The Lucky Horseshoes

  Mrs. Oshida was the assistant principal. She walked by the girls’ table and stood in front of the room.

  “Attention, please!” Mrs. Oshida called. “I’d like to ask all of the students who won class spelling bees this morning to come to the front of the lunchroom.”

  Nancy smiled at Bess. “That’s you!”

  Bess put down the apple she was eating. Then she walked to the front of the cafeteria. She was joined by the other winners.

  “Look,” Nancy said to George. “Jackie is up there, too.”

  “Maybe just being around horseshoes was lucky for her,” George said.

  Nancy shook her head and laughed. She knew George was just joking.

  “I want to thank everyone for taking part in the spelling bees this morning,” Mrs. Oshida said. “Let’s have a round of applause for our winners!”

  George and Nancy clapped hard.

  Bess was grinning.

  Nancy glanced around the lunchroom. Almost everyone was applauding. But Katie had her arms folded across her chest. She was frowning.

  Nancy liked Katie. She was sorry that Katie was disappointed about losing the spelling bee. But Nancy didn’t think Katie was being a good sport. And she wasn’t being fair to Bess.

  “The schoolwide bee is next Friday,” Mrs. Oshida announced. “That’s exactly one week away. Whoever wins will go on to represent our school in a citywide bee. After that there are state competitions and even a national competition in Washington, D.C.

  “Now I have some special gifts for today’s winners,” Mrs. Oshida said. She told the students that each of the winners would get a book called The Wonderful World of Words. She called out the names of the winners one at a time. She handed each one a book.

  “Bess Marvin will represent Mrs. Reynolds’s third-grade class,” Mrs. Oshida announced as Bess walked up.

  “Hurray!” Nancy and George called.

  Bess gave Mrs. Oshida a huge smile as she took her book. Then she hurried back to her seat.

  Mrs. Oshida continued to hand out books. “Jackie Taylor will represent Mrs. Costello’s fifth-grade class,” she said.

  Jackie stepped forward. But she didn’t look happy. She grabbed her book and ran back to her table.

  “What’s the matter with Jackie?” Nancy asked.

  “I think she might be crying,” Bess said. “She was standing near me, and I could hear her sniffling.”

  “Let’s find out,” George said.

  Nancy, George, and Bess got up and went over to Jackie’s table. Jackie’s face was wet with tears. Some of her friends were trying to cheer her up.

  “Jackie, what’s wrong?” George asked.

  “She’s upset because she won the spelling bee in our class,” one of Jackie’s friends explained.

  “Why?” Nancy was surprised.

  “I don’t want to be in the schoolwide bee!” Jackie exclaimed.

  4

  Stage Fright

  Why not?” Bess asked. “I think it sounds like fun. We get to stand on the stage. And everyone will be watching us.”

  “That’s the part I hate,” Jackie said. “I hate getting up in front of people. I almost threw up during the Thanksgiving play last year!”

  Nancy wished she could say something to make Jackie feel better.

  “I have an idea,” Bess said. “There’s something that helped me this morning.”

  Jackie looked a little more hopeful. “What?” she asked.

  “You should get a good-luck charm,” Bess suggested. “I never would have won without my horseshoe earrings.”

  Jackie looked thoughtful. “Maybe I’ll try that,” she said.

  Nancy felt like groaning. She didn’t believe the horseshoe earrings had helped Bess. And she didn’t think a good-luck charm would help Jackie, either.

  • • •

  Mr. Drew took Nancy shopping on Saturday afternoon. She got a book about horses and a pair of boots to wear for riding.

  Nancy wore her new boots to the stables on Monday.

  Mandy rushed over as soon as Nancy, Bess, and George walked into the stable. “I see you took my advice,” Mandy said.

  George groaned. “Mandy, you’re not the first person to wear boots. Lots of people wear them when they go riding.”

  “Nancy didn’t—not until I told her to,” Mandy said.

  George and Nancy looked at each other. Mandy’s bragging was getting to be too much.

  “I took your advice,” Bess told Mandy. “I got some horseshoes.”

