Ann Martin: Claudia And The Terrible Truth

Mary Anne's not entirely lonely without Dawn, anyway. She still has Kristy, plus Tigger (her gray kitten) and Logan (her boyfriend) to keep her company.

As I was thinking about Mary Anne, the phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello, Babysitters Club," she said. She listened for a moment, then said she'd call right back. "That was Mrs. Nicholls," she reported after she'd hung up. "She needs a sitter for Monday afternoon." Mary Anne began to look in the record book to see who was free. It wasn't easy with Lynn on her lap.

“I’ll take her," volunteered Abby Stevenson, who was sitting on the floor, leaning against my bed. She stood up and held out her arms for Lynn, and Mary Anne turned back to our schedules.

"Would you like the job, Claud?" Mary Anne asked me. "It looks like you're the only one free that day." "Sure,” I said. "I've been wanting to get to know those kids better anyway." Mary Anne called Mrs. Nicholls back and told her everything was set. Meanwhile, Abby was on the floor, making funny faces at Lynn, who was fascinated.

I don't know Abby very well, since she, her twin sister, Anna, and their mom moved here only recently. They used to live on Long Island, in New York. Their dad died in a car crash a few years ago.

But I know her well enough to guess that she was a happy, laughing baby. Abby is full of fun, though sometimes I think she's hiding a lot of sadness about her dad. She's full of energy too, even though she has asthma and is allergic to just about everything under the sun. Sneezes and wheezes or not, Abby is out there playing soccer, running, skiing, swimming, you name it. If it's athletic, Abby does it and does it well. Her sister's not much of an athlete, but she can play the violin like a pro. Anna puts all of her energy into music. In fact, she's so busy with rehearsals and all that she didn't join the BSC along with Abby, though we had invited them both to become members. (By the way, Abby is our alternate officer, now that Dawn has moved away.) Abby and Anna both have curly dark hair and dark eyes. Sometimes they wear contacts, sometimes glasses. Anna found out recently that she has scoliosis, which is curvature of the spine, and even though it's not a bad case, she has to wear a brace for awhile.

"Okay, time's up," said Stacey McGill, who is the BSC's treasurer and also my best friend. "Hand that child over." Abby laughed and made one more face at Lynn. Then she scooped her up and gave her to Stacey. "Oh, you are such a little snuggle-bumps," Stacey told Lynn. She turned to me. "She is so cute," she said. "How many outfits did your aunt bring over? Maybe we can change her later." That's Stacey for you. She's even more obsessed with clothes than I am. I bet Baby Stacey was picking out her own rompers before she could even say "Mama." And since Baby Stacey lived in Manhattan, I bet her rompers were the height of fashion.

Stacey lives in Stoneybrook now, but she still visits Manhattan often, to see her dad. (Her parents are divorced.) And when she's in the Big Apple, Stacey stocks up on all the trendiest, most sophisticated clothes anyone in Stoneybrook has ever seen.

But there's a lot more to Stacey than good taste in clothes. She's a strong person who's had to deal with some tough circumstances in her life: not just the divorce but diabetes as well. As a diabetic, Stacey knows that her disease will probably be with her all her life but that she can control it if she's careful. You see, diabetes interferes with the way the body processes sugar. This means that Stacey has to be very careful about what she eats. Plus, she has to test her blood sugar and give herself insulin injections every day. I don't think I could do it, but Stacey says I would if I had to, just the way she does.

As treasurer of the dub, Stacey collects dues every Monday. She keeps track of how much she collects, and we use the money to pay for such things as my phone bill and gas money for Kristy's brother, who drives Kristy and Abby to our meetings. Stacey actually likes math and is good at it, so she makes a perfect treasurer.

"What's that, Lynn?" Jessi Ramsey, who was sitting on the floor next to her best friend, Mallory Pike, cupped her hand around one ear as she leaned toward Stacey. "You want to come see me and Mal? Of course you can!" Grinning, she jumped up to take Lynn from Stacey. Then, gracefully, since she's a ballet dancer, she sank back to her spot near Mal.

"Peekaboo, I see you," Mal sang, hiding her eyes with her hands. She has zillions of younger brothers and sisters (okay, seven), so she's a pro at entertaining babies.

Jessi and Mal are our junior officers. The rest of us are thirteen and in the eighth grade. Jessi and Mal are eleven and in the sixth. They're just as responsible as we are, but they're only allowed to cover afternoon jobs, unless they're baby-sitting for their own families.

Jessi, who's African-American, lives with her younger sister, her baby brother, her aunt, and her parents. She loves ballet (I'm sure Baby Jessi was dancing around on tiptoes in her crib) and reading. Mal, who has reddish-brown hair and freckles, is a reader too. I bet she was always grabbing at books when she was a baby. She wants to write and illustrate children's stories someday.

Now you've met everyone in the BSC, except our two associate members, who usually don't come to meetings but who are always ready to help out if we're swamped with work. One of them is Shannon Kilbourne, who lives in Kristy and Abby's neighborhood. The other is Logan Bruno, Mary Anne's boyfriend. Both of them are terrific with kids.

As our meeting was ending that day, Kristy reminded us that St. Patrick's Day was coming up. "I hear there's going to be a parade downtown this year," she reported. 'And I hear some of the kids want to march in it. Maybe we should help them build a float or teach them some kind of marching routine. Let's talk about it more at our next meeting." I knew Kristy would probably have a plan by then. She loves sinking her teeth into something like that. (I, on the other hand, mostly like to sink my teeth into chocolate.) The meeting ended, and my friends took off, leaving me alone again with Lynn. "What did you think of our meeting?" I asked her. "Maybe someday you can be in a club." She smiled at me and gurgled. "Oh, you want to be president, do you? Fine by me, Miss Lynn." I lay back on my bed again with her on my stomach. We were alone once more and I couldn't have been happier.

Chapter 3.

"Hi, I'm — " I wasn't sure if he would remember me.

"Claudia!" Mr. Nicholls finished. "Sure, come on in." He made a welcoming gesture and held the door open for me.

I was surprised that Mr. Nicholls remembered my name. We'd only met before for about two seconds. Not only that, but since he was new in the neighborhood he must have met dozens of people recently. I was impressed.

It was Monday afternoon, and I was arriving for my job with the Nicholls boys. I'd had a hard time giving up any of my precious hours with Lynn, but I was excited about getting to know our new clients.

Mr. Nicholls was wearing a very nice-looking dark blue suit. He's short with close-cropped brown hair and a sandy mustache.

Somehow I had been expecting Mrs. Nicholls to answer the door, but now that I thought about it, I knew she probably wouldn't be home until later. My mom doesn't get home until after six, but a lot of the librarians leave at five.

Mr. Nicholls checked his watch. "I'd better be on my way," he told me. "Boys!" he called out.

Nate and Joey came running down the stairs. I gave them a little wave hello as their dad began to talk to them. "I'm going out now," he said, "and Claudia will be your baby-sitter. I want you two to behave. If you don't, Claudia will let me know. Do you understand?" "Yes," said Joey in a small voice.

Nate just nodded.