Claudia And The Terrible Truth Read Online Free PDF

afternoon, then," called Byron, another triplet.
    The third triplet, Jordan, was hanging upside down by his knees from a branch of a nearby tree. "Bottom o' the afternoon," he shouted, cracking himself up. "Get it? Because I'm upside down?" Becca and Charlotte exchanged a Look, rolling their eyes. They may be younger than the Pike triplets, but, as Becca once pointed out to Jessi, "girls mature faster than boys." Claire and Margo, Mal's youngest sisters (Claire is five, Margo's seven), were busy playing "I Spy"—with an Irish twist. Everything they described had to be green and something else.
    "I Spy with my little eye," chanted Margo, "something green and fuzzy." Claire looked around. Then her eye lit upon Jessi. "Jessi's sweater!" she yelled. "My turn." She looked around again. "I Spy with my little eye ... something green and slimy!" "Boogers!" cried Nicky, her eight-year-old brother.
    "Ew," said Margo.
    "Nicky!" yelled Claire, stamping her foot. "You're not even playing. And anyway, I don't see any boogers." "I do," said Nicky with a wicked grin. "They're hanging out of your nose." Laughing, he ran off before Claire could catch him.
    "What did you see, anyway?" asked Margo curiously.
    'A frog," said Claire, pointing. "That plastic one we lost last fall. I guess it isn't slimy, but a real frog would be." Vanessa wandered over and picked up the frog. "I wonder if this frog is Irish," she said. "Can you imagine him dancing a jig?" She paused to think. "A pig doing a jig would rhyme better," she mused. "Maybe the frog should be dancing a jog." Vanessa wants to be a poet when she's older. (She's nine now.) She spends a lot of time thinking up rhymes.
    Mal and Jessi were sitting on the porch, watching all of this, when Kristy showed up with her stepsister, Karen (she's seven); her stepbrother, Andrew (four); and her brother David Michael, who's seven like Karen. The kids scattered to play with their friends, and Kristy plopped down next to Mal and Jessi.
    "How's the planning going?" she asked.
    Mal and Jessi looked at each other. "Oops," Mal replied.
    Jessi smacked herself on the forehead. "I knew there was something we forgot!" Kristy folded her arms and frowned. She was about to say something when Mal and Jessi started laughing.
    "Just kidding," said Mal. "We thought we'd let the kids hang out for a bit first." Kristy relaxed. "Good idea," she said. She stretched and yawned. "This sun feels great." The three of them sat and chatted for awhile until the sounds of arguing interrupted their peace.
    "You faker,” Nicky was yelling.
    "It's not real," shouted Claire. "No fair!" "You don't win the race," said Becca. "Cheater, cheater," she began to chant.
    "What's going on?" Mal asked.
    Adam, who was the one everyone was yelling at, answered, "We were having a contest to see who could find the first four-leaf clover because it's like a shamrock and it's Irish. Plus, it's lucky." "Uh-huh," Mal said. She knew there must be more.
    'And I found one," said Adam. "See?" he held up his fist.
    Mal leaned close to look. "It sure looks like one," she said.
    "Make him hand it over," cried Margo.
    Mal held out her hand. Reluctantly, Adam gave her the "shamrock." It fell apart in Mal's hand. "It's two clovers you were holding together," she said. "The others are right." Adam hung his head. "I was just playing." "I know," said Mal gently. "No big deal." Then she looked around. "Oh, my lord," she cried. "This is a big deal. What did you guys do to this lawn?" She could see dozens of bare patches where the kids had been pulling up clumps of grass in their hurry to win the con- test. "What a mess!" she wailed. "We have to fix this up." "How about later?" called Kristy. I'd just arrived with Nate and Joey, and Kristy had decided it was time to start planning.
    Mal took one last look at the lawn, sighed, and agreed. "How about if