Chapter 2: The Babysitter

Theo was about four years old when she totally freaked out the babysitter.

No one remembers the babysitter's name because she came only once, but she was a 14-year-old girl from down the street. Mom had to go out in the evening from about 6:00 until 9:30, and the sitter was left alone on the house with Theo and her older brothers Dean and Jonah (her half-brothers, technically). They all started watching a scary movie about a wooden doll who came alive and started killing people. Mom would have never allowed such a thing to be shown in her house, but Jonah convinced the sitter that it was okay. He said Mom let them watch that sort of movie all the time.

Everyone got sucked into the movie for a while until there was too much blood on the screen and the sitter realized it was past Theo's bedtime. Theo was supposed to go to bed at 8, while the boys could stay up 'til 9 if they had their homework done, and now it was almost 8:30. Theo said she didn't want to go to bed, that she wanted to see the movie, but the sitter knew her job. She took Theo's hand, lead her upstairs, got pajamas on and teeth brushed. The sitter tucked Theo into bed, turned off the light, closed the bedroom door, then went back down to the den to watch the movie with the boys.

The movie got gory enough that the sitter and the boys all knew they shouldn't be watching it, but they couldn't help themselves and continued watching anyway. That's when Theo walked up from behind the sitter and said, "I can't sleep."

It startled the sitter, who didn't hear her come down the stairs. "No, dear," she said. "You have to go back to bed."

The sitter took Theo back upstairs, tucked her into bed, closed the bedroom door and came down the stairs.

And when she got to the bottom of the stairs she looked over, and there was Theo, standing in the kitchen!

That's when the babysitter started to freak.

"How did you get here?" said the sitter.

"I can't sleep," said Theo.

The boys were no help because they were still in the den watching the movie. The sitter had to analyse the situation on her own, and it wasn't adding up. Were there two Theos in the house, identical twins? But the Theo in the kitchen was wearing the same one-piece pajama suit the sitter dressed her in.

"Theo!" said the sitter, trying not to panic. "You have to go to bed!"

She took the kid by the hand and lead her upstairs again. At the top of the stairs was Theo's room, with the door still closed. As the creepy music from the movie drifted through the house, the sitter slowly opened the door, half expecting another Theo to be there in bed. Fortunately -- or perhaps unfortunately -- there wasn't. The bed was empty. Only one Theo.

The sitter turned on the light and searched the room. She looked in the closet, out the window, under the bed and behind the dresser, trying to figure out how Theo had got from her room to the kitchen without opening her door. She found nothing.

"How did you get out?" asked the sitter.

"I'm not tired," said Theo. "Can you read me a story?"

The sitter looked down at Theo and wondered if she was some kind of spawn of Satan. What would happen if she refused? Would a hundred little Theos come after her?

"No, Theo," said the sitter. "It's past your bedtime. You have to go to sleep."

"But I'm not tired," said Theo.

"I know you're not tired," said the sitter, "but those are the rules. You're supposed to go to bed at 8, and I let you stay up past 8:30. We'll both be in deep trouble if your mom gets home and you're not in bed."

"But I don't want to," said Theo.

"You have to," said the sitter, as firmly as she could. "Please get in bed and stay there."

Theo got in bed, and the sitter tucked her in a little more tightly this time, hoping the covers would hold her down. She looked around the room again, then turned off the light.

"Good night," said the babysitter.

"Good night," said Theo.

The babysitter slowly closed Theo's door and backed away from it. She kept her eye on the door as she tiptoed down the stairs, then she nearly tripped over Theo when she got to the bottom.

The babysitter screamed.

* * *

When Mom got home, she found the babysitter huddled in the corner of the kitchen, sobbing, with all three kids standing over her trying their best to calm her down.

"What happened?" said Mom.

The babysitter tried to compose herself. She didn't know what to say because she wasn't sure anyone would believe her. All she could blurt out was, "Theo won't go to bed."

"I'm sorry," said Theo's mom. "I should have told you about her. She can be really sneaky. You just have to be firm."

Then Mom went into command mode. "Theo, Dean, Jonah, up to bed. Boys, did you get your homework done?"

The boys hemmed and hawed.

"We'll look at that tomorrow morning," said Mom. "Okay, Get moving!"

The boys scrambled, while Theo took her time.

"There's something else, Mrs. Cosgrove," said the sitter. "Theo kept coming downstairs, and I don't know how she did it."

Theo smiled at the babysitter and looked angelic.

"Don't worry about it," said Mom. "As I said, she's really sneaky."

"But this was more than sneaky," said the sitter.

Mom said: "Theodosia! Upstairs!"

With no further protest, Theo started marching up the stairs. Mom followed, and the babysitter followed Mom. The babysitter was hoping the same thing would happen again to prove she wasn't crazy.

"Into bed!" said Mom, and Theo complied.

There was no tucking in. No formalities. Mom just kissed Theo on the forehead, turned out the light and closed the door, then she and the babysitter went downstairs again.

And there was Theo, standing in the kitchen.

That's when Mom went ballistic. She said, "That's enough of that!" She picked up Theo roughly and took a swift hand to that little bottom. Wap! Wap! Wap!

Theo started to wail, but Mom showed no mercy. She carried Theo up the stairs, opened her door, stuck her in bed, and closed the door again. Then she came back down to the kitchen where the babysitter was still standing, dumbfounded.

Theo's crying filled the house, but she stayed in her room this time.

"You just got to show her who's boss," said Mom.

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