In The Saturdays, the Melendy siblings have a playful and loving relationship despite their many conflicts. Their close bond helps to make their ISAAC club a great success, as they cooperatively share their allowances each week. The pooled allowance—a shared resource that expands each child’s horizons—symbolizes their mutually supportive sibling bond.

At the beginning of the story, Rush and Mona are intrigued by Randy’s concept of the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (ISAAC), which requires them to share their allowance each week. Rush tells her, “Say, that’s not a bad idea at all” (16). Even Mona, the practical eldest sibling, agrees: “‘I don’t know Randy.’ Mona was beginning to look excited too. ‘Maybe it is a good idea’” (16). As members of the ISAAC club, which is exclusive to the Melendy family, the kids agree on the rules of the club, and cooperatively share their money every week. The kids’ close bond is evident in how they support each other’s communally funded adventures. For example, when Mona suggests that they can use the money however they want, her siblings agree. Randy replies, “And you can even keep it a secret if you want to” (17). The siblings are excited for each other and help make each other’s adventure days a success. For instance, when Randy has her day at the art gallery, she is grateful to borrow Mona’s nice jewelry for the outing. Mona offers, “‘How’d you like to borrow my ambers?’…Randy was overcome. ‘Do you mean you’d let me? Honestly? Oh, I’d be so careful of them, I promise I would…you’re swell to let me wear the ambers’” (24-25).

Just like the kids’ relationship itself, sharing the allowance isn’t always fun or easy. Occasionally, the money is a point of tension, showing that their sibling bond can be fractious as well as supportive. For instance, Oliver refuses to wait for a chaperoned Saturday to spend his 40 cents, and instead escapes the house on his own to spend the money the way he sees fit—at the circus. When Randy falls into the lake at central park, Mona feels that they should spend the rest of the week’s allowance on a taxi ride home for their wet sister, a big disappointment to her and Rush, who wanted to save it up: “‘Now we’ll have to take a taxi,’ said Mona in resignation. ‘There goes the surplus’” (128). The Melendy kids’ practice of sharing their allowance sometimes produces conflict, but mostly gives them a chance to practice cooperation and support each other’s different ambitions and interests, making it a symbol for their tight-knit relationships.