“My father. I think he’s having a heart attack”……BSC # 81: Kristy and Mr. Mom

Memory Reaction

I remember thinking it was sweet that Kristy calls Watson her father when she calls 911. I also remember thinking it was totally ridiculous that Watson was able to rearrange his job so easily. He’s some big-deal business person and after his heart attack, he just decides he’s going to only work part-time from his house (or something to that affect). It seemed so unrealistic…especially considering that we’re always reminded of how Watson’s a millionaire (and a change in job would likely affect his income).

Now, looking back on it as an adult, this makes a little more sense. His money is probably not all from his salary….I saw someone comment on another site that if the ghost of Ben Brewer (supposedly) haunts the attic of Watson’s house, then maybe the house used to belong to him? And either way, I’m sure Watson would have a lot of money invested. As for the work situation, I have learned that people who are high up in companies probably have a better chance of having flexible schedules. So, maybe not as crazy as I once thought.

Revisited Reaction

Watson collapses while shoveling snow, and it turns out he had a heart attack. Kristy calls 911 and they rush him to the hospital. They find out pretty quickly that he’s going to be okay, but will need to change his lifestyle a bit. So, he goes on a healthy diet, looks into exercise, takes time off work, etc. Meanwhile, when he comes home from the hospital he shows little interest in work and gets a bit sappy (for lack of a better word) about spending time with his family. Eventually, he announces that he’s going to stop working….he’ll turn over the day to day issues of running the office to his VP, and he’ll just be available for “executive decisions.”

So, the first few days of this go well, except that Nannie’s pissed she’s no longer needed. Of course, she doesn’t say anything. She just decides to move out, claiming it’s just something she wanted to do. Apparently Watson and Kristy’s mom are too distracted to realize WHY she’s doing so, and they just let her go. Soon after, Karen and Andrew move in for their month with their father, and everything falls apart. So, they decide they need a housekeeper. Only when Kristy mentions that to Nannie, Nannie’s all, “I’ll move back in!” So, she does. And Watson decides to go back to work part-time because he’s needed at the office, but he doesn’t want to overdo it either.

Meanwhile, there are some issues sitting for the Marshalls, who have two kids. However, Mrs. Marshall has been taking an exercise class with a friend, and told the friend to bring her three kids to her house, and that the BSC would watch them too. But she doesn’t tell the girls this ahead of time. And they’re all, “OMG, we need to have a second sitter with five kids and why doesn’t Mrs. M. know this?” Dawn gets the first job, and it was a bit hectic, but not disastrous. However, Mallory gets the second job, and a kid gets injured (minorly), the other kids start flooding the bathroom, and it’s just all-around difficult. Mal ends up calling Jessi to come and help her. But when Mrs. Marshall comes home, she doesn’t pay Jessi. The next time Mrs. Marshall calls the BSC decides to send two sitters (Claudia and Stacey). And when Mrs. Marshall says she won’t pay both of them, Claud and Stacey walk out. Mrs. Marshall’s pissed, and eventually the girls realize they probably should have told Mrs. Marshall about the rule before hand. So, Kristy calls and apologizes/explains and it all works out.

High/Lowlights

• Have we ever been told Watson’s job before? He’s CEO of “Unity Insurance.” He describes it as a multi-national corporation with six-hundred employees.

• Kristy makes a point of telling us that Andrew isn’t as athletic as her. That makes sense considering he’s only 4!

• David Michael is in some play at the community center, so he keeps popping up in scenes practicing his lines. Which consist of “cock-a-doodle-doo! I’m a musician too” and “Arr-er-arr-er-rooo!” (He plays a rooster – it’s a kids play). It’s just so random, it made me laugh. Until the second chapter.

• I always thought it was just the Pike’s rule that two sitters had to be there if there were more than four kids. I know there have been other situations where it was a double job, but I thought the parent was always asking for a second sitter, not the BSC sending one. Only in this book the girls keep acting shocked that Mrs. Marshall doesn’t know about this rule.

