BSC #41: Mary Anne vs Logan

Tagline:The Baby-sitters thought Mary Anne and Logan would be together forever...

Lately, Mary Anne's been feeling like she and Logan are spending too much time together. They fight over silly things. And Mary Anne never gets to do what she wants to - like read, and baby-sit, and be with her friends.

But when Mary Anne suggests that she and Logan see less of each other, Logan takes it all the wrong way.

Could this really be the end of Mary Anne and Logan?

Our story opens with Mary Anne getting read for a job at the Prezziosos. Just as she's about to head out the door, Logan calls her, wanting to go out with her. When MA tells him that she's got a sitting a job, he tells her to just get Dawn to cover. MA says no, which causes Logan to try to guilt-trip her into wanting to see him. MA puts her foot down, and heads off to her job. There, Logan calls several times, just to see if MA could leave early and/or somehow see him. Finally, Logan simply asks when MA is free. When she answers him, he makes plans for a date that night, not even asking for MA's input, and then hangs up the phone. This leaves MA feeling confused about her relationship with Logan, and wanting to have more of an identity.

That weekend, MA has a day off. It's Saturday, she has no homework, no plans, nothing that's demanding her attention. Dawn and Sharon are out of the house, and Richard is in his office doing work. MA sighs with relief, looking forward to a nice relaxing day with a book and her fireplace. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. It's Logan, and he wants to take MA out for a day in the snow. MA hesitates, but Logan tugs on her heartstrings, citing that it'd be romantic and that he has the whole day planned out. They start by going ice-skating. MA starts to enjoy herself, but after awhile, gets too cold and wants to stop. Luckily for her, Logan agrees, and without another word, he whisks her off to his next planned activity. He spots some kids building a snowman, and drags MA over to help them out. MA's not getting any warmer, and is starting to seriously feel miserable. Logan's too busy to notice, and once the snowman is done, shuttles MA onward, further into the park. MA speaks up about feeling cold, so Logan buys her a hot chocolate. It helps, but quickly MA gets cold again. Logan dismisses her feelings, saying that she can't possibly be cold because he isn't cold! He wants to take MA out on the ice again for more ice skating. Finally, enough is enough: MA insists on going home, and so Logan takes her back, all in a huff.

A week later, MA comes home early from a date with Logan. They were supposed to go out for dinner and a movie. They did go out for dinner, where Logan ordered for both himself and MA. He orders MA's usual, which was not what MA had wanted that night, and the waiter leaves without letting MA have any input. MA's annoyed, but not willing to put up a fuss. However, after dinner, Logan and MA can't agree on a movie. Logan wants to see Halloween Pt 3 and MA wants to the Music Man. They can't agree, so finally MA asks to be taken home. Anyways, upon returning, MA and Richard have a talk. Richard's concerned because MA seems tired and not herself, getting an unusually low grade on a test. He thinks she should limit the time she spends with Logan. MA agrees. MA calls up Logan and asks him to cool their relationship for a few weeks. She doesn't want to break up, but she needs some time and space to think.

Upon returning to school, MA's depressed to see that Logan is ignoring her. She wanted to see him less, not cut him out of her life altogether. She spends the week crying and being down, before finally confessing to her friends that she maybe sorta apparently broke up with Logan. At their Club meeting, Logan calls, asking for MA to baby-sit his siblings, since they were missing her. The catch: he needs her to baby-sit on Valentine's Day, because he'll be busy. MA bravely accepts.

In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, Logan keeps his distance. MA starts going crazy, thinking about how he plans for the night. She starts imagining him going out with a new girl, a girl with an exotic name like Olivia, who is outgoing and essentially the exact opposite of MA. MA thinks about this so much, she starts to think Olivia is real, leading MA to actually mention her to the other girls. MA runs out of the meeting all embarrassed and confused.

That night, she heads to Logan's to baby-sit. There, Logan greets her in a tux, and she's even more hurt. Then Logan reveals that it was all just a ruse, and that he planned a romantic dinner for him and her together. MA reminds him that she wanted to cool things off between them, and Logan said that that was what he did: it's now time to heat things back up again. He gives her all these presents, and MA leaves feeling more confused.

Eventually MA realizes that while people can fight and not always agree, it's important that they try to learn from the fights and to be understanding. MA doesn't like that Logan planned a surprise for her (she hates surprises) and worse, she hates that he didn't talk to her at all about starting their relationship up again. In fact, he didn't talk to her at all about her feelings about anything over the course of the book. MA decides that enough is enough: she breaks up with Logan once and for all.

The subplot in this one is Jenny Prezzioso. Mrs Prezzioso is finally about to give birth, and Jenny is not pleased. She's used to being an only child, and resents how the baby will need so much attention. She acts super-bratty, but completely understandable throughout the entire book. The girls keep trying to convince Jenny that the baby will not be the end of the world, that her parents will still make time for her. Jenny's having none of it. Mr P asks for the girls to help him plan a surprise baby shower for Mrs P, and everything goes off without a hitch. Finally, Mrs P gives birth, and it's a baby girl named Andrea. When they bring her home, Jenny is so excited, that she forgets that she ever hated or dreaded her baby sister coming.

Oh, and there's a chapter of Kristy baby-sitting for her siblings, which of course includes Karen. Here, we learn that Karen is having a fight with her pretend-boyfriend Ricky. They were supposed to get pretend-married, but now she's not so sure...

Surprise: we'll find out in my next entry, because I happen to own Little Sister #15 Karen's in Love! haha

Random Thoughts:

• I have no idea why, but this was definitely one of my favourites as a child. I remember reading this one over and over and over again (like, not in a row, but just a lot). As an adult, I definitely still like it. I can relate to MA wanting time to herself. I would be super pissed if I was looking forward to a day off, and someone (whether it be my boyfriend or my friends) just showed up randomly on my doorstep being like, "HEY! I PLANNED A WHOLE AFTERNOON TOGETHER! LET'S GO!"
• I get that Jenny is young, and most likely misinterpreted her parents, and that her parents are super-stressed and excited for the new baby, but... I really feel bad for Jenny. Her parents should have totally handled her better. They get her a life-sized doll to show Jenny how to care for a baby, in order to help her understand her new sister and prepare her for it. But unless Jenny is exaggerating (and knowing what we know of Mrs P, probably not), they make her practice every single day. Poor Jenny is under the impression that she'll have to take care of this baby! They really needed to sit her down and talk to her some more and reassure her.
• If I lived with someone who did the exact same job as me (we worked retail together, or baby-sat, or whatever), depending on how much I needed the money, there's a pretty good chance I would ask to switch. As a general rule, I prefer not to work. However, MA is in no way obligated to do that, and I would most certainly be upset and incredulous at someone insisting that I do it.
• As someone who gets cold very easily, I sympathise with MA. I love ice skating, but eventually my toes get too cold as well
• I always love it when the books reference real movies and real books. I don't know if AMM meant for Logan to reference a real movie though. Halloween Pt 3 came out in October 1982. Logan mentions it had been out for "awhile", so it's somewhat maybe slightly plausible that it would still be playing in January... however this book came out in 1991, not 1982. Does that mean the story is taking place in 1982?? The first book in the series (back when the girls were in grade 7 and time was passing normally) didn't even come out until 1986. It's not like Music Man, which MA states is playing at the "oldies theatre".