The Mysterious Footprint
“The Frisbee landed under one of those bushes,” Jason said. “When I went to get it, I found something totally amazing.”
Mike kneeled in front of a bush. He brushed aside some branches and pointed to a fiat rock on the ground. “Is that awesome or what?” he asked.
Nancy looked down. In the rock was an outline of a footprint. A giant footprint!
Nancy couldn't stop staring. The footprint was about two feet long and eight inches wide. It had three pointy toes.
“What do you think it is?” she asked. “Some kind of bear?”
“Du-uh!” Jason said. “It's a dinosaur!”
The Nancy Drew Notebooks
# 1 The Slumber Party Secrets #21 Princess on Parade
# 2 The Lost Locket #22 The Clue in the Glue
# 3 The Secret Santa #23 Alien in the Classroom
#4 Bad Day for Ballet #24 The Hidden Treasures
# 5 The Soccer Shoe Clue #25 Dare at the Fair
# 6 The Ice Cream Scoop # 26 The Lucky Horseshoes
# 7 Trouble at Camp Treehouse #27 Trouble Takes the Cake
# 8 The Best Detective #28 Thrill on the Hill
# 9 The Thanksgiving Surprise #29 Lights! Camera! Clues!
#10 Not Nice on Ice #30 It's No Joke!
#11 The Pen Pal Puzzle #31 The Fine-Feathered Mystery
#12 The Puppy Problem #32 The Black Velvet Mystery
#13 The Wedding Gift Goof #33 The Gumdrop Ghost
#14 The Funny Face Fight #34 Trash or Treasure?
#15 The Crazy Key Clue #35 Third-Grade Reporter
#16 The Ski Slope Mystery #36 The Make-Believe Mystery
#17 Whose Pet Is Best? #37 Dude Ranch Detective
#18 The Stolen Unicorn #38 Candy Is Dandy
#19 The Lemonade Raid #39 The Chinese New Year Mystery
#20 Hannah's Secret #40 Dinosaur Alert!
Available from MINSTREL Books
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.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original
A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster,Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Visit us at www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2001 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
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of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-2772-2
ISBN-10: 0-7434-2772-6
First Minstrel Books printing February 2001
NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS,
A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
PHX/
Dinosaur Alert!
1
Mystery Message
I wonder who invented pizza,” eight-year-old Nancy Drew said on the lunch line. It was Tuesday — and Tuesday was pizza day at Carl Sandburg Elementary School.
“Probably the same person who invented the bicycle,” Nancy's best friend George Fayne said.
Bess Marvin looked puzzled. She was George's cousin and Nancy's other best friend. “The bicycle?” she asked. “Why?”
“So he could deliver!” George joked.
Nancy giggled and pushed her tray along the metal ledge. Just then a boy from the first grade rushed over.
“Are you Nancy Drew?” he asked.
“That's me,” Nancy replied.
“Cool.” The boy tossed a note on Nancy's tray. “Jason Hutchings told me to give you this note. He said read it. Then destroy it.”
Nancy rolled her eyes. Jason and his friends Mike Minelli and David Berger were the biggest pests in their third-grade class. They were always making trouble for Nancy, Bess, and George.
The boy smiled mischievously. “Is it a love note?” he snickered.
“Ewwww!” Bess cried.
“Go away!” George told the boy.
The boy ran to the back of the lunch line. Nancy reached for the note, but George grabbed her hand.
“Don't touch it, Nancy!” George cried. Her dark eyes flashed. “The boys might have stuck a wad of gum inside. Or worse!”
“I can't just ignore it,” Nancy said. “Even if it is from the boys.”
“Why not?” Bess asked.
“Because I'm a detective,” Nancy said. “And a good detective always investigates everything.”
Bess and George both nodded.
Nancy was the best detective at school. She even had a blue detective notebook where she wrote all her clues.
Nancy unfolded the note and began to read out it loud: “'Meet us in back of the school during recess. Come alone.' Signed, 'Jason, David, and Mike.'”
What's in back of the school? Nancy wondered. And why do I have to come alone?
“You're not going, are you, Nancy?” Bess asked. Her blue eyes were flashing.
“The boys will probably throw Squirmy Wormies in your hair,” George said.
Nancy shuddered. Squirmy Wormies were sticky toy worms that the boys liked to throw against the walls — and on girls.
Nancy stuck out her chin. “I'm not afraid of Jason, David, and Mike,” she said. “Besides —”
“— A good detective investigates everything,” Bess and George said at the same time.
“Next!” Mrs. Carmichael, the lunch lady, called out.
“That's us!” George said excitedly.
The girls quickly slid their trays up to Mrs. Carmichael.
“Three slices of pizza, coming up,” Mrs. Carmichael said. She was wearing her usual hairnet and a uniform with her name, Enid, stitched over the front pocket.
“And three fruit salads, too,” Bess said She twirled her blond ponytail.
George nudged her cousin.
“Please,” Bess added.
“Sorry, girls,” Mrs. Carmichael said. “No fruit salad today.”
