Free Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M. Martin Page A

for him and then set to work gathering up the marbles. She put them back in the bag but decided not to rig the alarm again. She settled for locking the screen door and double locking the inside door.
    Then she returned to
The Secret Garden.
In the story, Mary was having her first conversation with Colin. Suddenly, Mary Anne heard a soft thud.
    And then—to her absolute horror—
Poundin’ Down the Walls
blasted on in the kitchen!
    Mary Anne let out a bloodcurdling scream as she gazed at the partly open back door. She was just about to make a dash for the front door when Louie strolled into the kitchen, sniffed curiously at the stereo, and headed for his water bowl.
    â€œLouie!” exclaimed Mary Anne in a half gasp, half shriek.
    She’d forgotten that David Michael had taughtLouie how to throw his weight against doors. If they weren’t latched properly, they opened, which was occasionally useful to Louie. Mary Anne probably hadn’t closed the back door tightly after she’d tested the music alarm.
    â€œSome baby-sitter I am,” she scolded herself, “leaving doors open right and left for anybody to walk through.”
    â€œBary Add!” called a voice.
    Mary Anne looked around to see David Michael standing sleepily on the stairs, his old stuffed dog in one hand.
    â€œBary Add, cad you put the busic off?” he asked. “I don’t like it. It’s too loud.” He blinked in the bright light of the hall.
    â€œOh, my gosh! I’m sorry, David Michael,” cried Mary Anne. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. Really.”
    She dashed to the stereo and turned it off. “That was an accident. I’m sorry…. How are you feeling?”
    â€œStuffy. Ad by head hurts.”
    â€œOh,” said Mary Anne sympathetically. She remembered that Mrs. Thomas had said David Michael could have half a children’s aspirin if he needed it. “Do you want some aspirin?” she asked him. “It’ll make your head feel better.”
    â€œOkay,” said David Michael wheezily.
    â€œYou go back to bed and I’ll be right up.”
    Mary Anne felt better since the house wasn’t so quiet. She brought David Michael the aspirin, and then she sat on his bed and told him a story about a tiny man named Mr. Piebell, who lived in the woods on the twelfth floor of an oak tree apartment building with his miniature collie, Louie.
    David Michael fell asleep with a smile on his lips.
    Mary Anne was just closing the door to his room when she heard a tremendous crash downstairs.
    The tin-can burglar alarm! It had gone off, and Mary Anne was trapped upstairs where there was no escape route! Heart pounding, she tried to figure out what to do. Should she wake David Michael and bring him into Mrs. Thomas’s room while she called the police? Should she risk everything and make a dash for the front door? What if it was just Louie fooling around? Maybe she should call Stacey and try out our code. If only she could remember it …
    â€œMary Anne?” said an uncertain voice from downstairs.
    Yikes! It was a
man’s
voice!
    Mary Anne shrank into a corner of the hallway. “Mary Anne?” it called again more loudly.
    The voice sounded vaguely familiar. How does the Phantom know my name? wondered Mary Anne.
    Then she heard another voice call her. It was Kristy.
    Mary Anne dared to peep downstairs. Kristy, Sam, Charlie, Mrs. Thomas, Watson, Karen, and Andrew were standing in a group at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at her.
    â€œOh,” said Mary Anne, trying to sound nonchalant and realizing that the first voice had been Watson’s. “I thought I heard you. I just gave David Michael some aspirin and got him back to sleep. He woke up with a headache.” She trotted down the stairs.
    â€œUm … Mary Anne … if you don’t mind my asking,” said Mrs. Thomas, “what are all those cans and things doing by the