The following week I took care of the Bells’ kids a few times, but Mr. Bells was home, working out of his office/playroom.

"Say Nina the kid’s dentist that lives a few blocks away from here is looking for a babysitter when his family can’t help out with the children," said Mr. Bells. "Would you be interested?”

$$$$$ came to my mind. "Sure, yeah, of course,” I muttered. 

"Great, his name is Dr. Bonnelly and this is his phone number. I told him you would call after 9pm, is that okay?”

"Oh, yeah, sure, yes, yes, “I said still muttering words. 

"Oh and I told him how much my children love you, and how great you've been with them.”

Oh, I don’t understand. Is he talking about me?  I guess he doesn't know about me locking his kid in a closet or hosing his daughter down outside with a garden hose.

"Gee Mr. Bells, thanks, thanks a lot!" And I left. I really needed to get out of there, before I say something stupid.  

            That evening I called Dr. Bonnelly, but he didn't pick up. So I left a message. But I was kind of nervous.

“Hi Mr. Bombelly. My name is Lina. Dr. Bells gave me a messages to talk to you and asked to call, to take care of kids for you, okay call me back, okay, bye-bye.” And I hung up. OMG! What did I just say?  He'll never hire me now! I sounded like a bumbling idiot! He probably thinks I'm in Kindergarten or worst the school with the little bus. (Not that I have anything against the kids in the little bus, but duhhhhhhhhh!)

 Then the phone suddenly rang. It's him! I know it's him. The ring of the phone sounds like him. Should I pick it up? Should I just let it go into voicemail?  Yes, letting it go into voicemail is a great idea, this way he can hear my mom's even tone, friendly, articulate, intelligent voice. OH NO! Ian and Johnny were messing with the recorder trying to trick a friend of Ian's and they change the voicemail message.  The message was: “BLLLLLAAAAHHHHH! Please leave a message.” Peeeeeeeep. Did they change it back or not?! So I picked up, very nervously. 

      "Hello."

    "Hello is this Nina," the voice said.

      "Yes.”

      "Did you just call me?”

            "Yes.”

"Are you the girl that Mr. Bells recommended to me to take care of my children?"

"Yes.”

"Great, fine. Do you know where 85th Street is?"

"Yes.”

"My house is the last house of the block on the right.  Tomorrow around 6pm sounds good?"

"Yes.”

"Okay, fine. Say by the way, you didn't say anything important on the message you left me, did you? I recognized your phone number from the one Erick gave me, that’s why I knew it was you, but I accidentally erased the message. It seems I can't get used to this new message machine. Anyway, see you tomorrow.” There is a God.  

The following day came around quicker than I expected. I found his house and rang the door bell. I knew exactly where 85^th Street was. Andy just lives a few houses down. I had butterflies in my stomach just passing his house. I was hoping to see him, but no dice. I  haven’t seen him or anybody from school in the last few weeks. Oh well, off to work. I also really needed to get over the phone message thing. I just didn't want him to think I was some kind of a moron or something. Dr. Bonnelly opened the door and politely asked me in. He was a middle age, not to bad looking guy. He looked nice enough but had stress lines on his forehead and seemed kind of nervous and tense.

"Children, this is Nina,” he said as he brought me into their familyroom where the children was watching TV.  

He left us for a little while to make a phone call and the children were more than happy to talk to me, so I found out pertinent information - he was recently divorced, over worked, and stressed out. Alexis is his 12 year old daughter, very quiet and shy. And Billy is his obnoxious, know-it-all, in your face, clown like, trouble maker (making the trouble for others), lazy, braced teeth, bad breath, unhygienic, sloppy, smelly 9 year old son. I sure can pick them!

“Mommy and daddy don’t like each other anymore,” Billy said with a lithe, I’m guessing because of his braces.

“Shut up, shut up Billy, that’s not true!” Alexia screamed back at him.

“Ith so!”

“Is not!”

“Ith so!”

“Is not!”

“All right, let’s agree to disagree here,” Dr. Bonnelly said as he reentered the family room. "Kids, Nina will be taking care of you on the day's I can't make it home on time or when or when your aunt can’t pick you up.  She will also make sure you do your homework and cook your dinner.” 

Cook what? Cook whose dinner? I didn't sign up for this! I can't cook! "Sure Dr. Bonnelly, anything you need" Ooooooooooooh.

So Dr. Bonnelly showed me to the door said goodbye and asked me if I could meet the kids at the house around 3pm after they finish camp the following day. Their aunt that lives in Englewood Cliffs would usually pick them up when Dr. Bonnelly couldn’t, but there were some days that she couldn’t and that’s where I could come in. Dr. Bonnelly had a very successful children’s dentist practice off of Anderson Avenue. He was a very ambitious person and worked a lot. Because he was the only parent, he felt like he had to provide double for his kids. Unfortunately, the children just want him to be home more.  

It was very quiet the first half and hour when I got over to their house.

"So you guys want something to eat?" I asked, hoping to break the silence but banking they would say no.

"Yes, please,” Alexia said. "Dad left us some leftover macaroni and cheese.”

Ahhh, yes, leftovers . . . I love leftovers. The type of dinner you don’t have to do anything with except heat it up.  

So I looked in the fridge and pulled out the container with mac and cheese, threw it in the microwave and just before I turn the 'Start' button, Billy appeared next to me looking up with narrow eyes and a frown on his face.

"When food ith heated in a plastic container inside the microwave, the combination of fat, high heat and plastic ith very toxic, and it can ultimately cause cancer in our bodies and sometimes makes us act very strange . . . didn't you know that?" he said.  

"No, is that what happened to YOU?!" I got a chuckle out of Alexis. So to be nice, I removed the mac and cheese from the plastic container and dumped it in a glass plate. Billy was standing there without taking his eyes off me. "There, is that better?” I asked. 

"No.”

"Why, not?"

"Did you know anything heated in the microwave is very bad for you?"

So, I was standing there while this little hermit explained something to me that I had no clue about and honestly didn’t care. But I was older and technically smarter than him. I had to articulate intelligently. Oh brother, am I in trouble. I had no chose; I had to answer the question with a question. My mom told me that’s what smart people do when they’ve been asked a question that they couldn’t answer.  

"Well, Billy, do you know what happens with a human skull if you stick it in a microwave, set it on High and press the ‘Start' button?" I asked very slowly.

Billy just stopped and looked at me trying to figure out what my intentions were and reasoning behind the question. Alexis was sitting in the kitchen stool enjoying the moment.

"Wellllll . . . technically, a microwave cooks from the inside out.”

“Aha, aha,” he said agreeing with me.

“So basically your brain would start heating up, then secretions would start coming out your nostril cavity, and your ear drums would burst, and then your eyes would probably pop out of your eye socket.”

I stood there looking very interested in what the little troll was going to saying, and so was Alexis. But with wide eyes and opened mouth, he said nothing.

"Well, Billy, why don't we conduct a science experiment and see exactly what happens to a human skull when it's put inside a microwave,” I said very intensely.

Then I slowly opened the microwave. "Like you’re the smart one here, I think we should conduct the experiment on YOU!" Silence.

He quickly left the room. I didn't see him for the rest of the evening.