Author’s Note: Second in the Sam series. By the way, in the book “Here Comes the 
Brand New Me,” which would take place about 6 weeks after the end of this story, 
Stephanie has the privilege mentioned at the end. This is a good way to explain 
how she got such a privilege at only twelve. Another reason why the more mature 
Stephanie (and Michelle) of the books are the ones helping Sam.

Stephanie Tames the Shrew

Stephanie Tanner, twelve, got out of the car she'd been dropped off in, in front 
of her San Francisco home. "Hey, Darce, can you come in a minute?" she said 
excitedly through a back window. "I can't wait for my dad to see your new 
outfit." 

"It is okay, Mom?" 

"Sure, honey. Just remember, we're going out to eat in an hour." Darcy got out 
of the car, and Mrs. Powell drove the several blocks to their house. 

Once Stephanie and Darcy ran inside, they met Stephanie's father, Danny Tanner. 
He was dusting the living room table. "Dad," Stephanie said excitedly as Darcy 
ran upstairs to change into her new outfit, "You have got to see the cool new 
outfit Darcy got!" 

"Oh, wonderful, my home has become a fashion boutique. I wondered what that blur 
was as you came in the door."

"Sorry, Dad. Can Darcy change into her new outfit for a minute so we can show 
you?" 

"Why not let her change into it at home?" 

"Because, this outfit is so me!" 

Danny looked askance at her for a second. Finally, he said, "Ah, I get it. This 
is the ‘Dad, I need you to buy me this outfit because my friend or friends have 
one and I want one just like them' speech. Which leads to the ‘You don't have to 
have everything just the same as your friends do' lecture."

"Don't worry, Dad. This is different. I'm twelve years old now. I can earn the 
money for it," Stephanie explained as her sisters D.J., seventeen, and Michelle, 
seven, walked downstairs. "Darcy's parents just came into some extra money, and 
promised Darcy she could get one special thing. And, since Allie's away till 
tomorrow, we figured this would be the perfect time for just her and I to go 
shopping, so Allie didn't have to feel bad,” Stephanie finished, a little out of 
breath. She was always very excitable.

At this moment, Darcy walked downstairs in a very nice, multicolored outfit that 
would cost about $100 dollars, counting shoes, at the regular price. Danny 
presumed it was on sale. It still had the price tag attached on the sleeve., 
though, so Danny motioned to Darcy that he wished to see the price tag.

Danny read it as he spoke. "Wow, this is a very nice...Whoa, Steph, did you see 
the price tag?!" 

"I did, Dad. Doesn't that outfit just say ‘Stephanie'?"

"It says ‘expensive' to me," Danny remarked.

"There's a sale in a couple weeks," Darcy explained. "Steph asked the clerk. 
And, they'll have more of these in by then." 

"Steph, I'm glad you thought to see when there would be a sale. But, you 
shouldn't want an outfit just because your friend has one." 

"Oh, I don't, Dad. She bougtht it because it looked perfect on me," Stephanie 
explained. 

Michelle looked oddly at Stephanie. "But, it's not on you." 

"Maybe she plans to borrow it a lot. Which means at least you won't be borrowing 
my stuff all the time," D.J. teased. 

"I'm going to earn the money babysitting," Stephanie explained. 

Danny grinned proudly, walked over to her, and lovingly put a hand on her 
shoulder. "Honey, I'm proud of you for trying to plan this. But, even given 
normal babysitting rates, you won't earn money that fast. You're only twelve, so 
you don't have lots of experience. While Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky can try to 
get you some referrals from Nicky and Alex's play group, a lot of those parents 
will want more experienced sitters. And there aren't that many chances to watch 
Michelle or your cousins.” Nicky and Alex were the girls’ two-year-old cousins. 
They, their Uncle Jesse, and their Aunt Becky lived in the Tanners’ third flor 
apartment, where Jesse had moved whent he girls’ mother died seven years ago.

Stephanie sighed. Darcy smiled apologetically. "Well, we figured your dad would 
be a tough sell." 

"I'm not saying it can't happen. Maybe if you save up from babysitting the whole 
summer, you might have enough money for that outfit, if it's still in stock, and 
if it's on sale then. You're not buying that at full price," Danny emphasized. 
"And, if you save all summer, and you're five dollars short or less, I'll chip 
in the extra five." He sounded tough, but he could also be quite lenient at 
times. And, he wanted to encourage Stephanie to save for things she wanted. 

"Don't worry, Steph. They usually have Labor Day sales on summer outfits like 
this." 

"Yeah, but it won't be summer by then, Deej," Stephanie said lowly, walking 
around as the phone rang. D.J. went into the kitchen to answer it. "By then if I 
buy it, I'll have a chance to wear it one or two times, and then I'll grow out 
of it and it'll become a showpiece for Michelle's big panda to model." Michelle 
enjoyed having fashion shows with her stuffed animals. 

"Well, it's up to you. Do you want it?" 

"Well, yeah. I guess I'll just have to scrounge for any jobs I can get," she 
said, determined. 

At that moment, D.J. walked in and said that Stephanie had a babysitting call.

Michelle’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa, baby! Now I know what that man meant when he 
talked about blind faith last Sunday,” Michelle spouted. The family didn’t go to 
church regularly, but some of them attended more than others. Joey Gladstone had 
taken Michelle last Sunday. Joey lived in the Tanner’s basement and was Danny’s 
best friend from college. A professional comedian, he’d moved in to help raise 
the girls at the same time as Jesse.

Stephanie bounced excitedly. “Oh, boy!’ She skipped up to the bedroom she shared 
with Michelle, cleared her throat, and even brushed back her long, blonde hair. 
She grabbed a pen and paper at her desk, trying to seem as businesslike as 
possible. Only then did she pick up the phone.

"Well, how does it sound? Did you get the job?" Darcy asked excitedly as 
Stephanie walked downstairs. 

"Oh, yeah. For two weeks. Ten dollars an hour. By the time I'm done, I'll have 
enough to buy five outfits like that on sale," Stephanie said. She held little 
enthusiasm. 

Michelle stated bluntly, "Then you've got the wrong face, Steph. You're supposed 
to have a smile." 

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Darcy wanted to know. 

"It's Sam," she said, as if she was speaking about an arch-nemesis.

“Oh brother,” Darcy remarked. “I thought $10 an hour was pretty high, uunless 
you had like four kids.”

“It is. They asked what I’d charge, and I knew I got $5 an hour for Nicky and 
Alex. But, she’s like having four two-year-olds, so I suggested ten. And, they 
agreed. It seems their daycare center will be closed down for two weeks. They’re 
doing renovations on most of the building; new sprinkler system and eletrical 
wires, that sort of thing. Plus, some staff members will be out of town on 
vacation, anyway,” Stephanie explained, still a little shocked.

“Oh, yeah. They talked about that at the last Honeybees meeting.” The community 
center not only hosted a day care and preschool, but also the small 
clubhouse-type area where the Honeybees, a Brownies-type club, met. Michelle was 
a Honeybee, as was Sam.

“You didn’t have to accept this job...” Danny noticed Stephanie’s face as it 
became more and more determined. “But, you want to, don’t you?”

Stephanie nodded. Sam didn’t have involved parents, and she had no rules at 
home. Her parents worked all the time, and just tried to keep her out of their 
hair when home. “They got several sitters lined up during the days, but I get 
the time from four to seven. I’m supposed to fix a small supper, too. I’ve never 
done a huge meal, but I can cook something simple, like pasta, for two. I’ve 
done it for Michelle and I.”

“Yeah, except she might have to eat in the corner,” Michelle remarked. Sam was 
pretty well-behaved in the Honeybees, but still wild at home.

“That’s the part I’m dreading. I hate punishing her. I didn’t even like it when 
I had to take Michelle’s dessert away once a few months ago, let alone sending 
her to her room, which I’ve done once. But, at least Michelle listens very well. 
And, if she messes up, being sent to her room or losing some privilege works 
really well.” She gave Michelle a little squeeze and smiled broadly at her, to 
re-enforce the good behaviour. It was something their dad and the others had 
taught her was very important.

“With Sam, though...” Stephanie shook her head. “All she needs is a stuffed 
tiger and it’d be perfect.”

“Between her and Aaron, you really had your hands full,” Darcy reminisced.

“Yeah. Even though Aaron was just your garden-variety bully, just keeping them 
apart when I was Principal’s Assistant was as tough as all the rest. I had these 
nightmares of them getting together, marrying, and combining to overthrow the 
government of some small, Latin American country and becoming its dictators.”

“Yep. Having her in charge of a country would be a real nightmare. She’s 
definitely Calvina,” D.J. joked. The reference was to Calvin and Hobbes, a comic 
strip about an icnredibly wild six-year-old boy and his tiger, Hobbes.

“Well, I guess you guys can just start calling me Rosalyn now.” Rosalyn was 
Calvin’s very tough babysitter.

D.J. walked over to her and put an arm around her. “Want me to help your first 
time? If Sam’s never had any rules at home, I doubt her other sitters have been 
very successful at getting her to obey anything.”

“True. Yeah, maybe you should. Thanks, Deej.”

“Anytime.”

Stephanie met Allie and Darcy for a late Sunday lunch at Anthony’s Pizza the 
next day. Allie had just gotten into town after travelling with her parents to 
Los Angeles for a week of vacation after school. Her parents weren’t nearly as 
rich as the Tanners or Powells, but they still tried to splurge when they could. 
Rare vacations and the piano lessons Allie had taken since she was five were two 
of those ways.

After Allie finished telling all about her trip, Stephanie sprang the news. She 
noticed Allie’s stunned face right away. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Can 
I handle her myself? Sometimes I wonder. I mean, even when I was Principal’s 
Assistant in fifth grade and she was in Kindergarten, it took every last nerve 
at times.”

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that," Allie said quickly. "I know you can do it. I 
was thinking about the Giants game your dad had tickets for. He was taking you, 
Michelle, and I Tuesday night.” Allie had been given D.J.’s ticket. D.J. still 
liked to visit the nursing home once a month and do things for the elderly 
patients there, though she’d never had the time to do a lot with them like she’d 
planned when she started volunteering. Darcy would be helping her elderly aunt 
move from her house into a condo.

Stephanie slapped her forehead gently. “Oh, of course! How could I have 
forgotten?”

Darcy passed an understanding smile. It had slipped her mind, too. “Probably 
thinking about that outfit.”

“Yeah. I won’t say exactly how much I’m getting paid. But, let’s just say I can 
get this one thing I saw in the store, plus a lot more. Well, D.J.’s coimng to 
help me Monday, so that’s good. She can just fly solo and get paid for Tuesday.”

“I don’t know, Steph,” Allie remarked.

“Yeah, seems like the first few days, everyone will want backup,” Darcy agreed.

“Good point. Well, she could take Kimmy.” The girls laughed at the thought of 
D.J.’s weird, simple-minded friend babysitting someone like Sam. “Yeah, sure. 
Deej’d be better off with Michelle.”

