Read Online Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls by Ann M. Martin - Free Book Online

and I will have lots of fun, won’t we?”
    â€œYes,” replied Charlotte uncertainly. “Daddy, do you have to go?”
    Mr. Johanssen put his arm around Charlotte. “Mommy and I have been looking forward to this movie. It’s a treat for us. But you’ll have a treat when you wake up tomorrow.”
    â€œWhat?” asked Charlotte excitedly.
    â€œMommy will be here, and she’s not working this weekend.”
    â€œGoody!”
    Now, all the time Stacey and Charlotte and Mr. Johanssen were talking, Stacey had been noticing something. If the evening had seemed dark on her way over to the Johanssens’, it was positively black just ten minutes later. And it was only six-thirty. It seemed rather windy, too. The branches of the trees, already half bare, were being tossed back and forth. Stacey thought she heard thunder in the distance, but she tried not to worry about it. We’d had a lot of late-season storms, and most of them didn’t last long.
    Mr. Johanssen left a few moments later, taking an umbrella with him. Stacey and Charlottestood at the front window and watched his car back slowly down the driveway and turn onto the street. Just as the headlights disappeared from view, the rain started. It came pouring down, as if someone had overturned a huge pail of water in the sky.
    â€œClose all the windows!” cried Charlotte.
    â€œTurn on the lights!” cried Stacey, already spooked.
    Stacey and Charlotte ran through the house, closing windows (there weren’t many open) and turning on lights.
    â€œWhat do you want to do now?” asked Stacey when they were finished.
    â€œWatch TV,” replied Charlotte.
    Crash!
A huge clap of thunder sounded, and Charlotte raced to Stacey’s side. “I
hate
thunder,” she confessed.
    â€œYou, too?” asked Stacey. “You know what I used to do during a thunderstorm?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHide in the linen closet. It was the smallest closet in our apartment in New York City. I’d run in, slide under the bottom shelf, and close the door after me, pulling it from the bottom. Sometimes I’d take my doll with me.”
    Charlotte giggled. “Once,” she said, “I hidunder my bed during a storm. The storm lasted so long I fell asleep, and Mommy and Daddy didn’t know where I was. They almost called the police!”
    Crash! Ba-room!
More thunder. Lightning flashed and zigzagged through the sky.
    â€œQuick, let’s put on the TV,” said Stacey.
    She and Charlotte ran into the family room. Charlotte flicked on the TV, and Stacey found the remote control. They started switching from channel to channel. They found an interview, a cooking show, and two news programs.
    â€œBoring,” said Stacey. “Let’s put on MTV. At least we could hear some good music.”
    â€œWhat’s MTV?” asked Charlotte.
    â€œMusic television. Why can’t I find the channel?”
    â€œMommy and Daddy block things I’m not old enough to watch,” said Charlotte.
    â€œRats,” said Stacey. She went back to the remote control.
    Flick, flick, flick. “Boring, boring, boring,” said Stacey.
    â€œDouble rats,” said Charlotte.
    â€œHey,” said Stacey. “Here’s something.” She had tuned into Channel 47. A large ghostly hand was walking around in a cemetery all by itself.At the top of the screen were the words SPOOK THEATRE and under them WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.
    â€œOoh, spooky!” said Charlotte. She edged closer to Stacey on the couch.
    â€œShall we try it?” asked Stacey. “It’s better than anything else that’s on.”
    â€œOkay,” agreed Charlotte.
    Stacey and Charlotte watched a commercial that showed a can of cleanser dancing around a bathroom. Then SPOOK THEATRE appeared on the screen again, and finally the movie began. It started with a nighttime shot of a huge, gloomy mansion sitting alone on