Coffee

"Rose! Game over! Come on out!"

But no Rose showed herself. Now I was in for it. They'd say I hadn't babysat the kids properly, they would. Adults always blame it on the teenage babysitter if younger cousins disappear. No wonder so many teenagers suffer from heavy migraine at family get-togethers. Whoever said family get togethers are fun and it's sweet to meet younger cousins wasn't speaking the truth at all.

Sweet. Sweet. That gave me an idea. "Have you shared out your chocolate yet, Daisy? Have you broken it into equal pieces? Let's count how many - one, two, three ..."

A shadow slipped quickly through the curtains ... "four, five ..." including Rose, thank goodness. Nobody thought of counting me in for a share of chocolate, but I didn't care. I was in charge and I was going to do what the adult in charge did. Go to the coffee machine and drown my sorrows in a few cup-fulls.

This was not a good idea. I don't know how grown ups drink that much coffee. I only had two and a half cup-fulls with a couple spoons sugar each, and at midnight I was wide awake, sitting up in bed. Coffee gives a stronger sugar high than even ice cream, who knew?

I spent my wakeful hour or two contemplating what I'd do with the babysitting money. I still couldn't afford most of what I really wanted, but I only needed two more babysitting evenings to earn it.

What had they put in that coffee, anyway, to make me contemplate more babysitting duties?