By Ann M. Martin. Published February 1990.
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| So. Many. Stripes. But I love Jeff's face. |
Ok, we finally get
to find out who caught the bouquet. I know, it’s been killing you.
Well, it’s Mary Anne. And Dawn is not too happy about it.
She figures since it’s her mother, she should have caught it. But Mary Anne is
the one with the boyfriend, so Dawn tries to be happy for her.
That night, Richard and Sharon go to an inn for their
one-night honeymoon, Jeff goes to the Pikes’, and Dawn and Mary Anne spend the
last night at Mary Anne’s. They don’t get much sleep though; every little noise
freaks them out.
The next day is moving day, and of course, Mary Anne cries
practically all day. At the farmhouse, so does Tigger, for about six hours
straight. And Mary Anne is pissed because her dresser just won’t fit in her and
Dawn’s room.
Mal has to go home early from the next BSC meeting. Turns
out she has chicken pox, for the second time. Poor Mal. The other girls will
have to cover the jobs she has lined up. The first two are fine, but for her
job with the Perkins’, Mary Anne and Dawn are both available. They both want
the job, and Mary Anne surprises everyone by not backing down. And then she
pretty much, out of nowhere, calls Dawn fat. I always knew she was a bitch.
Kristy finally has them draw straws, and Mary Anne gets the job.
Now why does Dawn want the job so bad? Because she’s saving
up to buy Mary Anne a “now-we’re sisters” present, because Mary Anne gave her
one on the wedding day. What’s that you say? That’s not how it went down? It
was actually the other way around? There’s a lot of confusing shit in this
series, but this one really takes the cake.
Anyway, moving on. Dawn and Mary Anne make up when Mary Anne
comes home from the job and tells Dawn all the cute things the girls did.
Claudia sits at the Pikes’. Poor Mal is half sitter, half
sittee. Mrs. Pike has to take the triplets to the doctor, where they find out
they’ve got pneumonia. The other kids play hospital.
Things aren’t going well at the Schafer/Spier household.
Richard is super neat, and Sharon is super messy. Richard suggests a spring
cleaning day, but it doesn’t go very well. Dawn even sabotages Richard’s sock
drawer. There’s so much passive aggressive behavior in this book, it’s
ridiculous.
The Pike Plague continues. Everyone is still sick, and Nicky
broke some fingers. Then while Stacey is sitting, Vanessa sprains her ankle. So
that’s six out of eight so far.
At the next BSC meeting, things are still all frosty between
Dawn and Mary Anne. They have another tussle over a job, but this time it’s
trying to give the job to each other, because it’s for Jenny Prezzioso. Then
Kristy and Mary Anne make plans with each other, and Dawn is jealous. Jessi
lets everyone know that Claire and Margo have colds, so now that’s all the kids.
That evening, Dawn and Mary Anne get along. Until it’s
homework time. Mary Anne needs silence, but Dawn needs some noise to work. They
get into a big fight, and Richard and Sharon intervene. But Sharon takes Mary
Anne’s side, and Richard takes Dawn’s. It finally ends with Mary Anne going to
work in the guest room, saying she’ll be sleeping in there, too.
Jessi and Kristy have an emergency job at Pikes’, where
everyone is now sick or injured, including the adults. Mrs. Pike hurt her knee
and can’t walk, and Mr. Pike burned his hand and can’t use it. Claire and
Margo’s colds have turned into bronchitis. But Mallory, Nicky, and Vanessa are
close to being better.
So Dawn finally figures out that she and Mary Anne should
not be sharing a room. No shit, Dawn. But it was her idea that they share, and
she really doesn’t want to admit she’s wrong. So she can’t just come out and
say it. So she decides to scare Mary Anne out, using the secret passage. She
calls Jeff and gets ideas from him, and sets it all up when Mary Anne is
spending the night at Kristy’s.
Monday night, Richard and Sharon go to a meeting, and Dawn
says she’s going over to the Pikes’ to help them out. She waits outside until
she sees the light in their room go on, then sneaks into the passage and makes
all sorts of noise. Then she runs back out, and rings the doorbell. While Mary
Anne is answering it, she enters their room through the passage and leaves a
rose on Mary Anne’s desk. Then Dawn does it all over again, this time leaving a
chicken bone that looks like a human finger. I’m really surprised Dawn would even
touch a chicken bone. Anyway, Mary Anne freaks the fuck out, like Dawn thought
she would. Then Dawn “comes home”, and Mary Anne tells her she can’t sleep in
their room anymore. They move all of Mary Anne’s furniture into the guest room.
Mission accomplished.
Of course, that one change fixes everything. And the whole
family works harder to make things work. They come up with a chore chart, and
agree to be more honest with each other, instead of just trying to please one
another. And when the girls come home one day, they find Tigger asleep in
Sharon’s lap. Aww.
And Dawn saves up enough money for Mary Anne’s present. It’s
a pin in the shape of a cat. The first one was a barrette. Whatever.
o
I’m totes a Richard. I organize my closet by
color, too, but by ROYGBIV, not alphabetically. But you better believe my
bookshelves are arranged by genre, then alphabetically by author. And I’m all
about cleaning up the kitchen right away. I’m probably pretty annoying.
o
Carol, Dawn’s dad’s girlfriend gets introduced in
this book. Jeff says she’s saying she’ll never get married. Ha.
o
Mallory has chicken pox scars in “unmentionable
places”. How did you even find that out, Mal?
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