“Well, why not. She’ll be at the game Tuesday, but some night, maybe,” Darcy 
wondered. “Didn’t Michelle get her to promise not to act up so much in school 
anymore?”

Stephanie nodded slowly. “Yeah, Jen had replaced me as the student in charge of 
comforting and disciplining kids. A few weeks into the school year, Sam started 
a food fight. Only, she got way out of control, dumping whole trays on kids. She 
got really mouthy with Jen, and so Jen had to spank her. When Sam went back tot 
he cafeteria, Michelle walked over and sat down next to her, and gave Sam this 
classic puppy dog face. She said, ‘Promise you won’t get in such big trouble 
like that again. I don’t like seeing you get hurt.’ And, it did have a big 
impact - at school.”

“But not away from school,” Allie pointed out.

“Yeah, she’s a wild one. I’m going to have to think hard about whether I want to 
tell parents I’m wililng to spank or not if they say it’s an option when I 
babysit,” Darcy remarked. Allie shared her feelings.

“It’s very hard to do it.” Stephanie thought for a second as she scooted her 
pizza around in the plate. “It’s something that only stops bad behaviour. Our 
job is to teach good behaviour, though the main teachers should be parents. It 
should be a very last resort, I feel.”

“But, some kids like Sam just blatantly refuse to stop their bad behaviour for 
long enought hat you can teach them that good behaviour,” Allie finished.

Stephanie adjusted her napkin and said, “Exactly. Normally timeout, even if it’s 
a long time in a room, or revoked privileges work. They’re logical consequences, 
as D.J. calls them. But, with Sam, she’ll defy any consequences you put out 
there. That’s Sam’s problem.

“The daycare had actually called me a few times, since in my official role I was 
setting more limits than her parents ever had. So, Sam starts getting wilder in 
daycare, and Jen has to report there half a dozen times or more, before they 
realised I was more compassionate with her, and she’d listen more if I went 
there. It’s easier than calling the parents, who they know will never answer. 
Jen wound up spanking Sam a couple times there, as Sam was getting a little more 
destructive. You know, doing things she might not have when she was just five. I 
even had to deal with some of Sam’s misbehaviour at daycare a few times in the 
last few months.”

Allie mentioned that, “I heard that Jen really didn’t know how to deal with the 
bad kids and show them love while disciplining.”

“That’s partly true. But, part of it was that she just figured Sam needed lots 
of harsh lectures and stuff. Sam felt closer to one of the assistants then to 
Jen. I think her progress was stunted with Jen not taking the time to talk 
calmly with her sometimes like I would have. It wasn’t stopped, but it did slow 
down.”

Stephanie took a sip of soda, then continued. “Part of it is that Sam had never 
had rules consistently enforced at daycare, or at home. Becuase of Michelle’s 
promise, partly, she started to get better at school. The newest girl is really 
nice, her name is Missy. She’s only going into fourth grade, but she’s very 
mature for her age. So, Sam will do well with her. But, even that doesn’t erase 
the fact that Sam doesn’t think she should have rules at home.”

“Hard to believe she doesn’t just break everything,” Allie said while taking a 
bite of pizza.

“I know. Her parents might yell a little or just shoo her away when they’re 
busy, it sounds like sometimes they just give her stuff to occupy her. But, it 
also sounds like they’ve had some things damaged, but haven’t taken the time to 
make Sam learn there are consequences to her damaging stuff. They’re just too 
rich, and probably figure that having Sam is just like having a dog; sometimes 
the furniture gets messed up.”

“Yeah, but at least you take dogs to obedience school!” Darcy proclaimed.

“That’s true. Well, I guess this is her obedience school. Unfortunately, she’s 
got seven years in her where she hasn’t had to obey any limits at home. Which 
will make my job very, very hard.”

Allie piped up, “Don’t worry, Steph. We know you can do it.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll come help you one day later this week.”

“Thanks, guys. It’d be tough for any one of you to babysit her alone, but with 
all three of us, maybe we could do it. We’ll let D.J. have first duty, though,” 
Stephanie teased.

Sam had never had rules at home. Her other sitters had tried to set some, but 
after a while enforcement just got so tough they stopped trying. However, she 
knew that Stephanie would be coming to watch her at four. This presented a 
problem. Not only was she certain Stephanie would enforce rules, but she'd 
mouthed off to her first sitter when she tried to make her eat a good breakfast, 
and gobbled down a half dozen cookies and some chocolate milk instead.

That woudln’t bring a timeout or lost privileges, but the mouthing off and such 
might lead to Steph taking away her dessert that night. In fact, she knew it 
would. After a few tiems of Jen coming to daycare, Sam had seen Stephanie come 
back to enforce her good behaviour there once more. And, she knew while 
Stephanie cared about her, she was also quite tough. So, Sam decided that she 
needed to leave before Stephanie got there.

The sitter, Hannah, had gone to the bathroom, figuring Sam was happy colouring. 
She knew Sam could be wild, but she’d tried, as Stephanie had suggested when 
calling her, to spend time and talk with Sam. Sam had been a little wild, but 
she’d run off a lot of energy in the backyard, it seemed.

However, she had a lot more energy than Hannah realised. She started looking all 
over for Sam, and finally reached the conlusion that Sam had just...left!

Stephanie and D.J. had been discussing camp when the phone rang. “Maybe you’re 
right,” Stephanie said reluctantly as D.J. went to pick it up. “If Sam goes to 
day camp, and sticks with Michelle at that camp some of the Honeybees go to, 
like Michelle did last year, she might be able to handle it. It’s a long way 
away for her...” Stephanie hedged, remembering her own anxiety at that age, even 
at day camp.

“It’s for you,” D.J. said with a sigh. “I’ll get my keys.”

Stephanie wondered why D.J. would get the keys to their dad’s car so soon - they 
were planning to get there early, but not to leave for another ten minutes. 
Then, she said “hello,” and learned that Sam had run off. She suspected that Sam 
was at the park, and prayed it was true. “All right, hold tight there, in case 
she turns up; we’ll go by the park and check.”

D.J. returned witht he keys. “Well...I guess Sam's probably not ready for camp, 
huh?” she said, to bring an end to the previous discussion. She had to admit 
she’d been wrong.

“She's not ready to be allowed out of a timeout chair, may not all afternoon!” 
Stephanie quipped angrily as they went to the car.

Meanwhile, several blocks away Sam was walking with one destination in mind the 
local park. She figured that she could have more fun playing then facing 
Stephanie; she would be in deep trouble once Stephanie found out what had 
happened at breakfast this morning. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as deep as she 
woudl be for leaving her house before Stephanie got there. And, she was far from 
confident it would work. But, it seemed to be Sam’s only option.

Sam wondered why everything seemed so much different when there were no grown 
ups to help find the entrance. “Drats, I have to find it myself!” She began to 
walk around the hedge wall of the park to find the entrance. Not far away, 
unknown to Sam, D.J. pulled up in the car carrying a very livid Stephanie. D.J. 
wasn’t much less angry, in fact.

D.J. held a finger to her mouth and whispered, "Maintain radio silence till we 
intercept.” D.J. knew Stephanie was ready to roll the car window down and start 
lecturing right then and there. But, the important thing here was the element of 
surprise. The sisters got out of the car, but left the doors open - they'd be 
going right back, after all.

They rushed up to Sam, not giving her any time to run away. She glanced back, 
and then Stephanie's mischievous charge appeared to be in a cartoon, one of 
those characters that spun its legs really fast, but never went anywhere, as 
D.J. and Stephanie snatched her from the pavement.

“Hey, no fair,” Sam shouted. “You can’t take me because...uh...Hannah’s not done 
babysitting me till four!”

“You left her rules when you left home, and that automatically put you under my 
rules!” Stephanie spouted. Sam gulped.

“Do you realise how dangerous it was to leave like that?” D.J. shouted. 
Stepahnie did likewise. They could both tell, though, that Sam would resist 
entering the car. A light bulb then went on above the sneaker D.J.’s head, as 
she motioned for Stepanie to wait to lecture or try to force Sam to get in the 
car.

“It’s looks like there’s a $20 bill on the floor in the back,” D.J. said 
suddenly.

Sam heard of the possibility of free money and lunged into the back seat without 
thinking. “Finders’ keepers, losers’...hey!” she shouted as Stephanie got in 
behind her, shut the door, and started to buckle her into her seatbelt. There 
was no money on the floor.

Sam gave a dirty look that normally should have no place on a seven-year-old. 
"Hey you tricked me!"

D.J looked at her with a maddening almost-smile and replied, "No. I said it 
looks like there's $20 on the floor of the back seat, I didn't say that there 
was!" 

“Ii'm not going to fall for that one again Dee Jerk!" Sam sighed and then 
quickly silenced under one of Stephanie's withering glares.

Hannah Larkin smiled thankfully as she saw D.J. and Stephanie pulling into the 
family’s drive. The seventeen-year-old placed her hands on her hips and screamed 
as Sam was half-walked, half-dragged in, “Do you know how frantic I was looking 
for you, Sam!” She lectured a little more, then said, “I’ll leave you to the 
care of these two - I’m sure they’ll make sure you listen. And when I come back 
tomorrow at noon you’d better be on your best behaviour!” She didn’t know what 
she would do if she wasn’t, but calling Stephanie seemed like a good idea. She 
knew from takling to her that Sam would at least respect that threat.

Once she left, Steph picked Sam up and held her in a tight cuddle whie D.J. 
fetched a small chair from upstairs. "Now listen young lady!" Stephanie scolded 
mightily, looking directly into Sam's eyes, "I am your friend but right now I am 
your babysitter and only your babysitter! If I hear you say one rude word, just 
one, about the rules I am about to set then I will put you in the corner and 
give you a spanking before I put you there! Do you understand?" Sam gulped and 
nodded quickly "That's good! Now you will be sitting in the corner because you 
tried to escape and endangered yourself so much. I hate having to hurt you. I 
will give you the privilige of being able to sit without a sore bottom - though 
you will lose that privilege if you talk during timeout!”

Stephanie sighed. She also grounded Sam from everything once she got up, though 
she did that with a hug and a much softer - though still firm - voice. She 
really wanted Sam to both enjoy the time with her and learn how good it could be 
to listen. However, it was tough. Tough for both of them; as naughty as Sam ever 
was, she hated to hurt her. And yet, it was so hard to do anything else; as was 
stated earlier, she just tried to avoid listening to any rules at all.

Stephanie considered that she had part of a parents' instinct down pat. She knew 
just what Sam needed as far as discipline; in fact, as Principal's Assistant, 
she'd grown to understand pretty well what many of the kids needed. Missy would 
be learning that too, bit by bit.

