who the fuck is Kevin?) I get why they needed them to have four kids because otherwise, it would literally be a child per baby-sitter and that would be absolutely ridiculous to have four baby-sitters. Not that it's not already a bit ridiculous. The way it comes to now, it's one baby-sitter for every one and quarter kids (I'm not counting Lionel, even though they do sometimes act like he's a baby-sitting charge). Math-whiz Stacey would be so proud of me! 

The Menderesesseseseses, the Engles, and the four BSC members aren't the only ones who will be staying in the mansion. A couple, the Coopers, will be helping them make meals, clean, etc. The BSC girls are excited that the mansion comes with a "caretaker couple". They are told the Coopers are in charge of any "household matters". Kristy asks if they came with the mansion, which is hilarious. What, does she think this couple is like a washer and dryer that comes with the house? Mr. Menders tells her they hired them for the summer, but hopes that they will stay if they decide to move to the house. Just how rich is this family that they can afford to have this huge-ass house and pay for a caretaker couple to live with them full-time? 

Their children must have already met the Coopers because Lionel tells them that Mrs. Cooper doesn't speak because "she's afflicted with chronic laryngitis." 

The BSC members and the other kids are staying in the west wing (how very Aaron Sorkin or Beauty and the Beast; take your pick) where they will be taking up eight bedrooms; four on each side. Almost everyone has their own bedroom. On one side, Mary Anne and Jill each have their own room (I'm surprised Jill didn't insist on sharing a room with Dawn!) and Kristy is sharing a room with Andrew and Karen and Martha are sharing a room. (Poor Martha!) On the other side of the hall, Claudia, Dawn, Jason, and Lionel each have their own room. I know it was the BSC members who decided where everyone would sleep, but I'm surprised they didn't have Karen and Andrew share a room and Jill and Martha share one. I feel like Martha would have been more comfortable sharing a room with her sister rather than this annoying girl and I'm sure Kristy wouldn't mind having her own room, though I know she doesn't mind sharing a room with Andrew and probably figured he needed "adult" supervision or something. 

Dawn thinks the house is haunted, what a surprise. (That was sarcasm in case you couldn't tell). If anything is over 100 years old, Dawn thinks it's haunted. 

The first night, as Mary Anne lays in her bed, she sees a flicker of light under her door. Since her room connects to the one Kristy and Andrew are sharing, she goes to theirs (they left the connecting doors open) and Kristy also saw the flickering light. Mary Anne suggests that maybe someone left the light in the hall on and the bulb is nearly dead, so it's just flickering. Kristy thinks it's candlelight. Then they hear a "low ghostly moan" coming from the hall, but soon the light goes out and the moaning stops. Mary Anne, our resident scaredy cat, spends the night in Kristys' room (though to be fair, I'd be freaked out too). My guess is that it's Lionel messing with them. It's already been established that he's not happy to be there and he likes to "do voices" and perform, so he's just probably trying to scare these "gaggle of sitters". They later inspect the rug outside the hall and find orange candle wax has spilled on it.

The next morning we are introduced to the Coopers, Elton and Margaret. Dawn describes them as "much younger than [she] expected - about [her] mom's age." I, too, was expecting someone older, maybe in their 50s or 60s, but not in their early or mid-40s.

My suspicions for Lionel being the one to scare the girls is pretty much confirmed when he whispers into Dawn's ear, "Sleep well last night, my pretty?" Yeah, that's not creepy. But instead of calling him out right there, this "mystery" will linger for a few more days. 

The baby-sitters and the other kids go to the beach where they meet Georgio Trono, who is the grandson of the caretakers of the mansion when Mr. Randolph (the previous owner who was the great-uncle or whoever of Mr. Menders) lived there. This is how Dawn describes him: 

Here's what [he] looked like - one of those brooding teenage rebel loners. A sinister one, with his black T-shirt, black jeans, and those sunglasses. But it wasn't the clothes that made him seem sinister as much as his looks. He had straight black hair, heavy eyebrows, and a crooked smile. 

 The way he's described, it's obvious he's going to be at the top of their list for suspects (more shit is about to go down), but he's so over-the-top a suspect, that I never suspected him. Besides, he's got other things to be guilty of! Speaking of, Dawn notices he's flirting with Claudia because his handshake with her lasts longer than it should. He tells them his grandparents are retired now (duh), but he's the summer gardener. He says he practically lived in the house when he was a kid because he spent so much time there. He wants to know what rooms they're staying in and they telll him the ones on the third floor. I would have told him to mind his own damn business! When Dawn mentions they haven't been to the fourth floor yet, he warns them not to go up there because the widow's walk isn't safe, there are bats, "and who knows what else." Okay, so just tell them not to go out on the widow's walk because it's not safe and be aware that there might be bats, but they can't explore the fourth floor? Who died and made this guy boss? Although, at the first mention of bats, I definitely would not have any interest in going up there at all! :::shudder::::

After he leaves, Mary Anne whispers to Dawn, "Did you see the way he looked at Claudia?" Yes, a "romantic" subplot is brewing and it is....weird. We'll get to that later. Claudia is walking with Karen and Martha and Mary Anne and Dawn want the scoop, so they tell the two little girls to race to the house. Good baby-sitters there. They ask Claud what she thinks of Georgio and she calls him a "Babe" (yes, with a capital B.) But even so, she has "an uneasy feeling" about him and wonders why he doesn't want them to go to the fourth floor. Mary Anne wants to know why "he's so interested in what rooms [they're] staying in." Yes, I agree, Mary Anne. Why is he so interested in that? It seems super pervy/creepy.

Dawn tells us that being on any beach reminds her of being in California. I've never been to California, and while I've been to Maine and seen beaches, I've never swam in them, but even I, as a Midwesterner, would not think a beach in SoCal is the same as a New England beach! IDK, maybe I'm wrong and know nothing. Dawn says it makes her feel homesick for California and she's been missing it lately. This book came out two books before she leaves for California permanently, so she's been there for six months already. 