“But I said please,” Bess said.
Mrs. Carmichael smiled. “I'm saving all the fruit for Friday. That's the day of the Carl Sandburg Reunion Breakfast.”
“What's a reunion?” George asked.
“It's a party for people who used to go to this school,” Mrs. Carmichael explained. “People like me and Alice Stone, the reporter. You remember her, don't you?”
Nancy nodded. Then she tried to imag ine Mrs. Carmichael as a third grader. What was her favorite subject? Did she eat pizza on Tuesdays, too?
“I'm in charge of the refreshments,” Mrs. Carmichael added. “I'm cooking French toast and scrambled eggs. And I'm spelling out Carl Sandburg with fish sticks.”
“We want pizza! We want pizza!” some kids called from the lunch line.
Mrs. Carmichael handed Nancy, Bess, and George three slices and three banana puddings. Then the girls carried their trays to the rows of tables.
Nancy saw Jason, David, and Mike at their usual table by the window. They were staring at Nancy and whispering.
They're definitely up to something, Nancy thought. But what?
All through lunch Nancy couldn't think of anything but the mysterious note.
When it was time for recess Bess and George wished Nancy luck. She walked around the school to the back. Alone.
“Jason?” Nancy called. She stood in the grassy yard surrounded by bushes and a chain fence.
“David? Mike?”
No answer.
&
nbsp; Oh, well, Nancy thought. Maybe Bess and George were right. Maybe it was just —
“Yo!”
Nancy's reddish blond hair bounced as she spun around. The boys were standing right behind her.
“Did we scare you?” Jason asked.
“You surprised me,” Nancy corrected him. “Now, what is this all about?”
“First you have to promise not to tell anyone,” Mike said.
Nancy rolled her eyes. “I can't promise until I know what I'm promising.”
The boys nodded at one another. Then Jason began to speak' “Yesterday after school we were playing with my new electronic supersonic Frisbee. I threw it really hard and David missed it.”
“Did not!” David said. “It was Mike.”
“Nuh-uh!” Mike said.
“Whatever!” Jason snapped. “The Frisbee landed under one of those bushes.”
Nancy glanced at the bushes in front of the fence.
“When I went to get it,” Jason went on, “I found something totally amazing.”
“Check it out,” Mike said.
Nancy followed the boys. Mike kneeled in front of a bush. He brushed aside some branches and pointed to a fiat rock on the ground. “Is that awesome or what?” he asked.
Nancy looked down. In the rock was an outline of a footprint. A giant footprint!
Nancy couldn't stop staring. The footprint was about two feet long and eight inches wide. It had three pointy toes.
“What do you think it is?” she asked. “Some kind of . . . bear?”
The boys laughed.
“Du-uh,” Jason said. “It's a dinosaur!”
“A what?” Nancy cried. She had learned about dinosaurs in school. They had lived on earth millions of years ago. They were extinct.
“A dinosaur,” Mike said. He began to spell. “D-i-n-o-s-o-r-e.”
“That's not how you spell dinosaur,” Nancy said. “And there were no dinosaurs in River Heights.”
“How do you know?” David demanded.
“They've never found any dinosaur fossils in town,” Nancy said.
“Until now,” Mike said.
“This is a real dinosaur fossil,” Jason said proudly. “And we found it.”
“And when people find out that we found it — we'll be famous,” David said.
Nancy didn't really believe the footprint was a dinosaur's. There had to be some kind of explanation.
“Why don't you show it to someone at the River Heights Museum?” she suggested.
“No way!” Jason exclaimed. “We want to make sure it's a dinosaur footprint before we show it to anyone.”
“How are you going to do that?” Nancy asked.
“We won't,” Jason said with a grin. “But you will!”
2
An Awesome Offer
Me?” Nancy cried. “You want me to prove that it's a dinosaur footprint?”
“You are the school's best detective,” Mike said in a sneering voice. “Detectives always study footprints.”
“Not giant footprints with three toes!” Nancy exclaimed. She turned to walk away. “Sorry. I can't help you.”
Jason cleared his throat. “You will . . . when you hear our offer.”
“Offer?” Nancy stopped walking. “What offer?”
Jason gave a sly smile. “If you investigate this footprint and prove it's a dino saur's, we'll never bother you again,” he explained.
Nancy couldn't believe her ears.
She had always wished that the boys would stop being such pests. Was her wish about to come true?
“No spitballs?” Nancy asked slowly.
The boys shook their heads.
“No straws up your nose during lunch?” Nancy asked. “Or gross noises?”
The boys shook their heads again.
Nancy took a deep breath. “No . . . Squirmy Wormies?” she asked.
David looked disappointed. “Aw, maybe just one or two —”
Jason nudged David. “No Squirmy Wormies. You have our word.”
Nancy was delighted. But there was still one thing she had to know.
“Will you stop teasing Bess and George, too?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, come on!” Mike shouted.
Nancy folded her arms across her chest. “Well?” she asked. “Will you?”
“Yeah, yeah,” David sighed.
Nancy gave a little jump.
