#81: Kristy and Mr. Mom
Okay, so before I get into this book we have to talk about the TV Watson versus the book Watson. Check out the Watson on the cover of this book and then check out Mark Feuerstein as Watson in Netflix’s The Baby-sitters Club reimagining. THE GLOW UP IS REAL! Here is me with Watson Brewer himself:
When I saw this news, I had to tweet about it and it was the first and only time one of my tweets has been added to a Twitter Moment, hahahahaaha.
Anyway, good for you, Watson Brewer! But now back to the book…
Watson works really hard, which is why he’s so damn rich, and he always wants to take care of things for everyone else. So over a couple of days during a snowstorm Kristy sees Watson get really winded from trying to push a stuck car and from shoveling the driveway, and then all of a sudden Watson collapses — he’s having a heart attack. Kristin Amanda Thomas naturally springs into action, calling 9-1-1 and getting blankets and pillows for Watson and getting her mom and Nannie and taking care of David Michael and Emily Michelle while everyone’s at the hospital. It’s scary, but Watson’s heart attack was mild and he’s home within a week. He’s going to be okay but he has to adjust his diet, start exercising, and start cutting back on work.
Watson is also getting really… mushy. When he looks at his family it’s with tears in his eyes and he doesn’t want to be alone; he wants family members around him all the time. He’s also not just cutting back on work, he’s completely ignoring work. He def thought he was going to die and now he is having a come-to-Jesus moment about his life’s priorities. He decides to be a stay-at-home dad and goes into super-charged house-manager mode. (Sexist title of the book aside, it’s nice to see representation of a man gung-ho about taking on the domestic workload.) One unintended consequence of Watson’s big life change? Nannie feels a bit displaced and un-needed. After about a month, Nannie decides to rent her own apartment and move out. The entire Thomas-Brewer clan is caught off-guard.
Everything quickly goes to hell. Karen and Andrew show up for their month with Watson, Emily Michelle gets the flu, Watson starts working more and more from home, and chaos ensues. He decides they need to hire a housekeeper — but Kristy wants Nannie back, and Nannie agrees to return to help out. She says she prefers being with the family, but felt she’d be in the way and stepping on Watson’s toes. It’s clear, though, that the family needs her. She moves back in. Things get back to normal, and Watson decides to create a home office where he can work three hours a day, and spend the rest tending to his family. Win-win!
In this book’s side plot, Mrs. Marshall (mother of Nina and Eleanor) has started being a total asshole to the BSC. First, Dawn shows up to baby-sit for Nina and Eleanor and finds three other rowdy kids there too — the children of Mrs. Marshall’s friend, with whom she’s going to a Jazzercise class. Dawn struggles but manages to make it through the night, and then Mrs. Marshall only pays her the rate for sitting for two kids. Then, Mallory (who is eleven) shows up for a sitting job and is surprised to find all five kids there again. Within minutes of Mrs. Marshall leaving, one of the kids splits his lip and all the other kids create chaos and mess everywhere. Mallory has to call Jessi to come over and help her out and they survive, but when Mrs. Marshall returns she says something like, “thanks for helping, Jessi, but I hope you don’t expect to get paid — I only hired Mallory.” WHAT THE HELL. I don’t remember Mrs. Marshall ever being an asshole before, so what is going on?!
The next time Mrs. Marshall calls, the BSC decides to send two sitters — Stacey and Claudia. If there are only the two Marshall girls, Claudia will leave, but if (as they suspect) there are five kids there again, both girls will stay. When they arrive, all five kids are there, and Mrs. Marshall is frosty as hell when Stacey explains that Mrs. Marshall will need to pay both sitters if they’re expected to watch all five kids (especially with three of them under four years old). Mrs. Marshall refuses, so Stacey says they can’t stay, and Stacey and Claudia peace out. (HELL YEAH. TELL HER!!!)
Kristy is nominated to call Mrs. Marshall and deal with it. Kristy apologizes for sending over two sitters without a heads up, and Mrs. Marshall apologizes for springing the extra kids on the club. She apparently didn’t know about the club rule of an extra sitter if there’s more than four kids, but honestly — she’s an adult and should realize that leaving five young kids with an eleven- or thirteen-year-old is bad practice. And refusing to pay someone who helped out in an emergency is a dick move. So the BSC has forgiven Mrs. Marshall… but I haven’t!