Lionel finds out Dawn is from California and thinks that's the coolest thing ever. He asks her a lot of questions about "the Hollywood movie scene" because Dawn is such an expert. (Yes, that was sarcasm!)  Dawn says she's "had a lot of actor sightings." Since when? I remember her telling the other BSC members she saw Bob Denver once (heh), but can't remember what book that was. I know who Bob Denver was, but if I had ever seen him, I would have no idea who he was. Dawn tells us:

And since the father of one of my best California friends is a movie producer, I've even met a few famous actors.

 I want to know who! I know that Maggie has met Winona Ryder because she got some salsa recipe from her, heh. I wonder if those kids on Stranger Things have asked for this salsa recipe! 

Dawn notices that Mary Anne is building a sandcastle with Karen and Martha. Karen introduces herself to two other girls and invites them to work on the sandcastle. Martha gets up to go to to the ocean and acts like she does't know Karen, bwah! We'll get more instances of Martha dissing Karen like that and I love it. People may find that Karen is only looking after Martha's best interest with her trying to help her make new friends, but as an introvert myself, I don't like to be forced to make friends, so I'm totally on Team Martha here. Also, sidetone: my dad told me that I was almost named Martha, but thank goodness I wasn't. It's such an old-fashioned name! I ended up with one of the most popular names of the time, though. In one of my grade school classes, there were four of five Sara(h)'s! Sheesh! 

They walk to town and see a poster announcing that Reese it celebrating its 250th birthday, calling it "Founder's Day" and there will be a parade with floats and a carnival with rides. They all decide they should be in the parade and build their own float. So I guess just anyone can join this parade? Jill says she'll only be in the parade if Dawn is and Dawn internally thinks,"What else is new?" Heh, even Dawn is getting sick of this shit. Mary Anne wants to build a historical float since it's a "historical celebration" and they're in "historical New England." 

Jason reads an announcemnt  on the bulletin board about "summer stock" which is "theatrical productions put on during the summer." Mary Anne tells him, "You find summer stock in historic areas, like historical New England."Ugh, that sounds so boring to me. Now, I've been to the theater (once) in New York and of course it was amazing (I saw Hairspray), but going to see a play in a theater in a small town doesn't sound like much fun. Anyway, I noticed that this is the second time in a page that Mary Anne has said "historic/historical New England." I don't think I've ever uttered either of those phrases once in my life. 

The play they're putting on while they will be there is Dracula. Dawn recognizes the name of the actor as someone somewhat familiar. It's probably someone who's on a soap opera or been in a few commercials. It can't be a huge star because why would you be putting on a play in a no name town in Maine? 

That evening, Kristy, Dawn, Claudia, and Mary Anne take Karen, Andrew, Martha, and Jill outside to look for frogs and toads. Mary Anne notices there's a light on at the top floor, the one with the attic and the old servants' quarters where nobody ever goes. The light goes off and Claudia notices that. Then it comes on and goes off again by the time they go back to the house. If any of the younger kids notice it, they don't say anything; it only seems to be the baby-sitters who notice this.

While Kristy and Claudia are helping Elton with some chores, Kristy asks him if anybody ever goes to the top floor and he replies it hasn't been used in decades. They tell him they saw the light upstairs go on and off twice. Elton tells them the door to the stairway that leads to the fourth floor is locked. Before this piece of information is revealed to us, I was sure it was Lionel who was playing with the lights. The plot thickens! Elton also add that there were "some strange going-ons up there some years ago." Claud asks about that, but Margaret bangs her wooden spoon against the table and shakes her head no. Elton decides that it's "nothing for [their] young ears to hear" and "that was then and this is now." 

The baby-sitters later meet in Mary Anne's room and she (like me) thinks it might have been Lionel. They do remind her about the door being locked, but surely his parents have the key or he could have picked the lock. At least Lionel is more of an obvious choice than what Dawn thinks is behind the flickering lights. Surprise, surprise, she thinks it could be a ghost. OMG, Dawn, could you please shut up about your stupid ghosts for a second? (Although, I do prefer Dawn going on about ghosts rather than lecturing people on the environment and how they shouldn't eat meat). 

They're about to head to their room when they hear a wailing sound coming from the hallway. Kristy opens the door when she hears it again and catches Lionel standing there. Now they're sure that Lionel was playing with the lights, but he genuinely has no idea what they're talking about. While he's with them, everyone hears footsteps coming from upstairs...the locked fourth floor. After Lionel leaves, Kristy tells the others that they shouldn't talk about what's going on in front of the kids so they don't scare them. 

Monday morning, Claudia gives us a description of her outfit: a floral-print mini-sundress with red and pink flowers (she call it abstract since the print is big), a pink baseball hat, yellow dangly earrings, and red high top sneakers. It's not the worst outfit. And even though she doesn't say it, I picture her sundress to be black with the large red and pink flowers printed on it. In my mind, that looks better! 

Claudia and Dawn are taking the kid to the library so they can get library cards and the baby-sitters also plan to do some research. Claudia? Library? Research? Summer? Wha-? Did the ghost writer maybe mean to make this a Mary Anne chapter? I kid, I kid! 

On their way there, they run into Georgio who wants Claud to help him with where to plant what color plant because she has great tastes with her clothes and putting colors together and she could help him with that. Sure, that's what he needs "help" with. Dawn and the other kids leave Claudia with Georgio which seems a little weird to me, considering that they don't know him that well and Dawn has already told us she doesn't get the greatest vibe from him. Sure, leave your friend with the guy you earlier described as "sinister". 

After she helps him with the plants, he suggests that she should make a float for the parade even though she already plans to. He offers to help build props for their float and also offers them to let them borrow his car. So at this point, I'm thinking Georgio is sixteen and Claudia figures he's somewhere between sixteen and seventeen. She thinks he must think she's older too because she doesn't want to tell him that if they borrowed his car, they would have to have him drive it. 

Claud tells him she needs to go, but he tells her wants to show her a picture of a float he and his friends made last year and it's in the shed. WTF? Claudia about to get murdered! If it was the actual float he wanted to show her, okay, I can understand that. But a photo? I would have asked him to show me it later.