Some kids needed very little correction - perhaps that was why her dad was so 
lenient with Michelle. He'd been like that. D.J. and Stephanie had been like 
that. But, Michelle was a little wilder, more of a "Try it and see what happens" 
type. D.J. had known right away how to handle her - immediate timeouts, 
consistently calm efforts to get Michelle to be polite, and so on. Michelle had 
stopped testing limits quickly, for the most part, because she saw she’d get 
nowhere but a boring place, and that she might not get to eat dessert, which she 
loved. When Michelle had gotten quite disobedient and bossy in one phase during 
the summer before Kindergarten, because their dad wasn't doing anything about 
it, D.J. had scared her straight with a story about two bad princesses who were 
just like Michelle, and who took two different roads. D.J. had been certain that 
her "little Strawberry Shortcake" wouldn't need spanked, or even directly 
threatened, and she'd been right. Michelle never got nearly that bad again.

If D.J. hadn't dedicated herself so early to working with Michelle, she'd have 
still reacted when Michelle got too wild. She wouldn't have had the instinct 
developed quite as much. Michelle woudl have become bolder, more of a “Let me 
see what you’ll do” type, as there probably would have been a lot more Uncle 
Jesse influence; he wasn’t bad, but his attitude was sometimes still a bit wild. 
But, D.J. would still have avoided spanking by directly explaining exactly what 
would happen. Michelle would have backed down then or at a later age. That was 
because she would still be the same Michelle, just bolder. But, certain threats 
would make her back down. And, D.J. would have learned by doing.

Stephanie's instincts were like the latter D.J. example. She hadn't been too 
sure at first about Sam, and had tried many things. She'd quickly learned, 
though, that Sam needed not only very firm limits, but at times, sadly, very 
dire threats. So, depressing as it was, she had to at least threaten to spank 
her sometimes. That's just the way Sam was. Maybe it would have been different 
if Sam's parents were there mentally for her. But, though it depressed 
Stephanie, she knew instinctively that Sam sometimes needed spanked to behave.

Michelle being D.J.’s “Strawberry Shortcake” was fine; D.J. was just a part of 
the team of Dad, Uncle Jesse, and Joey when it came to raising Michelle as a 
toddler and preschooler; probably team captain early on when it came to 
discipline. But, the sad part was, Stephanie wasn't part of a team. She was the 
team. She was the only mom Sam had.

After a short time of playing one of Sam’s games, Sam excused herself to get a 
toy out of the garage. As long as it wasn’t something that should be outside, 
Stephanie said, she could play with it.

As Sam went into the garage, Stephanie and D.J. began to start supper. “I hate 
threatening her, Deej. I really do,” she spoke softly, and with a hint of 
remorse.

“I know, Steph,” D.J. said with a sigh. “I call her Calvina, but she makes 
Calvin look like a model child sometimes.”

As D.J. put an arm around Stephanie, she asked her older sister, “You never had 
to spank any of your charges when babysitting, did you?”

“Nope. And, Kimmy could always make them smell her feet.” Kimmy not only had 
poor hygeine, but likely some major fungus problem. “She might threaten 
something weird, but she’d never do it. I had to bail her out of thngs a couple 
times.”

“Yeah, she’s not too bright. Although, she is very good with good kids. I 
remember a time or two she babysat Michelle and I, and she was really good. 
Though I had to change all the diapers when it was us two plus Nicky and Alex 
she babysat.”

“I remember hearing about that.”

Stephanie hoped that that one timeout and lecture had convinced Sam how bad what 
she’d done was. She’d lectured her a little after the timeout, too, and Sam 
seemed pretty reasonable. But, she also fretted, because this was supposed to be 
a time to get to know her. She really wanted to build a good, loving 
relationship.

Instead, she’d had to punish Sam for something dangerous half an hour before her 
shift was supposed to begin!

Soon, it would be for something dangerous and really bad. The sisters heard the 
sound of a bicycle being dragged into the kitchen. “Samantha Lynne Burke, get 
off of that now! What are you doing?!” Stephanie yelled

“Riding my bicycle, what does it look like?” she hollered as she sped around the 
kitchen table, evading their grasp.

“You’re not allowed to ride your bicycle outside, let alone inside!” D.J. 
exsplained with a shout as they followed Sam into the fancy living room.

“My parents want me to ride it outside only, but since you said I couldn’t...” 
she said while grazing a lamp, which D.J. dove and caught to keep it from 
crashing.

“Sam, get off of there now, and go sit in your timeout chair!” Stephanie 
ordered. When she got in front of Sam, though, Sam just kept on riding. She 
plowed into Stephanie in a vain attempt to totally get away.

She knocked her down, but Stephanie pulled her off the bike, too. In a huff, she 
dragged her toward her timeout chair. Sam tried to struggle wiith the ferocity 
of a lion but it was no use with D.J. holding her legs and Stephanie holdoing 
her arms firmly. They carried her back to the timeout chair and sat her down. 
Sam shrank back in the chair at the obvious look of fury in their eyes.

After Stephanie lectured her for a moment, she turned to D.J., trying to calm 
herself. “Her parents just distract her - what do you think Sam would do if they 
actually tried to set limits and she acted like this?”

“They wouldn’t, she knows it. Steph, it’s obvious that you’re the first person 
whose ever tried; anyone else saw they’d get too much of a battle and said they 
didn’t have the time.”

“Well, I will take the time!’ Stephanie asserted to both of them. “I will not 
lose my temper. I will be consistent with Sam. Even if it means that she spends 
so much tme in timeout that she may as well move her bed into this corner.”

D.J. grinned proudly at Stephanie. “Way to go. That’s just what children need is 
some level of consistency. She disobeys, she goes to timeout for a good while. 
To think about what she’s done. She gets up, and you put her back and hold her 
down, or...if you have to, well...with this particular child, spank her,” D.J. 
said slowly. “You can tell I don’t like it, either. But, you don’t exactly have 
time to set up a rewards system with stickers and stuff like you did in 
Kindergarten, or at daycare a few months ago when they started sending for you 
again.”

And even there, it didn’t always work, Stephanie told herself. She didn’t say 
it, though. Her dad had once said that kids needed to have people expect them to 
be good, because they would be much more likely to try and live up to those 
expectations. And, eventually, she knew even Sam would.

Sam had noticed them praising her a little, just for the fact she was sitting 
there so nicely, But, while she loved the praise, and had thrived on the praise 
Stephanie gave her when in Kindergarten, she also wanted out of that corner. So, 
when Sam noticed that they seemed to be totally absorbed in their conversation, 
she decided that it was now or never to make a run for it. She wasn’t breaking 
her promise to Michelle as this wasn't school, she reasoned.

Unforunately for Sam, she hadnt't learned that in making an escape you have to 
be quiet. The noise she made as she left the chair and made for the loungeroom 
door was more than enough to get the attention of both Stephanie and D.J.. What 
followed was a flying tackle that would have made the 49'ers proud if they had 
been there to see it.

Stephanie didn't even bother saying it. She knew Sam knew what was coming. She 
still sighed, though as she gave Sam two spanks. It was never easy. In a way, 
she would have wanted D.J. to do it, but she knew she was the official 
babysitter. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, she was Sam’s parents. That 
made it all the harder to punish her sometimes, though.

Stephanie gave Sam a little hug afterward. She knew Sam knew how to behave. "We 
had fun after your first timeout, before this happened, didn't we?" Sam nodded 
and sniffled as she rubbed her bottom a little

“All right, think about how you need to be good, and how we can have a good 
time.” Stephanie closed her eyes for second. Why did Sam have to make it so 
hard?

“You’re doing your best, Steph. I think she knows you don’t like to do it,” D.J. 
muttered, so Sam wouldn’t hear. “She knows you care. Even if she doesn’t know 
some of the stuff, like how you said once you would make sure you didn’t do it 
as hard if she ever wore something thinner than those ripped jeans that make her 
look like a real rebel, she still senses that you care about helping her. You 
don’t want to hurt her.”

“Thanks, Deej. I’m glad you’re here for me.”

“Anytime, Steph. Anytime.”

Sam sobbed for a while, angry at the parents who didn't show her any love. Her 
focus was off the rules now, and firmly on the love other kids had so much of 
from their families. However, Stephanie and D.J. had shown her some love, 
especially Stephanie. Even after getting up for a few minutes and helping with 
dinner, then having to go back and eat by herself, she still sensed something 
important they wanted to spend time with her, be friendly, and so on. She just 
wasn't letting them.

Once dinner was over, they went back to playing one of Sam’s board games. 
However, after a while she admitted, “I’m getting kind of bored.” She was also 
starting to look very tired. She hadn’t gotten to bed till after midnight the 
previous night.

Stephanie sensed that Sam probably had no real bedtime. However, a paraphrase of 
a line in “Apollo 13" came quickly to her mind. “We have 1000 things to do to 
turn her from a wild, totally recalcitrant kid into a good, caring, and 
upstanding member of society. Right now, we are on number eight. Consistent 
bedtime is number 632,” she said to herself.

“I can understand,” Stephanei said as she looked at her watch. “We haven’t had 
too much time to get started on big projects tonight. We’ve kind of had to waste 
some time doing other stuff, huh?”

D.J. smiled. “Good job of being subtle - not mentioning what,” she whispered in 
Stephanie’s ear.

“Sam, we’d love to do some big things with you. I know you got your sewing badge 
in the Honeybees, Mrs. Larkin taught you how to sew, and I helped. But, maybe we 
could try something more advanced,” Stephanie suggested.

“Or, how are you in reading? Maybe if Steph reads to you you’ll get better,” 
D.J. offered.

“I’d rather do that with Michelle.”

“Okay. I think we can arrange to have her come one day. I’ve got a prior 
engagement tomorrow, but D.J. and one of her best friends will be coming to 
watch you. You’ll have lots of fun with them.”

“Yeah, I’ll bring my sewing kit, and maybe I’ll come up with some other neat 
stuff, too,” D.J. said excitedly.

“The Honeybees meeting is next Tuesday, right?” Sam asked. It was one event she 
always looked forward to; their meetings were only biweekly in the summer, but 
weekly during the school year. When Stephanie agreed, Sam said, “I’d like to 
earn a cooking badge. Everyone my age has them,” she said, putting lots of 
emphasis on “everyone.” She wanted to be like all the other kids.

Stephanie understood. If not a mother, than a dad, aunt, or big sister or even 
brother would have worked with all the other kids - she’d helped Michelle with 
hers. “Sure. We’ll work on that sometime this week. Maybe when my friends come 
Thursday.”

She put an arm around Sam. “I love it when you tell us things you want to do; we 
can have so much fun together if we try.”

Sam smiled. But, at the same time, she felt miserable. Here was this sitter, 
showing so much kidnness, when her own parents wouldn’t even give her the time 
of day. And then, there was the fact that she had to obey rules under one of the 
few older people - she had to give the hive mother, Mrs. Larkin, some credit, 
too, along with others - who cared. And yet, she could do whtever she wanted 
under the people who didn’t care.

