Fabulous Five 016 - The Hot-Line Emergency (8 page)

Beth Barry spun the earring rack on the jewelry counter at
Tanninger's department store, trying to attract the clerk's attention. She had
been standing there for fifteen minutes, holding three pairs of earrings that
she wanted to buy and hoping to be waited on before the end of the century, but
the clerk had managed to stay busy at the other end of the counter. The clerk
was waiting on a wiry little woman with a long nose who seemed to have nothing
better to do than make conversation. Beth tapped her fingers on the glass
impatiently as some of what the customer was saving drifted her way.

"Well, if you ask me, kids today certainly are
different than we were. Look at the clothes they wear. And their hair! If you
ask me, it's just plain disgraceful."

Beth shot to attention and tuned in to what the lady was
saying. It made her blood boil to hear one more adult putting down kids.

"Oh, I agree with you," the clerk was saying. "Why,
my parents would never have let me get away with what they get away with today.
That's why there isn't one of them with an ounce of responsibility."

Beth narrowed her eyes and fumed at the two women. Why is
it, she thought, that everybody is down on kids? It isn't fair. Only a few kids
are troublemakers. Lots of us have responsibility, and more than just an ounce
of it, too.

Beth and the rest of The Fabulous Five get an important
chance to show everyone just how much responsibility the kids of Wacko Junior
High have, but only if they can convince the rest of the student body to go
along with their unusual plan in
The Fabulous Five
#17: Celebrity
Auction.

Betsy Haynes, the daughter of a former newswoman, began
scribbling poetry and short stories as soon as she learned to write. A serious
writing career, however, had to wait until after her marriage and the arrival
of her two children. But that early practice must have paid off, for within
three months Mrs. Haynes had sold her first story. In addition to a number of
magazine short stories and the Taffy Sinclair series, Mrs. Haynes is also the
author of
The Great Mom Swap
and its sequel,
The Great Boyfriend
Trap.
She lives in Colleyville, Texas, with her husband, who is also an
author.