Claud follows him without question, but then second guesses herself:

The shed was small and dark. All my fears about Georgio came flooding back. I wish I hadn't followed him there. I bumped into a big lumpy something and let out a shriek of horror. Was it a dead body?

Claud notes there are knifes, hammers, axes, and other "weapon-like instruments." Yep, if this wasn't a family friendly BSC book, Claud would for sure be getting murdered. Georgio shows her a photo that's pinned on the wall...again, he just couldn't bring this to the house she's staying at or somewhere that isn't in a murder shed? 

The theme of their float was the '60s and he and his friends are dressed like hippies and his truck was painted in "pychadelic colors".  He tells Claud he used washable paint on his truck, otherwise he would have been "the laughingstock on campus." We find out he attends the University of Maine. Wait, so he's at least 18? I was thinking he was 16 and I thought that was bad! He thinks Claud is sixteen. I know Claud dresses a bit "wild", but is a thirteen-year-old usually mixed up with a sixteen-year-old? I feel like there's a noticeable difference! Also, this is way worse than Wes because at least it was Stacey who had a crush on the older man, not the older man having a thing for the young girl. Georgio tells Claud age doesn't matter after he tells her his friends that helped him on his float were either a couple years older or younger than him:

"I don't make a big deal about age. Some of my friends are a couple years older than me. Some are a couple years younger. Like you? You're sixteen, right? 

Uh...I bet he would make a big deal about age if he knew he was flirting with a fuckin' thirteen-year-old! Claud doesn't tell him how old she really is. She thinks he might get mad for not telling him sooner (but wouldn't he be mad if she kept it from him for so long? Claud's logic makes no sense). She also decides to keep this information to herself because of "detective rules" where you "don't give information to the suspect without good reason." And the final reason she gives for to telling him is that she thinks he might think twice talking to her if he knew how old she really was. (Yeah, probably!) 

In the shed, Claudia sees an orange candle and tells him she has to go. She thinks Georgio might be their "ghost". She goes to the library where she reads about Reginald Randolph who was lost at sea and how his wife, Mary, would mourn him for the remaining twenty years of her life. Every night she would go out on the widow's walk and "stared out at the midnight sea." Mary was "hurled to her death" by a storm in 1879. Okay, I'm sorry, but why is this woman going out when there's a storm strong enough for a gust of wind to send her over the edge? Although, we'll later learn that she more likely died in her sleep and that was just an over exaggeration of her death written by the author.

Claudia tells her friends about the orange candle she saw (that just so happens to match the orange candle wax found on the rug) and how Georgio sometimes sleeps in the gardener's shed, so he could have been spying on them. This is beyond creepy (not to mention pathetic) if an 18-year-old is spying on a bunch of 13 year old girls.

Ugh, so now we're at the part of the book where we get a Karen-narrated chapter. Lucky us. In the letter she's writes to her dad, she tells him she's helping Martha make new friends in Reese, but it's hard because Martha is shy. Well, shit, Karen, not everyone is as extraverted as you are! She writes, "I think it is lucky for her that I an not shy." OMG, STFU, Karen. Also, I'm kinda surprised that Karen writes in all capital letters since she seems to be a stickler about punctuation and spelling. WRITING IN ALL CAPS doesn't seem like something Karen would do. 

Mary Anne takes Karen and Martha shopping. When she asks Martha how she likes Reese, Martha tells her she misses Boston because that's where her best friend lives. Karen internally pouts, thinking she was Martha's best friend (WTF? They've only known each other less than a week), but figures she'll be her best friend soon. Again, STFU, Karen.

While at the store, Karen sees a young girl walk in with her mother and she recognizes the girl as someone she saw on the beach the other day. She talks Martha up, and when she goes to present her, she notices that neither Martha and Mary Anne are at the cash register anymore. They have just left the store without Karen, ha! Karen tells Mary Anne that she pretty much ruined a chance for Martha to meet a new friend who would be perfect for her. Mary Anne tells her she needs to let Martha make friends her own way. Karen internally thinks that Mary Anne isn't the best person to give advice on how to meet people because she's shy too. You know what, Karen? Mary Anne is the only BSC member to have two best friends and she was the first one to get a boyfriend, so SUCK IT, Karen Brewer. Also, Mary Anne sure is a lot more empathetic towards Martha than Karen. 

They later meet up with Kristy who's taking Jason to the park (where there's also a baseball field.) Mary Anne was going to take the girls and Andrew to see the boats on the harbor, but Karen just yanks Martha and tells Kristy they're going with her. Ugh, what a little snot. I bet Martha wanted to see the boats, but she doesn't put up much of a fight (much to my disappointment). 

The girls are on the swings and Karen sees a couple of boys playing softball and thinks they might have younger sisters for Martha to meet. Kristy and Jason are playing softball and she thinks if she and Martha join, then maybe those boys will want to play too (I really don't understand her thinking here). She tells Martha that Kristy wants them on the field, but Martha doesn't see any indication of that (because Kristy isn't even giving one!) and Karen tells her she can read Kristy's mind because they're sisters. Li'l girl, please. Nobody's gonna fall for that. Karen insists that she has to because Kristy is their baby-sitter and Martha still isn't falling for this bullshit. Karen loses her temper (which she admits in her narration) and yells, "You have to because I said so!" Ugh, I hate Karen. Have I said that yet? And if that wasn't obnoxious enough, she always says:

"I need to find some friends for you you so you will like living here. Help a little. Say hi to the people I introduce you to. Look them in the eye. Why do you have to be so shy?"

 I wouldn't blame Martha one bit if she bitched-slapped Karen because Karen deserves to be bitch-slapped here. As someone who's always been an introvert, I would HATE it if somebody said this to me, especially at six years old. Especially some snot-nosed loudmouth little know-it-all twerp. Martha may not bitch-slap Karen (awww), but I do love response, though: "Why do you have to bug me?" Karen says it's because she likes her. No, Karen, it's because you have to be in control all the time. The girls do apologize (lame!). I was kind of hoping Martha would give her the silent treatment for the rest of the vacation. 

