Pony Problems (5 page)

Mrs. Fayne agreed to take the girls back to the petting zoo as long as she could take George's two-year-old brother Scott along.

“The petting zoo's the perfect place to bring Scott,” Mr. Johnson told her. “He's going to love it. And because of the trouble Buttons caused this morning, I'll give him a ride on the pony for free.”

“Your brother is a nut,” Nancy said to George. George laughed.

Little Scott was riding Buttons, clapping his
hands, totally excited to be on the back of the pony. Mrs. Fayne kept telling him to hold on, and Mr. Johnson repeatedly showed him how to hold on to the pony's long mane. They had gone outside the animal pen and were walking around a small track Mr. Johnson had made just beyond the barn.

The reporter was there. She was taking pictures of Scott on the pony. Nancy had overheard the reporter ask permission from Mrs. Fayne to take a few pictures for the article.

As soon as Scott's ride was over, Mr. Johnson came and introduced the girls to Sally Walton, the newspaper reporter. “Ms. Walton is going to write a nice long article,” Mr. Johnson told them.

“That's right,” Ms. Walton agreed. “Once I heard about Buttons and how he keeps escaping, well, I thought, this is a great story!” She told them that the article would be a whole page with pictures.

“Isn't that terrific?” Mr. Johnson asked, full of excitement. “After people read the article, everyone will want to come see Buttons. He'll be a celebrity. Finally, people will fill up my petting zoo!”

Mr. Johnson told Ms. Walton all about the Clue Crew and how they were helping to solve the mystery.

“I need to talk to Mr. Johnson for a few minutes,” Ms. Walton told them. “But will you girls hang around? If it's okay with your parents, I'd love to take some pictures of you for the paper and interview you for the article.”

“You bet!” Bess, George, and Nancy said at the exact same time. Mrs. Walton told the girls that their parents would have to fill out permission slips to print their pictures in the newspaper. She handed the forms out and asked the girls to have their parents fax the forms back to her later in the day.

“No problem,” Bess said, pocketing her form. George's mom could sign the paper now, since she had brought them to the petting zoo.

Nancy tucked her slip in her pocket too.

“While we're waiting,” George suggested, “let's look for more clues.”

They were searching around the animal pen for anything that seemed odd or out of place, when Bess stood up suddenly and slapped her hand against her thigh.

Hearing the noise, Nancy and George hurried over.

“Did you find a clue?” Nancy asked.

“No,” Bess responded. “But I've been thinking, and I've decided something important.” She paused. “Mr. Johnson is a suspect.”

Nancy opened her notebook and asked, “What gives you that idea, Bess?”

“Well.” Bess bit her lip as she thought. “What if Mr. Johnson is letting Buttons out on purpose? He said the petting zoo isn't doing enough business. I think maybe he let Buttons out so that he could call the newspaper and tell them Buttons is escaping.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “I bet the newspaper wouldn't come to see a regular pony. Having an escaping pony could be a good thing for Mr. Johnson and the petting zoo.”

Nancy turned to the page in her notebook where she had written a reminder about how there weren't many people at the petting zoo.
She looked around. It was a sunny Sunday and there still weren't very many people visiting.

“I think Bess might be right,” Nancy said at last. She wrote Mr. Johnson's name on the suspect list. “Mr. Johnson has the key to the pen's gate. He could be letting Buttons out on purpose.”

George scratched her head. “I'm not so sure. I don't think he likes Buttons roaming around town by himself. It's not safe. Plus, he asked us to help him solve the mystery. Suspects usually don't ask for help.”

“Good point,” Nancy agreed. “But I think we'd better keep him on the suspect list until we're sure.”

“Hey, check it out.” Bess suddenly pointed off in the distance. “There's Amanda Johnson.” Amanda was over at the pen fence, painting the blue rail this time. “Should we try to talk to her again?”

“Let's ask her if she knows about the red paint on Buttons's hoof,” George suggested.

When they reached Amanda, she was finished
painting the rail. There was a smudge of blue paint on her nose.

“Please talk to us,” Nancy said. “We want to be your friends.”

Amanda didn't say anything. She just gathered up her stuff and headed to the barn.

