With a lightning-fast move, George caught both Suzie and Nancy and set them both up straight.
“Oops, sorry,” Suzie said with a shrug. “I guess I should leave the spinning to the rides.” She laughed and asked Nancy and her friends, “Have you ridden the Tilt-A-Whirl yet? The tilt part was okay, but the whirling was the bomb.”
“We haven’t been on anything but the roller coaster,” explained Bess. “We’ve been busy trying to solve a mystery.”
“Oooh, what’s the mystery?” Natalie was super curious.
“Well, you see . . . ” Bess explained about Ned’s missing tickets and then began to ask Natalie where she’d gotten so many of her own, when suddenly Natalie interrupted with a scream. A loud scream.
“Calm down, Natalie,” Bess said. “I wasn’t accusing you of taking the tickets.” Then, under her breath, she added, “But you are our only suspect.”
Natalie didn’t seem to hear a word Bess said. She just kept screaming.
“What?” Suzie and Deirdre cried.
“What?” Nancy, Bess, and George cried in unison.
“My baby!” shrieked Natalie.
“Huh?” Nancy had no clue, literally, what Natalie was yelling about. Then she noticed that Natalie was holding a prize teddy bear from one of the carnival games.
Suzie and Deirdre escorted Natalie over to a bench and told her to sit down. Deirdre got Natalie a cup of water from the hot dog booth. Natalie took long, soothing sips and began to relax.
Once she’d calmed down, Natalie held out her stuffed bear. There was a hole in the back. Chunks of stuffing were spilling out of the bear’s body. “I can’t believe it! Who would do this to my baby?” Natalie took another drink of water. “Suzie won this bear for me at the Dart Dare.”
“Natalie wanted a teddy bear so badly that she said she’d give me her new Goody-to-Go mini-bake oven if I would help her win one,” Suzie explained. “She gave me a huge stack of tickets to use.” Suzie sighed. “I thought I needed a lot. Some of those arcade games are nearly impossible to win.”
“They aren’t supposed to be easy,” Bess agreed.
“I finally did it. You saw me!” Suzie gently touched her lucky necklace. “I won at the dart booth and then gave Natalie the bear.” She grinned and looked at George. “I told you I want to be a caterer like your mom. I can’t wait to try some experimental recipes in my new Goody-to-Go oven.”
“Well,” said George, leaning in toward Bess and Nancy so only they could hear, “that explains why Suzie had so many tickets. But we still don’t know where Natalie got hers.”
“It’s possible that she took Ned’s tickets and was using them herself,” Bess suggested, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
“I don’t think so,” Nancy said, her voice barely a whisper. Sitting down next to Natalie, Nancy asked in loud, clear tones, “Did you have this bear with you while you were on the ride?”
“No,” Natalie admitted. “I set it down by the exit door. I picked it back up again after we’d finished.”
“Did you notice the hole before you got on the Tilt-A-Whirl?”
Suzie jumped into the conversation. “I gave her the bear right before we got on the ride. There wasn’t a hole. I’m sure of it.”
Nancy simply nodded. “I need to think for a second.” She walked a little way away from Natalie, Deirdre, and Suzie. Bess and George followed quietly, not wanting to interrupt Nancy while she was thinking.
Nancy pulled out her notebook and pencil, but before she could write down anything, Ned came running up to them.
“I was this close,” he said, holding up two fingers an inch apart. “I almost knocked the milk jugs down, but one of them popped up at the last minute.” Ned looked disappointed. “I bet I could win a bear if I tried just one more time.” He looked directly at Nancy. “Any luck finding my tickets?”
Nancy didn’t answer. She was busy writing something down on the notebook page titled Ned’s Missing Festival Tickets.
“Nancy looks busy.” Ned pivoted to face Bess and George.
“She’s thinking,” explained Bess. “Sometimes Nancy spaces out when she does that.”
Ned waved his hand in front of Nancy’s face. She didn’t even blink. “I wonder what she’s thinking about,” he remarked to Bess and George. “I hope it’s about my tickets.”
Ned left Nancy to her thoughts. “So? Did you find them yet?” he asked Bess and George. “Did Natalie help you solve the mystery of my missing tickets?”
“We never asked her where she got all those tickets,” George admitted. “We were about to when she started screaming, and then Nancy asked her some questions and then—” George pointed to Nancy. “And then Nancy started thinking.”
“Well,” Ned replied, “we’re wasting valuable festival time. Let’s ask Natalie now! If she stole my tickets, I want them back.” He looked over his shoulder to where Natalie was still sitting on the bench, surrounded by her friends.
Suddenly Nancy spoke up. The haze was gone from her eyes. She was clearly done thinking. “There’s no reason to ask Natalie where she got so many tickets,” she declared. “Natalie didn’t take Ned’s tickets.”
