#62: Kristy and the Worst Kid Ever
Why is Lou the worst kid ever? Did she make Kristy wear that outfit? Just spitballin’ here…
This is the next in a line of Very Special Episodes of The Baby-sitters Club. Turns out the Papadakis family is going to foster a child and she makes quite the entrance when she arrives, literally walking on top of a car and swinging in through a car window to grab her suitcase. She’s suspicious, standoffish, and not what anyone’s expecting. (But honestly, who can blame her?)
Lou starts to get more outspoken, but no more friendly. She complains a lot about all the rules the Papadakises have - come home straight after school, sit down for meals together and don’t eat candy in between meals, show your parents your homework so they know it’s done - and tests the limits of her baby-sitters’ limits and patience. She has some abandonment issues - her mom ran off when she was a kid, her dad passed away, and her brother is in a different foster home. But, even understanding that her life has been tough, everyone has a hard time dealing with her shit, including how she teases animals in a kind of cruel way. Eventually Lou breaks down and it becomes obvious that she’s just really really sad and keeping everyone at arm’s length so they can’t leave her and hurt her.
“She’s not the worst kid ever, Kristy… she’s the saddest.” - Dawn, page 130
Some good news comes Lou’s way, though; CPS has located Lou’s aunt and uncle and she’ll be moving in with them and her brother Jay. The Papadakises through a big “new family party” and Lou’s aunt and uncle gift her with an adopted black Labrador puppy, which Lou loves immediately and eventually names Happy. Lou’s life is far from perfect but seems to be heading in a happier direction.
The side plot in this book is that Stoneybrook Middle School is having an auction to raise money for their computer lab (lol remember computer labs?) and the BSC is obsessed with getting the best stuff to auction off, so they write letters to a bunch of celebrities and the celebrities reply with stuff. Like, major stuff… within two weeks. IF F*CKING ONLY. Cam Geary sends Mary Anne a screen-worn jacket! They get a baseball signed by the entire World Series-winning team! If I’d procured any of those things… let’s just say they would NOT be going to the Stoneybrook Middle School auction, thank you very much. They’d be going once, going twice, gone to my bedroom forever and ever.
I’ll leave you with this gem from the end of the book:
