By Ann M. Martin. Published August 1990.
Jessi gets picked up from ballet by her dad, who says they
have a surprise to celebrate that night. Jessi is convinced it’s another baby,
and tells Becca. They get all sorts of excited. That’s not it, though. Mama Ramsey
is going back to work. And Aunt Cecelia will be moving in to take care of
Squirt and the house. Jessi and Becca are less than thrilled, and decide
they’ll need to play some pranks on her.
Jessi sits for Jackie, and pretty much bullies him into entering
the science fair. He wants to make a volcano. They go to the library, and find
books on volcanoes, and even directions on how to make one. Jackie thinks it
sounds complicated, but Jessi assures him they can do it. Mrs. Rodowsky is
proud of Jackie, and asks Jessi to be their only baby-sitter, and continue to
help Jackie.
Mal and Dawn sit for the Pikes, and they have the idea to
turn their house into a library. They certainly have enough books, and kids
actually come to use it. Margo is the first customer, looking for the science
books. She’s going to enter the science fair, too, and decides to make a shadow
box.
The dreaded day has come. Aunt Cecelia is moving in. And she
brings a whole lot of shit with her. It doesn’t all fit in her room, so she
spreads it out throughout the house, including Jessi’s room. It pisses her off.
The next day, Aunt Cecelia sends Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey out to brunch alone, while
she baby-sits. She won’t let Jessi do anything, like take Squirt for a walk or
go over to Mallory’s. Jessi and Becca start calling her Aunt Dictator, and
decide it’s time to put their plan into action. They short-sheet her bed, put
shaving cream in her slipper, and put a rubber spider on her pillow. Yes,
Jessi, you’re totally showing you were mature enough to sit for an entire
weekend. Aunt Cecelia just ignores everything, though.
The next day, Aunt Cecelia almost doesn’t let Jessi go for
her sitting job and BSC meeting, because she doesn’t know those people. Ya
know, just a little bit of communication between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey and Aunt
Cecelia really would have solved a lot of problems. But she finally lets Jessi
go, and she goes to the Rodowsky’s to work on the volcano. Jackie mainly just
makes a mess with papier-mâché, though.
Kristy sits for David Michael and Emily Michelle. David
Michael decides to enter the science fair, too, and now Kristy sees it as a
competition between her, Jessi, and Mal. But she makes it a point to say she’ll
help, but won’t do it for him. He decides to make a solar system mobile.
Charlotte is also entering the science fair. She is playing
different kids of music for plants. Stacey is very impressed. Then Becca comes
over to bitch about Aunt Cecelia.
At the next BSC meeting, the girls discuss the science fair.
Jessi thinks the others aren’t doing enough to help the kids, but the others
suggest she’s actually doing the work for Jackie. She just brushes that off,
though. Then she gets into bitching about Aunt Cecelia, and the others try
telling her to simply talk to her parents. She won’t though, because they just
seem so happy with Aunt Cecelia, and she also doesn’t want to get in trouble
for all the tricks she and Becca have played.
A couple of days before the fair, Jessi completely takes
over Jackie. She makes a sign for him, and makes up a speech and hand gestures
for him. He’s excited about it, though.
Jessi is ten minutes late getting home from her job, and
Aunt Cecelia loses her shit. She forbids Jessi from going to the BSC meeting.
She does allow her to call Kristy and let her know. Jessi has the girls call
her fourteen times during the meeting. Aunt Cecelia doesn’t like that one bit,
and gets her revenge by giving Jessi some ridiculous hairstyle.
It’s the evening of the science fair, and Jessi’s as excited
as if she had entered. She admits she kind of did. When the judges come around,
Jackie’s volcano explodes perfectly, and his speech goes well. But then he gets
into trouble when the judges start asking questions, and he can’t answer any of
them. He doesn’t win. Charlotte gets third place, though. And Jackie does
impress some mean guys in his class, so it wasn’t a total loss. Jessi finally
realizes what she did, and apologizes to the Rodowskys. They’re really nice
about it. But Jackie doesn’t want her help next year.
Jessi decides it’s freaking finally time to talk to her
parents about Aunt Cecelia. She tells them about her experience with Jackie
first, and then tells them about Aunt Cecelia not letting them have simple
responsibilities and treating them like babies. They ask Aunt Cecelia and Becca
to come in, and they get it all hashed out. Jessi realizes she treated Jackie
the same way Aunt Cecelia treats them, so she kind of understands her. But Mr.
and Mrs. Ramsey let Aunt Cecelia know that the girls can handle some things on
their own. Aunt Cecelia agrees, but tells on the girls about the pranks. They
don’t get into too much trouble, though. Aunt Cecelia just gives them a taste
of their own medicine. They apologize to each other, and it’s all good.
o
I always loved the Pike Library. I wanted to do
it myself, but my little brother was my only customer. He didn’t want to check
out my BSC books.
o
Rereading this as an adult, I feel bad for Aunt
Cecelia. She was a bit overbearing and unfair, but her husband, like, JUST
died. There’s no sympathy for her at all.
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