"Are you hungry, Andrew?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Well, let's go get some lunch, then."

We went through the front door of Watson's house, and the first thing I saw was not the huge, gorgeous front hall, not the tree that was growing in the living room, not the sparkling chandelier or the stained gla.s.s window, but a fat creature that could only be Boo-Boo.

Sure enough. "Hi, Boopa-de-Boo," cried Karen, hugging him. "This is Boo-Boo," she told me. "He's Daddy's cat. He's real old. Daddy had him even before he knew our mommy. Did you know he's had two spells put on him by a witch? She lives next door in the scary house."

I sighed again. It was going to be a long day. "Come on. Let's get our lunch," I said.

In the kitchen, Karen helped me find the stuff for sandwiches, and then I fixed apple slices and carrot sticks and poured us each a gla.s.s of milk.

"Yum," said Karen. "Yummy-yummers! You're a neat baby-sitter. You fix good food."

"Yup," said Andrew.

Karen ate a few bites of her sandwich, then suddenly looked at me very seriously, her brown eyes glistening. "Is our mommy all right?" she asked me.

"Oh, of course," 1 replied. "A broken ankle isn't too serious. She'll have to wear a cast and walk on crutches for a while, but in a few weeks she'll be all better. Having a cast is fun. Everyone signs it and draws pictures on it."

"Did you ever have a cast?" asked Karen.

"Last summer," I replied. "I broke my ankle, just like your mommy."

"How did you do it?"

"I was taking our dog, Louie, for a walk -"

"You have a dog? Can I see him sometime?" interrupted Karen, wiping away a milk-mustache.

"I guess," I answered. "Anyway, I was taking Louie for a walk, except I was riding my bike. Louie was on his leash running next to me. We came to a tree, Louie went one way, I went the other, the leash wrapped around the tree, and whoosh! I flew off my bike."

Karen giggled. Even solemn Andrew managed a tiny smile. I was beginning to feel better. Mary Anne was right. Karen and Andrew weren't too bad - considering Watson was their father.

"So that's how I broke my ankle. I had to wear a cast for six weeks. I couldn't go swimming all summer."

"Yuck," said Karen.

"Yuck," said Andrew. It was a nice change from, "Yup." He went back to his lunch, which he was eating slowly and neatly. Take a bite, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, swallow, wipe mouth, start over.

Karen ate silently, too, for a moment, and I could tell she was thinking about something. At last she put the remains of her sandwich on her plate and said, "You're Kristy, right?"

"Right," I replied.

"Is your mommy Edie Thomas?"

"That's right." The kid was smart.

"My daddy says he loves your mommy."

"I guess," I said uncomfortably. I realized that Karen looked uncomfortable, too.

"If they get married, your mommy will be my mommy."

"Stepmommy, I mean stepmother," I corrected her. "And guess what. I'd be your stepsister. And yours, Andrew."

"Yup," said Andrew.

Karen thought for a while again. "That would be okay," she said at last. And then, "Do you like being divorced, Kristy?"

"Not particularly," I said.

"How come?"

"Because I never see my father. He moved to California. That's far away."

"Ooh," said Karen. "We don't like being divorced either, but we get to see our daddy lots."

"I know," I said dryly. Boy, did I know.

Watson, the perfect divorced father.

"Our mommy's getting married again."

"I know."

"We don't want her to, do we, Andrew?"

"Yup."

"You don't?" I said.

"Nope. Mommy says oh we're so lucky, we'll have two daddies, and maybe someday two daddies and two mommies. But we just want our old mommy and daddy - all in one house."

"I know what you mean." Karen was all right.

Suddenly I was aware of little sniffling sounds next to me. Andrew was crying into his sandwich crusts. Karen jumped up and ran around the table to hug her brother. "I'm sorry, Andrew," she said. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"He doesn't like to hear about all the mommies and daddies. I'm not 'asposed to talk about it too much."

"Oh." I wiped Andrew's tears with my napkin. "Hey, you guys, how about a special treat? Ice cream for dessert!"

"At lunchtime?" asked Karen incredulously.

"Sure," I said, opening the freezer door and hoping I'd find ice cream inside. Luckily, there was almost a whole quart of cookies 'n' cream.

"Divorced kids are special kids. How about it, Andrew?"

