“And what about the crown?” Denise asked her.
Tess pulled the crown out of her pocket. “I thought if I took it, their ballerina sculpture would be ugly. And then you’d win for sure.”
Tears rolled down Tess’s pink cheeks. “I really, really wanted to help you win, Didi! I thought then maybe I could go to Chicago with you and Mommy and see Swan Lake.”
“Oh, Tess,” Denise said in a sad-sounding voice. She gave her sister a hug.
Tess hugged Denise back. Then she handed the crown to Bess. “I’m really, really sorry,” she apologized.
“No, I’m the one who should say I’m sorry,” Denise told Nancy and her friends. “I wouldn’t let Tess help me with my sculpture. If I had, she wouldn’t have done all those bad things.”
Nancy glanced at Bess and George. Neither of them looked mad anymore. “That’s okay,” Nancy said, finally.
“Yeah,” Bess and George said in unison.
Hannah put her hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “That’s very big of you girls.”
“Say cheese for the camera!”
Nancy turned around. Joan was standing there, videotaping all of them.
“What did I miss?” Joan asked everybody.
Nancy smiled at Denise. “You didn’t miss anything,” she said to Joan.
Denise smiled back gratefully.
• • •
Mad Mike stood up on the snow-covered podium. A big crowd gathered around him.
“And the winner of the snow-sculpture contest is . . .” Mad Mike began.
He grinned and peered around at the crowd. He seemed to enjoy drawing out the suspense.
Nancy squeezed George and Bess’s hands. The cousins squeezed back. Who’s going to be the winner? Nancy wondered.
“Good luck, girls,” Hannah whispered.
“No matter who wins, I’m proud of all of you,” Mr. Drew added. He had arrived just in time for the judging.
“The winner is the Swan Lake scene by Nancy Drew, George Fayne, and Bess Marvin!” Mad Mike announced.
Nancy, Bess, and George began jumping up and down in the air. “Yay!” they all cried out.
Denise came up to them. “Congratulations,” she said. “You guys deserved to win. I know I gave you a super hard time. But you guys definitely deserved to win.”
“Thanks,” Nancy told her.
“And now, for second place,” Mad Mike went on. “The judges had a hard time deciding on second place. There were some close contenders. But in the end, they made their decision. Second place goes to another Swan Lake sculpture, by Denise Eliopoulos!” he announced.
Denise’s eyes got enormous. “I . . . I won second place?” she stammered.
“Congratulations!” George told her.
Tess came running up to her sister, followed by a man and a woman dressed in matching silver parkas. Nancy guessed that they were Denise and Tess’s parents. “Yay, Didi!” Tess screamed. “You won! You won!”
“Congratulations, honey,” Mrs. Eliopoulos told her daughter. “Good job!”
Denise turned to her parents. “Mom? Dad? Can we take Tess to Chicago to see Swan Lake with us, as a special treat?” she begged.
Mr. and Mrs. Eliopoulos exchanged a glance. “Of course, honey,” Mr. Eliopoulos said. “That’s a nice idea. That’s very generous of you.”
Tess hugged her sister. “Thank you, Didi!”
“Now, that gives me an idea,” Carson piped up. He turned to Nancy. “Why don’t I take you three girls to Swan Lake too? It’ll be my reward to you for being such great sculptors!”
“And great detectives,” Hannah added.
Nancy giggled. “Thanks, Daddy! We’d love to go. Wouldn’t we, George and Bess?”
“Definitely!” George exclaimed.
“What should I wear?” Bess added.
“Hey, winners! Say cheese for the camera!”
Nancy turned around. Joan was standing there, pointing her video camera at them.
This time, Nancy decided that it would be okay to pose for Joan’s movie. In fact, it would be pretty awesome!
She, Bess, George, Denise, and Tess stood next to each other, faced Joan, and smiled big, happy smiles for the camera.
Mystery solved!
• • •
That night before going to bed, Nancy got her diary out of her desk. She put on her pajamas, curled up in bed, and opened the diary to a fresh page.
She wrote:
Yay! Today George, Bess, and I won first place for our Swan Lake snow sculpture.
We were afraid we wouldn’t be able to enter the contest because someone kept trying to mess up our sculpture the whole time. The person turned out to be Tess, Denise’s little sister. Tess wanted to help Denise, but she was too young to enter and Denise really didn’t want her hanging around. So Tess tried to help secretly by wrecking our sculpture. That way, Denise would have a better chance of winning first prize.
It would have been cool if Denise and her sister could have worked as a team, just like George and Bess and I worked as a team. It’s fun to win first prize. But it’s even more fun to share first prize with other people, like your friends and family.
Denise finally figured that out. She invited her sister to go to Chicago to see Swan Lake with her. So now they’ll get to share that!
Case closed!
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Aladdin Paperbacks edition December 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Simon & Schuster, Inc
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster
Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8347-7 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number 2004102674
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-87411-6
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8347-7 (eBook)
Carolyn Keene, The Snowman Surprise
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