  Mandy glanced at Bess’s earrings and wrinkled her nose. “You’re wearing earrings riding?”

  “Not just any earrings,” Bess said. “Lucky ones. I wore these during our class spelling bee, and I won! I’m never going to take them off. I want to be lucky every day.”

  George stared at Bess. “You’re never taking them off?”

  “Nope!” Bess grinned. “I don’t want to fall off Butterscotch.”

  “Oh, you couldn’t fall off Butterscotch,” Mandy said. “She’s a gentle pony. Not like Rebel.”

  “Maybe,” Bess said. “But I’ll feel much safer with my earrings on.”

  “Red told me he was going to teach you guys how to trot today,” Mandy said in her know-it-all voice. “Trotting is very bumpy. Your earrings will probably fall off and get lost in the mud.”

  “Do you really think so?” Bess asked.

  Mandy nodded. “Trust me. I know how to trot.”

  “Well, okay,” Bess said. “I’m going to go put them in my lunch box. Don’t let the class start without me.”

  Bess hurried into the tack room. She got back just as Red and Sue were leading the ponies out.

  Nancy thought that the second riding lesson was even more fun than the first. Red showed the class how to get the ponies moving in a trot.

  Nancy gently squeezed Cupid’s sides with her lower legs. The pony began to move faster. Cupid’s back also moved up and down. Nancy felt as if she were riding a wave.

  “Once you get the hang of trotting, it will feel just as smooth as walking,” Red called.

  Nancy looked over at Mandy. She wanted to see how a more experienced rider trotted. But Mandy was bouncing around in her saddle. She wasn’t smiling or laughing. Nancy thought she looked scared.

  At the end of the lesson, Red and Sue helped all the riders dismount.

  “Now we’re going to have a parade,” Red announced. “Each one of you can lead your pony back into the stable.”

  Sue checked to make sure everyone was holding the reins correctly. She reminded the class to stay on the ponies’ left sides. Then the parade began. Mandy went first because she had done it before.

  Nancy led Cupid into his stall. Then she went into the tack room with Bess and George. George’s mother had driven them to the stables that afternoon, so Nancy had to get her school things.

  “’Bye, Nancy,” Jackie said as she headed toward the exit.

  “’Bye!” Nancy called.

  Katie walked past, too. But she didn’t say goodbye to Bess or Nancy or George. Nancy thought Katie was acting silly.

  “Oh, no!” Bess yelled. She was staring into her lunch box.

  “What’s wrong?” Nancy asked.

  “My lucky earrings are gone!” Bess cried.

  5

  Two Suspects

  Nancy and George rushed over to Bess.

  “Do you think you could have dropped the earrings?” Nancy asked. “You were in a rush to get back out to the ring before the class started.”

  Bess shook her head. “No. I put them right inside my lunch box, and now they’re gone.”

  “Dad always tells me to retrace my steps when I lose something,” Nancy said. “So, let’s start with your lunch box.”

  Bess opened her lunch box wide. All that was inside was Bess’s thermos. Nancy peered inside the thermos. All she found were a few drops of milk.

  “Maybe the earrings fell out,” George said. She got down on her hands and knees and look
ed under the benches and cubbies.

  “Can you see them?” Bess asked.

  “No,” George said. She got up and brushed off her muddy hands and knees.

  “Where was your lunch box?” Nancy asked.

  “In that cubby.” Bess pointed.

  Nancy poked her head into the cubby Bess had used. She ran her hand along all of the cubby walls. She didn’t find anything. She checked all the other cubbies. They were empty, too.

  “Do you think someone took my earrings?” Bess asked.

  “Maybe,” Nancy said. She looked carefully on the ground in front of the cubbies. She noticed some of the footprints had squiggly lines in them. The squiggles looked like the letter S printed backward.

  “If your earrings were stolen, the thief might have made these footprints,” Nancy said.

  “Or we could have made them just now,” George pointed out.

  “We can check,” Nancy said. “Let’s all make footprints.”

  Bess, George, and Nancy pushed their shoes into the muddy floor. None of their footprints made squiggly lines.

