Kristy and the Secret of Susan Read online

  “Speaking of losing weight,” I said, “guess who’s gaining weight?”

  “Who?” asked the others, looking puzzled.

  “Mrs. Felder. She’s pregnant. They’re going to have a baby, a girl. Her name will be Hope.”

  “Oh, awesome!” cried Claud, and we all began talking at once.

  I hardly noticed when Jessi, Mary Anne, and Dawn arrived, but I did notice when the clock turned to five-thirty.

  “Order!” I said loudly. “This meeting of the BSC will now come to order.” (My friends quieted down.) “Any club business?” I asked.

  No one said anything, although Mallory looked like she was going to burst from her pièce de résistance.

  “Well, Mal and I have some news about our clients that I feel we should share with you. I’ll go first and be quick. Then Mal can tell you her news. My news is that the Felders are going to have another baby.” I ran through the details again for Jessi, Dawn, and Mary Anne, who had missed out on the earlier announcement.

  Then Mal told her news about Johnny, Mathew, and James Hobart. And then she said, “Now for the pièce de résistance —”

  The phone rang.

  “Darn, darn, darn!” cried Mallory, jumping to her feet. “I don’t believe it! This can’t be happening!”

  Stacey hid her smile as she answered the phone. We arranged for a sitter for Jenny Prezzioso.

  “It would be Jenny who would spoil my story,” muttered Mal. “All right The big news is Ben’s news, too…. He asked me to go to the movies with him!”

  Well, of course the members of the BSC began screaming, and congratulating Mallory. Most of us did, anyway. Jessi hung back, and I knew just what she was thinking. What would happen to her friendship with Mal if Mal had a boyfriend? I knew she was wondering that because I wondered the same thing when Mary Anne first started going out with Logan. I also knew that — soon — Jessi would see that she and Mal were still best friends, and that a best friend is very different from a boyfriend. The two don’t usually cancel each other out.

  I sat back and watched my friends congratulate Mal, and talk about the Hobarts. I let my mind wander, which rarely happens during a meeting, since I try to remain official. But it did wander — to Susan. And then to the kids in the handicapped class at SMS. Right then and there I decided something important. I decided that when I grew up, maybe I would be a teacher and work with kids like Susan.

  Hey, Susan, I thought, I hope you like your school. I hope someday you’ll come home and be able to tell James and me, and your mom and dad, and Hopie all about it.

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  Kristy and the Secret of Susan is based partly on my experiences as a therapist with autistic children during the summers I was in college. While there was no real Susan Felder, I met lots of kids like Susan and lots of families facing the same challenges Susan’s parents face in the book. Autistic kids are very special, and I will always remember the kids I worked with. In fact, Kristy and the Secret of Susan is not the only book I’ve written centering around an autistic child. Before the Baby-sitters Club began I wrote Inside Out, told from the point of view of an older brother whose younger brother has autism. If you’re interested in learning more about kids like Susan, check your library for Inside Out, or ask a librarian to suggest other titles.

  Happy reading,

  * * *

  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 © 1990 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.

  First edition, December 1997

  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.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-63261-4