The mess that occurred when Sam tore up her pillows and bedding after Stephanie 
left that night looked a lot like the battle raging in Sam’s mind.

Kimmy listened as D.J. explained the situation Tuesday afternoon. She needed 
backup for the most mischievous kid Kimmy could imagine.

"Say no more, Deej. I can handle her. You can take most of the afternoon off, I 
imagine."

"Kimmy..." D.J. tried to think of how to phrase this as they cleared the dishes 
from the lunch they'd eaten. Michelle pulled a cookie out of a box that was on 
the table and ate it.

"Kimmy, you're great at handling the good kids. Even those who are a little 
wild, you can handle. But, certain kids, when you were younger, took advantage 
of you," D.J. finally reminded her.

"Really? How so?"

"Well, remember that one boy that held your purse hostage, and threatened to 
flush it down the toilet?' Michelle stifled a laugh with her hand.

"Hey, don't laugh, squirt. I ws only fourteen then. I'm seventeen now. I'm a lot 
older and wiser."

"True, but this girl...wait there." She walked back to the eating area of the 
kitchen, and whispered instructions in Michelle's ear. Michelle once again had 
to stifle a giggle as they whispered back and forth for a moment, getting things 
stragiht.

"Hey, what are you doing, planning a surprise party?"

"Okay, come on over," D.J. said, motioning Kimmy to the table where Michelle had 
sat out seven cookies overlapping on a napkin. "Count these cookies."

"Okay...there's seven. Is that supposed to be some kind of code?" she asked, 
looking up again.

D.j. explained as she tapped Michelle on the shoulder that, "Sam has always 
given Stephanie lots of trouble. But, she's sneaky, too. She's not always really 
direct like some kids. Count the cookies again."

"Deej, I already counted. There should be seven cookies. Let's see..." Kimmy did 
a double take as she looked down and saw six cookies. "Oh, I get it. Michelle 
ate one. Wait a minute - that was pretty fast," Kimmy considered. "Don't choke," 
she warned Michelle, who giggled.

"I didn't eat it," Michelle said, holding out her hands.

"Now look at me," D.J. informed Kimmy. "I want to tell you something very 
important. Brad Pitt is coming over right now." Kimmy really liked the handsome 
Hollywood performer.

"Right now? How did that happen? Deej, I need to have warning about these 
things. I need to get my hair done, do lip exercises, that sort of thing."

"April Fool in June. Count the cookies again."

"All right, Deej, I see what you're doing. You're trying to distract me, so I 
don't remember there were six cookies. No, wait, it was seven no, six. Because 
Michelle put one down her shirt or something."

"Count them."

"Okay. 1, 2, 3...wait a minute. There's eight! I didn't hear the bag rustle. 
But," she asked pensively, looking back at D.J., "how can that be? Michelle 
couldn't have put one back together, and then...I don't know what."

"Count again, maybe you miscounted. It can happen," D.J. suggested.

"Good idea. Anyone can be one off..." Her eyes widened. There were six again. 
"Whoa. Only six. Could I have been two numbers off? That should be easy to 
count. I sure didn't see any aliens abducting cookies or anything like that."

After a couple more number changes, Kimmy relented. "Okay, Deej. If you say this 
girl's as tricky as the two of you put together, fine. I just hope she doesn't 
have any of those weird disappearing and reappearing cookies with her."

"She won't, but she'll have her own tricks up her sleeve. Thanks, Michelle," 
D.J. said, giving her a single, loving pat on the head.

"You're welcome. And, for beign such a good sport, I'll give you a few cookies," 
she said, handing them to Kimmy.

"Gee, thanks. Can I have some to take home to my mom? Maybe they'll make some of 
the pounds disappear that she's been trying to lose."

Sam, meanwhile, was behaving well that morning and early afternoon, all things 
considered. She kept thinking of ways to try and circumvent the rules. She 
wasn't about to give up on keeping her freedom, despite the compassion Stephanie 
showed.

D.J. seemed to be the same as Stephanie. It figured; Michelle was so nice. Even 
when she made her blunt comments she didn't do it all the time. She hadn't done 
it at the first Honeybees meeting, or the first couple months there, really, 
when Sam was getting used to try to be friendly. And yet, when Sam had been 
misbehaving, Michelle culd really be brutally honest with her.

"Sam," Michelle had said a few months back, "You mean you were tearing the 
upholdstery in the daycare van again?" Sam had nodded slowly, sniffling and 
rubbing her bottom at the memory of the previous evening, when she'd tried to 
stay away till her parents came at about seven. Michelle had then said, "It's a 
good thing you got your sewing badge. Now you can sew a pillow to sit on."

Back in the present, Sam longed to be away from that life of doing destructive 
things. But, she just wanted to do her own thing, and not listen to others. 
She'd enjoyed tearing at that, for some reason. And yet, there was one group, 
the Tanner girls, who really cared.

Still, she had a plan. Maybe if she was successful, she could distract them and 
make them work enough that she wouldn't have to listen. Besides, Stephanie 
wouldn't be there. She could get away with a lot more then. And, Kimmy probably 
wasn't very bright. What kind of a name ws Kimmy, anyway?

Hannah greened D.J. and Kimmy, with Kimmy immediately walking over to Sam. “Hey, 
did you know your other sitters’ name is the same upside-down. Of course, when I 
heard you could do that with Hannah, I wondered, ‘Why would you want to talk to 
her upside-down?’”

I was right, Sam told herself. “Oh, that’s really interesting, Dimmy Kimmy.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I can make you smell my feet,” Kimmy asserted.

“Huh?”

“Yeah. D.J. was telling me on the way over what you were like. I imagine there’s 
a tottoo of a hand on your bottom,” Kimmy remarked without thinking of how 
embarrassing such a comment would be.

Sam glared. She was starting to get upset about the fact she’d get spanked 
soemtimes, as well as a little embarrassed. The way in which her parents just 
ignored her, leaving her to go it alone in this world, was even more 
disheartening.

Thankfully, D.J. came to her rescue. “Kimmy, I don’t think Sam needs to hear 
that right now.”

“That’s right!” Although, if Michelle had told her that, it would be different. 
However, even Michelle probably wouldn’t say that. It made it sound like Sam 
always got hit. Sam knew how to stay in timeout, too; she just got carried away 
sometimes. Although, at that, Michelle might say, “Yeah, you get carried all the 
way to the moon.”

Kimmy smiled warmly at Sam. “Sorry, squirt. I guess that was a little harsh. 
Although, not from what I heard happened yesterday.”

“Stephanie wouldn’t do that; she’s nice about it!” Sam hollered.

D.J. bent down to her level and hugged her. “You’re right, Sam. Stephanie is 
very nice about it. I’m glad to see you realise she only does it because she 
cares about you, and uses it as a last resort. Jen tried, but she just didn’t 
surround you with the love Stephanie does, huh? She was more just a principal’s 
assistant, she never tried to be a friend.”

“Yeah,” Sam said, closing her eyes. In the back of her mind, she supposed that 
her bottom might have been a little red when Stephanie spanked her yesterday. 
But, not for long, and only because the mild fwap she knew Steph had given a few 
kids as a reaction just didn’t work with her.

And, that made her hurt all the more inside, as that conscience struggled to 
take hold more firmly.

“I’m sorry,” Kimmy said sweetly. “I guess I’m just running off at the mouth a 
little too much.”

“If someone has to say something about how bad I am, let Michelle say it,” Sam 
requested lowly.

“Sure. That’s fine with me. Come on, why don’t you take me up to your room, and 
we can play with some of your dolls or whatever,” Kimmy suggested.

Sam accepted the apology and led Kimmy upstairs. “I don’t like dolls. I like 
loud stuff and video games.”

“Cool! Maybe we can play some video games together.” Kimmy did a double take as 
she noticed the huge mass of feathers from Sam’s pillows. “Whoa, what do you do, 
raise geese in here?”

Sam grinned. “That sounds like Michelle. 'cept, I pictured her talking about a 
one-person pillow fight.”

“I could see that, too. Of course, it also must have been pretty uncomfortable 
to sleep if this happened last night.”

“It was. I got really mad after Stephanie and D.J. left, and after that I slept 
on that,” Sam said as she pointed to a large stuffed elephant.

“Wow. So, you tore all your pillows up? Sounds like a cool scene from a WWF 
marathon.”

“You like that? I like wrestling, too.” For several minutes, Sam and Kimmy sat 
on her bed and discussed wrestlers.

However, Kimmy asked Sam to clean up her room then. That had been a bad move. 
Sam resisted doing that; her parents had caused the mess by not being there to 
listen to her. She had known they wouldn’t, even though she was frustrated that 
one of the people they hired was setting rules for her. Rules that had never 
been there before.

Besides, even if they didn’t clean it up, the maid could clean it up easily.

When Kimmy got more insistent, Sam decided that now was the time to make her 
move, to distract them so she could start doing what she wanted, rather than 
being ordered around.

“Hey, Sam, what are you doing?” Kimmy asked as she followed Sam into the 
bathroom.

“Getting some water, you wanted things clean.” Sam handed a wet washcloth to 
Kimmy, took one herself, and turned off the water.

When Kimmy left, she turned on the water again, then left the bathroom herself.

“I still don’t see the purpose of the water,” Kimmy considered aloud as Sam 
walked back into her room with the washcloth. “I mean, it’s not that dirty. I 
just want you to pick up your mess; all these feathers.”

“Well, let’s get started on the stuff under the bed,” Sam suggested.

After Kimmy and Sam moved the bed, Sam pretended to wipe down one wall and the 
floor. Then, she told Kimmy to help move the bed back.

“I don’t get this,” Kimmy remarked.

Sam was reminded of the “Star Trek” episode where a robot or something was 
caused to malfunction by being given ridiculous or simply weird dilemmas. It 
appeared that one or two more of her little tricks might cause Kimmy’s brain to 
freeze altogether.

“It’s simple. A couple kids I know shove things under the bed and say it’s 
clean.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I cleaned under the bed, too. Have a look.”

She looked under the bed, and Sam messed it up with her washcloth before she 
could get it out. “Hey, you done scuffed my hair!”

Kimmy’s face went from puzzlement to total bewilderment, as Sam pondered that a 
better comparison for Kimmy would be the dimwitted sheriff or one of his 
deputies on that “Dukes” show. It was on in the afternoon sometimes. However, 
despite the car chases, it was far too tame for Sam’s liking. She preferred the 
vulgar, sensual, and violent shows that came on after supper. Still, even though 
the Dukes were boring, it was better than nothing.

Kimmy finally spoke. “That makes sense, in a way. If your messes are normally 
swept under the bed, and then you cleaned under the bed, it would be clean. But, 
yet - how can that be? The feathers are still here.” She decided to go 
downstairs and ask D.J. to help her with the supposed paradox. Sam followed.