Not willing to give up, the girls walked with her and waited silently while Amanda put her painting supplies away.

As Amanda shut the barn door, George said, “Wouldn't you like to have some friends in River Heights?”

“No.” Amanda put her hands on her hips. “I don't want any friends in River Heights.” She looked seriously at Nancy, Bess, and George. “I have friends in Hailey Town. I don't like it here. I want to go back there.”

“You can talk!” Bess said, surprised. “Oops, I didn't mean to get so excited.” She stepped closer to Amanda and said in a soft voice, “I bet if you tried harder you might like River Heights. It's a really nice place.”

Tears welled up in Amanda's eyes. She backed away from Bess. “I'll never like it here. No matter what! I never had to paint the fence as a chore in Hailey Town!” She wiped her tears on the back of her hand. “If Buttons would just go away and stay away, no one would come to the petting zoo. Dad would have to sell the farm and we could go back home.” And before the girls could say anything to make Amanda feel better, she took off running toward the house.

The girls decided not to follow.

“This isn't going so well,” George told Nancy and Bess.

“She doesn't want to be our friend, and we forgot to ask her about the red paint.” Bess frowned.

Nancy took a breath and let it out slowly. “Can we be friends with a suspect?” she asked at last.

George squinted curiously at Nancy. “Why is she a suspect?”

Nancy took out her purple notebook and
flipped through the pages. When she found the suspects column, she answered, “Amanda wishes Buttons would go away forever. She knows how important Buttons is to the petting zoo. Maybe she thinks they can move back to Hailey Town if he disappears.”

“You think she's letting Buttons out, hoping he'll never come back?” Bess was shocked. “Amanda doesn't seem that mean.”

Nancy shrugged. “Maybe she just
really
wants to move back to Hailey Town.”

“Amanda could easily get the key to the animal pen off the hook,” George added.

Nancy let her eyes drift toward the house. She could now see Amanda on the front porch steps at her house. “I can't believe we already have three suspects. We're getting really close to solving this mystery!”

Ms. Walton called the girls together just inside the petting zoo gate. “I have a few questions to ask you,” she said. “When did you decide to investigate this mystery?”

Nancy had begun to answer when George's brother Scott ran past. He was chasing a sheep, which was doing its best to run away. Scott and the sheep went around Nancy twice. Then Scott took a shortcut—right between Nancy's legs!

“Oof,” Nancy grunted as she stumbled backward in surprise. George caught her just before she hit the ground.

“Sorry,” George apologized for her brother. “Scott can be such a maniac sometimes.”

“It's okay,” Nancy began, “I'm used to tripping, stumbling, bumping into stuff, and falling.” She glanced over her shoulder at Scott. “Thanks for catching me, George.” Nancy moved her legs closer together so there wasn't any room between them, in case Scott came running by again.

Out of the corner of her eye, George could see that Scott had given up on the sheep and was now chasing a goat. “Poor goat.” George shook her head.

The girls laughed.

“Now then,” Ms. Walton got back on track. “Tell me how you heard about the pony popping up in town.”

“Well,” Bess began this time. “We all heard about Ms. Waters”—Bess began to giggle—“and how she ran down the street in her nightgown.” Her eyes began to water, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She was trying to hold back her laughter. “She was chasing—” It was no use. Bess started laughing so hard, she snorted.

George took over the story. “Then, on Saturday, Buttons came to Nancy's house.” George would have said more, but Scott hurried by. He was quacking like a duck and pretending to fly. “Mom!” George called to Mrs. Fayne. “Make him stop.”

“He's just playing,” Mrs. Fayne replied. “He's not I hurting anyone.”

“He almost hurt Nancy,” George complained.

“But I'm okay,” Nancy put in.

Mrs. Fayne went over to Scott and told him to calm down.

“I'm a duck,” Scott replied. “I live at the zoo.” He pointed at the pond and the birds.

“Those are chickens,” George told him. “Not ducks.”

“Quack,” Scott said. “Quack. Quack.” He was flapping his arms again. He climbed up on a bale of hay and leaped off. “Quack,” he repeated as he landed in the soft hay on the petting zoo floor. He climbed back up to do it again. “Now I'm a goat,” Scott announced, making a
maa
sound.