  “So those footprints might belong to the person who stole my earrings,” Bess said.

  “Maybe,” Nancy said. “Lots of people come in and out of the tack room.” She took another look at the footprints. She wanted to remember what they looked like.

  “We’d better go outside,” George said. “I’ll bet my mom is waiting.”

  The girls walked out to the driveway. Mrs. Fayne hadn’t arrived yet. They sat on a stone wall to wait.

  “Don’t worry, Bess,” George said. “We’ll find your earrings.”

  “We’d better,” Bess said. “Otherwise, I’ll never do well in the spelling bee.”

  “That’s not true,” Nancy told Bess. “You won the spelling bee because you’re a good speller.”

  “I was a good speller last Friday,” Bess said. “But that was only because I had those earrings. I’m going to be a terrible speller in the schoolwide bee. You guys have to help me find them!”

  Nancy didn’t believe that Bess’s earrings were lucky. But Bess believed they were. Maybe someone else did, too.

  “If the earrings were stolen, someone in our riding class probably took them,” Nancy said. “I wonder who needs good luck.”

  “Someone who’s going to be in the spelling bee,” George said.

  “Jackie!” Bess exclaimed.

  Nancy frowned. “Why would Jackie steal your earrings?”

  “Well, she was worried about the spelling bee,” Bess said. “Maybe she couldn’t find another good-luck charm.”

  “Maybe . . .” Nancy said.

  “Or maybe Katie took the earrings,” George said.

  Bess and Nancy were quiet for a moment. Katie was their friend. Nancy didn’t like the idea that she would do something to hurt Bess.

  But Katie hadn’t been very nice ever since Bess had won the spelling bee. Maybe Katie was so angry that she took the earrings, Nancy thought.

  Mrs. Fayne still hadn’t arrived. So Nancy took her special blue notebook out of her book bag. She used the notebook to write down clues when she was solving a mystery. Then she took out a pen.

  George and Bess watched as Nancy opened to a fresh page. She wrote “The Case of the Missing Good-Luck Charm” at the top of the page. Under that she wrote one word: “Suspects.”

  “Put down Jackie’s name,” Bess said.

  “Okay,” Nancy said. “Even though I can’t believe she’s a thief.”

  “I think you should put down Katie, too,” George said.

  Nancy wrote down Katie’s name.

  “Now we have to list the clues,” George said.

  “How many do we have?” Bess asked.

  “Only one,” Nancy said. She skipped down a few lines and wrote “Clues.” She tapped the pencil eraser against her notebook for a few seconds. Then she wrote “Footprints with squiggly lines.”

  “Here comes Mom!” George exclaimed as the Fayne family’s car pulled into the drive.

  Nancy closed her notebook. I’ll think more about the case tonight, she told herself.

  • • •

  That evening Mr. Drew came into Nancy’s room. “Working on your homework, Pudding Pie?” he asked.

  “I already finished,” Nancy told him. “Now I’m trying to solve a mystery.”

  Mr. Drew sat on the edge of Nancy’s bed. “I know a little something about mysteries,” he said with a smile. “Tell me about it.”

  Nancy’s father was a lawyer, and he often helped Nancy with her cases.

  “Bess’s earrings are missing,” Nancy said. “We think someone may have taken them.”

  “What makes you think that?” Mr. Drew asked.

  “They disappeared in the middle of our riding class,” Nancy said. “Whoever took them might have wanted to keep Bess from winning the big spelling bee.”

  “What does the spelling bee have to do with the earrings?” Mr. Drew asked.

  “Bess thinks the earrings are lucky,” Nancy said. “She thinks she can’t win without them. I tried to tell her that’s silly. But she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Well, remember what I always say,” Mr. Drew said.

  “I know,” Nancy said. “Stay cool. Think clearly. And don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t worry, Daddy. I didn’t forget.”

  “That’s my girl,” Mr. Drew said as he smoothed Nancy’s reddish blond hair.

  “Good night, Daddy,” Nancy said as Mr. Drew closed the door behind him.

