The kids knew how to sign, "See you later." They shouted good-bye to Haley, who called back, "Next time you make b.u.t.tons, let me know. I draw great elephants."

While Mallory's group headed for the Prezziosos' house, Kristy led her group to Bradford Court. Mrs. Newton was happy to buy a badge.

"Look!" Vanessa pointed at the money they received. "She gave us a ten-dollar bill."

Adam and Nicky gave each other high-fives. "Score!"

Then while Mallory's group hit tine Perkinses' house, Kristy's went to the Marshalls' and the Mancusis'.

"This is amazing," Margo cried as she skipped down the street. "Everyone is giving more than five dollars. With all this money, Babar will be free in no time."

Kristy checked her watch. "We have time for one more house and then we need to head back home."

"The Johanssens!" Nicky raced up the walk and pushed the doorbell. Kristy and the others hurried behind him, the kids calling, "Wait for us, Nicky. We have the b.u.t.tons."

Nicky put his ear against the door. "They're home. I can hear footsteps and voices."

The kids, their best sales-pitch smiles plastered on their faces, struck a group pose in .front of the door. Kristy stood behind them, her face frozen in a smile, too.

That smile disappeared the moment the door opened. Charlotte was standing in the Johanssens' foyer. And behind her, much to Kristy's surprise, was her baby-sitter.

"Stacey!" Kristy gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Baby-sitting," Stacey replied. "What does it look like?"

"But - but you're not part of the club anymore," Kristy spluttered. "How can you babysit?"

"Dr. Johanssen asked me to sit, that's how." Stacey stared Kristy in the eye.

"But the Johanssens are our clients," Kristy continued.

Stacey shrugged. "I guess they realized what a special relationship Char and I have, so they called me first."

There was a lot Kristy wanted to say to Stacey, but she didn't, mostly because the kids were right there. Instead she said, "Well, I guess we can't prevent you from taking jobs - "

"I guess you can't," Stacey cut in. "Besides, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to work on our biology project. I've decided to observe Carrot."

Carrot is Charlotte's schnauzer. At the mention of his name, he came racing to the door, barking.

"See?" Stacey gestured toward Carrot. "I guess I'll write down that he barks when strange people come to the door."

That did it. If Kristy wasn't seeing red before, she was now. She told me later that if she'd been a cartoon character, steam would have shot out of her ears.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Kristy and Stacey glared at each other, fighting back what they really wanted to say. Finally Charlotte broke the tension.

"What's in the basket?" she asked, stepping out onto the porch.

"A Free Babar b.u.t.ton," Nicky replied. "Want to buy one?"

"Sorry, Nicky," Stacey said, in a much warmer voice than she'd used with Kristy. "Neither Charlotte nor I have any money.

Why don't you come back later when the Johanssens are home?"

"Fine with me." Kristy was already off the porch and walking down the sidewalk. "Come on, kids. Time to head back."

" 'Bye, Charlotte!" the kids shouted. " 'Bye!"

"See you later," Charlotte called back.

Neither Stacey nor Kristy said good-bye to each other. They were both too mad.

Chapter 7.

"Everyone wants to study either the gorillas or the monkeys," I pointed out to Alan on Friday. We had just arrived at the zoo and were standing near the primate enclosure. "We should pick animals that are different."

Alan narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. "Is Logan's group studying the gorillas?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But that's not why I want to observe a different animal. It's because I talked to Hannah Toce and Emily Bernstein and both of their groups will be watching Mojo and James, too."

Alan nudged Howie. "I think Mary Anne wants to let her boyfriend win."

"I do not," I said huffily. "1 want to win. That extra credit would mean as much to me as it would to Logan. Maybe more."

Science is not one of my strong points, even though I really like it. Logan, on the other hand, is a natural at it. He rarely studies for tests.

"I think it would be good to do something really different, like choosing three different types of animals - one from the water, one that flies, and one that lives on land - and calling our report Fur, Feathers, and Fins."

