Big Worry in Wonderland

  “Kyle is upstairs in his room,” she said. “I’m sure he’d love some company!”

  Nancy and Orson climbed the stairs to Kyle’s room. Kyle was sitting on his bed and playing an electronic game.

  “What’s up?” Kyle asked.

  “Hi, Kyle,” Nancy said. “We’re looking for Orson’s missing hat. Do you know where it is?”

  “In other words,” Orson sneered, “where did you stash it, Leddington?”

  Kyle stood up. “I didn’t steal your dumb hat!” he insisted.

  Orson pulled on the hypno-glasses. “Look into my eyes and tell me that,” he said. “Deep . . . deep . . . deep into my eyes!”

  “Orson!” Nancy complained. “Will you please get real?”

  But Kyle was staring at Orson’s goggles. His eyes were getting droopy.

  “I’m . . . getting . . . sleepy,” Kyle said.

  No way! Nancy thought. But then again, Orson’s fake ears seemed to work!

  “Okay, March Hare,” Orson said. “What did you do with my hat?”

  Kyle kept staring at the goggles. “March Hare,” he mumbled. “Hare . . . hare . . . ”

  Kyle jumped onto the bed. He began hopping up and down. “Boing! Boing! Boing!” he shouted.

  “What’s he doing?” Nancy asked as Kyle hopped around the room.

  “He’s hypnotized.” Orson shrugged. “And he thinks he’s a rabbit.”

  Nancy stared at Kyle. He was wiggling his nose like a rabbit too!

  “Can’t you de-hypnotize him?” Nancy cried as Kyle hopped past her.

  “We have to catch him first!” Orson said.

  Nancy and Orson chased Kyle around the room. All of a sudden Kyle stopped hopping. He pulled a Squishy, Squirty Head out of his pocket.

  “Made you look!” Kyle laughed as he squirted Orson and Nancy.

  “Aaahhhh!” Nancy and Orson yelled.

  Dripping wet, Nancy glared at Kyle. “You tricked us!” she scolded.

  “Sure,” Kyle chuckled. “You didn’t really think I fell for those dorky glasses, did you?”

  Orson stepped up to Kyle.

  “That’s my Squishy, Squirty Head!” he said. “I was so busy looking for my hat—I didn’t even know it was gone!”

  So! Nancy thought. Kyle took Orson’s Squishy, Squirty Head, not his hat!

  “When did you take it?” Orson demanded.

  “Last Thursday in the schoolyard,” Kyle shrugged. “When you were playing kickball I snatched it from your backpack.”

  “No wonder I saw you sneaking around Orson’s backpack!” Nancy told Kyle.

  “Great,” Orson groaned. He began stuffing his hypno-glasses in his spy kit. “That was my favorite Squishy, Squirty Head!”

  “Wait!” Kyle said. He pointed to Orson’s bag. “Is that a secret spy kit?”

  Orson nodded.

  “Does it come with the Secret Spy Vanishing Ink Pen?” Kyle asked excitedly.

  “Yeah,” Orson said. “But I gave it to Nancy to use on her case.”

  Nancy’s mouth dropped open. Orson’s pen had vanishing ink?

  “What?” Nancy cried. She opened her notebook and let out a gasp. The pages of her case were totally blank!

  Oh, no! Nancy thought. My Mystery of the Missing Hat—is missing!

  7

  The Last Straw

  Awesome!” Orson cheered. “The ink really does disappear.”

  Orson and Kyle gave each other a high five. But Nancy was mad.

  “You tricked me!” Nancy scolded Orson. “You gave me that pen on purpose!”

  “I just wanted to see if it worked,” Orson said. “I guess it does!”

  “How about a switch?” Kyle asked. “The pen for your Squishy, Squirty Head!”

  “Deal!” Orson said.

  The boys made the switch. Then Nancy and Orson left Kyle’s house.

  “You shouldn’t have given me that pen, Orson,” Nancy said angrily. “My detective notebook is important to me.”

  “So is my hat,” Orson said. “And you should have solved this case by now!”

  “Me?” Nancy cried. “What about teamwork?”

  “I know!” Orson groaned. “But if I don’t know my lines by Tuesday I’ll be the Sad Hatter.”

  Nancy was worried too. They had no more suspects. And time was running out.

  “We’ve got the whole afternoon to look for more clues,” Orson said. “So let’s go for it.”

  “Can’t,” Nancy said. “Hannah wants me to try on my Cheshire Cat costume.”

  “What?” Orson cried.

  Nancy tried to calm Orson down. “Tomorrow is Monday,” she said. “We can search the schoolyard and the auditorium for more clues—”

  “Tomorrow is too late!” Orson muttered. “We have to do something now!”