D.J. explained to Kimmy that, “Sam’s trying to confuse you. She cleaned a touch 
under the bed, but she didn’t clean the whole room. Let’s let that part go for 
now. There’s plenty of other stuff we can do. I brought my sewing kit. We can 
work on some more advanced stuff.”

Sam grinned. She knew Stephanie might not approve of some of the cable shows she 
watched, but she wasn’t sure. Soon, these two teens would be so distracted, it 
woudn’t matter. But, where was the waterfall she expected to come? It hadn’t 
started cascading down the stairs yet.

“Do you hear something?” D.J. said once they were in the living room and quiet. 
“I think it almost sounds like a leaky faucet.”

“Maybe it’s your friend’s brain,” Sam cracked.

D.J. smiled. Stephanie and Kimmy had traded wisecracks for several years when 
younger; if Sam didn’t get to like Kimmy yet, at least she wouldn’t be totally 
mad at her.

D.J., however, was totally mad when she saw the result of several minutes of 
water cascading down the sink. Kimmy, Sam, get up here!” she screamed as she 
shut off the water and waded out of the bathroom and into the plush pond that 
had been a carpet.

Sam followed very slowly, but D.J. ran over to her and began lecturing quite 
loudly. It was like a huge orchestra blaring away in her brain. She would be 
made to help clean it up - but first she would take a very long timeout.

Sam thought about making a break for it since Stephanie wasn’t there. As she 
thought abotu that, though, her hand instinctively moved to her bottom, as she 
remembered yelping in pain, and the tears that had come. And, the hugs Stephanie 
and especially Michelle would give even though Sam had been super naughty. She 
didn’t really have a tattoo of a hand like Kimmy had joked - but she knew D.J. 
would tell Stephanie. And, Stephanie was right. The way Sam felt like acting 
sometimes, she was rebellious enough that she needed the threat of that smack to 
make her sit in the corner.

“Not all children need to be threatened like that,” Stephanie had told her once 
during one of their long talks after a timeout in Kindergarten. “But, you just 
won’t be talked into staying there or even let me hold you down there like a 
two-year-old. I hate the fact you have to feel threatened like that, but you 
haven’t shown me you want to change.”

Sam sighed as she D.J. walked her over to a chair in her room and sat her down 
against the wall, so that all she had to look at was that bare corner. She 
considered that this was better than a spank. She knew Stephanie was right. And, 
she was starting to want to change. She pondered changing as she looked at the 
wall. She pondered how Stephanie had said Michelle was so well behaved, and how 
she’d never had to be threatened even by D.J. or Stephanie. And, their dad and 
the adults would never think of doing it, and hadn’t witht he others, either. 
Just a loud voice had always worked to keep even Michelle in timeout - or the 
threat of no dessert, at the most. Sam longed to be like Michelle.

To pass the time, Sam had developed her own private game of pretending the 
cracks and lines in the wall formed shapes and thinking of an animal to fit that 
shape. But, the desire to be good did keep creeping in, as the love Stephanie 
and D.J. showed worked on her conscience.

When D.J. let her up from her timeout, she gave her a big hug, like Steph would 
do. “I’m so proud that you stayed there and thought about what you’d done that 
was bad.”

“Thanks. You’re just like Stephanie, you know that?”

D.J. smiled, and wondered why hearing that felt the same as the times when she’d 
cuddle Michelle after punishing her, and Michelle had said she imagined having a 
mom would be just the same.

After dinner D.J. and Kimmy went up the stairs to Sam's second floor room and 
opened her closet. "I was going to let you choose what you wanted to wear 
tonight but after the way you acted earlier with the water faucet i've decided 
that you don’t deserve it so I will pick!" D.J. scolded her.

Sam just looked on sullenly as D.J. and Kimmy went looking through her clothes.

"Hey Deej, what do ya think of this?" Kimmy asked as she pulled out a wire 
clothes hanger. On it was a pink frilled nightgown. “We could really make her 
clash like crazy - give her some old army boots. You noticed when the kids would 
say ‘Your mother wears Army boots’ when I was little, I just agreed? Well, she 
used to. It was the only way to hide the smell.” And, as Kimmy said this, she 
made a grossed-out face; a pink nightie and Army boots clashed too much even for 
the bizarre Kimmy fashion sense to take.

Sam was shocked by that, but positively mortified when D.J. picked up a pair of 
fuzzy slippers that matched the nightgown and had bunny heads at the end. Her 
mouth dropped open - it was an outfit her parents had bought her a few weeks 
earlier and one she didn't want to be seen dead in!

“Let’s not embarrass her with the boots, Kimmy, I think these will be fine.” 
D.J. handed them to Sam.

She immediately started to protest - the slippers were embarrassing enough. She 
couldn’t stand them. But with the nightgown...as if Army boots were bad enough. 
"I don't wanna be in th-"

D.J. cut her off by wordlessly, producing the cell phone she’d borrowed from 
Aunt Becky and starting to dial. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"Steph told me to call her if there were any problems. I let you off over the 
water prank but it looks like you can’t do what your told. So, I have to call 
Steph and see if she can come and make you."

The look on Sam's face turned from sullen to fearfull. "N-no, don't do that! 
I'll be good I promise!"

D.J. stopped dialing and gave Sam another of her maddening almost-smiles. 
"Promise?"

"Uh-huh!" Sam said as she started to put on the outfit D.J. and Kimmy had 
chosen.

"Well I can promise you that the next time you act up tonight no matter how 
small it is - I _will_ call Steph!" 

After they went back downstairs to the living room, Sam said hesitantly, “Can I 
watch the TV now? The cool shows I like best are on."

D.J. paused for a moment, trying to formulate an action plan. “Can you tell me 
what some of these ‘cool shows’ are?”

As Sam started reeling them off, D.J.'s mouth dropped open. From the look on 
Kimmy's face, even her weird best friend was shocked - these shows should 
certainly not be on the viewing list of any seven year old child; much less one 
with little or no parental supervision like Sam! She would have to talk with 
Steph about this later.

For now, she simply gave the “I mean it!" look to Sam and said with special 
emphasis, "I'm sorry but no you can't! Michelle wouldn't be allowed to watch 
shows like this and I dont think she will be happy to hear that you do ... but 
you can watch this." She selected a channel on the remote and placed the remote 
firmly in her pocket. The television screen showed the Cartoon Network.

Sam's face fell. “But I don't wanna watch baby cart- yes I do!" she said upon 
seeing D.J. reaching for her cell phone.

Sam sat down and sighed. Michelle had said Joey loved cartoons, even at his age. 
And, Sam had grown to enjoy the Honeybees, even with those costumes she once 
thought were...well, just dumb. But, she didn’t think she could ever get used to 
these shows.

Sam was glad it was only D.J. and Kimmy seeing her in these - especially if 
Kimmy really considered putting her in army boots. Tht would have been weird - 
where did she get such crazy ideas? Oh, well, at least these two spent time with 
her, unlike her parents.

Still, she wanted to be free from those rules that they loved so much. Sam had 
been trying to find weak links all evening - and probably could have gotten away 
with more if Kimmy were her full-time sitter. However, Stephanie was coming back 
late tomorrow afternoon. And, Sam was getting desperate for a way to get around 
having to obey rules. She hadn't had them for so long, and she wanted to keep 
that going as long as she could.

Stephanie had heard good reports about last night. But, they were laced with 
"however"s. Sam had been well-behaved for the most part; however, that was 
because D.J. had had to threaten to call Stephanie. She'd gone to bed; however, 
D.J. and Kimmy had had to pick out her outfit because she'd acted up once.

Stephanie didn't want the whole two weeks to be this type of battle. She wanted 
to make serious progress on the front, not establish a beachhead and still be 
fighting her way out of it two weeks later. Therefore, when Michelle asked again 
if she could go, Stephanie gladly accepted the offer of help. "You can get 
through to her, Michelle. I hope you can do something," Stephanie said. "Maybe 
you can make her think. It's going to be very hard, though. I don't know what 
she's going to try to pull this time."

"You won't have to spank her, will you?" Michelle asked sadly.

Stephanie sighed. "I don't like it either, Michelle. But, she's never had any 
rules at home. I might very well have to." Michelle brightened as Stephanie 
reached over in the back seat of their Aunt Becky's car and lovingly stroked her 
hair. "I'm glad you've always tried to be good."

"She knows you both care," Becky offered while pulling into the family's long 
drive.

"That's right, Michelle. She's just the kind of kid you just have to be really 
firm with."

Sam had filled a balloon with paint. She held it behind her back as Stephanie 
and Michelle entered. The other sitter departed quickly, not wanting to be 
around whatever it was Sam was up to. With an ornery smirk on her face but with 
her voice betraying her desperation, Sam decided that now was the best time - 
maybe the only time - to truly catch Stephanie off guard. "Let me do whatever I 
want today," she declared, "Or I throw this balloon and splatter paint all 
over!"

Michelle noticed Stephanie's face turning three shades of purple. With a deep 
sigh, she slowly walked over to Sam, who awaited Stephanie response. She thought 
of how sad Stephanie had been that she'd had to hurt Sam, and also how Sam must 
have felt at being punished like that. Michelle couldn't imagine ever having to 
be punished that way; she was certain Sam would want people to be nicer to her.

"All right, Sam," Michelle said bluntly, with a hint of frustration, as she 
began lightly patting Sam's behind. "Why don't we get this over with now, and 
you can start being good."

Sam froze, taken aback by two things. First, that Michelle was spanking her - 
she supposed that must be what she was doing, as she figured if she didn't get 
away with this she might get it. But, how bad must she be for Michelle to do it?

And yet, Michelle was so nice about it. Nicer than Stephanie, even - and a fair 
deal better than Jen. Far better than the couple other sitters who had spanked 
Sam in frustration over the last couple years. The look Michelle gave her - the 
same "puppy-dog" style look she'd given Sam last year in the cafeteria while 
pleading with her not to get herself in such big touble again at school - was 
having an impact on Sam, too. Even though Michelle's fwaps didn't hurt, Sam 
looked ready to cry. Before, she’d only cry at the pain.

Stephanie took advantage of this chance to take the balloon from Sam, and place 
it on the kitchen counter. Then, she knelt and spoke lovingly but firmly, giving 
a couple of those little fwaps herself to show that that reaction went for her, 
too. "Sam, we care about you. I don't want to hurt you; I hate having to do 
that. Michelle hates seeing you hurt even more than I do. We're showing we care 
by being gentle. Now, you have a choice. You can let us be nice, and learn to 
have lots of fun. Or, you can do what you've been doing the last two days."

"Come on, Sam. You can be good. I know you can," Michelle added.

Sam closed her eyes and let Stephanie cuddle her for a minute. "I'm sorry," she 
said weakly, shedding a few tears.

"That's better. Now, let's talk about some nice stuff we can do."