"I want to study Mojo and James," Howie said, stubbornly folding his arms across his chest. His face, which is covered in freckles, grew redder and redder as we talked.

The three of us were still arguing when Logan, Dawn, and Claudia arrived. They'd been at the front gate gathering brochures about the special exhibits at the zoo.

"I see you all are getting along quite nicely." Logan smirked as he, Claudia, and Dawn pa.s.sed by.

"This is a private meeting," Alan shot back. "Do you mind?"

"Well, ex-cuuuuuuse me," Logan replied. Then he turned to Dawn and Claudia and drawled, "That's my idea of a fun meeting - yell at each other and turn red in the face."

Logan's remarks were starting to get on my nerves. I turned to Alan and said in a voice that I hoped Logan would overhear, "Ignore him, Alan. We have to do things our own way."

Alan took a couple of deep breaths and then turned to Howie. "I agree with Mary Anne about Mojo and James. I mean, look, all the kids are watching the gorillas. And I think the fur/ feathers, and fins idea is great - with one change."

"What's that?" I asked, pleased that things were going more smoothly.

'Instead of fins, why don't we call it flippers?" Alan suggested. "That way we can study the seals. They're a lot of fun to watch."

'Tine with me." I took my spiral notebook out of my backpack and wrote the words Fur, Feathers, and Flippers at the top of the page. It was now official.

Howie didn't look very pleased about the new turn of events, but all he said was, "I get to pick the fur animal."

"Okay," I said. "Which one do you want? Tigers?"

Howie shook his head. "Bears."

Alan and I thought bears would be fine. That left me the feathers category. I turned slowly in a circle, looking at the cages for inspiration. The animals from Australia were near the primate enclosure. "I choose the emu," I said.

"Fine," Alan said.

"Whatever that is," Howie grumbled in reply.

Then we split up, each one of us going off to observe the animal we'd selected.

I strolled over to the Australian animal pen, which was basically a small pasture with some trees and a few covered barns. A big gate near the primates ran across a cement drive used by zoo maintenance and veterinary trucks to drive in and out of the penned area.

I found an empty bench and started observing the emu. For your information, an emu basically looks a lot like an ostrich but has big gray feathers. I wrote down everything I could see, then used my zoo key in the information box to find out more: The emu, at six feet tall, is second in height only to the ostrich. A friendly and curious bird, the emu wanders the arid plains of Australia. (I found this next part interesting.) The female lays the eggs but it is the sole responsibility of the male to incubate and raise the young. They eat a diet consisting primarily of gra.s.ses, fruits, seeds, and berries and can live to be over forty years old.

Once I'd written down the information about the emu, I watched. And watched. And watched. I hate to admit it but a half an hour of emu-watching was about all I could stand. All the emu did was sit underneath a straggly shade tree, looking like a great big chicken. One time it did cross the enclosure to get a drink of water from a large wooden trough, but it returned immediately to its spot under that tree. I decided to wander around the zoo and come back later.

Before I left, I watched some kangaroos, which were really cute. A group of SMS students had gathered to watch a mother kangaroo, whose baby was hanging out of her pouch. "Look, there's the baby joey," said one.

"I think I'll call them Kanga and Roo," Erica Blumberg replied, making a note in her book. "After the mother and baby in the Winnie-the-Pooh books."

I started to say, "We're supposed to observe the animals, not name them," but I stopped myself. If it makes observing them for hours on end easier, I thought to myself, then let her name the animals anything she wants.

I continued on my walk, wondering what name I should give my emu. Emily? Elizabeth? Edith?

"Edith the emu," I said out loud.

'Talking to yourself already?" a familiar voice said behind me.

I spun around, giggling. "Dawn, you caught me. I've just spent thirty minutes watching an emu sit and blink its eyes. That can make you a little loony."

"We've been observing Mojo and James," Dawn said. "It's really eerie. Like being a peeping torn at someone's window."

Suddenly, loud shouts came from near the entrance to the zoo.

"Stop the cruelty! Free our animals!"

Dawn and I watched as the protesters, who must have paid the entry fee to get onto the grounds, marched toward the primate area.

