Charlie nodded. “After I saw the dress at your school the other day, I asked Mrs. Marvin to make one just like it for my store.”
Charlie gave the girls a cheery grin. “If ya can’t lick ’em, join ’em!”
“But what about your other pumpkin costume?” Nancy asked.
Charlie waved his hand in disgust. “Save it for Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater.” He pointed to the princess dress. “Soon every girl in River Heights will get to be a Pumpkin Princess.”
Brenda put her hands on her hips. “There’s only one Pumpkin Princess in this town, mister—me!”
Nancy took Brenda aside. “At least we know he didn’t steal the dress,” she whispered.
Then she turned to Cheery Charlie. “I found something on our float yesterday that might belong to you, Charlie.”
She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the spring eyeglasses.
“I was wondering where I’d lost those,” Charlie said, taking the glasses.
Nancy and Brenda turned to leave, but Charlie stopped them. “Wait. You were so honest to return my glasses. May I offer you something from my shop?”
Brenda ran straight to a glittery mermaid costume. But Nancy’s eyes fell on some animal suits in the back of the room.
I know, Nancy thought. If Brenda and I dress up as animals, we could check out the River Street kids at their barnyard float.
“Is it okay if we borrow the sheep and the cow costumes?” Nancy asked Cheery Charlie.
Charlie nodded.
“What?” Brenda shrieked.
Nancy smiled at Brenda. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”
• • •
Nancy and Brenda parked their bikes in front of River Street Elementary School.
“I feel like a jerk!” Brenda said, straightening her cow mask. “Beef jerky!”
“I told you, Brenda,” Nancy said. “If the River Street kids stole the dress, they probably stashed it near their float.”
“Why?” Brenda asked.
“Because they were wearing their animal costumes the day they were spying on us,” Nancy explained. “They had to have gone back to the float.”
“So now we’re going to spy on them?” Brenda asked.
Nancy adjusted her fluffy sheep costume. “Let’s just say we’re going to pull the wool over their eyes.”
“Cute.” Brenda smirked.
Nancy and Brenda walked into the River Street schoolyard. They slipped into the crowd of kids in animal costumes.
“There’s the float,” Brenda said, pointing.
Nancy looked at the small red barn set on top of a platform. It had a white fence around it. Fake grass and hay were scattered across the floor. “I still like our float better,” she said.
A teacher blew a whistle for attention. “Okay, kids!” he called out. “Take your places for the Old MacDonald dance.”
“Nancy,” Brenda whispered. “We don’t know the steps.”
“We’ll pretend,” Nancy said.
Nancy and Brenda followed the kids as they took their places around the float.
“Okay!” the teacher called out. “When the music starts, I want to see some fancy hoofin’!”
Soon the tune of “Old MacDonald’s Farm” could be heard throughout the schoolyard.
Nancy watched the kids spin and kick up their heels. She and Brenda tried to copy them, but the River Street kids were going too fast.
“Nancy!” Brenda cried. “I can’t—”
“Yes, you can!” Nancy cried back.
But it was no use. Brenda stepped on her tail and tumbled to the ground. Nancy tripped over Brenda and landed on top of her in a heap.
The teacher turned off the music. “I don’t remember having a sheep and a cow in this number,” he said.
Then a boy in a moose costume marched over to Nancy and Brenda. He reached down and yanked the masks off their heads.
“That’s because they’re Carl Sandburg spies!”
7
Ms. Frick Sees Red
Great,” Nancy muttered as the Barnyard Brigade surrounded her and Brenda.
Then she stood up and faced the crowd. “Something was stolen from our float. We think it’s around here somewhere.”
The River Street kids mumbled to one another.
“Is that true?” the teacher asked the kids. “Did someone take something from the Carl Sandburg float?”
Nobody answered.
“If no one speaks up, I’ll cancel our part in the parade,” the teacher warned.
A boy in a pig costume was shoved forward. “Okay, okay,” he said. “I did borrow something from their float.”
“Borrow?” Nancy asked.