Sam had some books in her library upstairs; gifts for birthdays or Christmas. 
The school had mentioned in Kindergarten the need to encourge reading, and one 
suggestion was that holidays be used for book giving. It was one suggestion that 
didn't involve the parents taking much time from their own busy lives, so they 
did buy her some.

Stephanie had asked her to pick one from up in her room, and she grabbed 'The 
Cat in the Hat.' After wiping a little dust off of it, for the maid didn't clean 
in the bookcase every day, they went back downstairs. Stephanie sat Sam between 
she and Michelle, and they began to read together.

”Why don’t you keep reading with her, Michelle, while I make dinner,” Stephanie 
suggested after a while. Inside, she was beaming. Sam was getting caught up not 
only in Stephanie’s natural enthusiasm, but in Michelle’s youthful 
encouragement.

Sam read at a beginning first grade level, about a year behind for her age. 
She’d gotten the attitude that, “You can make me behave, but you can’t make me 
learn". Sam had tended to daydream a fair amount in class that year.

Stephanie mindlessly tossed the balloon filled with paint away, she’d been so 
busy trying to distract Sam with other things she’d forgotten to do that. She 
was glad they had gotten her mind off of bad stuff for now. How long that would 
last, who knew? To be sure there were no more temptations, she made a note to 
place paint and other things where they would not be temptations for Sam.

In the living room, Sam was having fun. Michelle was such a grea friend. “This 
guy writes funny. He reminds me of Joey. I use that line you told me he made up 
sometimes - ‘I would not eat them int he dirt, I do not want them down my 
shirt.’” She reference was to something Joey had told Michelle, who had told 
Sam. Kids sometimes joked about her name, connecting it to “Sam I Am” from 
“Green Eggs and Ham.”

“That’s good. Yeah, Joey borrowed the rhyme idea from Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuess 
wrote ‘Green Egg and Ham,’ too.”

“Is he a real doctor?”

“I don’t know. It would be kind of weird to have a doctor tell you you need your 
tonsils out by rhyming it.”

Stephanie chuckled as she listened in ont he conversation. They were sounding 
just like the best of friends - or even sisters. She could see why Sam had 
wanted to read with Michelle.

“You know, camp’s coming up in a few weeks,” Michelle mentioned. “I went last 
year with a group of Honeybees. I was in the chickadee cabin. We had so much 
fun! You should come for a weekthis summer.”

“Uh, Michelle...” Stephanie said tentatively. She didn’t know if she liked the 
idea of Sam at camp or not. She was usually pretty good with the Honeybees, but 
still....

‘”Can I, Stephanie?” Sam blurted happily. She then realised that she’d actually 
asked Stephanie’s permission for something. It felt kind of weird - what she’d 
done was like she’d been taught to do at school or with the Honeybees. But, 
also, it was like she’d heard other kids ask their parents.

“You better say ‘please,’” Michelle reminded her.

When Sam did as told, Stephanie smiled and walked over to her. “I’m glad you 
said please. Tell you what - we’ll see how your behaviour is at home. You’re 
probably not ready for overnight camp yet.” A swift shake of Sam’s head told 
Stephanie she was right. “Michelle could have done it - could have stayed all 
three weeks if D.J. thought she needed her to enforce tougher rules to get her 
used to them; D.J. was a cabin mom there. As it was, she didn’t have to, since 
Michelle’s so good, and Michelle just went to day camp. Michelle’s going again 
this year, so you would have her with you. It is an hour away.”

“But don’t worry, Sam. We can have lots of fun in the bus; Mrs. Larkin will be 
coming with us. You like Courtney. Hannah will be there as a day camp 
voluunteer, too. And, you can meet even more friends. You can sign up for one 
week of day camp or all three.”

“Whoa, hold on,” Stephanie said, holding up her hand. “Your mouth is running as 
fast as mine usually does. Look, I think it’s great to encourage Sam. But, Sam, 
your being able to go will hinge on one thing. What do you think that thing is?” 
She was hopeful Sam could guess right.

Sam thought for a moment, finally saying weakly, “How good I am?”

“Bingo!” And, in Stephanie’s mind, two important hurdles had been leaped. First, 
Sam was learning that not only were there negative consequences out there for 
bad behaviour, there could be positive ones for good behaviour. Second, Sam had 
just found soemthing which - hopefully - could inspire her with more of a reason 
to be good, even without the parental support she should have.

It was still a long road to Berlin, she considered, using the analogy she’d come 
up with recently after studying World War Two extensively in school. However, 
she was starting to see the breakout from the Normandy beachhead.

That evening, once Danny had tucked Michelle into bed, Stephanie walked into 
their bedroom and sat beside her. "So tell me, Michelle - how did you know what 
to do? That was not only brilliant, it even caught me by surprise."

Michelle didn't mind talking about this since they were alone. Still, she spoke 
quite lowly, as it was still embarrassing. "Well, remember a few years ago, when 
D.J. told me about the good princess and the really bad one? And, how the really 
bad one got a spanking? So I started to be the good one?" Stephanie nodded. 
"What scared me most, and made me stop being so rude and bossy, was the 
surprise. I thought if I surprised her, it might work. I asked D.J., and she 
said I might have to fwap her. It wouldn’t be as easy as it was with me. It 
wasn’t meant to be a real threat then. But since I was always so nice the fwaps 
should surprise her enough."

"Well, it worked." Stephanie kissed her on the forehead. "Nice job."

"Thanks. Do I get some of that babysitting money now?"

"Well..." Stephanie wasn't sure what to say. Michelle had helped a lot that one 
time, but she didn't want her seven-year-old sister to get too cocky about 
babysitting. Besides, Michelle might think she was entitled to half the entire 
thing. She was entitled to maybe $15 for that day, but that's about it. And, 
that was stretching it - there's no way she was even a sitters' assistant at her 
age. She’d really just been along as a playmate.

Finally, she said, "Admit it, you'd spend your share on ice cream, anyway." 
Michelle chuckled and nodded. "How about I take you out for a big burger and an 
even bigger hot fudge sundae Saturday!"

"You read my mind."

Allie's weekly piano lessons were moved up the following day, to allow her, 
Darcy, and Stephanie to arrive at Sam's house together. Stephanie was a little 
apprehensive about this afternoon's babysitting duties. The previous day had 
almost begun as a complete disaster. Only Michelle's brilliant idea had saved 
them. Of course, that idea had come partly courtesy of D.J..

Stephanie sighed. It was taking everything in her power to get through this 
first week and make progress, though it was coming, thankfully. She was so 
thankful that Michelle had always been so good. If not for Stephanie’s own big 
mouth - blurting that she would if she had to - that time when Michelle was 
almost five, they would have gotten through Michelle's worst day without even 
mentioning spanking. And, it hadn't been a threat as much as a scare tactic even 
as it was.

Sam, on the other hand, was the most ornery kid she could imagine.

As usual, her friends tried to place a positive spin on things. "Look at it this 
way, Steph. She hasn't burned down the house," Allie joked as they rode in Mrs. 
Taylor’s car.

"That's right." Darcy held up a bag. "And tonight, she is going to learn how to 
cook."

"Wow, where did you get such faith!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Simple. It's one Honeybee badge tht most kids her age have already. She’ll feel 
she has to be like them" The girls laughed.

"Darcy, your parents are great cooks, especially your mom. I'm sure you'll give 
it a good try. However, Sam has never had any rules at home, remember? She's 
been so desparate to get her own way, she's been bad enough to get spanked two 
of the three days I've babysat, and the only day I didn't, D.J. was close to 
calling me on the cell phone."

The car pulled up at the Burke home. Mrs. Taylor wished the girls good luck. 
"Thanks, we'll need it," Stephanie quipped.

"Come on, Steph, you've got to have faith," Allie told her. "We'll keep her 
plenty busy."

"I hope she doesn't have other ideas," Stephanie murmurred as she knocked ont he 
door.

Sam sat on a chair colouring. She grew a little apprehensive as Stephanie walked 
through the door, then reminded herself of what Michelle always said. "You just 
have to be good, that's all. I know it's hard for you for some reason. But, that 
doesn't mean it's impossible."

Ah, Michelle. She told it like it was. Sam had fun with the Honeybees, and was 
so thankful the Tanners had made sure she'd get in. And, she knew Michelle was 
right. It wasn't impossible to behave. In fact, it could be kind of fun.

She just wished she could do some fun things by herself, instead of being told 
what to do.

Stephanie greeted her with a hug, which surprised Sam greatly. She only caught 
that her friends were named Allie and Darcy. Anything else was lost on her as 
the other sitter left. She liked getting hugs. Stephanie did that sometimes. 
But, it was still odd to be greeted so warmly at home.

Then again, she hadn't given them a chance the last three days. Sam had been on 
the offensive, trying to control the situation. Maybe it woudl be okay if she 
just let things happen for a change.

"Sam, I hear you don't have your cooking badge yet for the Honeybees," Darcy 
said enthusiastically. "I got some great stuff here. How about I teach you?"

"Sure," Sam said to the olive-skinned Darcy. "How come your skin looks like 
that? Did you try cooking at home and burn it?" Sam had hardly ever seen black 
people - just a few, like Denise Fraser, at school. Her parents never saw them 
in the high society in which they travelled, it seemed. At least, they stayed 
away from them if there were any there.

Stephanie glared harshly at Sam. "That's not a very nice thing to say. How 
rude!"

Darcy took Sam's hand in hers. "Yeah, besides, do I feel burnt?" she said in a 
silly way. Stephanie was thankful Darcy didn't take offense at such questions.

Sam shrugged. "No. But, Michelle always says what's on her mind." Sam had been 
curious about why others had different color skin. But, she'd never felt like 
asking. She'd figured with it being one of Stephanie's friends, she could. 
Howeever, it appeared that wasn't the case. She was so confused - and a little 
scared after Stephanie's glare.

Stephanie, realising that she might have over done things and that Sam's 
behaviour was understandable given her situation, knelt down and explained, "I 
tell Michelle it's okay to say some things to you, because they need to be said 
to make you think. But, normally she wouldn't say them to anyone. And she 
certainly wouldn't ask Darcy if her skin was burnt."

"I think Michelle asked their dad or D.J. about it the first time she noticed a 
racial difference," Allie recalled.

Stephanie nodded. "That's right, Sam. Comments like you made are rude. Darcy's 
nice about it, but you should still say you're sorry. And, if you have a 
question, you need to ask politely if you can ask something. Or, if it's a 
friend, just ask, but in a nice way. Like, why is your skin a different color?" 
Stephanie rose. "I didn't get to church a whole lot when I was little. But, I 
still remember a comment my Sunday School teacher made when I asked something 
similar at your age. She said, "God made her that way because He knew she'd be 
the most beautiful she could be that way." Darcy beamed.

"Did God really make her?"

