Claudia and the Terrible Truth Read online

  “Hello?” I said sleepily.

  There was a pause. Then I heard a man’s voice, yelling so loudly that I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Give me back my wife!” he shouted. Then he started to cry.

  It was Mr. Nicholls.

  I hung up without saying a word. And then I lay awake for the rest of the night.

  Somehow, I made it through the next day. I think I was sleepwalking through most of my classes. After school I came home and, after a quick snack, lay down for what I thought would be a ten-minute nap.

  I didn’t wake up until Kristy burst into my room. “Time for our meeting, sleepyhead!” she said, tickling my feet.

  I groaned. But then I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and started to think about what junk food I had hidden where. “Is Erica coming?” I asked. I’d suggested to Kristy that we invite Erica to our meeting. My mom told me about this thing called “closure,” which means you’ve talked something over and worked it out, until you feel ready to move on. She was the one who suggested that we use our regular BSC meeting to try to reach some closure on what had just happened.

  “I talked to her during science class, and she said she would,” Kristy answered.

  At lunchtime that day, I’d given my friends an update on what had happened the day before — from Erica’s call to Mr. Nicholls’s. I knew that by now someone would have told Mal and Jessi (who have a different lunch period) about it too. I was grateful for that. It meant I wouldn’t have to tell the whole horrible story all over again.

  I rummaged around under my bed and came up with a bag of peanut M&M’S. Then I walked to my bookshelf, pulled out a dictionary, and checked behind it. Sure enough, there was a box of Triscuits. Good. I was prepared for company.

  Stacey showed up next, and then Mary Anne arrived. By five-thirty, everyone was on hand, including Erica. I passed around the munchies and we began to talk about what had happened.

  “I can’t believe he called here last night,” said Erica. She was sitting on the floor, near Jessi and Mal. She hugged her knees. “That’s just so, so creepy.”

  “I know,” I said. I helped myself to a small handful of Triscuits. “I hope that never happens again.”

  “If it does, we’ll just have to change our business number,” said Kristy.

  That surprised me. I would have expected her to fight that idea to the bitter end. “What about our clients?” I asked. “They’re all used to this number.”

  “They can learn a new one,” said Kristy, shrugging. She popped two yellow M&M’S into her mouth. “I’m more concerned about you getting enough sleep. The BSC needs you.”

  Hearing that felt good. I had to admit I was looking forward to sitting for some of our regular, uncomplicated clients. Even Jackie Rodowsky would be a breeze after what I’d been through.

  “I still don’t understand,” said Jessi, musing. “How can anybody hit their kids? Kids are defenseless, and they look to adults for protection. How could he do it?”

  “It’s awful,” I agreed. “It’s the worst.”

  Erica nodded. She was the only other one who really knew how awful it was. She knew and liked Joey and Nate. And she’d seen their father in action. “My dad says there’s a fund in Stoneybrook to help families who are in this kind of trouble. I’m going to send them all the money I earned when I was sitting for the Nichollses.”

  “What a great idea!” I said. “Will you give me their address? I’d like to send some too.”

  Erica promised to bring it to school the next day.

  “I hope we never run into this problem again,” said Abby, “but if we do, is there anything we should do differently?”

  “I think we handled it really well,” said Kristy. “But I think we should always tell an adult right away, as soon as we suspect something. We could have done that a little sooner.”

  We all nodded. “And if something serious happens, call somebody immediately — the way Erica called Claudia,” said Stacey.

  “Right,” agreed Mary Anne. “Don’t try to handle it on your own.” She looked terrified just thinking about it.

  “That’s the real lesson here,” I said. “I know I felt a whole lot better as soon as we told my mom. It was just too much for us to deal with by ourselves.” Just then, I heard footsteps on the stairs. “Quick!” I said in a whisper. “Hide the candy!”

  Kristy shoved the M&M’S underneath a notebook on my desk. Abby tossed the box of Triscuits to Mary Anne, who slid it under my pillow. Then there was a light knock on my door. “Claudia?” asked my mother. “It’s me. May I come in?”

  Kristy jumped up to open the door. “Sure,” she said. “You’re always welcome.”

  Always — as long as I have time to hide the evidence!

  Mom sat down on the director’s chair, and Kristy settled in on the floor. “I just wanted to give you an update on what’s happening with the Nichollses,” she began.

  “Did you talk to Mrs. Nicholls?” I asked. “How are the boys?”

  Mom smiled. “Nate and Joey are fine. And yes, I did talk to Mrs. Nicholls. She’s feeling safe at her sister’s house. She’s still a little shaky, but I think she knows she did the right thing.”

  It was no surprise to hear that Mrs. Nicholls felt shaky. I still did. “What else?” I asked.

  “She’s spoken to the people from the Department of Children and Youth Services. The police have become involved — there’s a restraining order on Mr. Nicholls, so he won’t go near them. He’s agreed to have counseling, which is a start.”

  “Did he admit anything?” asked Erica.

  My mother nodded. She looked sad. “Yes, he did,” she said. “Mrs. Nicholls said that he talked about wanting to work on his ‘problem.’ ”

  “That’s great,” said Stacey. “Isn’t it?”

  My mother shrugged. “It’s great that he wants to change, but it may not be easy.” She sighed. “I think he has a long way to go before he’s ready to be a good father to those boys.”

  “But at least Joey and Nate are safe now,” I said.

  “Yes. And from what Mrs. Nicholls told me, their aunt’s new puppy is the perfect distraction. That will help, for now. They are going to talk to a counselor too, to help sort things out. And I think Mrs. Nicholls may decide to settle near her sister and start the boys in school there.”

  “Wow,” I said. “So they might not come back to Stoneybrook — ever.”

  Mom nodded.

  So the boys were safe and sound. That was good. Who could have guessed that sitting for the Nicholls family would turn out to be the biggest challenge the BSC had ever faced? I knew we had handled it well and done the right thing. But I also knew that this wasn’t exactly a happy ending. I wondered if I would ever see Joey and Nate again. No matter how their lives turned out, I hoped they would be happy.

  That night, as I turned out the light and rolled over to go to sleep, I thought about the boys again. I made up my mind to go downtown to the toy store after school the next day. I’d buy a floppy tiger for Nate and a teddy bear for Joey. I liked picturing the boys sleeping peacefully and safely, stuffed toys cradled in their arms.

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  In Claudia and the Terrible Truth, Claudia learns a disturbing secret about a new family in Stoneybrook. When she thinks that Joey and Nate are being abused, she isn’t sure what to do. What if she’s wrong? Finally, though, Claudia decides she must talk to an adult. This is a good rule to follow for any serious baby-sitting problem. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Don’t worry about bringing up an issue that turns out not to be a problem. Trust your instincts. Chances are, if you think something is wrong, it probably is. And the best thing to do is to talk to any adult you can trust. Claudia chose her mother. You might choose a parent, a teacher, a clergyperson, or your doctor.

  For more information concerning child abuse, you or an adult can call:

  Childhelp Child Abuse National Hotline

  1-800-4-A-CHILD®r />
  Happy reading,

  * * *

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Ellen Miles

  for her help in

  preparing this manuscript.

  About the Author

  ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.

  There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.) In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.

  Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.

  Copyright © 1998 by Ann M. Martin

  Cover art by Hodges Soileau

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, March 1998

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-87436-6