Brenda ran over to the boy. “I bet it was orange,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s orange, all right.” He pointed to the barn set on top of their float. “And it’s in there.”
Nancy and Brenda climbed onto the float. Now they could see inside the barn. Grinning at them was a large orange pumpkin head!
Brenda groaned. “It’s only Jason’s stupid pumped-up Power Pumpkin.”
“When did you take this?” Nancy asked the boy in the pig costume.
“Early this morning,” the boy admitted. He pointed to the rooster and the moose. “They dared me to.”
Brenda held the pumpkin head out to the boys. “Here, keep it.”
“No,” Nancy told Brenda. “It belongs to us.”
As Nancy and Brenda turned to leave, someone shouted out, “Only dweebs go to Carl Sandburg Elementary School!”
Nancy whirled around. It was the boy in the moose costume.
A girl dressed as a duck charged over to the moose boy. “You take that back. My cousin Jennifer goes to Carl Sandburg!”
“Apologize to Tracy and the other girls, Gary,” the teacher ordered.
Gary mumbled an apology and stormed off.
“Excuse me,” Nancy said to Tracy. “But what’s your cousin’s name?”
“Jennifer Young,” Tracy answered.
“Then you must be the one who gave the costume party last night,” Nancy said.
Tracy nodded. “It was fun. And you should have seen Jennifer. Her costume was totally awesome! I’ve never seen a dress so beautiful.”
That’s strange, Nancy said to herself. I thought Jennifer was going to wear her old gypsy costume to the party.
After returning the cow and sheep outfits to Cheery Charlie, Nancy and Brenda rode their bikes to the Carl Sandburg schoolyard.
“So far we’ve ruled out Cheery Charlie and the Barnyard Brigade,” Nancy called over to Brenda. “I’ll have to cross their names out of my notebook.”
“I still say that Bess took the dress,” Brenda said as she and Nancy pedaled to their school.
“I still say no,” Nancy said.
“Then who did it?” Brenda asked.
Nancy glanced at the pumpkin head in her bicycle basket. “It could still be Jason. Just because he didn’t bury the dress in the haystack doesn’t mean he didn’t hide it somewhere else.”
Suddenly Bess’s bike pulled up alongside them.
“Hi, Bess!” Nancy called out.
“Shhhh!” Brenda warned Nancy. “Don’t say a single word to her!”
Nancy watched a hurt expression come over Bess’s face.
“It’s not what you think, Bess!” Nancy tried to tell her. But Bess was already pedaling way ahead of them.
When Nancy and Brenda parked their bikes in the schoolyard, Jason ran over.
“So that’s where my pumpkin head was,” Jason shouted. “You stole it!”
Brenda flashed an angry look at Jason. “How dare you accuse Nancy of stealing when you probably stole the Pumpkin Princess dress.”
“What are you talking about?” Jason asked. “The princess dress is in the gym right now.”
Nancy and Brenda dashed into the gym. The orange velvet cape was on the rack. The princess dress was hanging next to it. But it was covered with red stain
s!
“What a mess,” Ms. Frick was saying as she looked at the dress.
“What happened?” Nancy gasped.
“I found the dress and the cape stuffed in a plastic bag this morning,” Ms. Frick said. She turned to Brenda. “Did you take them home, Brenda?”
“No, Ms. Frick,” Brenda said.
“She really didn’t,” Nancy agreed. “I know for sure.”
“How, Nancy?” Ms. Frick asked.
Nancy’s mouth felt as dry as cotton. “I . . . I . . . just know,” she said.
Ms. Frick shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not good enough, Nancy.”
“Does this mean I can’t be the Pumpkin Princess?” Brenda asked.
“No one will be princess until I get to the bottom of this,” Ms. Frick said.
From the look on Brenda’s face, Nancy thought she was about to cry.
“Nancy, hurry and put on your corn costume,” Ms. Frick said.
She called to Jason, who was watching from the back of the gym. “Jason, get your Power Pumpkin mask ready. You might have to take the throne.”
“All right!” Jason shouted happily.