  • • •

  On Tuesday morning Nancy and her friends stopped at their cubbies to put away their lunches, jackets, and books.

  “We need more clues,” Nancy told Bess and George.

  “I have an idea,” George said. “Maybe one of the ponies ate Bess’s earrings. After all, they were in her lunch box.”

  “Ha, ha,” Bess said sadly. She pulled a piece of paper out of her cubby. “Where did this come from?” she said. She opened the paper and started to read.

  “Let’s look for clues again during our riding lesson on Thursday,” Nancy said.

  “I don’t think we have to wait until Thursday,” Bess said with excitement. She held up the paper. “Listen to this note. It says: ‘Drop out now, or you’ll be sorry’!”

  6

  The Faded Clue

  Can I see that?” Nancy asked Bess.

  Bess handed the note to Nancy.

  Nancy looked at the note carefully. She could tell it had been printed out from a computer. She noticed the type was faded on the left side of the page.

  “‘Drop out now,’” Nancy read. “I wonder what you’re supposed to drop out of.”

  “School?” George suggested.

  “No, silly!” Bess exclaimed. “The spelling bee.”

  “It must be the spelling bee,” Nancy said. “No one would want you to drop out of school.”

  “I think Katie wrote it,” George said. “She’s been acting very unfriendly. And she knows she’ll get to be in the spelling bee if Bess drops out.”

  “I wonder if Katie got a computer recently,” Nancy said. “This note was written on a computer.”

  “She wouldn’t need a computer of her own,” George said. “Besides, I can tell this note was printed right here at school,” she added.

  “How can you tell?” Nancy asked.

  “The type is all faded down the left side of the page. That’s how the printer at the computer lab prints,” George said.

  Nancy examined the note more carefully. “I think you’re right,” she said. “I wrote a letter to Aunt Eloise in computer lab last Thursday. When I printed it out, the page was faded just like this.”

  “But our classroom spelling bee was Friday,” Bess said. “We had computer lab on Thursday. How could Katie have written the note telling me to drop out if we had our spelling bee after our computer class?”

  “That’s true,” Nancy said. “And the computer lab is kept locked all the time. No one is allowed in except w
hen we have our classes.”

  Nancy felt relieved. She hadn’t wanted Katie to be guilty. But that meant they still had to find Bess’s earrings. And the schoolwide spelling bee was only three days away.

  “Let’s check out the computer lab after school today,” Nancy said. “I want to look at the schedule. Maybe it will give us a clue.”

  “If there’s a clue, we’ll find it,” George said.

  “I hope so,” Bess said with a frown. She pulled out The Wonderful World of Words from her cubby. “If we don’t find my lucky earrings soon, I’m going to have to spend the next three days studying this!”

  • • •

  At the end of school on Tuesday, Nancy, Bess, and George went down to the computer lab.

  Carl Sandburg Elementary School’s computer lab was in the basement. It was between the two kindergarten classrooms and across from the art room. Each class visited the lab once a week. The teachers kept a schedule on the door.

  The computer lab was locked. But the schedule was taped to the window.

  Nancy took out her blue notebook. “I want to write down each class that’s been in here since the spelling bee,” she said.

  George stood on her tiptoes so that she could read the schedule. “Mrs. Keller’s class was here on Friday morning,” she said. “They were here right before lunch.”

  “That’s one clue,” Nancy said. “If someone was in computer lab right before lunch, they wouldn’t have known that Bess won our class’s spelling bee. Mrs. Oshida didn’t announce the winners from all the classes until Friday at lunch.”

  Nancy made a note in her notebook. “Whoever wrote Bess that note might have done it in computer lab Friday afternoon or on Monday.”

  “You’re right!” George said. She looked at the schedule again. “Mrs. Beran’s class was here on Friday afternoon.”

  Nancy wrote that down in her notebook. “Are any of our suspects in Mrs. Beran’s class?”

  Bess thought for a moment. “No,” she said. “Mrs. Beran teaches sixth grade. I don’t think there were any sixth-graders at the stable yesterday.”

  “Which classes were here yesterday, on Monday?” Nancy asked George.