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Authors: Carolyn Keene

Pony Problems

BOOK: Pony Problems
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A pony on the front lawn? Impossible!

Saturday morning after breakfast, Nancy was getting dressed when she heard a strange sound outside her window. Looking out, she saw the cutest, shaggiest little pony standing on her front lawn! “It's Buttons!” she cried as she pulled her light blue T-shirt over her head and rushed down the stairs.

“Dad! Dad!” Nancy shouted from the front hall. “Come quick!”

Join the CLUE CREW & solve these other cases!

#1 Sleepover Sleuths

#2 Scream for Ice Cream

#3 Pony Problems

#4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery

#5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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.

ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Text copyright © 2006 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Macky Pamintuan

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW, and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

NANCY DREW is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Designed by Lisa Vega

The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Aladdin Paperbacks edition August 2006

10 9 8 7 6

Library of Congress Control Number 2005938146

ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-1815-8
ISBN-10: 1-4169-1815-9
eISBN: 978-1-439-10341-8

CONTENTS

C
HAPTER
O
NE:
   P
ETTING
P
ONIES

C
HAPTER
T
WO:
   P
ONY'S
P
ETUNIAS

C
HAPTER
T
HREE:
   N
ANCY'S
N
OTEBOOK

C
HAPTER
F
OUR:
   C
OLLECTING
C
LUES

C
HAPTER
F
IVE:
   P
AINTED
P
ONY

C
HAPTER
S
IX:
   S
O
M
ANY
S
USPECTS

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN:
   N
EW
N
EWS

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT:
   C
OOKES AND
C
LUES

C
HAPTER
N
INE:
   T
HINKING
T
HOUGHTS

C
HAPTER
T
EN:
   C
ASE
C
LOSED

“I can't believe you're having a turkey sandwich again today.” Eight-year-old Nancy Drew shook her head at her best friend Bess. The two girls were sitting together at a long white table in the River Heights Elementary School cafeteria.

“I like turkey,” Bess Marvin replied, slowly opening her brown bag and peeking in. “Hey!” Her blond hair swung into her face as she suddenly turned back to Nancy. “How'd you know I was having a turkey sandwich? My lunch bag was closed.” Bess pushed her hair out of her eyes.

Just then, Nancy's other best friend, Georgia
Fayne, showed up. George was also Bess's cousin. Even though they were all in the same class, George had stopped to turn in an extra credit math assignment before coming to lunch.

George plopped down on the bench across from Nancy and Bess. She dropped her lunch box on the table. “Nancy probably just guessed,” George said, pinning one brown eye on Bess. “I mean, you've had a turkey sandwich every day this week. Since it's Friday, it's easy to guess that you'd have it again today.”

“Nancy never guesses,” Bess reminded George. “She uses clues to figure stuff out.” The girls turned to look at Nancy, who simply smiled.

“It doesn't take a detective to solve this mystery,” Nancy remarked. “Bess is the only one I know who likes ketchup on her turkey sandwich.” Pointing at the bottom of Bess's lunch bag, Nancy showed Bess the light red stain on the brown paper. “Your mom must have gotten a little ketchup on the bag when she was making your lunch.”

Bess turned the bag to look. “I love ketchup so much. Maybe when I finish the sandwich, I'll eat the bag.” The girls laughed.

Nancy winked. “The case of Bess's lunch is now closed,” she said with a shrug.

“Not much of a mystery,” George commented. “Wouldn't it be great if we had a real case to solve?”

Nancy Drew and her friends loved to solve mysteries. They called themselves the Clue Crew and had a detective headquarters in Nancy's bedroom. Working together, the girls had already solved a couple of good cases and were ready to jump into a new investigation. If only something interesting would happen …

“It would be fun to solve another mystery,” Nancy agreed. She opened her own lunch box and took out some peanut butter crackers. “But it seems like it's going to be a quiet weekend.
Do you both want to come over tomorrow morning?” she asked her friends. “My dad said he'd take us to fly kites in the park, if you want.”

“Sounds good,” George said, before eating a spoonful of her yogurt. “Maybe I'll do an Internet search to check out which way the wind will be blowing in River Heights tomorrow.” George liked computers and was always sharing interesting facts with her friends.

Bess rolled her eyes. “I bet I can find the same information on my new wireless radio. I built it from old parts I found in that junk shop on East Town Road. My mom took me there last week.” Bess loved gadgets. Her hobby was building new stuff out of old pieces.

“It really doesn't matter which way the wind is blowing,” Nancy cut in before the cousins began to argue over which was a better weather checker—the Internet or the radio. “Just bring your kites and be there at nine o'clock.”

While they were having dessert, Bess asked, “Did you hear about the brown and white
speckled pony Ms. Waters found in her garden yesterday?”

George's short brown hair bobbed up and down when she laughed. “My mom said she saw Ms. Waters running down the street in her nightgown, waving her arms and shouting about how the pony was eating her flowers.”

“The whole idea cracks me up!” Bess exclaimed. “I mean, she's the librarian. She's always saying ‘shhh' and telling us to be quiet. It's hard to imagine her running down the street screaming. My ribs hurt from laughing every time I think about it.”

“Ms. Waters sure does love her garden.” Nancy giggled. She tucked a strand of her shoulder-length reddish hair behind her ear. “I heard that the day before yesterday, Mr. Geffington found the same pony standing outside the post office. It was eating a bush,” Nancy added. She took a sip of milk. “And before that, on Tuesday, the pony was discovered at the movies.”

“Was it eating popcorn?” George snickered at
the thought of the pony having a snack.

“Nah,” Bess put in. “It was munching leaves off that big sycamore tree in front of the theater.”

“That's one hungry pony,” George commented. “Does anyone know who it belongs to?” George's eyes lit up as she considered that there might be a mystery to solve.

“Buttons is Mr. Johnson's Shetland pony,” a voice said from behind Nancy. The girls turned to see Stacy Quinn headed their way. Stacy was in Mrs. Bailey's third-grade class at River Heights Elementary. Stacy's long brown hair swung as she walked. “I couldn't help but overhear,” Stacy continued as she sat down with the three friends at the lunch table. “You guys are talking pretty loudly.”

BOOK: Pony Problems
10.33Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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