“Byron, you do yardwork for the Santos family, right?” Nancy asked him.
Byron didn’t glance up from his computergame. “Yeah, what about it?” he said, pushing some buttons very fast.
“Did you happen to plant some pink daisies in their garden yesterday?” Nancy persisted.
“Were they on the deck in some pot or something?” Byron asked her.
“Yes,” Nancy replied.
Byron finally glanced up from his computer game. “Not yesterday. Tuesday. I went to the Quik-E-Burger for a bacon cheeseburger, just before dinnertime . . .”
Mrs. Bridges made a face.
“. . . and then I went next door to do some yardwork,” Byron continued.“I saw a bunch of flowers on the back deck. I figured Mr. and Mrs. Santos wanted them planted, so I planted them.” He frowned at Nancy and Julia.“What’s the big deal? Is there a problem?”
Julia grinned. “Not anymore! Nancy just solved The Case of the Missing Daisies!”
“When are they going to announce the winners?” Bess said anxiously.
It was Sunday afternoon—the third and final day of the flower show. Nancy, Bess, George, and Julia were hanging out in the Children’s Exhibits section, pacing nervously. Three judges were making their final decision on the Most Beautiful Flower and Most Original Flower prizes.
Carson Drew, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin, and the other parents were there, too. So were Hannah and Mrs. Bridges. Orson and his parents were there, too, as was Viola and her mother.
Viola kept glancing over at Nancy and her friends, and then at the judges. Nancy thought that she seemed kind of nervous.
Nancy had checked out Viola’s entry earlier. It was also a kind of daisy, called a Golden Sun daisy. It was pretty, but not nearly as pretty as the Pink Princess daisy. That’s what Nancy thought, anyway.
Carson came over and squeezed Nancy’s shoulder. “How are you doing, Pudding Pie? Holding up under the pressure?”
Nancy nodded. “Yes, Daddy. I really,really think we’re going to win. But even if we don’t, I’ll still be glad that we found the daisies safe and sound.”
“You’re my little detective,” he said, ruffling her hair affectionately.
“We have the winners!” one of the judges announced.
The crowd fell silent. Bess reached for Nancy’s hand. Nancy reached for George’s hand. George reached for Julia’s hand. The four girls stood like that for what seemed like a really long time, waiting for the judges’ decisions.
“The Most Original Flower prize goes to Contestant Number Thirteen for the Moonwalking Daffolily!” the judge announced.
Orson began jumping up and down. “That’s me! That’s me!” He went rushing up to the table and picked up a pot marked Number 13. He held it up in the air, like a trophy.
Nancy stared at it. Orson’s Moonwalking Daffolily was the flower she’d seen on his desk, under the blue-white lamp. It was the oversize yellow flowerwith the weird fuzzy purple middle and jagged leaves.
“My cross-pollination experiment was a success!” Orson hooted.“I win! I win!”
Mrs. Bridges walked up to Orson. She peered at the Moonwalking Daffolily over the rim of her glasses.“It’s very interesting,” she said to Orson.“Is it edible? Could I interview you for a piece I’m doing on edible flowers?”
“Sure!” Orson said happily.
Nancy turned her attention back to the judge. When was he going to announce the prize for their category? she wondered impatiently.
The judge cleared his throat.“The prize for the Most Beautiful Flower category is . . . Contestant Number Eight, for the Pink Princess daisy!”
The Pink Princess daisy! Nancy thought. That’s us!
“Yes!” Bess shouted, and began jumping up and down. Nancy, George, and Julia began jumping up and down, too.
Carson Drew and the other girls’ parents came up and congratulated them.After a moment Viola shuffled up to them, too.
“Congratulations. I guess,” Viola said.
Nancy and her friends stopped jumping. “Um, thanks,” Nancy said to Viola. “Your flower was really pretty, too,” she added, trying to be nice.
“What? Oh, I don’t really care about that,” Viola said, shrugging.“Actually, I’m glad this contest is over. My mom made me enter it,” she said.
“Really?” George said.“My mom sort of did that, too.”
“I guess our moms are really into gardening,” Viola said.
George nodded.“Yeah. I mean, I kind of like it, too. But I’m much more into soccer and stuff.”
Viola’s face lit up. “You play soccer? Wow, that’s really cool.”
Nancy turned to Viola.“Viola, why did you have that seed catalog on your desk on Wednesday?” she asked.
Viola smiled and shrugged. “I know I told you guys that your daisies were ugly. But actually, I thought they were reallypretty. I wanted to order the seeds to grow them in a pot on my windowsill.” She added,“My mom had the catalog, so I called the company. But they told me the seeds were part of a limited-time offer or something. They were totally out of them.”
George glanced over at their pot of Pink Princess daisies, which was still sitting on the exhibit table.“We could split the plant in half, and you could take half with you to replant,” she suggested.“I’ve seen my mom do that.”
Viola smiled again.“Really? That would be so great!”
“If it’s okay with you guys, that is,” George said quickly to Nancy, Bess, and Julia.
“Viola can have some of our daisies,” Bess piped up.“But not Orson! He’ll do a science experiment with them and turn them into weird, ugly, yucky monster flowers!”
Nancy laughed.“Definitely!”
Carolyn Keene, Flower Power
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