  As Orson stormed off, Nancy opened her notebook. She hoped that maybe the ink had reappeared.

  No such luck. The pages were still blank.

  “Bess and George would never do this,” Nancy said with a sigh. “Not in a million years.”

  Nancy walked straight home. After eating a chicken salad sandwich she tried on her Cheshire Cat costume.

  “All it needed was a tail,” Hannah asked. “What do you think?”

  Nancy wiggled the tail in front of the full-length mirror. It was the perfect touch to a perfect costume!

  “I love it!” Nancy exclaimed.

  Her puppy, Chocolate Chip, looked up at Nancy and wagged her tail.

  “Even Chip likes it,” Hannah said. “Why don’t you show your dad?”

  “Okay!” Nancy said happily.

  But on her way to the living room Nancy heard the doorbell. She climbed onto a step stool, and looked through the peephole.

  “Oh, great,” Nancy groaned. It was Orson Wong!

  “Open the door,” Orson urged. “I have something to help us with the case.”

  Nancy rolled her eyes. “Is it something from your spy kit again?”

  “No!” Orson said. “Something better!”

  Chocolate Chip ran over to Nancy. She began whining and scratching at the door.

  What does Orson have? Nancy wondered. She jumped off the stool and opened the door. “Stay, Chip,” Nancy told her dog. Then she stepped outside.

  “Cool cat costume,” Orson said.

  “Thanks,” Nancy said. “What do you want to show me?”

  Orson stuck two fingers into his mouth and gave a loud whistle. A basset hound with long, floppy ears ran out from under the picnic table.

  “Meet my neighbor’s dog, Hubert,” Orson explained. “Every detective needs a good scent hound.”

  “Why a scent hound?” Nancy cried.

  “To sniff out clues!” Orson answered.

  Hubert cocked his head as he looked at Nancy. Then he let out a long whine.

  “Uh-oh,” Orson gulped. “I don’t think Hubert likes cats.”

  “But I’m not really a—”

  Hubert barked. He kicked up his legs and began chasing Nancy around the yard!

  “Orson!” Nancy shouted as she and Hubert ran around the picnic table. “Call off your dog!”

  “He’s not my dog!” Orson shrugged.

  Nancy jumped up onto the picnic bench. But when she looked down she groaned. Hubert had her cat’s tail between his paws!

  “Look what that dog did!” Nancy complained. “He pulled off my tail!”

  Orson smiled as Hubert chewed up the fuzzy orange cat’s tail. “Hubert rules!” he exclaimed. “Think of what he’ll do when he finds the hat thief!”

  Nancy gritted her teeth. She felt her cheeks beginning to burn.

  “That does it!” Nancy snapped. “So far you’ve been nasty to our suspects. You played a mean trick on me. And you don’t even care that my costume is ruined!”

  “What’s your point?” Orson asked.

  “My point is,” Nancy said slowly. “I’m not working on this case anymore.”

  “You can’t drop this case!” Orson ga
sped. “We’re a team. You even wrote it in your notebook!”

  “It disappeared!” Nancy snapped. “Remember?”

  Orson heaved a big sigh. He grabbed Hubert’s leash and left the yard.

  Nancy picked up the shredded cat’s tail. She felt bad too. But not just because of the tail. She had never dropped a case before. Ever!

  • • •

  “What kind of detective am I?” Nancy asked Bess and George the next day. “Good detectives always stick to their cases.”

  The three friends carried their trays down the lunch line.

  “You are a good detective, Nancy!” Bess said. “The best!”

  “Thanks.” Nancy sighed. She slid her tray along the counter. “But I’ll never find the missing hat now.”

  George grabbed a container of milk and smiled. “Who says you won’t?” she asked. “All you need is the right team!”

  “Team?” Nancy asked.

  Bess nodded. “Me, you, and George!” Nancy smiled from ear to ear. Not only was she back on the case, she was back with her two best friends!

  “We’ll have to start from scratch,” Nancy said. “With new suspects and clues.”

  The girls inched their way down the lunch line. They smiled at a bulletin board covered with colorful collages.

  “There’s an ice-cream sundae made out of cotton and buttons!” Bess pointed out.

  “And a polka-dotted banana!” George giggled.

  Nancy glanced at the banana. Her eyes flew wide open. “Hey!” she said. “That looks like the same polka-dotted material from Orson’s hatband!”

  “Who made it?” George asked.

  Nancy peered at the name in the corner of the collage. “Omigosh!” she gasped. “It’s made by Lenny Wong!”

  8

  Nancy Takes a Bow

  Do you think Lonny and Lenny stole the hat?” Bess asked Nancy.