“That’s not fair,” Brenda complained.
Ms. Frick examined the dress. “I’ll have to call Mrs. Marvin for help,” she said, and left the gym.
Nancy started pulling on her costume over her clothes.
“Well, at least the dress turned up,” Nancy told Brenda.
“A lot of good that does me!” Brenda snapped, and walked away.
When Nancy had her corn costume on, she studied the princess dress carefully. The stains looked familiar. Sort of like the cherry sauce from Hannah’s cheesecake.
Wait a minute, Nancy said to herself. Jennifer had planned to eat cherry pie at her cousin Tracy’s party.
Then Nancy thought of something else. Jennifer hadn’t wanted to wear her gypsy dress because Tracy had already seen it. But Tracy said that she’d never seen such a beautiful dress before.
“Okay,” Nancy said under her breath. “Jennifer ate cherry pie last night. And she didn’t wear her old costume.” She began to pace back and forth. “If Jennifer took the princess dress, it had to be after Brenda put it on the float. And before Brenda went back for it.”
Nancy’s eyes opened wide. There was only one other clue that could prove Jennifer took the costume: George’s cast.
Everyone had signed George’s cast, even Brenda. If Jennifer’s name was on it, then she couldn’t have sneaked back to the float to steal the dress. But if she hadn’t signed the cast …
Nancy dashed out of the gym and into the schoolyard. She ran straight to Bess.
“Bess, where’s George?” Nancy asked.
“Why do you want to know?” Bess asked coolly. She was already dressed in her broccoli costume.
“Because I need to see her cast,” Nancy pleaded.
“Well, you’d better see it soon.” Bess put her hands on her hips. “Because George is probably getting it cut off right now!”
8
The Parade Marches On
But George just got her new cast two days ago,” Nancy said to Bess. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“One of her neighbors dropped a goldfish down it,” Bess explained. “It was really starting to stink.”
“Oh,” Nancy said.
“Why should you care, anyway?” Bess asked. She began to walk away.
“Bess!” Nancy cried. “Isn’t George’s doctor right near here?”
Bess nodded. “His name is Dr. Cutler.”
“Come with me while I speak to George,” Nancy pleaded.
“Why should I?” Bess asked.
“George probably won’t talk to me unless you’re there,” Nancy explained. “And this is very important.”
Bess tilted her head. “How important?”
“There’s not enough time to explain,” Nancy said. “But it has something to do with our float.”
Bess’s eyes opened wide. “Our float? Then it must be important!”
“Will you come with me?” Nancy asked.
Bess stared down at her costume. “But we’re dressed like dopey vegetables!”
“Come on.” Nancy pulled Bess’s arm. “Nobody will notice.”
“I ordered a pizza, not vegetables,” the nurse said when Nancy and Bess ran into Dr. Cutler’s office.
Nancy tried to catch her breath. “I have to see George Fayne. Where is she, please?”
The nurse nodded toward a door. “She’s in there, but—”
“Thank you,” Nancy said. She ran to the door and pushed it open. Dr. Cutler was standing next to George with a tiny electric saw in his hand.
“Stop!” Nancy shouted, waving her arms.
“Nancy? Bess?” George said.
“Dr. Cutler,” Nancy said. “I have to read the names on George’s cast before you cut it off.”
“Be my guest.” The doctor smiled at Nancy. “Just remember, I wouldn’t do this for junk food.”
Nancy ran over to George. She began reading the names one by one: “Ms. Frick, Jason, Tim, Karen—”
“Princess Brenda.” Bess rolled her eyes.
“Don’t forget the back.” George sighed, lifting her arm.
“Todd, Amy, Ryan, Tiffany, and us,” Nancy read. “Just as I thought. Jennifer Young did not sign this cast.”
“Now may I cut it off?” Dr. Cutler asked, holding up his saw.
“Oh, sure,” Nancy said.
The doctor pushed a switch.
WHHHHHHHIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRR!
• • •
As they walked back to school, Nancy filled Bess in on everything.