For dinner that night, Claudia gets the idea for them to eat in the dining room and have everyone dress up. This actually sounds like fun. While she, Dawn, and Jill are polishing the silverware (that part doesn't sound like fun!), Claud wants to set the table with a candelabra and when Dawn gets one out, she notices it has orange wax on it as though somebody has used it recently. Hmmm! Interesting! (Not really when you find out who used it and it's probably not a huge shock!) 

Claudia mentions how lovely it would be if they set the table with flowers and it's that moment when Georgio stops by with roses to give them for their dinner. Dawn thinks this is odd because they hadn't even mentioned the dinner to him (though she thinks it's possible Elton may have told him) and he just also happens to come in at that exact moment. What a stalker! This guy seriously has no tact. 

At their dinner, Claudia wears a "full-length black gauze skirt over a black leotard" with "dangling glass earrings she'd make from an old chandelier". To complete the look, there is a red rose in her hair. Yes, this outfit certainly gives a vibe. Dawn borrows one of Claud's long skirts (which we sadly don't get a description of) and pairs it with her own pink tank top. I really hope that skirt isn't red or orange! No mention of what Kristy and Mary Anne wear, but, let's face it, we're only really curious as to what Claud wears! 

This is what they feast on at their fancy dinner: the appetizer is "fancy bite-sized pizzas" (not sure what makes it fancy - the size or the ingredients?) with a green salad and that's followed by the main course which is roasted chicken and mashed potatoes, then they end with an "elegant dessert" of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and wafter-thin cookies. The dessert actually does sound good, but I have a gripe about everything else (well, except the salad). They are in effin' Maine! Not just in Maine, but on the effin' COAST of Maine. Why are they not eating lobster? And before you assume they just must have had lobster some other occasion while in Maine, I used the search function to look up the words "lobster", and for good measure, "seafood" (I borrowed the e-book from my library) and not ONCE do either of those words show up in this book! WTF? They went to Maine and never ate lobster (or any seafood)? What kind of BS is that? That's like going to Italy and not even eating any pasta dishes! When I was in Maine, my mom and I both had an entire lobster twice (once was still in the shell, but for an extra fee, they cracked it so the meat was easily accessible and the other time they removed the shell) and we both had lobster rolls twice. OMG, I fell in love with lobster rolls. They were both delicious, but the one I had from a little shack outside of Kittery was amazing (and there was a long line, so it didn't surprise me it was so good)! The dinner they have just sounds so basic. 

During their (basic) dinner, Mr. Menders tells the kids that their plan to set up a health store is coming along well and that they may be able to move to Reese. This starts a chain reaction of upset Menders kids. Lionel bitches about how boring Reese is and that he won't be able pursue his acting career if he lives in such a small town. :::Major eyeroll::: Um, you're fourteen, kid. Go move to New York when you start college and pursue your acting career there. If you can get one. Jason doesn't like the kids who live in Reese, claiming they're "stuck up", and Martha just wants to go back to the home she knows in Boston. Jill, with her weird Dawn obsession, wants to move next door to Dawn in Stoneybrook. If I were Dawn, I would be getting a restraining order against this girl! Let's just imagine, for a second, that the Menders family does move to the house in Stoneybrook next door to the Schafer-Spier farmhouse. Can you imagine Jill's reaction when Dawn will inevitably move to California? They would have to tranquilize her! She would probably insist that they follow Dawn and move across the country.

After dinner, while the baby-sitter are helping Elton and Margaret clean up, Elton tells them the story of Mary and Reginald's granddaughter, Lydia, who was beautiful with dark hair and "had a romance" with the gardener's son, George, who worked on the estate as a groom in the stable. I know what you're thinking: LyDIA with her dark hair, kinda sounds like someone we know. The parallels to Claudia and Georgio are so obvious. Lydia's parents forbade her from seeing him and they fired George and his father. George snuck back to see Lydia and her parents found them in the stable. Heh, I wonder what they were doing? I'm sure it was nothing more than a little hand-holding, wink wink. Her parents ended up locking her in one of the bedrooms on the fourth floor and she became a prisoner in her own home. It's mentioned that five years had passed and she was still locked in there. WTF? This is so fucked up. During that time, George started a career and earned money to show his worth. When he returned to Reese as a wealthy businessman, the Randolphs were still not convinced and turned him away. George had not seen Lydia in awhile and wondered if she had moved away and got married or had died. A servant tells him she's been living incarcerated upstairs all these years. I'm sure the Randolphs loved their blabbermouth servant! Apparently, George found a way up to the fourth floor but nobody knows how; they think maybe a secret passage, but nobody ever found one. Uh, maybe he just used a ladder? He only finds one person on the fourth floor: "a white-haired old woman" who claims she is Lydia. I was thoroughly confused by this. I thought it had only (ha, "only") been five years, so why does she look like an old woman? 

So not long after I read this book, I listened to an episode of the podcast, The Alarmist, called "The Tragic Life of Blanche Monnier" and it's about a French woman from the early twentieth century who was kept locked up in her home by her parents for a quarter of a century. As I was listening to it, I was like, "This is like what happened in that BSC book!" Well, I'm guessing Jeanne Betancourt took liberties with that story! 

Kristy calls an emergency meeting to discuss the kids not wanting to move to Reese. She says it is their "responsibility to help the kids adjust." No, it's not, Kristy. It's your responsibility to watch them and make sure they stay out of trouble and are taken care of, but it's not your responsibility to make sure they "adjust" to their new town. Sure, you can help, but it's not on you to make them like Reese. Claudia has the idea to invite Lionel to join them for pizza and the summer stock play. Yeah, that will really make him fall in love with Reese. They also discuss the story Elton had told them and in case any young reader out there didn't get the Claudia/Gerorgio parallels, Dawn points them out. 

Tuesday afternoon is a rainy day so everyone decides to explore the attic. They also tells the Menders that they can take an inventory of everything. The two sets of parents are visiting the business district of Reese and a few towns nearby "to make a study of how many people shopped on a rainy summer day." They really don't want the parents around, do they?

