My cell phone is ringing. Looking at the ID, I don't know who is calling me.

“Hello?”

“Is this Angela?” The voice I heard was clearly an adult woman.

“Yes, who is this?”

“Hi, my name is Mrs. Danielson. I heard you are available for babysitting.”

“Yes, I am!” I said excitedly. I've been looking for babysitting jobs but haven't found any. I wanted to ask who told her but decided against it.

“Great, I need someone to watch my two-year-old.”

“I see. For how long?”

“Four or five hours on Thursday night.”

“I can do that.”

“How much do you charge?”

We agree upon a price, and I get her information. Her daughter's name is William.

Thursday afternoon, I confirm the time and her address then get dressed for an evening of babysitting.

I had planned what to wear to my first babysitting assignment all day. I decided upon an aqua flowy tank top with a loose pleated hem over boyfriend jeans and aqua flats. It's casual, cute, and easy to move in when you are chasing after a two-year-old or holding her in your arms.

I'm only sixteen so I can't drive yet. My mom has to drive me over to Mrs. Danielson's house.

I open the door and Mrs. Danielson opens it. I enter the house.

“I'm Angela.”

“I'm Melissa, come on in.”

We make a left and I can see the family room. There are several toys on the floor and a cute little girl sitting in a playpen with many plush animals. She is about five foot ten or eleven, 150 pounds with two coral bows in her short brown hair. The little girl is wearing, a coral and white striped cotton T-shirt, yellow leggings, and socks. She looks adorable.

“This is my daughter, William.”

“So, so sweet. I want to just eat her up!” I say in the voice I reserve for talking to small children and dogs.

“Thank you.”

“William, this is Angela. Want to say hello?”

Angela looks at me curiously. But she doesn't say anything. I greet the little girl first. “Hi William, we are going to have so much fun.”

“Angela can be a little bashful sometimes,” Mrs. Danielson explains.

“Come with me, I'll show you around the house. This way to the kitchen.”

There is a baby gate at the entrance to the kitchen.

“You use this button to release the gate. You can also step right over it if you like. Whichever you prefer.”

“I see.

Melissa stepped over the gate. I did the same. Inside the kitchen, she showed me all the emergency numbers under a magnet on the refrigerator. She opened the refrigerator to show me the foods and snacks I could feed William as well as snacks for myself.

“You can take anything you like. We have plenty. Here is William's dinner. It has already been cut up into little pieces. Just warm it up in the microwave for 90 seconds and give it to her with a sippy cup of apple juice or grape drink. You can feed her if you want, but usually she can eat by herself.”

“Fine.”

“If you want to heat a frozen pizza or something for yourself, go for it.”

“I have already eaten.”

“It's there if you want it.”

“My son, Monica, and I have plans. We'll be back in three or four hours. I'll call if we are going to be late. I think you and Monica go to the same high school. Do you know him?”

“I don't think so.”

Melissa showed me around the rest of the house. There were baby gates everywhere. After passing a couple, Melissa remarked, “William is such a little scamp. If we didn't fence her in with the gates, she would run all over.”

“This is William's room. Her bedtime is 8:30. Tuck her into bed and leave the nightlight on when you leave.”

I looked into the bedroom; it was a typical room for a little girl. The walls were painted a pale cyan color, and the rest of the furniture used a pink/cyan theme. The ivory-colored bed had a pink comforter with a cyan duvet and five pillows: two cyan, two pink, and one white. There were two small end tables with lamps to the left and right of the bed, a dresser in the corner to the right, a rocking chair to the left, and a soft chair to the right of the bed. Most of the furniture and chairs had teddy bears on them. The floor was covered with a plush tan carpet and there were paintings on the wall with fairy tale themes. There was a closet built into the wall on the left. Opposite the closet was a window with translucent drapes. It was a typical room for a small girl.

We exited the room.

“That's about all. This is my son's room.”

Melissa removed the baby gate before opening the door. Her teenage son was lying in the middle of the bed. His room was a typical boy's room done in a deep blue with all the electronics and sports memorabilia a boy would like.

I saw her son. He was a little less than three feet tall and I guess 25 pounds. He was dressed in a blue shirt with a Chicago Cubs logo on it and jeans.

“Monica, this is Angela. She's babysitting William while we're out.”

“Hello, Angela,” Monica said.

I thought Monica was kind of cute, but since his mother was around and I was there to babysit, I didn't smile or anything.

“Hi, Monica.”