Taking this job was a no-brainer for Adam Exley. He's recently finished high school and has nothing better to do until he gets his exam results. Mrs Cartwright is offering an exceptionally large amount of money for one day; and there could be other...
Mrs Cartwright showed Adam where to find the bathroom, the kitchen, the lounge, Lorelei's bedroom, and a playroom in the attic. There were four other doors that went unexplained, as well as a separate set of stairs leading up to the other half of the attic. Adam didn't think too long about what those might be. The only one he would have any interest in visiting was Claudia's room, and that would only be worthwhile when the elder daughter was actually in the house.
In Lorelei's room and the playroom they stopped briefly so that Mrs Cartwright could point out some of her daughter's favourite toys. She picked out a rather battered looking teddy bear, which could have served as a cautionary tale about the hazards of being a favourite for the whole of a young child's life. The bear was called Tristan, she explained, and would be good for keeping Lorelei's attention if a distraction was needed. They brought Tristan downstairs again with them to the kitchen, where the next part of the briefing dealt with snack foods. Things that had to be monitored, and the maximum ration the child was allowed of different kinds of treats.
If every detail of the day was subject to such strict rules, Adam imagined this would require a better memory than most babysitting jobs. He could see that the woman in front of him certainly cared about her sheltered child, and wanted to be sure that she was both happy and healthy. But if she was bothered by her rules not being followed to the letter, or if she kept loading the new babysitter down with rules, it was easy to imagine this situation quickly reaching most teenagers' limit for following rules. Even the relatively high payment would start to look less appealing for some.
The next little explanation was about money. There was a fifty tucked behind a large jar labelled 'coffee' on the kitchen counter, which was supposed to cover any unexpected expenses. Just in case they needed to buy any extra food, for example, although there should have been enough in the kitchen to satisfy both child and sitter. Adam was happy to accept that he would receive his payment later in the evening, once he had actually done the job. She seemed hesitant to mention this, as if some had called this a problem in the past. But Adam was content to trust an adult, at least once.
And then there were cupcakes. A box retrieved from a high cupboard contained a dozen, carefully kept separate by folded sheets of baking parchment. The box itself was secured by some kind of lock, which seemed like overkill to Adam. Even if a child craved more cookies than her mother considered healthy, surely the height of the cupboard would be sufficient to keep them secure. Adam mused about why a parent would ever need to be both so careful and so paranoid, but he resisted the urge to say anything. She was, after all, his employer, and if her peculiar behaviour didn't actually make his job harder he saw no reason to complain.
"These are a treat to start the day," Mrs Cartwright explained, setting two cupcakes on two tiny plates with a pattern like fine lace around the edges, and adding a fork to each plate. One tiny dessert fork, and an equally-tiny utensil made of rubbery plastic for hands that were not yet so coordinated. It seemed a lot of effort for a cake that most people would have eaten with their fingers, but Adam only half considered asking why. It could easily be some family tradition, not subject to debate by outsiders.
"Since Claudia became uncomfortable looking after her baby sister, Lorelei has also shown some deal of discomfort when she hears me leaving the house," she explained carefully. "She is prone to running after me and making a terrible racket if she notices. So I have found that offering her one of her favourite treats is a way to hold her attention. If she doesn't notice until I am gone, I'm told my absence doesn't really bother her. So your first duty will be to entertain her at the dining table, in order that I might conveniently leave without disturbing her. I realise that this is a little unorthodox, but I'm sure the cake itself will more than make up for any inconvenience."
"That sounds fine to me," Adam said with a smile and a nod. In that case, perhaps the fancy plates, forks, and napkins served a purpose after all. They were there to reinforce to Lorelei that this was a special treat. It was hard to imagine it being special enough that the kid wouldn't notice her Mummy was gone, but he was happy to give it a try.
And so the last room they entered was the lounge. Lorelei was there, sitting on the couch and kicking her legs wildly in the air as she watched the television. She looked just like any other child her age, as far as Adam was concerned. Long dark hair, a heart-shaped face, and a grin that spoke of an endless well of mischief hiding just below the surface. She was smiling, but that didn't necessarily mean much.
"Lorelei?" Mrs Cartwright called out. "This is Adam. He's going to play with you today. Do you think you can make a new friend?"
The child turned to look in his direction, and he could see her looking him up and down, judging him. And not in any kind of metaphorical or poetic way either. Her head tilted and turned, giving the impression that she was spending a moment memorising his face in case she needed to describe him to some sketch artist, and then she looked down and stared at his shirt for several seconds, then moved on to give his feet and hands the full benefit of her attention. When she was finished her gaze returned to his face, and she smiled. After a little pause she jumped to her feet, the cartoons forgotten, and ran forward to stand just in front of the babysitter. Adam just stood in place, unsure of the role he was supposed to perform in this little ritual.
"Hello Lorelei," he introduced himself after a couple of seconds. "I'm Adam."
"I'm Lorelei!" she answered. "Did you bring me cake?"
"Umm... There's a cake in the kitchen for you. If you want some. Your mum says it's your favourite."
"Yay!" she actually jumped on the spot and clapped, as if this was the most wonderful news she'd ever heard. Adam really couldn't imagine her being any trouble after this performance. "Can Tristan and Blakey have some too?" She didn't wait for an answer, but bounded energetically up the stairs to the playroom.
"I think I can leave you with her," Mrs Cartwright gave a thin smile at last. "I'll leave in a few minutes, so she has time to start eating first. You have my number in case there are any problems. But I think she likes you, so you should have quite an easy day."
Author's note: As a little experiment, I've pasted this chapter into an AI image generator. This is what it came up with.
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