There's only two points of interests when they explore the attic: 1) they find an armoire with a few gowns. It's too bad they found it after the evening of their fancy dinner as Claudia mentions. 2) Andrew finds a wooden boat he really likes. I didn't really pay it any mind at first, but it does actually come back later in the story. 

If you're wondering how they got into the attic since the fourth floor is locked, they asked Georgio, who has a key, to unlock it for them. He does, but not before telling them he doesn't think they should go up there. I don't blame them for thinking he's the culprit: he has a set of keys, he keeps "warning" them not to go up there, and he's extremely shady. He's still way too obvious. 

Since they have access to the fourth floor now, Claudia and Dawn decide they're going to try to find Lydia's room and find the stairs to the widow's walk, but both doors to those are locked. Later that evening, they get an idea of how to solve the ghost mystery "once and for all", but they need Kristy's and Mary Anne's help. While Kristy and Mary Anne go outside at 9:30 to see if the fourth floor lights go on, Claud and Dawn are in the fourth floor hall, hiding in an alcove to see if anyone comes up, but they don't see anyone. Kristy sees a light go on in the same room from the previous night. It stay on for a couple of minutes, then goes off, and repeats a few more times. They see a figure clad in white out on the widow's walk, and, I admit, if I saw that, I'd probably be freaked out too! 

Aside from the mystery, we do have to remember this is a BSC book and that means baby-sitting. Kristy is taking Jason to play softball and help him make friends and when the baby-sitters take the younger girls to the pool, Mary Anne notices that Martha is putting distance between herself and Karen "without being rude." I'm glad that Martha isn't being overly friendly with Karen. Mary Anne and Dawn try to persuade Martha and Jill to join the swim team. Martha will only join if Jill joins and Jill will only join if (surprise, surprise) Dawn joins, but Dawn tells her she's going back to Stoneybrook, so now Jill doesn't want to join. Again, why is Jill so obsessed with Dawn? 

Okay, back to the mystery! Mary Anne goes to the library to do some research. She tells the librarian she's interested in learning about the Randolph house and would like to look at any architectural plans of the mansion. When she looks at the floor plans, she sees a dumbwaiter goes through the kitchen (first floor), dining room (second floor), and the children's playroom, which is the room where Dawn is staying (third floor). The librarian tells Mary Anne she is the second person to ask about the Randolph mansion that month. When Mary Anne asks if she knows who else also asked about it, she tells her she doesn't remember the name, but it was a woman who spoke with an accent. My guess is that the mute Margaret can actually talk! 

It's Wednesday now and Claudia takes a walk with Georgio and tells him about the old clothes they found in the attic. He tells her she and her friends shouldn't go up there because no one's been up there in years and that isn't safe. Okay, he keeps telling them it isn't safe, but he's not telling them WHY. When people don't give a reason for something, that aggravates the ever-living shit out of me. 

She meets his grandparents and they talk about Mr. Randolph for awhile. When Mr. Trono mentions the attic, Georgio quickly changes the subject and Claudia notices. That Georgio sure doesn't like that attic! His grandfather pretty much ignores him and keeps on telling his story. Apparently, on his death bed, Mr. Randolph said he wanted his treasure from the attic, but Mr. Trono thinks they were just the "mumblings of an old man" and Georgio agrees. 

Claud indirectly brings up the dumbwaiter, telling them how she likes the features in old houses including things like dumbwaiters, butlers' pantries, and verandas and the Tronos tell her the Randolph house has all those features and she's like, "Oh, I haven't noticed a dumbwaiter" and they tell her it's been covered and nobody has used it in years. They tell it can be dangerous and to stay away from it. I mean, I know it's not a toy, but are they really that dangerous? The only time I remember seeing a dumbwaiter in real life is when I toured the Breakers mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Other than that, I'm mostly familiar with them from movies and TV shows. It's at this point when Georgio abruptly tells her they have to go. They really want us to believe he is the suspect because he sure is keeping secrets! I still think he's way too obvious the way they're pushing it down our throats. Claudia is convinced he is the "ghost" and wants to keep the treasure for himself. 

That evening is when they invite Lionel to join them for pizza and to see the play, which is Dracula. We get a description of Claud's outfit: the black gauze skirt she wore the other night with a red tank top and a white silk bomber jacket tied around her waist and her earrings looks like airplanes. I'm not really a fan of earrings that are objects like that. I prefer geometric or abstract earrings. I guess she's wearing airplane earrings because of the bomber jacket, but it just seems so juvenile to me, though I guess she IS thirteen! 

On the way, Lionel talks in different accents and they try to guess what country it's from. When he does a Scottish accent, Claudia thinks it's an Australian one. The fuck? I know there are some accents that do sound similar, but those two? I think those two would be easy to distinguish. Also, we know she's heard an Aussie accent because she knows the Hobarts. Unless Lionel does a crap Scottish accent and it sounds Australian, but we're supposed to believe he's really good at these different accents. When they get to the pizza place, Lionel admits he was the "ghost" the first two nights. Well, duh. Didn't they catch him the second night? I guess they put this in here to confirm it was also him the first night, but I think that was pretty self-explanatory when they discovered him out in the hall the second night they heard the noises. He tells them he got the orange candles from the garden shed. At that moment, Claudia sees Georgio enter the pizza place. What the hell? Is this guy following her everywhere? He always seems to conveniently show up.  He invites himself to see the play with them (gotta love people like that) and when they all return back to the house, they see the white figure up on the widow's walk like the night before. Once again, Georgio makes Claudia promise him that she won't go to the fourth floor. Dude, just tell her what's up instead of being extremely shady. 