Andrew's eyes lit up. "Okay," he sniffled. "That's good."

"All right!" I ruffled his hair.

I placed three bowls of cookies 'n' cream ice cream on the table and we ate away happily. Karen was so happy, she couldn't even speak. As we were slurping up the last dribbles, Boo-Boo waddled into the kitchen. Karen jumped up and ran to the back door.

"Wait!" I cried. "Karen, don't let him out, okay?"

"But he wants to go. He's allowed."

"Is Mrs. Porter home?" I asked.

Karen stepped away from the door. "Oh. . . . I don't know."

"Maybe we better keep him inside. Just until your dad comes back, okay?"

"Yeah," said Karen. "Good idea."

"But we can go out," I added. I decided that would be all right, as long as we didn't go near Mrs. Porter's yard.

"Because divorced kids are special kids," said Andrew.

"You got it," I said.

Andrew giggled. "You got it? That's funny!"

Andrew and Karen and I played hide-and-seek until it was time for Andrew's nap. Then Karen and I sat on the back porch and read Little Toot and The Snowy Day and The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. We were halfway through The Little Engine That Could when Watson came home.

"How is she?" I asked. I wasn't sure what to call Watson's ex-wife. I didn't even know her name.

"At home and on her feet," he replied. "Or at any rate, on her foot. She's okay. But you guys," he said to Karen, "are going to stay with me for the rest of the weekend so Mommy can rest, okay?"

"Goody!" said Karen.

"How did everybody get along?" asked Watson.

"Fine," I answered. Suddenly I felt shy.

"Daddy, I like Kristy," Karen announced. "I don't mind if she's going to be our stepsister."

Watson smiled, but I blushed. "Well, I'm glad everything went so well," he said.

"Does she have to go home now?" asked Karen.

"Well, she won't be able to if Andrew is asleep. Is he napping?"

"He went down about -" I checked my watch - "almost an hour ago."

"Hmm," said Watson. "I don't really want to wake him up. Do you want to call your mom and have her pick you up?"

"I better not," I said. "She probably won't want to leave David Michael."

"Do you mind waiting? Andrew shouldn't sleep more than another half hour or so."

"I don't mind." And I didn't. I really didn't. While we waited for Andrew, Watson took turns playing checkers with Karen and me. He won every game. I was glad because if he'd let me win, it would have proved he was trying too hard to make us feel like one big happy family.

Later, as Watson was driving me home, Karen said, "Kristy, I wish you were our big stepsister, right now."

"Well," I said, "how about if I be your babysitter instead?"

"Thaf s okay," said Karen.

"Yeah, that's okay," echoed Andrew.

I glanced at Watson. He was sneaking a look at me, too. We smiled at each other.

That night after Mom had gotten David Michael to sleep, she came into my room. I was writing up my experience at Watson's in the Baby-sitters Club Notebook.

"So," she said, "now that we have a moment to ourselves, tell me how everything went at Watson's. I'm sorry that was thrown at you today, but maybe it worked out for the best."

I was glad Mom wasn't saying, I told you so.

"It went okay," 1 said. "Andrew and Karen are cute. Andrew hardly ever talks, though. Karen says the divorce upsets him."

"It does upset him," Mom said, "but he's also got a big talker for an older sister. He almost doesn't need to speak."

"Karen sure is a big talker," I agreed. "I think she's really smart."

"She is. She just started kindergarten, and her teacher is already thinking of putting her in first grade after Christmas."

"Wow," I said.

"Kristy, would you baby-sit for Watson's children again, if he needed you?"

"I already told Karen that since I couldn't be her stepsister yet, at least I'd be her babysitter."

My mother looked pleased, "Mom?" I asked. "What will happen when you and Watson get married? I mean, if you get married. Would Andrew and Karen live with us? Would we all live in Watson's house? It's so big."

"Does it bother you that there are no arrangements yet?"

"Yes," I replied. "I like to know what's going to happen."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything definite, honey."

"Can you tell me something wndefinite?"

Mom smiled. "Well, first of all, Watson's custody arrangements probably won't change, so wherever we live, Andrew and Karen won't live with us. They'll only visit. And right now, it looks as though we might move to Watson's, simply because there's more s.p.a.ce."