By Ann M. Martin. Published February 1989.
The Pike parents are braving the mall with all eight kids.
More power to them. All the kids need shoes. Mallory wants some “cool pink
shoes”, but she has to get boring loafers instead. Boo. Although, now as an
adult, I can understand the reasoning. I’m so boring.
Then the kids get to split up and explore. Mallory gets
stuck with Claire and Margo. They go watch a girl getting her ears pierced.
Mallory is super jealous. When the piercing actually happens, Margo announces
she’s going to throw up, and Claire screams, and Mal is super embarrassed.
At the next BSC meeting, the girls are surprised to see
Logan there randomly. It’s about as awkward as it was the first time he came to
a meeting. Kristy won’t let him answer the phone; she thinks their clients
won’t be expecting a boy. Mal gets set up with a regular job, sitting for the
Arnold twins, Carolyn and Marilyn.
When Mal arrives for her first job, two identical girls,
dressed exactly alike, aside from their bracelets that have their names on
them, greet her. Mal is relieved to see the bracelets. She says something to
Carolyn, using her name, and Carolyn lights up. She does the same to Marilyn,
and gets the same result. She gives them some books out of her Kid-Kit, and
they sit and read the exact same way on the their beds. Mallory has to go and
comment on how cute they look, and says they look like bookends.
At this, the girls lose it. They start talking in their
secret language, take off their bracelets, and jump around so Mal loses track
of who is who. And then they run all over the house. Mal only regains some
order when she makes one of them try to play the piano, and she can’t, so Mal
knows that’s Carolyn.
At her second job, it goes much the same way. They lose the
bracelets as soon as their mother leaves. Mal has a difficult time with a game
of hide-and-seek, and possibly giving one twin two snacks. She can’t be sure.
She gets Marilyn to practice piano, at least, while Carolyn reads.
Claudia gets a chance to sit for the twins, and it goes
pretty badly. They pull the regular shit with her, and then Marilyn has to go
to her piano lesson, while Carolyn stays home and works on her science fair
project. Except they switch. Marilyn’s piano teacher is pretty upset, and so
are the Arnolds. They blame Claudia, and it’s pretty unfair.
Mal and Claudia talk over the problem with everyone at the
next meeting, but nobody has any helpful ideas. Claudia thinks they don’t
really have their own language, just a few words, and the rest is gibberish.
This gives Mallory an idea. At her next job, when the twins
start talking their language, Mal starts responding in Pig Latin. It drives the
girls nuts. Mallory tells them, in English, when they stop, she’ll stop. They
do, and Mal teaches them Pig Latin, and they absolutely love it. They also tell
Mallory how to tell them apart without their bracelets. It’s a major
breakthrough.
Mal, Mary Anne, and Dawn are hired to help out with the
twins’ birthday party. Mal helps them get dressed in their identical outfits,
which they are not happy about. They have fun at their party, until it gets to
the gifts. They get matching gifts from everybody, and they get more and more
upset. Then they get to Mallory’s gifts for them, and she got Marilyn a pin
shaped like a piano, and Carolyn a book of science experiments. They absolutely
love them.
The next time Mal sits for them, the twins show her their
other presents they got, but tell her her presents were their favorites,
because they were different. Then they talk about how they don’t like dressing
alike anymore, it’s babyish, and the kids at school don’t bother to try to tell
them apart. Mallory offers to help them talk to their mother.
She gets them started, but the girls do most of the talking.
Mrs. Arnold is surprised at first, but agrees that they can start dressing
different, and do different things with their hair. She also says it’s okay for
them to use their birthday money on new clothes; Mallory gets to take them
shopping on her next job.
That night, Mallory decides that since that went so well,
she should try talking to her own parents. All this time, bitching about how
she looks, and she never had the balls to actually talk to them about making
changes. Oh, Mal. But I have to remember she is only eleven.
She decides she’ll try bargaining. She asks for a new
wardrobe, contacts, a haircut, and pierced ears. Her parents say no to the
wardrobe and contacts, yes to the haircut if she pays for half, the pierced
ears if she pays for it, takes care of them, and wears fun earrings. She can
also spend her money on clothes she chooses. See, Mal? That wasn’t so hard, was
it?
Mallory and the girls have a good time shopping. The girls
take this very seriously. When they finally make their purchases, they’re very
different. They change before their mom picks them up to surprise her. She
loves it.
Mal bought some slouch socks that she’s thrilled about.
Really, her parents wouldn’t let her have those? Were those so crazy? I had
them, when I was way younger.
At the next meeting, Jessi shares the news that her parents
are letting her pierce her ears, too. And Claudia wants one more hole in one of
her ears. So Kristy declares their next party will be a trip to the mall.
The very first thing they do is go to the boutique to get
the piercings done. Mal’s and Jessi’s go fine, but Claudia almost faints after
hers. While she’s recovering, Dawn runs to a payphone, and gets permission to
get her ears pierced, two in each ear.
Seriously, can a bunch of middle schoolers just walk in and
get this done by themselves? They don’t need parents with them to punch holes
in their bodies?
A few weeks later, Mal has had her haircut, but she’s also
gotten braces. But it’s the day they get to change their earrings! Kristy and Mary
Anne surprise the others with earrings for them. Then Claudia brings out
earring that she made for everyone, including clip-ons for Kristy and Mary
Anne. And Mal has a pair of bestie book earrings that match her own for Jessi.
o
Teehee, Mal says what Claudia know about
electricity could fit on the head of a pin. Burn, Claud. From a sixth-grader,
no less.
o
I like how Mallory is still a little nervous
speaking up at meetings, that she and Jessi aren’t entirely comfortable yet.
o
When did kids stop getting all dressed up for
parties? I was six when this book was published, and I don’t remember ever
wearing party dresses to parties. Is this just a hold-over from Ann’s
childhood?
o
Ugh, this again. “…and we have pretty much
birthday money…” It’s just so wrong.
o
Personal story time. When I was younger,
probably because of this book, getting my ears pierced was a very big deal to
me. But my parents said I had to wait until I was eighteen. Even today, that
seems like a bit much. But my mom, brother and I went to Chicago for my
fourteenth birthday, and my mom let me get them pierced then. That phone call
to my dad was super scary, but he wasn’t too mad.
But as big of a deal as it was
then, once I got over the initial high of it, it was then no biggie. I haven’t
actually worn earrings in years.
Pretty sure you gotta be 16, at least, to do it without parent permission. But seriously, getting them pierced in a MALL is such a bad idea!!
ReplyDeleteI have gotten all of my ear piercings done at the mall, starting from age one to teenagehood and never had a problem. What do people think happens when you get your ears pierced at the mall?
DeleteMy comment keeps disappearing... I really hope this doesn't send six times. If there's more one of these, keep this one and delete the others, please?
DeleteAnyways. Scarring, lopsided piercings, crooked holes, infections, blood-based infections such as hepetitis, too-short piercing studs, improperly sterilized materials (plastic piercing guns can not be sterilized properly), excessive trauma, bad healing, bad healing/care instructions (new piercings should not be twisted or turned), shattered cartilage. You got lucky.
Here, read what the APP has to say about piercing guns http://www.safepiercing.org/piercing/faq/#guns Proper piercers spend *years* in training. People at the mall do not.