Stephanie nodded. She realised that somehow, they needed to get Sam into church. 
"God made all of us, including you. He made each of us special. He gave Darcy 
two great parents who are very good cooks. Darcy wants to teach that to you. The 
proper thing to do is to apologize for your comment, and say thank you for 
offering to help."

Sam breathed heavily once, then turned to Darcy. "I'm sorry I said that, Darcy. 
Thanks for bringing that stuff. I'l like to learn how,” she said truthfully.

Stephanie smiled, and gave Sam a bigger hug. It was a lot easier to teach 
Michelle manners. Still, she supposed that, in time, they could turn her into a 
wonderful little lady.

For now, though, just getting the basics down was hard. But, at least Sam was 
enjoying herself.

Darcy had allowed Sam to help her make supper for the four of them. As she did 
so, Stephanie continued to think. She really hated hurting Sam. It didn't 
totally depress her any more, but it still saddened her a fair amount. She'd 
accepted that Sam needed to be spanked on occasion because nothing else worked 
at times. But, she still disliked it.

Thus, she took Allie aside in Sam’s bedroom. "Al, tonight, when they get home, 
I'm going to ask for permission to punish Sam by removing privileges, grounding 
her, and so on. I need to be able to do something more than make her sit in a 
corner."

"I thought you already had permission to do that this week and next."

"I'm not talking about that, Allie. I'm takling about anytime I feel it's 
needed. You've heard me telling you before,” she said as they tried to find good 
pajamas for her to wear. Because of her escapades the previous Tuesday, 
Stephanie still wanted her to be limited in her choices. However, she wouldn't 
embarrass Sam this time. Sam was actually being good. Of course, they'd only 
been gone five minutes, and they wanted to get back downstairs, just in case.

"Yeah, Steph, I guess you're right." Allie followed Stephanie to the stairwell. 
"Still, though, won't that be hard? I mean, that's a parent's job. Wouldn't that 
put a crimp in their plans sometimes?"

Stephanie figured she'd have to do a lot of convincing. However, she didnt' have 
time to tell Allie this. Sam announced that dinner was ready, and as she ran up 
to Stephanie, she shouted, "I helped Darcy make it."

"Wow, that's awesome," Stepahnie declared. "Mmm, boy, it smells good."

"I'll say," Allie agreed.

Sam beamed. "You've got great friends, Stephanie," she told her. Inside, she was 
amazed how fast it had come to her. It was just like when a couple of the 
Honeybees girls had started dancing, and she tried a little ballet herself when 
they were bored before club one day. Or, when they'd been singing songs. Between 
Michelle and Stephanie, they'd encouraged her to do lots of things. Things she 
never would have known she was good at.

Maybe God had made her special after all, she decided. She was proud to have 
several things which would make her stand out in a crowd, to compensate for her 
small size and, most importantly, for her lack of what most of the other girls 
had that she knew. A warm, loving home life.

Stephanie smiled. As they spoke about Sam’s other talents during dinner, it had 
brought up ballet. And, though they had to be with her every minute - she could 
see little, ornery glances at times - they had kept her busy enought hat she 
didn’t even had to give a timeout. Of course, with three sitters, that was 
pretty easy.

She recalled the feeling of finishing a hard day of ballet practice or baseball. 
"Well, guys," she told Allie and Darcy, "I bet you feel like I feel. Tired, but 
a good tired."

"Good in that we didn't have to...well, you know," Darcy said as she noticed Sam 
coming down in green Ninja Turtles pajamas. She felt it would embarrass Sam if 
she mentioned the word "spank."

Stephanie watched as Sam's parents got out of the car. She met them at the front 
door. They had expected - hoped, anyway - that their daughter would be in bed. 
However, they really didn't have an established bedtime, so they understood when 
she wasn't.

Stephanie quickly addressed that fact. "Sam was much better today, Mr. and Mrs. 
Burke. These are my best friends Allie and Darcy, they came to help out." She 
said they'd tried to get Sam to bed, but that they'd only been partly 
successful. "I'd really like, with your permission, to be able to set limits in 
ways. You know, be able to remove privileges and things like that. It's hard 
only using timeout and things I can control while I'm here."

"Say no more, it's all yours," Mrs. Burke remarked.

Stepahnei raised her eyebrows, though she supposed she shouldn't have been that 
stunned. "Really?"

"Oh, sure. We don't really have time to enforce any discipline. We really feel 
it's important to give her space to live," Samantha's dad explained. "But, 
you're welcome to try it."

Allie was generally rather quiet, but Darcy couldn't help but blurt what was on 
both girls' minds. "You mean you don't punish her at all?! You never grounded 
her, never even sent her to her room..." They had heard the Burkes spent almost 
no time with Samantha, but it was still quite hard for her to grasp the concept 
that these parents were totally uninvolved.

"She needs to realise, even though she's sorry, that every action has 
consequences. And, the consquences need to be more than just timeout and, if 
she's too unruly, a smack. I really hate doing that, I always have. But, I need 
the power to do more." Stephanie explained as politely as she could. 
"And...well, I had this speech all ready, but, I guess I don't need it." She was 
still stunned at how quickly they had agreed to allow her to control Sam's 
privileges beyond when she was there.

Samantha's mother assured her it was okay as she looked at her watch, already 
thinking of a phone call she had to make. "If you feel you can get her to accept 
some revocation of privileges, feel free to try. She does have a great respect 
for you. And, from all we've heard, you have always shown her respect, too." The 
mother breathed deeply. "Even those few times when you spanked her, she seemed 
to know you cared about her. As you've said, you tried every other way. It was 
either that, or let her make everyone miserable, while you were Principal 
Stephanie," the mother said.

The parents both looked at Sam and spoke somewhat firmly, while Stephanie 
considered that they must have spent at least some time talking to Sam about her 
behaviour. Or, more likely, Sam had told them because she had to tell someone, 
and nobody else had been around, save for perhaps the maid.

Or, maybe it was the maid who heard how Sam felt, and then she told the Burkes. 
Either way, Sam felt that Stephanie cared. That made Stephanie feel really good; 
at least she was getting something across. Indeed, Sam probably felt Stephanie 
cared more than her own parents.

Stephanie tried not to think about that right now. She was elated she would have 
more control. She turned to Sam, who had been trying to make herself seem 
invisible during the conversation, and tried to sound reassuring. "I hope you 
understand that what your mom and dad have just given me is very important. I 
promise you I will be fair in using these powers - but I hope that you will not 
force me to have to use the ultimate power. I think we both hope that." She bent 
down and gave the little girl a squeeze, as Allie called for her mom to pick 
them up.

Stephanie then looked up at the Burkes. "Thanks again. You've made my job a lot 
easier."

And, for the first time, Stephanie heard a very hurried "thank you" as they 
rushed upstairs. She inhaled deeply and grinned. It might be the only thanks she 
ever got, and she might be thanked mostly for relieving them of any 
responsibility. Still, it was a "thank you," and she would definitely cherish 
the moment.

Stephanie was dropped off by Jesse and Joey Friday on the way to the radio show 
they hosted. When she entered, Sam looked around behind her, thinking someone 
else would be coming. “You’re alone?” she asked.

“That’s right. No backups today. You could tie me up and run wild and I’d be 
defenseless,” she quipped.

Sam looked downcast. “No. You’d find a way to escape. Then I’d be in big 
trouble.”

Stephanie nodded slowly, and put an arm around Sam as Hannah departed. “You 
know, you’re probably right. And, I’m glad to see you don’t want to try.”

“Trust me, Stephanie, I’m afraid to.”

“You’re not scared of me, are you?”

“Wellll...”

Stephanie knelt down and gave Sam a big hug. “It’s okay to be good because you 
think about what I’ll do. But, I don’t ever want you to be scared of me. That’s 
the bad kind of feaar. The good kind is really like what you feel when you think 
about sticking your hand in a fire. You wouldn’t do that, right?” Sam chuckled. 
“Of course not.”

Stephanie walked Sam to the living room couch and sat down with her. “Let me 
tell you something I did about a year and a half ago. You probably think I’ve 
always been this perfect angel, right?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of maddening. I want to be good; at least, I’m starting to,” 
she said, as if she coudln’t believe it.

“Good. I’m really glad. Wel, I’ve always tried to, and I’ve gotten mad at myself 
when I messed up just a little. But, I fell for something you might feel like 
falling for one day, and you have to be very careful. I wanted to be like a 
couple popular girls in my class. So, I got my ears pierced even after my dad 
said not to.” Sam gasped. “And here’s the worst part - I had Kimmy do them!”

Sam felt around Stephanie’s heaad. “Did she find your ears?” Sam could tell from 
Tuesday that Kimmy might have had trouble doing it right.

Stephanie giggled. “Yep; but she did a poor enough job that they got very 
infected. I was grounded for a month; my only times out other than school was 
when I came to see you at daycare.”

“Wow. So...” Sam wasn’t sure how to phrase the next question. She didn’t like to 
talk about getting in trouble with anyone but Michelle and, sometimes, Stephnie. 
Although, Missy seemed nice ennough that she might confide in her, too, 
sometimes.

Stephanie came close enough to guessing Sam’s thoughts that it answered her 
question. “My dad’s never hit any of us. Neither has anyone else in our family. 
The adults could never stand to do it. But, our mom set limits right away with 
us, and mostly D.J. did with Michelle. We knew right away if we crossed those 
boundaries we’d get a timeout, or lose a pirivlege like dessert, or get 
grounded. Our parents then, and dad, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Becky, and Joey now, all 
make sure we learn how to behave. They teach us what’s right, we talk about 
stuff, and we generally listen when told to do something or not do it. I know 
it’s harder for you,” she said, stroking Sam’s hair. “But, you can learn right 
from wrong, too.”

“And if I don’t, you’ll punish me.” It was more a statement than a question.

“Yes, because I care about you. Dad always says that we’re each responsible for 
our actions. When you get old enough to get your ears pierced, I expect you to 
talk it over with me, if your parents don’t want to.”

“You mean when they don’t want to,” Sam said sullenly. She’d been thinking it 
over, and wondered if her parents had just given complete control to Stephanie.

Of course, maybe Stephanie would do a better job. She seemed to be so far.

Stephanie had to admit that was true. “Anyway, I’ll try to always be there for 
you - me, or one of our family members or friends, anyway. And, you’re right, if 
you do something really bad, you will be punished. I will enforce limits. For 
instance, I’ll take you to get your ears pierced in a couple years. But, you 
sure as heck aren’t getting anything else pierced!” she declared firmly. 
Stephanie was thankful when Sam made a face and said she wouldn’t want anything 
else pierced.

“It’s kind of fun sitting and talking to you, Stephanie.”

“I figured it would be. Now, let’s talk a little about television. We kind of 
got busy with other stuff, but D.J. told me about some of the shows you 
watched....” she trailed off, clearly disappointed, as they began to discuss 
television, and the many cable channels Stephanie planned to block out on their 
television.