On Thursday, the girls find themselves alone in the mansion (I don't remember where everyone else is, but the kids must be with their parents), so they decide to investigate the dumbwaiter. When Dawn pulls on it, Claudia recognizes the squeaky sound as the ones that have been keeping her awake. They hear something heavy drop and Dawn goes to the bottom (about four feet down) and sees it's a tape recorder. Before she's able to retrieve it and get out, they hear a car and it's the Coopers. There's no time for her to get out, so they cover up the dumbwaiter. While the other baby-sitters are helping the Coopers get the groceries out of their car, Dawn hears both of the Coopers talking. Hmm, interesting! Elton asks his wife if she bought any sausage and when she replies, he tells her to shush, because the girls will be back soon. Okay, then why are you asking her a question, dumbass? Also, now that it's verified that Margaret can talk, I call her being the woman who was the one who asked the librarian about the mansion. Also, in case you were wondering, the Coopers do notice one of the girls is missing, but Kristy tells them Dawn went into town. 

Kristy is able to get the Coopers out of the kitchen by telling them they should relax on the veranda and Mary Anne will make them tea and the rest of them will put away the groceries. Once the coast is clear, they help Dawn out. Claud surmises that if they were to play the tape in the tape recorder, they would hear the sounds of a women's screams, something they've been hearing at night. They put the tape recorder back on the shelf of the dumbwaiter and cover it back up. Then Dawn reveals what she just found out. At this point, I think it's fairly obvious that the Coopers are involved with their little mystery, but why is the question. 

Mary Anne and Claudia to go the Tronos to ask some questions about the two caretakers. They don't have to worry about their nosy grandson because he's gone to New Hampshire to buy some "special paint" for their float for the parade. This is why I think they can't be far from the NH border. While chatting with the elderly couple, they learn that the Coopers aren't from Reese, even though they told the Menderesesesses they were. Mary Anne and Claud both agree that Georgio has been trying to help them all this time, not scare them. Okay, well, he could have done a better job of not scaring them by telling them that the Coopers were not to be trusted! This guy is shady AF so I honestly don't blame any of the BSC members for thinking he was behind it. 

That night at dinner, the adults announce they're going to Boston tomorrow, but they'll be back the next day in time for Founders' Day. I don't know how I feel about this. Yes, it's a ploy to get the adults out of the house, but I don't know how realistic I find this. They probably think the kids will be fine because the Coopers (who are actual adults and not faux mini adults like the BSC) will be there and I understand they don't know of their *alleged* nefarious ways (they haven't been proven guilty yet!), but I don't know if I would feel comfortable leaving my young kids with someone I didn't know that well overnight. Likewise, I wouldn't feel comfortable expecting the caretakers to take care of my kids, because they're there to take care of the cleaning, cooking, etc, NOT to baby-sit ten kids. (Shhh, don't tell Lionel and the BSC that I called them baby-sitting charges!) Mr. and Mrs. Menders should go, but realistically, Lisa and Seth (ore even just one of them) should have stayed at the house.  

The Menders tell their kids they're seriously thinking of moving to Reese and this time the kids have a more positive reaction and that they would be okay if they moved. I love how they act like they need the kids' permission to move. We get another instance of Jill being creepily obsessed with Dawn when she asks her parents if Dawn and her entire family can move in with them since they're plenty of room. Hmm, now if they were moving to southern California, I bet Dawn would accept that offer! This plot line would make a lot more sense if we knew why Jill was so enamoured with Dawn! 

So it's been settled! They will move into this house and soon start their new life in Reese! (And we will never, ever hear from this family again!) 

Then we get a huge reveal when Mr. Menders mentions he has to notify his cousin that they have decided to move into the mansion because "it will stipulate that [he] inherit[s] this mansion only if [they] live in it full time." Otherwise, it will go to his cousin, Charles Randolph. It just so happens that Mr. Menders hasn't seen his cousin since they were both about four and Charles lives in Scotland. As soon as he says this, I'm like, Elton is Charles! 

Apparently he left out this huge detail (and major plot point!) because they didn't want to put any pressure on the kids. WTF? Why would that put pressure on them? I don't get it. It's just for the plot's sake, let's be honest. If we knew about this cousin from the beginning, I think it would be pretty obvious what was going on.

Dawn tells Mary Anne that she just remembered that Margaret spoke with an accent, but couldn't place it. Wait, I'm sorry, so she didn't mention this when she first told her friends that she overheard Margaret speak? That seems like a pretty important detail and if someone spoke with an accent, you think that would be the first thing someone would notice. Nice sleuthing there, Nancy Drew. Has Dawn never heard a Scottish accent before? 

They get Lionel to play the "accent game" again and ask him to say the same sentence in different accents to see if Dawn can figure out what accent Margaret was using. She heard her say "You told me to, didn't you?" when her husband asked her if she got the sausage. When Lionel says it in a Scottish accent, Dawn recognizes it as the one Margaret used. What a shock! Didn't see that one coming! 

It's at that moment when the girls realize that "Elton" is really Charlie (duh, I already figured that out) and he and his wife have been trying to scare them because they want to keep the house to themselves. Only, they've just scared the baby-sitters. As far as I know, the kids haven't really been privy to any of the scare tactics. You think they would scare the Menders kids so they wouldn't want to move into a spooky, haunted mansion! I suppose that was their intention, but the BSC did their job of making sure the kids never found out about any of the scary stuff going on. The BSC decide they need more evidence and once they gather it, they will tell the Menders when they return from Boston. 

I am curious about one thing: If the "Coopers" live in Scotland, then what the eff do they want with a mansion in Maine? Do they plan to live there in the summer? Rent it out? Are they planning to move to Reese? I don't understand why they're so obsessed with not giving up this house, unless it has to do with that "treasure" that's supposedly in the attic. I'm not really sure why they're going to all this length to make sure the Menders don't inherit the house. 

Guess what, you guys? Georgio has also been suspicious of the "Coopers" this entire time. Well, why the fuck didn't he just tell the BSC his concerns? He thinks they heard about the so-called treasure in the attic and wants to find it. Ah, so he's on the same page as me. Ha, this is just like The Goonies! Didn't they find the treasure map in the attic? "Hey, you guys!" Now I'm picturing "Elton" looking like Joe Pantaliano. And that line, "I feel like I'm baby-sitting, but I'm not getting paid!" is actually true in this book because they AREN'T getting paid! 

