Novel & Cerita The Babysitters Club Graphic

“Snacks and ice cream for my favorite girls.” Sophie clapped her hands, taking the cookies eagerly. “Thanks, Uncle Larry!” Lauren narrowed her eyes. “Are you bribing her now?” Larry straightened, holding up his hands innocently. “Bribing? No. I’m simply showing my appreciation for the little ray of sunshine in this house. Someone’s gotta counterbalance your storm clouds. But I got you some ice cream too.” Lauren crossed her arms. “How thoughtful.” Larry smirked, plopping down on the armchair across from her. “So, how’s babysitting going? Sophie giving you a hard time?”

I flipped open the lid of the book and didn't know what the fuck. "What's this?" It looked like a photo album filled with girls, young girls. I started to relax a little, thinking that the shit had to do with my cause, which was rescuing young kids from fucked up situations and the twisted adults that were supposed to care for them, and nothing at all to do with my babygirl, until I saw her face looking back at me.

She sounds divine to me. "Look," Emma almost whispers. I open my eyes and find the book before me, an illustration of the scene Emma just read on the page. It's in black and white but I still appreciate what the artist is conveying. The character drawn has their features exaggerated and the dark lines around them shows struggle, the pull of magic, the force that no child should face. "That's intense," I say. "Definitely not a children's book."

"A baby?" She nodded solemnly. "Yes. In the earlier pictures, we couldn't tell the gender. But in the later ones, we figured out it was a baby boy from the colors and designs of the clothes. The pictures were organized in the album. There were labels indicating how many months old the baby was and the year. But the latest picture of the baby was only up to one-year-old. There were no more after that." I fell silent for a moment, contemplating. But that wasn't what concerned me the most. What bothered me now was why they had meddled with Auntie's belongings. "Does Uncle know you looked at the album? You shouldn't have been poking around."

To make sure she was real. On the fourth day, I brought my best drawing. It was a picture of all of us — me, Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma — standing in the garden with butterflies everywhere. I had drawn Grandma with strong colors so she wouldn’t look sick. I held it behind my back when I finally walked inside. “I made this for you,” I said, pushing the paper toward her quickly before I could change my mind. Grandma Eliana took it with both hands like it was made of glass. Her eyes got shiny the way Mommy’s do sometimes.

She pointed toward the nightstand where she’d apparently left a few crayon drawings earlier when she came in. One showed three stick figures holding hands under a big yellow sun, with a fourth tiny scribble that looked suspiciously like a baby sibling. “That’s me, that’s Mommy, that’s you, and that’s… maybe a little brother or sister one day? I want a baby brother, though.” Kimberly’s eyes widened slightly, a surprised laugh bubbling out of her as she glanced at Bryce. He raised an eyebrow, clearly amused, but there was a new heat in his expression as he met Kimberly’s gaze.

“Look, I even colored you a whole bunch of pictures.” With a flourish, he pulls a stack of papers out and hands them to me. “My little artist,” I grin, ruffling his hair. I can’t wait to put them up where I can see them. Every last one of them. “He really did,” the babysitter says softly. “He cried all last night.” Miles’ eyes widen. “Did not! I was a big boy!” I chuckle and tug him closer, kissing the top of his head. “Well, I’m here now, little wolf. Don’t you worry.”

I hear the bell on the front door, but I just focus on my breathing. A pretty girl with a baby strides in like she owns the place. In a way she does, I guess. Oscar's sister is beautiful, and she's carrying the baby like she was born to do it. The baby is chewing on his fist. I wonder if he is hungry. I don't know much about babies. I used to babysit when I was a teenager to make extra money, but I had never watched a baby this young before.

Greet this girl with a cheerful manner, as usual. The three friends greeted Baby at the same time. "Good morning" "You want hot sweet tea or hot chocolate milk? Baby." Adam was getting ready to make a drink for Baby. "I'd like hot chocolate. Thank you, Adam." Baby sit and wait for the hot chocolate milk. The man winked the one eye. "With pleasure I will make a special hot chocolate milk for you." Betta-Betty is busy cleaning the house, the twins seem eager to work as usual. Baby is amazed by the twins who are always passionate about work and have a harmonious relationship with each other.

They return two minutes later with chips and they force me to put on the most annoying, brain-rotting animated show ever. I need to put on my noise canceling headphones and stare at the wall, thinking maybe those sixteen children I thought I wanted aren't a good idea. Babysitting is only fun when Bobbie is with me.