• I find it amusing that Watson, the supposed CEO, of his company says he’s going to hand over, the “day to day running of the company” to his V.P. I’ve worked at companies of all different sizes, and in my experience CEOs aren’t involved in day-to-day operations; they work at a higher level.

• There are all these references to making lunches for school, including for Kristy. But, in almost every book, we get a scene at the school cafeteria with Kristy eating the hot lunch and talking about how gross it is. In fact, in Logan Likes Mary Anne, there’s a whole description about how Mary Anne and Kristy decided to stop bringing their lunch.

• Mrs. Marshall says she can’t (and won’t) pay for two baby-sitters. But if it’s her friend’s kids, why not ask the friend to chip in?

• Karen wants to go stay at the “Big House” after Watson has his heart attack, which one could understand. But it’s the month she’s supposed to stay at her mom’s. And Kristy tells her that they can’t switch because it will affect later months, and the families have already planned vacations, etc. But you would think they’d be a little flexible about something like that when someone has a near-death experience. Especially since they keep talking about how Watson being emotional/sappy about family.

• Karen must really be acting like a brat about the whole thing, because her mom and step-father tell Kristy (who is baby-sitting) that she’s being annoying.

• After the first job where Dawn has to sit for five kids, why don’t they ASK Mrs. Marshall how many kids are going to be there? Or tell her that they have a club rule about it?

• When Mal is sitting for the Marshalls (and friends), one of the kids falls on the stairs and cuts his lip. Mal gives him a Popsicle to make it feel better. Of course, all the kids want one, but there aren’t enough left. So, she calls Jessi and asks her to come over with more Popsicles. Why couldn’t she have just said, no, so-and-so only gets one because of the injury?

• Apparently, "Popsicle" is a brand name. Should I have known that?
  

• At one of the sitting jobs for the Marshalls and the other kids, Mallory totally forgets to give the kids dinner. I think I like that part just because it’s a rare occasion where a BSC member makes a mistake.

• I find it hard to believe that no one could guess why Nannie moved out. It didn’t even occur to them that she was feeling threatened by Watson becoming Mr. Mom?

• I was thinking about this….When Kristy’s dad walked out, she and her brothers were all little. But Mrs. Thomas managed to work, get childcare, and take care of a house on her own….I’m sure Nannie helped, but she certainly didn’t move in. But the way her character is portrayed here, it seems like she would have been around more.

• Nannie and Watson have an argument because he picked up pizza for the kids, when she was home making pasta. And Nannie said you can’t freeze pasta, so she might as well throw it out (if they weren’t eating it that night). But why can’t you? In fact, why would you even have to freeze it? I always put leftover pasta in the refrigerator and stick it in the microwave a couple days later. It tastes fine.

• Of course, Mrs. Marshall ended up “understanding” where the girls were coming from with the five kids thing. They never need to address the issue of her not wanting two sitters because Mrs. Marshall drops out of her exercise class. So, there’s no need for the girls to actually resolve conflict or anything.

• The timing in this book is so screwed up. After Watson’s heart attack, Nannie moves out in less than a month (we know because it was before Karen and Andrew came to Watson’s). That is an insanely short time to find and move into a place. But that’s not as unbelievable as her moving out of that apartment in less than a month….do they not have leases in Stoneybrook?

• Kristy and Nannie both pick up Karen’s terminology of “Big House” and “Little House” to refer to her parents’ homes. I guess it’s supposed to be cute for Karen to call them that, but it seems a little insulting to Karen’s mother and step-father.

• Kristy left the phone off the hook to try and find Watson (the call was for him). She gets distracted by the kids doing something and forgets to tell him. When she remembers she picks up a different extension, hears dial tone, and figures the person hung up. Then later, she says the phone downstairs was still off the hook. Now, I don’t use my land line very much anymore, so I may be misremembering. But if one extension is off the hook, can’t you NOT get dial tone on any of them?

• At the end of the book, Watson announces his plan to go back to work part-time at dinner. And after hearing part of the announcement, Kristy’s mom’s all, “what, you can’t, your heart!” But then Watson finishes and everyone’s happy. But shouldn’t he have talked to his wife before making a major decision like that?