Stephanie showed up the following Tuesday at about 4:30, just as the Honeybees 
meeting was wrapping up. Their Aunt Becky had picked up Sam and taken her and 
Michelle to the meeting.

Courtney came running out with Sam. Though she was several months younger, with 
a June birthday, she was bigger than Sam. She’d been timid enough to be in the 
half-day Kindergarten program, and thus was not privvy to many of Sam’s earliest 
problems except through rumours. Being a little slower in getting into the 
full-day school program made her one of the first good friends Sam had made in 
the Honeybees.

“Look what Sam got,” she said excitedly.

Sam proudly showed off her cooking badge to Stephanie. She was excited to see 
Stephanie's reaction. She always made such a big deal of things Sam did. Maybe 
it was bigger than normal parents would make, but Sam suspected she knew why. 
Stephanie wanted to make up for the fact Sam's parents probably forgot she was 
even in the Honeybees.

Stephanie exuded excitement in lots of things. That was probably part of it, 
too.

"Some of the kids were asking me, ‘How did you ever learn to make cajun food?'" 
Sam told Stephanie. Darcy's family like somewhat spicy, more ethnic foods at 
times. And, Darcy had decided, after Stephanie mentioned Sam wanting to stand 
out, to show her how to make soemthing really unique for the San Francisco area. 
Especially something unique to anyone int he upper crust circles in which her 
parents travelled.

So it was that Sam had made a fancy rice dish for the meeting Tuesday. And, 
she'd earned a really neat badge. Though Stephanie's record number of badges was 
way ahead of her - Stephanie had had to have two sashes full of badges to fit 
them all - Sam decided that she wanted to try and break Stephanie's record.

"This is awesome," Michelle cried. "All the kids loved what you made, Sam. 
Except it was too spicy for some."

"Well, not everyone can handle lots of spices," Stephanie said.

"I'm really glad Darcy helped me." And, Sam was glad that they'd been training 
her to be nicer, too. If Michelle had been as brutal as Sam had been with Darcy 
at first, she would have joked about how Steph was a good cook, too, after 
warming Sam's buns so much. But, she hadn't. Michelle knew when to lay off, 
except for when Sam really needed a brutally honest comment.

She wished she could be even more like Michelle and Stephanie. As Stephanie 
walked the girls to Sam's house for another day of babysitting, Sam was even 
more eager to start reading better, as they'd promised to read with her more 
that day. She'd been doing so many fun things with Stephanie - Sam was truly 
finding it fun to listen and be good.

She supposed that made sense, though she wouldn't have understood before now. 
Misbehaving brought plenty of negative consequences, things like having to sit 
in a corner and look at a wall. And, it also hurt others' feelings and did other 
damage. But, it had been attention, at least. However, now she was beginning to 
be glad, that there were negative consequences, as she was developing a good 
conscience. She didn’t want to hurt people. She certainly couldn't stand to 
think of hurting Michelle.

Of course, she didn't like punishment, but she determined that she could accept 
that sometimes, she lost privileges when she did wrong things.

The mail from the last few days was laying on the kitchen table when Stephanie 
arrived home with the girls; Sam’s parents didn’t bother to open it every day, 
unless it seemed really important. Often, things just got thrown into the trash 
after a while.

Sam thought it would be fun to read some of the things - she was really 
beginning to enjoy reading. She had begun to open some of the mail, when a 
picture fell out of one envelope. A letter was inside. “Let’s read it,” Sam said 
excitedly. She liked reading with Michelle - and with Stephanie. Her reading had 
really begun to improve, as she was encouraged to read anything she could.

They went over to the living room couch with the letter and picture. Nobody 
glanced at the picture - all eyes were fixed on the letter as the others helped 
Sam read. Some words, even Michelle couldn’t read well. Seeing her try to read 
further encouraged Sam.

“Sounds like your dad’s cousin - well, second cousin - lost his wife.”

“Awww. Did they have any children?” Michelle asked, visibly saddened.

“Two girls; twins. He’s sending letters and copies of a photo to lots of 
relatives; I can see why. Writing like this is really a good way of coping with 
his feelings, I imagine.” She made a note to ask if Sam kept a diary later. If 
not, it might be a good idea to buy her one.

“We should make a card for them, maybe you can write something too, Sam,” 
Michelle encourged her as she looked at the picture.

“Good idea, I’ll put something quick on the stove and we can get to work on 
that.”

“Let’s order pizza.” Sam hadn’t had any all week. While she liked getting meals 
actually cooked at home for her, she still enjoyed pizza.

Stephanie chuckled. “I have a feeling Michelle will vote for that, too. Okay, 
we’ll do that, and it’ll give me more time...” She looked at Michelle, who was 
studying the photo. It was a picture of the family taken the previous month, the 
last time she’d been healthy enough to do much witht hem before the cancer took 
her too far downhill.

Michelle scruched her face - the girls looked a lot like her. “Weird.”

“What, Michelle? Oh, the girls in the picture. Well, they say everyone has a 
twin."

"Yeah, except there's two of them. So, which one of them is the twin everyone 
says I have?"

"Does that mean Kimmy has a twin?" Sam asked.

“Yes, but hopefully her twin is more intelligent,” Stephanie remarked. She asked 
Sam if they had construction paper and other craft-making supplies.

As they created a card Stephanie took the opportunity to provide what D.J. and 
their dad called “teaching moments,” when someone imparted wisdom just in how 
they did things, but also in commenting about it. The fact Sam was becoming much 
more teachble was a great sign.

“You know, Sam,” Stephanie began, “it’s really important to think of others, and 
to make things like this. Your dad and mom probbly don’t even know this person 
exists, or if they did, they forgot it a long time ago. It sounds like this 
fellow expects that; he sent letters to a number of more distant relatives last 
month when she started getting really bad, and never got a reply from your dad. 
But, whenever someone’s in trouble, we should try and help them. It not only 
makes them feel better, but us. I feel good knowing I’m doing something nice for 
someone that’s hurt. Michelle does, too, I imagine.” The younger sister nodded.

Sam tought for a moment. A smile was forming, but she wasn’t sure if it was 
appropriate or not, since someone had died. She wasn’t sure what to think 
anymore; not only had she never been through anything like his, but her parents 
had never even left a hint of how to behave. They’d take her to fancy parties to 
show her off, but that was all, they did there, just pretend everything was 
perfect because they were rich.

Still, she knew Stephanie knew what was right and wrong. It seemed like she knew 
everything. Sam looked at her with a look she’d really never used before, a look 
that said she really admired and respected Stephanie. “Yeah, it does,” she 
remarked. Parts of her heart were opening that she had forgotten were there, 
that had become so unused that they’d been forgotten.

Stephanie caught the look - it made her think of how she looked up to her dad 
and the other adults in her family, how even with their faults, like her dad’s 
overprotectiveness, they were still the geratest people on earth to her. Some of 
it was thinking of the children who had just lost a mom, part of it was thinking 
abot her own mom, but part of why she began to tear up was becasue she was 
sensing that maybe, just maybe, they’d passed a major milestone themselves with 
Sam.

Indeed, while Sam would fall for temptations quite a bit in the next few years, 
that part of her that wished to listen to Stephanie because she wanted to, not 
because she had to, was starting to grow very rapidly.

Sam had been buzzing about camp ever since they’d arrived home from her final 
day of day camp. For the first time that Saturday, she was eating dinner with 
the Tanners. She couldn’t believe how many people were at the table! Counting 
her, there were ten - she’d never seen so many gathered together.

All were laughing and talking as they ate. But, her camp experiences were the 
highlight of the evening’s discussion.

“Sounds like you had a really great time,” Becky remarked. “I’m glad you weren’t 
scared.”

“Having Michelle around helped,” Sam stated simply.

“Your behaviour was really good, too,” Michelle said excitedly. The others 
weren’t sure what to say, as they’d praised Sam for her good attitude and 
behaviour tonight, but tried hard to steer clear of her past mischievousness.

Sam remarked, “It had to be. I wasn’t planning on doing anything bad, though.” 
And if she had, she figured Stephanie - who had attended a week of overnight 
camp there - would have dealt with her personally.

Danny took Stephanie aside in his office upstairs after dinner. “I’m really 
proud of you, hon. You’ve made some great strides with Sam.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ve had a great team behind me.”

“Tell you what...I’ve seen you mature quite a bit in the last few months. The 
way you looked for that outfit you wanted on sale, the effort you put forth with 
so much babysitting, and especially the strides you’ve made with Sam. I’m taking 
you to the mall tomorrow afternoon, and giving you a special treat.” He handed 
her a piece of plastic.

Stephanie’s jaw dropped. “Dad...your credit card?!”

“Now, Steph,” he said warningly, “I expect you to only buy something you like 
that’s on sale. There’s a firm limit on the amount you can buy this time with 
the card, that limit is half the money you’ve made this summer. When you make 
more, that will mean more that you can spend.”

“Dad...this is incredible!” Less than a year ago, she’d been tempted to steal 
his phone card to join a clique of popular girls, but finally refused after D.J. 
had caught her and she’d confessed everything to her. And now, this?

“Also, I know you will have to reveal it to your friends eventually, because 
you’ll be shopping with them, and if you need it, such as for gong back to 
school, I’ll let you have it if I see you’re using it wisely. But, for now, I 
don’t want you telling anyone you have this privilege. I know Allie and Darcy 
would never bug you to buy something for them, but this is a rule I’m setting 
just in case.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Dad. I..I mean, this is...this is incredible!” She threw her 
arms around Danny, who hugged back. “Thanks, Dad, you’re the greatest.”

“I am, aren’t I?” he quipped.

He began to get misty-eyed as he thought of his girls growing up so fast. 
“Honey, I really am amazed at ow you’re maturing. When I see you not only 
babysitting, but dealing with someone like Sam, I know it’s made you grow up a 
little faster than maybe you should, definitely faster than I’d like to see. 
But, you’re doing it so well. And, Mom would be so proud.” They embraced again.

Sam and Michelle were playing a video game with Joey in the living room as 
Stephanie and Danny came down from Danny’s office. “What did your dad want?” Sam 
asked.

“Oh, he just told me about a special privlege he was giving me because I did so 
well with you.” She smiled as she sat in a chair. “And, I’m going to keep 
working. Because, I really feel that you can be a wonderful, warm, and caring 
young lady someday, Sam.”

“Sure she can, Steph,” Michelle echoed.

Sam smiled. Part of her still relished freedom and independence. There were 
times when she really disliked rules. But, a growing part of her wanted to be 
good now. Because, she no longer had to feel upset at being alone, being so 
small, and feeling unloved.

Sam knew that she had something wonderful now, thanks to Stephanie. She had 
people around her who cared, like Stephanie, and Michelle, and her Honeybees 
friends. And Stephanie and Michelle’s friends and family. It wasn’t a 
close-kint, warm, and loving household. But, all those people combined felt like 
a family. And, that was the most important thing.