Wait until I tell Bess and George, she thought. They'll be so psyched!
“Okay,” Nancy said. “I'll investigate the footprint”
Mike held his hand up like a school crossing guard. “Not so fast,” he said. “You first have to promise not to tell anyone. Especially Bess and George.”
Nancy stared at the boys. “How can I work on a case without my best friends?” she asked. “We're a team.”
Jason waved his hand. “Team shmeam,” he said. “Is it a deal, or not?”
Nancy gave it a thought. If the boys kept their promise it would be great for her and her friends. Besides, Nancy loved solving mysteries more than anything.
“It's a deal, she said. But since my friends can't help me, you will.”
“How?” Jason asked.
“Lots of ways,” Nancy said. “I once saw a dinosaur special on TV. People looking for fossils were pouring dirt in bags so they could sift through it.”
“Boring!” Jason groaned.
“Then how about a trip after school to the River Heights Museum?” Nancy asked. “They have a real dinosaur skeleton from China. And lots of fossils, too.”
“Forget it,” Jason scoffed. “I have a better idea.”
“What?” Nancy asked.
Jason's eyes lit up. “Primeval Pests from the Prehistoric is playing at the River Heights Cinema at four o'clock.”
“It's about dinosaurs,” Mike said.
“A movie?” Nancy asked. “You want to see a movie instead of going to a museum?”
Jason nodded. “Who needs a bunch of bones when you can see the real thing?”
Nancy gulped when she thought of going to the movies with Jason, David, and Mike. But a deal was a deal.
“Okay,” she sighed. “I'll meet you at the movie house at three forty-five.”
Jason turned to his friends. “After Nancy proves it's a real dinosaur footprint, they'll make a movie about us!”
The boys gave one another high-fives. Then they ran back to the playground.
Nancy stayed near the footprint. She pulled her blue notebook out of her jacket pocket. Turning to a fresh page she wrote the words “Prehistoric or Phony?”
Underneath Nancy drew two columns. One she labeled “Dinosaur.” The other she labeled “Not a Dinosaur.” In the end, the column with the most clues would prove if the footprint was real — or fake.
Nancy turned the page and sketched the footprint as best as she could.
The hardest part will be keeping it a secret from Bess and George, Nancy thought as she shut her notebook.
She ran back to the schoolyard and found Bess and George waiting for her.
“What happened?” Bess asked.
“Tell us everything,” George said.
“Everything?” Nancy squeaked. She wanted to tell Bess and George about the footprint, but she couldn't.
“Um,” Nancy said. “The boys found something under some bushes.”
“I'll bet it was something gross,” George said. “Like a squished bug.”
“It was flat,” Nancy said. She quickly tried to change the subject. “Let's go on the swings.”
“Okay,” George said. The three girls hurried toward the swing set.
“I have an idea,” Bess said as they ran. “Why don't we do something fun after school today.”
Nancy was about to agree when she remembered the movie. “I can't,” she said. “I have to . . . do something.”
“What?” Bess asked.
Nancy stopped running. If she told her friends about the movie, she'd have to tell them all about the dinosaur cas
e.
“I have to study for a quiz,” Nancy said quickly. “Spelling.”
“But Mrs. Reynolds isn't giving us a spelling quiz tomorrow,” George said.
“She will someday.” Nancy shrugged. “I want to be prepared.”
George gave Nancy a funny look. The look said that she didn't really believe her.
This is the pits! Nancy thought. But when the boys stop bugging us, it will be worth it.
* * *
“Hannah?” Nancy asked in the car after school. “Were dinosaurs ever here in River Heights?”
Hannah Gruen, the Drews' housekeeper laughed as she steered the wheel. “I know I've been your housekeeper since you were three, Nancy,” she said. “But I'm not that old!”
Nancy giggled. “I know, Hannah,” she said. “It's just a question.”
“Fair enough,” Hannah said She stopped at a red light. “I suppose there may have been dinosaurs here. But I'm sure glad I wasn't around to see them!”
The light changed, and Hannah drove into the cinema parking lot. After buying Nancy's ticket, she kissed her on the cheek. “I'll pick you up after the movie,” she said. “In the meantime, have fun.”
Nancy forced a smile. No way was she going to have fun with the boys!
“Prehistoric Pests,” the ticket taker told Nancy. “That's in Theater Four.”
“Thank you,” Nancy said. She took her ticket stub and walked to the snack stand, where she bought a small bag of popcorn.
“Nan-cy!” Jason's voice called out.
Nancy turned around. The boys were standing in front of the video games. They were holding jumbo popcorns, Panda bars, and boxes of Gooey Chewies.
Nancy walked over to them and frowned. “You're going to eat all that?”
“Nah,” Mike said. He smiled slyly. “Just whatever we don't throw.”
David tossed a popcorn at Mike. Mike tossed one back. Then the three boys began chasing one another through the lobby.
“Stop!” Nancy shouted. She began chasing them. “We're not here to play — we're here to study dinosaurs!”
The boys scooted around a corner. But when Nancy turned the corner —