So the adults have gone to Boston and while the "Coopers" are out of the house (it's their day off and they won't be back util evening), the BSC figure out that the lights that have been going on an off in the fourth floor have been rigged to a timer. It doesn't make sense that they leave for a few hours because Margaret knows they're onto them because she knows about Mary Anne asking about her at the library. So if they think the girls know about them, why would they leave? But they do and Kristy and Dawn break into their room where they discover a floor-length white gown and Dawn finds a note in a desk: 

Ten-step plan for when company leaves:

            1. poison ivy oil on inside of Lionel's and Mrs. Menders' clothes.

            2. get Georgio fired for fooling around with sitter.

            3. plumbing breakdown

            4. Disappearance of Jason's baseball glove (and any replacements)

            5. small electrical fire in Martha's bedroom.

The other five steps haven't been written yet, but let's take a second to dissect this oh-so-hilarious list. I guess they were planning to do these things when the BSC and Lisa, Seth, Karen, and Andrew left. The first one made me laugh because why only put poison ivy oil inside of two Menders when you can just do all of them? The second one was surprisingly scandalous to me for a BSC book. But how do they plan to get him fired "fooling around" with Claudia if she's not there? Is a plumbing breakdown really going to deter the Menders from wanting to obtain the house? I feel like they wouldn't be that surprised that a really old house has a plumbing breakdown. The fourth item is just lame as fuck. Like they would really not move into the house just because Jason lost his baseball glove. The fifth one is definitely the most concerning and serious of all of these. 

But now they have their evidence. They can't tell the adults yet because there's a big rainstorm and that means they won't be back that night. Georgio comes to check on them during the storm, giving them flashlights and a transistor radio.  Before he leaves, he gives Claudia a kiss on the cheek. (Little creepy knowing what we know!) Elton sees this too and Dawn wonders if he "could use that kiss as evidence that "Georgio was fooling around with the sitter."" Uh, unless he has a camera, how is he going to prove anything? 

While the kids are busy playing a boardgames, the girls quickly make up some rules:

One, don't go anywhere alone in the mansion. Two, don't leave any of the children alone - even for an instant. Three, don't act suspicious of the Coopers. 

Kristy tells the "Coopers" that she and her friends will make their own dinner and use the excuse that it will be a fun distraction to make dinner by candlelight. The real reason they don't want the "Coopers" making their dinner is that they are afraid they'll poison them, which is ludicrous. Their plan isn't to get a life sentence in prison by killing ten children. Yeah, the "Coopers" aren't great people, but they're not murderers. 

This possible poisoning storyline lingers when Margaret makes hot cocoa while Elton is telling a "scary" ghost story to the others. (And now that I think about it, I bet that story he told the BSC about Lydia and George was a a crock. He probably got the idea for the story of Lydia being locked up from the Blanche Monnier story.) When Margaret reappears with the tray of hot chocolate, Dawn internally thinks that it must be poisoned and she jumps up to offer to pass it around and Claudia follows her lead. Claud hands Margaret a mug and asks if she can taste it to make sure it's not too hot for the kids. She does and says it's fine. They know it's not poisonous if she's drinking it. Duh, girls, Again, what good would it be for them to poison you all? I guess it's just supposed to add another scary element to the story.

Due to the storm and Elton's "scary" ghost story, the kids are pretty scared and they all have a "sleepover party" in Kristy's and Mary Anne's adjourning rooms. So up until this moment, the kids really hadn't been privy to any of the scary stuff that the Coopers have been doing (mainly due to the BSC making sure they don't see anything), but Jill says she's scared because she saw a ghost the other day. Kristy tells her it was just Margaret, but Jill doesn't believe her and soon the Menders children are talking about how they don't want to move here anymore and they want to go back to Boston.

By the next morning, the weather has cleared up and the two sets of parents have returned. The BSC talk to the Menderses in private in the parlor while the Coopers are out getting groceries. Kristy tells them, "This will come as a shock to you, but we have evidence that the Coopers aren't who they say they are." They proceed to tell them about the list they found, the things they've done around the house to try to scare the kids, and that Dawn heard Margaret speak. The Menders tell them not to worry about it anymore, that they'll handle the situation.

It's the day of the parade and they're getting the float ready for it. Georgio is over, helping them. Claudia narrates to us, "I liked being with Georgio more than any guy I'd ever been around." Um, excuse me? What the hell is she talking about? Somewhere, Will, the guy she met at summer camp, is like, What am I? Chopped liver? Even Trevor Sandbourne might be scratching his head a little. Why are they acting like Georgio is the only guy Claud has ever fallen for when she clearly had more of a connection with Will from Camp Mohawk? Maybe Jeanne Betancourt never read Baby-sitters Summer Vacation. Shame, shame! 

Claudia ad Georgio help Mrs. Menders inspect the "Coopers"' room and they realize they've left for good because nothing is in their room and they left a note that reads "The house - and its ghost - are yours." When the hell did they leave? During the night? In the wee hours of the morning before the adults got home? They didn't even try to put up a fight. It feels a bit of a cop out to me just to end their story quickly. How lame. 

Mr. Menders has gone to the police station so they can try to stop them before they leave the country (naturally, they assume they've gone back to Scotland). Now, have they even done anything wrong? Is scaring people by pretending to be ghosts and switching on and off lights illegal? It's not nice, but they never succeeded in fooling the Mendersesesesses into not accepting the house. All I'm saying is, do they have any legal bases to have them arrested? The only real hard evidence that could be used against them is the note saying that they would start a fire in a young girl's room. 