"Please, help stop the cruelty." A young woman with long brown hair, wearing a floral print skirt, and pink T-shirt, pressed a brochure into Dawn's hand. "Mojo and James should be allowed to roam free."

Dawn studied the brochure. "It does seem cruel to keep animals in these cages. I mean, Mojo's and James's cage is certainly bigger than a little wire cage, but it says here that gorillas like Mojo and James are used to roaming two or three miles in a day. This must be like torture to them."

I love animals, and I always worry when I visit a zoo that the animals aren't being treated well, but Mrs. Wofsey seemed to be a kind, caring person. And the Bedford Zoo had a really nice feel to it.

"I don't know. These animals seem happy," I said to Dawn. "The cages are dean and they're fed regularly. And I think Bedford Zoo has done a pretty good job recreating the animals' natural habitats."

"But things could get too crowded," Dawn said. "I mean, look how many of the animals have had babies. That practically doubles the number that have to share those s.p.a.ces."

I didn't want to argue with Dawn. I'd had my share of arguing for the day. So I was relieved when Claudia caught up with us and said her aunt was here and it was time to go.

Claud, Dawn, and I had planned to cut short our Friday zoo visit. We planned to return on Sat.u.r.day. Mrs. Wofsey had given us a sneak preview of the weekend's events, and they sounded like a lot of fun.

Our Friday BSC meeting was a zoo itself. The biology project made scheduling a nightmare. Dawn, Claudia, and I had several afternoons reserved for animal watching at the zoo.

Luckily, Dawn came up with the brilliant idea of mixing work with work. When the Arnolds called looking for a sitter for Marilyn and Carolyn on Sat.u.r.day afternoon, Dawn asked if it would be all right to take the girls to the zoo. The Arnolds were delighted.

The next day Claudia's mom dropped me, Logan, and Claudia off at the zoo. Alan and Howie were waiting for me by the front gate.

"Don't start anything, please," I murmured to Logan, who shot me a "Who, me?" wounded look.

Howie and Alan said hi to Claudia and me, ?n and completely ignored Logan. I was relieved. Silence was better than all that bickering.

"I'm going to run on ahead," Logan said. I could tell he was a little hurt by my remark. "I'll catch up with you later."

He wove his way through the small group of protesters outside the entrance. By now they seemed as much a part of the zoo as the ticket takers. They were marching up and down the walk, chanting, "No more cages! No more cages!"

For a second I thought about the letters Mrs. Wofsey had talked about. Would these people really follow through with their threats? I hoped not.

As we pa.s.sed through the turnstiles, I could see Dawn and the Arnold twins heading our way.

"Hi, Mary Anne! Hi, Claudia!" Marilyn and Carolyn ran toward us. They were eager to tell us their news. Marilyn had lost a tooth, and a new one was starting to grow in Carolyn's mouth. Marilyn was gearing up for another piano recital.

"We're just in time for the elephant art exhibition," Claudia announced.

Although Alan and Howie were keeping their distance, they were close enough to hear what Claudia said. "What's that?" Alan asked with a scowl.

"Oh, I read about that," I said. "The elephants are given big housepainting brushes and a huge easel and they paint with their trunks. It should be really fun to watch."

Howie nudged Alan with his elbow. "Not my idea of fun."

"Not mine either," said Marilyn.

Dawn draped her arm over Marilyn's shoulder and explained to us, "We just went to see the tigers. They were all inside and it upset Marilyn to see them in such small cages."

"They just paced back and forth, back and forth," Marilyn said, rocking right and left as she spoke. "It's so sad."

"Well, the art exhibit won't be sad," I said. "You'll get to see the elephants having fun."

Alan tapped me on the shoulder. "I don't feel like watching a bunch of elephants paint. I think I'll go do some more seal watching. Two o'clock is their feeding time."

"Yeah, I don't feel like watching Jumbo paint, either," Howie chimed in. "I think I'll check up on the bears. See how they're doing. Yesterday, they just slept. Maybe they'll be awake today."