Read Online Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn by Ann M. Martin - Free Book Online Page B

pathetic,” said Mallory to Jessi. “Look at them. They’re going to think the only thing that matters in their lives is beauty and poise. They’ll grow up believing they can only be pretty faces, not doctors or lawyers or authors.”
    â€œI am so glad Becca has stage fright,” said Jessi.
    At that moment, Adam got to his feet. He followed his sisters around the room, wiggling his hips and singing in a high voice, “Here she comes — Miss A-meeeer-i-ca!”
    Claire and Margo didn’t utter a word. They just threw down their books and stomped out of the living room. Claire went to the kitchen, Margo to the rec room. A few moments later, the Pikes and Jessi heard, “I’m Popeye the sailor man …” all mixed up with, “This is the farmer who sowed the corn …”
    â€œI have a headache,” commented Mallory.
    â€œMe too,” said Jessi, Adam, Byron, Jordan, Vanessa, and Nicky.
    They moved their Monopoly game upstairs and waited for the afternoon to end.

This is the house that Jack built. This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. This is the rat —
    Stop! Stop! Stop!
    I was having a stupid conversation inside my head. I couldn’t get that darn poem out of my mind. It was with me all the time.
    This is the farmer who sowed the corn, that fed the cock …
    Claire’s song was with me, too.
    I eat all the wor-orms and spit out the ger-erms I’m Popeye the …
    Ew, ew, ew.
    â€œDawn, would you pay attention, please?”
    I jumped. Thank goodness I wasn’t in school, just at a meeting of the Baby-sitters Club. Even so, Kristy looked about as peeved as a teacher who’s caught a kid drifting around in outer space.
    â€œSorry,” I said. “It’s that poem that Margo’s going to recite in the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant. It’s driving me crazy.”
    â€œ Tell me about it,” said Mallory. She looked a little wild.
    And Jessi immediately added, “This is the farmer who sowed the corn, that fed the cock that crowed in the morn, that waked the priest all shaven and shorn …”
    Mallory and I joined in with, “That married the man all tattered and torn —”
    The phone rang then and Kristy reached for it, saying, “Amazing,” and giving us a look that might have meant she thought we were totally demented, or might have meant she was really, really impressed with us. It was hard to tell.
    Kristy took the call and lined up a job for Mallory with Jamie Newton, this little kid our club sits for a lot. When she was finished, she said, “So. I guess we’ve each got a kid entering the pageant now. I mean, except for you guys,” she added, looking at Mallory and Jessi.
    Our junior club members were sitting side by side on the floor, leaning against Claudia’s bed and making necklaces out of gum wrappers. Mary Anne and Claudia and I were lounging on the bed. Kristy, of course, was sitting straight andtall in the director’s chair, her visor in place. She reminded me a little of an army sergeant.
    â€œYeah,” said Mallory. “We wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like that…. Oh, I’m sorry! Really I am. I didn’t mean to insult anybody. It’s just — I meant — I meant —”
    The rest of us were laughing, though. I was glad Mallory felt comfortable enough with us to say something like that. And I couldn’t resist replying. “It’d be pretty hard to enter a kid in the pageant if you were dead, wouldn’t it?” I said.
    Mallory began to laugh, too.
    â€œWell,” I went on, “how’s everybody coming along? Claire and Margo will be ready for the talent show, if nothing else.”
    There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.
    I tried again. “Claudia, what’s Charlotte going to do in the talent show?”
    Claudia looked down at her hands. Her gaze traveled right on