#116: Abby and the Best Kid Ever
Kristy: “They’re leaving.”
Abby: “Who? The sexists? The racists? The politicians?”
I love Abby so much.
The Addisons are moving away, but Lou McNally is back in town! (Remember her? The unruly — traumatized — foster kid who was dubbed “The Worst Kid Ever”?) Her aunt and uncle have moved to Stoneybrook with Lou and Lou’s brother Jay. When Abby baby-sits for them, she’s expecting a tiny terror, but instead she gets a perfect princess. Lou is completely different and actually seems terrified of being — or seeming like — trouble. My guess? She’s scared that her aunt and uncle will give her up if she causes any problems.
Meanwhile, Abby is working on an extra credit Black History Month project and gets some Stoneybrook charges involved. They decide to base the project on Mary Anne’s house, since it used to be a stop on the Underground Railroad (hence the “haunted” secret passage), and make it a “60 Minutes”-style news story. Lou tries extra-extra hard to be helpful to Abby but she ends up creating more work for her. My above theory is confirmed by Jay, and Abby doesn’t have the heart to mention the nuisances Lou causes… until it just gets to be too much and she snaps. She tells Lou to quit apologizing and to lighten up. So Lou takes Abby’s advice to the max and starts morphing back into the Worst Kid Ever. D’oh!
The BSC eventually manages to talk some sense into Lou and Mrs. McNally confirms she will not “send Lou back,” and Abby gets an A on her Black History Month project, and the BSC throws a going-away party for Corrie and Sean Addison. The family who bought the Addison house is the Nichollses, and Mr. Nicholls is super harsh and scary to his kids, nitpicking everything they do and treating them like screwups. Hmm, are we in for some interesting baby-sitting misadventures with them? Stay tuned…