Nancy quickly drew a line through Natalie’s name as their last suspect.
“If Natalie didn’t take my tickets,” Ned cried, raising his hands in dismay, “who did?”
Deirdre, Suzie, and Natalie looked over when they heard Ned raise his voice.
“What do you mean if I didn’t take your tickets?” asked Natalie, clutching her bear, clearly mad. “I didn’t steal anyone’s tickets.”
“You sure have a lot of tickets—,” Bess began.
“And we saw you by the baseball booth right around the time Ned’s tickets disappeared,” added George.
“And we found a piece of Ned’s ticket right where you had been standing,” Bess put in.
“And we eliminated Deirdre and Suzie as suspects.” George took her turn. “Deirdre gets her tickets from her dad. Suzie gets her tickets from—you!” George pointed at Natalie.
“So where did you get your tickets from, Natalie?” Ned asked, putting his hands on his hips. “Are you sure you didn’t pick up mine and add them to your collection?”
“Hang on a second!” Nancy stepped between Ned and Natalie. She looked at Ned seriously. “We aren’t accusing anyone.”
Ned backed up a step. “I wasn’t accusing her. I was just asking politely where she got all those tickets.” He pointed at the large stack of tickets in Natalie’s hand.
“I got them from Mr. Evans,” Natalie declared.
“That name sounds familiar.” Bess squinted as she tried to place the name.
“Isn’t he the dad taking tickets at the Perfect Pitch baseball booth?” George asked.
“Yeah,” admitted Natalie. “I really wanted to win a bear at the festival, but I knew my parents wouldn’t buy me very many tickets. I needed to earn some money on my own.”
Ned sighed. “I know how that is. My arms still hurt from all those leaves I raked for extra festival money.”
Natalie sighed too. “My parents wouldn’t give me any extra allowance, so I asked around school if there were any chores I could do to earn some cash. I found out that Mr. Evans would pay me to help paint the arcade booth counters.” Natalie opened her hand, showing her tickets. “After school yesterday, I painted the red counter for the Perfect Pitch baseball booth and the blue top at the Dart Dare balloon pop.
“When we got to the festival tonight, I had the few tickets my parents gave me,” Natalie went on. “Then Deirdre and Suzie went with me to find Mr. Evans at the baseball booth. He gave me the tickets I had earned.” Natalie paused. “I handed a bunch to Suzie. And then Deirdre got some more tickets from her dad.”
“So it was a coincidence that Natalie, Deirdre, and Suzie were at the booth at the same time Ned was playing,” Bess said, considering Natalie’s story.
“It also explains why they all had more tickets when we saw them after the
roller coaster ride,” added George.
“Since there aren’t any more suspects, I suppose we’ll never find out what happened to my tickets,” Ned moaned. “I think I’ll just go home now.”
“Remember what I told you before?” Nancy asked him. “When we run out of suspects, we look for more clues.” She held up her notebook for everyone to see. All the names were crossed off the suspects list, but Nancy had added two new items under the clues column: String and Stuffing.
“Come on.” Nancy motioned to everyone to follow her. They went past the roller coaster, past the Tilt-A-Whirl, and stopped under the tree where Nancy had found the torn piece of Ned’s ticket.
“What do you hear?” Nancy asked, tipping her head and cupping her ear.
“A bird with a really bad voice,” said Ned with a laugh, and everyone agreed.
Nancy giggled as she pointed up at the big black crow, who was once again squawking along with the Best Buddies CD.
“Ned,” Nancy said, looking high into the tree, “there is your thief.”
“What?” Ned said, clearly not understanding.
Natalie, Deirdre, and Suzie looked puzzled.
Nancy explained how she had solved the mystery. “I just knew Natalie hadn’t stolen Ned’s tickets when I saw the hole in her bear,” she explained. “The missing stuffing reminded me that I had seen fluff in the crow’s beak. I went over all our clues, and it was obvious that the bird must have taken Ned’s tickets.”
“The scratch in the red paint!” Bess declared.
“And the torn half of a ticket was found under this very tree!” added George.
“Exactly.” Nancy pushed back a strand of her hair and placed her pencil behind her ear. “Then I thought about the string my dad said he’d cut up. His string was missing too.”
“I get it.” Natalie jumped into the conversation. “You think that the bird took Ned’s tickets off the Perfect Pitch countertop and left the scratch mark where her beak or claws hit the paint.”
“Why would some bird need my tickets?” asked Ned, peering up at the crow in the tree. “And some string, and some bear stuffing, too?”
“I think I know.” George asked Bess to give her a boost onto the lowest tree branch. She quickly shimmied up the tree. “It’s building a nest!” George declared before coming back down.
Nancy smiled.
