Caroline had been babysitting for several years before the Williams family moved into the area. She was friendly and trustworthy, popular with both parents and children. When the Williams' asked for local recommendations for a sitter, Caroline was high on the list.
Caroline sat for the Williams's several times, including one overnight stint, caused by the Williams' having no idea when they'd be home and it was decided it was preferable to have Caroline use the spare bedroom rather than having to go home at an unknown, but probably very late, hour.
Caroline quite enjoyed looking after the Williams' children. They were reasonably well behaved and controllable, unlike some she'd been stuck with. Also she got along well with Don and Helen, bar one little sticky point.
Helen was a great one for getting value for money and it was her belief that as Caroline was being paid to be there and look after the children she might as well do other things to earn her money once the children went to bed. Caroline on the other hand considered herself to be there to look after the children, and filling in time doing Helen's laundry and sundry other housework was just not on.
Another occasion arose when Caroline was required to stay overnight.
"We're going to a work do," explained Helen, "and we have no idea when it'll finish. It may finish early but there again, we may be stuck until three of four in the morning so we'll really need you to sleep over."
"That's no problem, Mrs. Williams," Caroline assured her. "That's what I'm here for."
The Williams' departed for their work do, the children were bathed and put to bed and eventually they stayed there. Caroline settled down to natter to friends on the phone and to watch TV.
Close to midnight Caroline yawned and checked the time, surprised to see how late it was. Deciding it was time for bed she checked to make sure the children were sleeping soundly and headed for the spare bedroom to retire.
It was a pleasant night, so Caroline didn't worry about night clothes. She just stripped down to panties and crawled under the doona, ready to go to sleep.
Caroline was just dozing off when she heard the front door open. Opening one eye to check the time she was surprised to note it was still just short of midnight. The Williams's were home a lot earlier than she'd expected.
It appeared that the Williams's were having a little tiff, as Caroline could hear them arguing. Well, she supposed it wasn't heated enough to be called an argument, but they were definitely having a debate about something. At one point she thought she heard her name mentioned, followed by further debate. Then she heard Mrs. Williams say, "Well go and see."
A few moments later there was a gentle rap on her door and, on hearing her mumbled reply, Mr. Williams stuck his head around the door.
"Excuse me, Caroline," he said "but how old are you? I was telling Helen you're only seventeen but she's insisting that you're eighteen. I could have sworn you told me seventeen."
"I did tell you seventeen," mumbled Caroline, "but that was several months ago. I turned eighteen a couple of weeks ago. You even sent me a card."
"Ah, right, thanks," said Mr. Willams, closing the door and leaving.
Moments later the debate started again, but this time it seemed that Mrs. Williams was on the winning side. Apart from what appeared to be a few formal protests, Don was conceding to whatever his wife wanted. Caroline grinned to herself and snuggled deeper into the bed.
Caroline was just dozing off again when the door opened, the light turned on and Mr. Williams was in the room, in his pyjamas, strolling towards the bed.
"No need to get up Caroline," he said. "Helen's got a headache and she suggested that I sleep with you tonight."
