"Mrs. Sen's" Summary

It is September in a university town. Eliot is an eleven-year old boy whose mother is trying to find an acceptable after-school babysitting arrangement. During the previous year a university student took care of him, but refused to fix him any food with meat. Mrs. Linden took care of him, but would greet him at the door drinking coffee with whiskey from a thermos. Mrs. Sen is a professor's wife who advertises being responsible and kind. She offers to baby-sit in her home. Eliot's mother makes an arrangement with Mrs. Sen and says the others baby-sit at Eliot's home so there is an adult in the house. Mrs. Sen says she does not know how to drive but would take Eliot at her home.

Mrs. Sen lives in a university apartment across from the campus. She keeps a clean...