Poor Mallory indeed, the BSC whipping boy. Not only is she ugly with red hair, freckles,
glasses and braces, her family is now going broke…
So Mal is on her way home from school with Jessi and they
are singing songs only eleven-year-olds would find amusing. Once Mal gets home, she discovers her mother
lying down. It turns out that Mr. P
might lose his job. I think we had some
foreshadowing in the past few books that this might happen and so it’s not a
total shocker when he loses his job. But
still, Mal sat through all of chapters 2 and 3 three hoping that it’s not going
to happen. But it does. Of course.
Mal gets her siblings together in kind of a little club to
think of ways to save money and to be able to lean on each other. Then Mal calls Jessi to tell her what
happened.
The BSC, in its super supportive way, decides that Mal can
have all the jobs that come in that she’s available for and Kristy even gives
up her month long job with the Delaneys so that Mal can make some money. She even condescends to sit for the evil Jenny
P, who is going to be a big sister. Now
whose idea was that? I’d like to see who
gets credit in the “BSC bible”.
We find out that Mal has been having some trouble with some
girls from school including some former friends of hers. They’re making fun of her because her dad
lost his job. Now this is pre facebook
era, so unless the BSC is spreading it around, how do all these people
know? Did Mal get on the PA and announce
it? Did she have to stop and tell every
teacher at the beginning of each class in an overly loud voice? Was one of these girls’ fathers the one
handing out pink slips? Whatever it was,
within two days she’s being picked on.
It’s a good thing she has the best friends you’ll ever have. They don’t care if your dad lost his job, or
if you’re black….
Mal starts her sitting job with the Delaneys. They have a new pool and invite friends over
to swim in it, but turn away other kids they don’t like. Mal thinks it’s unfair that these kids have a
pool and her sister wants a skipper doll, but they can’t afford it. .
Other than books and art supplies, we usually just get our kids things
at Christmas and birthdays. Call me old
fashioned, but who needs all that crap lying around the house making messes
anyway? See, budget problem solved!
Stacey sits for the Delaneys on a Saturday that Mal can’t do
it and the kids discover that some of their friends aren’t really their friends….they
just want to use the pool. Ok, c’mon. If you’re in the riches part of town in
wealthy Connecticut,
I’m willing to bet every house has a pool.
Amanda and Max are hurt even though Karen Brewer (!!) has enough tact to
stay and play.
On the Pike homefront, things are not going too well. Mr Pike hasn’t found a a job yet, and taking
a page from Ramona, is in his pj’s watching television (electric bill!!)
instead of taking care of Claire. Of
course, Mr. Quimby was out of work longer before he started that habit;
thankfully Mr. Pike doesn’t take up smoking.
Dee calls him on the carpet, so by the
next week he’s Mr. Mom. AH! No!
Say it ain’t so!
Mal calls another meeting with her siblings and they talk
about ways to make money so that they can pay their mortgage. I can see my kids doing this, although I
doubt my oldest would have organized his sibs like Mallory did. They’d probably just sit and worry, like the
Pike kids are.
Kristy’s sitting job and hey! It’s not for her siblings! But they are over to play with the Papadakis
kids and they have a fun time playing office while it’s raining. But alas!
The sun comes out so Karen and DM want to ditch Linny, Hannie and Sari
for the Delaneys and their pool. Hannie
and Linny call them out for being hypocrites when they don’t even really like Amanda and Max, but DM and
Karen leave anyway.
Mal sits again for the Delaneys and Max and Amanda soon tire
of being in the pool But their friends
aren’t and don’t want to get out. Mal
calls all the kids out of the pool and Amanda and Max suggest games. Unfortunately, their “friends” walk out of
the yard leaving them high and dry. Max
goes off and plays, but Amanda stays with Mal.
Mal can commiserate; she’s finding out who her real friends are now that
her dad’s out of a job. She and Amanda
hatch a plan to see who her real friends are – invite people over but tell them
they can’t swim while a sitter is there.
Real friends will come anyway.
The Delaney plan has inspired Mal to confront the girls who
are picking on her at school and the next day she gets her chance. They’re talking about how her dad must be
stupid and Miss Mal goes and tells them off, including a warning to watch their
backs. Go Mal! Girl power!
Not only does she get the satisfaction of knowing she stood up for
herself and her family, she finds out her plan for the Delaneys works out so
that they know who their real friends are (now they can go swimming again!).
In yet another brilliant display of babysitting, Jessi is
sitting for her siblings when the news comes out that Vanessa calls herself
Miss Vanessa and styles hair on the playground in order to make money. Just so long as she doesn’t start a business
called Miss Vanessa’s House of Hair, we should be ok. Vanessa and Charlotte come over to play with
Becca, and when Vanessa arrives home, we find out Mr. Pike has a lead on a job!
It takes a few more interviews before Mal is able to breathe
a sigh of relief because he GOT THE JOB!!!
Yay!!! Now Claire can have a
skipper doll! You know, because that’s
really the most important thing. They
all confess how worried they were only to find out Mr. Pike was getting severance
pay. The kids are a little ticked at Mal,
but she didn’t know. How would
they? John and Dee never told them. Sometimes you gotta remember kids worry too
and it’s good to let them know it’s going
to be ok.
Mallory hosts a BSC sleepover and tells the members about
how some of her “former” friends were hinting they’d like to be invited. Seriously, these girls ARE their own social
networking device. So they do some prank
calling, one of which I used on my brother for his 40th birthday. It is, by far, Mal’s best night ever. (hopefully not for the rest of her life.)
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