Although I had watched my younger sisters while my parents were gone before, I had never baby-sat people who were not my relatives. Going into the experience, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard a few negative stories about the family. They went to our church on an irregular basis, mostly when they felt they could get money or other aid out of coming. The two girls lived with their grandma, and although she had plenty of money, she would try to get out of having to buy things or pay for them by claiming that she was too poor. Still, I figured it couldn't be that bad to have to baby-sit them.
After their grandma left, one of the first things the girls wanted to do was to go to the store. I was pretty sure that there wasn't a store within easy walking distance, but the older girl, who was probably about seven, insisted that the store was nearby. As we left, I soon realized the store she wanted to visit, and I knew that I didn't want to walk all that way. It was probably a good three miles or more away. It was the summer, so I really did not have on shoes to walk that far, especially since it would mean walking back. I'm sure the kids weren't too happy with me when I finally made them come with me back to the house.
Soon after our almost trip to the store, the two girls got in a fight about something. I don't remember why they started fighting. They started yelling at each other and hitting each other. The older girl ended up storming into their bedroom. The younger girl, who was probably about five, ran to her grandma's room screaming about how she was going to call 9-1-1. I wasn't entirely sure if she was telling the truth, but I headed after her to try and stop her. Before I could stop her, she had dialed the number. I heard the voice on the other end of the line announce that she had reached 9-1-1 and ask about the emergency. I was basically in panic mode at that point. I told her to tell them that there was no emergency and to apologize for calling.
Even as the girl told them that there was not an emergency, I could picture the scene unfolding in my mind. I'd heard the stories before about angry kids calling 9-1-1 and then Mom or Dad ending up in handcuffs for a couple of hours while the situation was sorted out. I didn't want that to happen while I was baby-sitting. Even as the girl said that it was not an emergency, I was convinced that the operator would not believe her. I was sure that they were going to come to the door and that I was going to be handcuffed. It might have made an interesting story, but fortunately no one ever responded to the call. I still don't know why exactly no one responded. Even if the girl said that it was not an emergency, it still could have been one. I thought they responded to all calls like that. I can only assume that 9-1-1 had gotten calls before from these girls before.
Although the two girls never did really get along the rest of the time I was baby-sitting, we didn't have any other incidents like that. When their grandma got home, she did the pity story about how she was so poor and how she wasn't going to be able to pay me at that time. She promised to pay me the next time I came to baby-sit. I remember looking over at the large-screen television that was sitting in their living room. It had been a recent purchase. I knew the grandma had bought the television herself and that it had not been a gift, so I knew they had money. I wondered how she could afford a television like that but she couldn't afford to pay a baby-sitter.
The lady did finally pay me even though I did not go over there to baby-sit again. Under the insistence that she would pay me more the next time I came to baby-sit, she paid me what worked out to be about a quarter an hour. No, this was not years and years ago. It was in the late 1990s. I have baby-sat many times since that time, and that was definitely my most eventful experience baby-sitting.