“Right!” Ned said. “That black crow was going around the fair collecting the things it needed to build itself a home.” Ned put his arm around Nancy. “Thanks for figuring out the mystery, Clue Crew.”
“We’re glad to help,” Nancy said. “I only wish we could get you more festival tickets.”
“It’s okay.” Ned shrugged. “At first I felt bad about losing my tickets, but now I’m happy. That bird will have a new comfy nest thanks to my tickets. Its nest is way more important than me winning a prize bear.” Ned looked at Nancy, Bess, and George. “You girls haven’t played any games at the festival because you’ve been so busy solving my mystery. I’m going to go home.” Ned couldn’t stop smiling. “You should hurry up and play.”
Bess checked her watch. “The festival closes in half an hour.”
“We can split up our tickets and give you some, Ned,” George suggested. “We’re glad to share.”
“We’ll give you some too,” Suzie and Natalie offered.
“You don’t have to share your tickets,” Deirdre told all the girls. “I have loads of them.” She tore off twenty tickets and handed them to Ned. “Come find me if you run out.” Ned thanked Deirdre and took the tickets.
“Go have fun,” Deirdre said. Then she tore off a bunch more tickets and laid them on the ground under the tree. “These are for you, silly bird,” she called out. “You can use them for your nest.”
“I think the crow has plenty of tickets to build with,” George remarked. “Maybe we could leave it some money for singing lessons instead.”
Everyone laughed before rushing off to take advantage of the last few minutes of festival fun.
As they walked through the Fall Festival, Nancy linked arms with her two best friends. Bess was carrying the bear she’d won at the Perfect Pitch baseball booth, and George was carrying the bear she’d won at the Apple Attack apple bobbing.
“The festival is almost over and you didn’t win a bear, Nancy,” George remarked.
“That’s okay,” said Nancy. “I had a great time anyway. I love solving mysteries with the Clue Crew.”
The girls decided that they would ride the roller coaster again to get a final view of the whole festival. As their car sat on top of the first big hill, they saw Deirdre finally win a bear at the apple bobbing. Suzie captured another one at the Dart Dare. And Natalie was at the Perfect Pitch baseball booth, holding three new, perfect bears in her arms.
Their car zipped around the track, and when it stopped, Nancy got out first. Just then, Ned came rushing up to her at the exit. “Nancy, I’m so glad I found you.” He had his hands behind his back and was completely out of breath.
“Oh, no,” George and Bess groaned.
“Do you have another mystery for the Clue Crew to solve?” asked Nancy.
“No,” Ned replied. “Not this time. I came to give you this.” He brought his hands out from behind his back. He was holding a big white stuffed teddy bear.
Ned held it out to her. “Thank you, Nancy Drew, for solving my mystery.”
“Oh! You’re welcome, Ned.” Nancy took the bear from him, and Ned hurried away to ride the Tilt-A-Whirl before it closed.
“This was the best Fall Festival the school has ever had,” George exclaimed.
“We worked hard. Now I think we all deserve a snack.” Bess led the way to the cotton candy vendor.
Nancy hugged her new bear tight and said, “I think I’ll call him Sherlock.” She leaned in close and whispered into Sherlock’s ear, “I can’t wait for the Clue Crew’s next mystery adventure.”
A Carnival in Your Own Backyard!
You’ll Have a Ball!
Even if you don’t have a festival to go to, you can still have carnival fun at home. Creating a beanbag toss is both an exciting craft activity and a great game to play later with your friends. If you don’t have any beanbags, you can use Ping-Pong balls or any other type of plastic ball. They’ll bounce all over, so it’ll be just as fun but twice as crazy!
You Will Need:
Beanbags or small plastic balls (Make sure you have extras!)
Large cardboard box (It should be at least the size of a microwave.)
Paint
Markers
Toss It Together
First flip over the cardboard box so the bottom is facing up, and draw a small hole, a medium-size hole, and a large hole with a thick marker. The smallest hole should be a little larger than the bag or ball you’re going to use, and the others should be much wider. Ask an adult to help you cut them out. Now label the different holes by the amount of points you want each of them to be worth—the smaller the hole, the more points.
The rest is up to you. Decorate the box however you want with paint or markers. If you don’t have any ideas, try making a clown face with one hole as the mouth and the other two for ears, or ask your friends what ideas they have. You can even paint the balls, too, if an adult says it’s okay.
As soon as the paint dries, you’re ready to play! Set up a line for the players to stand behind when they toss, and give them each two bags to throw before the next player in line goes. Once everyone has had their turn, tally up the score. You can play as many rounds as you like, or make the game harder by moving the players farther away from the box each round.
If you’re like George, you might even use math to win!
Carolyn Keene, Ticket Trouble
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