“Now do you see why I couldn’t tell you or George?” Nancy asked.
“I guess,” Bess said. “But I’m still not happy that you kept a secret from us. We could have helped you, Nancy.”
Nancy nodded. “I know. But there’s something you can help me with now.”
“What?” Bess asked.
“You can help me talk to Jennifer.”
At first Nancy and Bess couldn’t find Jennifer. Instead they saw Brenda leaning against a tree and looking sad.
“There’s Jennifer,” Bess said.
Jennifer was behind the tree, struggling to sit down in her pea pod costume.
“Hi, Nancy. Hi, Bess,” Jennifer said. “After this I don’t think I’ll ever eat peas again.”
Nancy got right to the point.
“I met your cousin Tracy this morning,” she said. “She told me you wore an awesome dress to her party.”
Jennifer stared at Nancy. “She did?”
Brenda poked her head around the tree. “She did?”
“You said you were going to wear an old gypsy costume,” Bess said.
Jennifer’s eyes flashed. “I did. I just tied a few ribbons and bows on it. I looked practically like . . . a princess.”
“You mean a Pumpkin Princess,” Nancy said.
Brenda marched up to Jennifer. “How could you steal my dress, you little sneak?” she shouted.
“I didn’t steal it!” Jennifer shouted back. “And I’m not a sneak!”
Ms. Frick and Mrs. Marvin walked over. “What’s going on, girls?” Ms. Frick asked.
Brenda pointed to Jennifer. “She took the princess dress home, Ms. Frick. Ask her yourself.”
“Jennifer?” Mrs. Marvin asked. “Is that true?”
Jennifer’s eyes filled with tears. “I only wanted to borrow the dress for the costume party. I didn’t think I’d drip cherry sauce all over it.”
“What you did was wrong, Jennifer,” Ms. Frick said.
“I didn’t think so at the time,” Jennifer admitted. “Brenda was being such a pain.”
Nancy could see Brenda turn red.
Jennifer turned to Ms. Frick and Mrs. Marvin. “I’m sorry I took the dress home. I’ll do anything to make up for it.”
Mrs. Marvin stepped forward. “I have an idea, Jennifer. Can you sew?”
r /> • • •
Sunday was a perfect day for a parade. Hundreds of people cheered as the colorful floats glided down Main Street.
The Pumpkin Patch Dream float was pulled by Ms. Frick’s Jeep. It was right behind a real-live marching band.
“We make a great bunch of veggies!” Nancy shouted in her bright yellow corn costume.
“Like peas in a pod!” Jennifer yelled back.
Nancy could see Jason on his haystack while Brenda waved from her tree stump throne.
The princess dress looked beautiful. The sequins sparkled in the sunlight. Jennifer and Mrs. Marvin had done a great job sewing patches in the shape of fall leaves all over the skirt to cover the stains.
“I’m glad we still have a Pumpkin Princess,” Nancy told Bess.
Bess nodded. “Even if it is Brenda.”
“Everyone in River Heights must be here today.” Nancy looked at the crowd of people and smiled.
Just then Nancy spotted George. She was cheering and waving a copy of the Carlton News with her good hand.
“Read it, Nan!” George shouted.
Nancy squinted and read the front page. In bold black ink it said: “Nancy Drew Is the World’s Greatest Detective!”
Nancy looked up at the tree stump throne. Brenda shrugged. Nancy had kept her part of the promise, so Brenda had kept hers.
“Friends till the end?” Bess whispered in Nancy’s ear.
“Friends till the end!” Nancy said happily.
That night Nancy had many reasons to be glad. The Pumpkin Patch Dream float won first prize. But best of all, Nancy, Bess, and George were best friends again.
Nancy pulled out her special blue notebook and started to write:
I learned a lot from this case. First, how important it is to keep a promise, no matter how hard it is. Second, being a good detective means using your skills to help people—even if the person you help is someone you don’t really like.
Nancy tapped the pencil on her chin and wrote something else:
And being called the Greatest Detective in the World doesn’t hurt, either!
Case closed.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.