But they're gone and they're able to join the Founders Day Celebration and be in the parade. The baby-sitters are wearing the gowns they found in the attic - a white satin one for Claudia, a red one for Kristy, a blue velvet one for Dawn (I feel like that would get hot in summer!), and a yellow one with smocking for Mary Anne. They stand on the float with Andrew, who is carrying the toy boat he found in the attic and wearing a sailor outfit. Karen, Jill, and Martha are walking in front of the float, all dressed in party dresses they found in the attic (it sure is convenient that they all found outfits that fit!) carrying a sign that Mary Anne wrote that says, "The Randolph Mansion wishes Reese a Happy Birthday!" I'm sorry, but why does everyone keep saying that Mary Anne has "neat" handwriting? I find her handwriting to be a bit straining on the eyes; of all the baby-sitters who write in cursive, I find Kristy's the easiest to read. They should have had Dawn write the sign. She has the easiest to read handwriting. Well, at least they didn't have Claudia write the sign like she did when they made that boat float in Baby-sitters at Shadow Lake. I bet her sign would have said something like "The Randoff manshun weeches Reeyce a happy burrthday!" Speaking of Claudia's atrocious spelling, here are some of the words she spelled amazingly wrong when she was writing in the notebook: Temperature is "temprater"; forever is "fourever"; finally is "finely" (that must be super confusing since that is a real word!); sweaty is "swety"; writing is "wrighting"; night is "nigt" (you think she would spell it as "nite" - at least that would make a little more sense); which is "which" (makes you wonder how she spells "witch"); float is "floot" (this one is especially perplexing because you would think she knows that a double o makes an "ooh" sound and you would think she would spell float as "flote" and flute would be "floot", this absolutely makes no sense); scared is "scard"; and most confusing of all (well, that might be debatable!) is write as "rite". You would think she would spell that as "wright" due to her spelling of "wrightings" and both of these words are used in the same entry! And also in that same entry, at the end she spells "write" right. WTF? I recently re-read Kristy's Great Idea and I think she only misspelled two words in her journal entry; they've definitely made her a worse speller as the series went on. 

Their float is a three-dimensional replica of the widow's walk. Naturally, Georgio drives the truck attached to the float. After the parade is over and they're changing their clothes for the carnival, we have this exchange between Claudia and Dawn:

I think I drove Dawn crazy while we were changing. Every time either one of us said something nice about Georgio, I'd add, "Do you think he's too old for me?" Dawn reminded me about her experience with an older guy named Travis. We agreed that Georgio was a lot nicer than Travis....Still, Georgio was older than Travis." 

I love how they're trying to justify that Georgio isn't a creep, and look I get that he doesn't know that Claud is thirteen (still a little confused about that!), but it's still weird. And they're right, he is older than Travis. Travis was sixteen, right? 

At the carnival, Claud and Georgio ride the Ferris wheel together and when their car stops at the top, he invites her to his school's homecoming weekend in October. I can't believe he's asking a thirteen-year-old to spend the weekend with him at his college. Where is Claud expected to stay? The University of Maine is in Orono (I would have guessed Portland or Bangor; never heard of Orono) and it's nowhere near where I believe the fictional town of Reese is located (about three hours by car), so its not like she could crash at the Menders mansion. But before she can reply, he tells her she doesn't have to answer now, but to at least think about it. Keep in mind that Claudia still hasn't said anything about her true age. This line is so messed up:

There was a lot to think about. How could I take a plane to Maine to be with a college student for a weekend when I was only thirteen years old?

:::shudder:::: Claudia, do you even hear yourself? She does rationalize that her parents would never let this happen (of course they wouldn't! No decent parent would!) But then we get an even more messed up inner monologue: 

I thought of Dawn's disasterous fling with Travis. And Stacey's doomed crush on a teacher. But, still, I did love being with Georgio. How could that be wrong?

I don't even think she should be mentioning Stacey in this as that was a one-sided crush. This whole Georgio subplot is just weird. It would have made more sense if age-appropriate Lionel had a crush on Claudia. Georgio can still exist and be a character and maybe Claudia can have a crush on him, but have him think of her as a younger sister and that's why he's so protective of her. 

During their time at the carnival, some of the girls think they see the "Coopers" there and when they tell the Menders this later, they tell them it couldn't have been the because they got word that they are back in Scotland. Like I figured, the Menders can't press charges against them because they don't have any concrete evidence and there are no charges they can file. Well, duh. 

So all the Stoneybrook residents return to Stoneybrook and Claudia receives a letter from Georgio where the first line is "You've been gone a day and I miss you already." I know that's supposed to be romantic, but it just made me roll my eyes. Like, stop trying so hard, dude. Of course the creepy age difference could also be what makes it so cringe for me, too. He also tells her he's "counting on seeing [her] on Homecoming weekend." Dude, STFU. Stop pressuring her. Although, according to him, that's too far away, so he wants to see her before that. And if all that wasn't bad enough, he sends her rose petals from the garden. If I were Claudia, I would ghost the shit out of him. I wonder if adult Claudia (if she was ever allowed to age!) ever looked back at this time in her life and wondered what the hell she was doing with an 18/19 year old as a thirteen-year-old. 

So, finally, finally, finally Claudia admits to Georgio that she's actually thirteen in a letter she writes to him (typed on what I presume was Janine's computer so everything is spelled correctly). Ha! I can only imagine Georgio's horrified reaction. He was probably like, Oh, shit, I invited a thirteen-year-old to spend a weekend with me at college! I assume there's a reason why they structured it this way for him to find out (in other words, Betancourt didn't want to write his reaction!) We also get confirmation that Georgio is nineteen years old. Throughout the book, while I knew he was in college, I wasn't sure if he was 18 or 19, but Claud mentions their six year age difference. Barf. She does mention that if they were older it wouldn't be a big deal, and yeah, she's right, but thirteen and nineteen? Gross, gross, gross. This might be even worse than fifteen-year-old Toby macking on eleven-year-old Mal. (And that was pretty gross). I'm still not sure why a nineteen-year-old liking Claudia (in a very inappropiate way!) was a storyline in this. 

Oh, yeah, remember how I told you that toy boat that Andrew found in the attic would come back later to play a part? Well, it turns out it was the treasure that Mr. Randolph was talking about before he died. The Menders gifted Andrew the boat and he wrote a thank you note to them, telling them that after Kristy helped him clean it, they saw that "Treasure" was written on the side. Oh, how clever! 

Claudia writes about experience in Reese as her composition for summer school. She tells us she got an A. Heh, I wonder how much she wrote about Georgio?