  “They were acting weird when Orson and I saw them the other day,” Nancy admitted. “But they weren’t near the hat when it disappeared.”

  “Yeah,” George agreed. “They were behind the bushes eating gummy worms.”

  “Let’s search the schoolyard after school,” Nancy suggested. “Maybe we can find more clues.”

  “Are you going to write the twins’ names in your notebook?” Bess asked.

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “But this time I’m using my own pen!”

  • • •

  At three o’clock the girls hurried to the schoolyard. Molly, Amara, and Emily invited them to jump rope but they had work to do.

  Nancy, Bess, and George ran to the tree where the hat was last seen. They searched the ground for clues.

  “Nothing!” Nancy sighed.

  “Maybe the hat wasn’t stolen,” George said slowly.

  “What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

  “Remember the wind that blew away Bess’s script?” George asked. “Maybe it blew Orson’s hat away too.”

  Nancy’s eyes lit up.

  “Good idea, George!” Nancy said. “But which way would the hat have blown?”

  “The wind blew my script over the bushes,” Bess pointed out.

  The girls squeezed through the bushes and walked around. There was no hat.

  Nancy looked closer. Carefully she parted a few bushes with her hands.

  That’s when Nancy found it. Stuck between two bushes was a bright red swatch of material.

  “It’s the same color as the hat’s brim,” Nancy said. “But where is the rest of the hat?”

  “I found something too!” George said. She held up two candy gummy worms. “Looks like Lonny and Lenny left a little trail!”

  “Busted!” a voice whispered.

  The girls whirled around. Lonny and Lenny were just ducking behind the bushes.

  “Hey!” George shouted.

  Nancy, Bess, and George looked over the bushes. The twins were running away.

  “Wait!” Nancy shouted. “We want to ask you something!”

  Nancy and her friends squeezed through the bushes. They began chasing the twins throughout the schoolyard.

  “Freeze!” Bess called. “Like a popsicle!”

  But Lonny and Lenny kept darting around swings, monkey bars, and seesaws. Then they tried to race through Molly and Amara’s jump rope. . . .

  “Help!” the twins shouted.

  Nancy stopped running. The twins were tangled in the twisted rope!

  “Now look what you did!” Emily snapped at the twins. “I was already up to ‘S my name is Susan’!”

  “Get us out of here!” Lonny cried.

  “We will,” Nancy said sternly, “when you tell us if you have Orson’s hat.”

  “Okay!” Lonny said. “The answer is yes—and no!”

  “What does that mean?” Nancy asked.

  “Remember when we found Bess’s script behind the bushes?” Lenny asked.

  “After you left we also found the hat,” Lenny added.

  “We knew it was Orson’s,” Lonny went on. “All we wanted to do was borrow it so we could pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

  “So we took the hat to Timmy’s house!” Lenny said. “But when we put his rabbit inside he kicked holes in the hat!”

  Lenny reached into his backpack. He pulled out a hat full of holes.

  “See?” Lenny said. “Swiss cheese!”

  Nancy stared at the tattered hat. “That’s Orson’s hat!” she gasped.

  “Why didn’t you tell Orson?” Bess asked the twins.

  “We were scared that he would pour oatmeal in our slippers!” Lenny shuddered. “He does that when he’s mad!”

  “So we hid it!” Lonny said. “Except when I needed it for my collage. It was torn anyway.”

  Amara and Molly rolled their eyes.

  “Three pests in one family!” Amara sighed. “How do you think that happened?”

  Lenny strained against the jump rope. “You’re not going to tell Orson, are you?” he asked Nancy.

  “It’s your job to tell him,” Nancy said. “And if you don’t, I’ll tell your mom that you were eating gummy worms after school!”

  “Oh, man!” the twins groaned.

  “Okay, that’s it,” Molly said. She started to untangle the twins. “We want our jump rope back.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George left the schoolyard and began walking home.

  “I’m happy we solved this case,” Nancy admitted. “But Orson still won’t be able to wear his hat.”

  “Which means he won’t remember his lines either.” Bess sighed. “Maybe the hat was magic!”

  The girls walked past Brenda Carlton’s house. Nancy saw Brenda jamming something into the trashcan.

  “Hi, Brenda,” Nancy said. “What are you throwing away?”

  “The hat I wore on Saturday!” Brenda answered. “It didn’t even win me first prize. Not even at my own party!”

  Brenda clanged the trash can shut. Then she stomped into her house.

  Nancy carefully reached into the trash can and pulled out the hat. Then she yanked off some of the daisies.

  “Look!” she said. “Underneath it really does look like Orson’s hat!”

  George plucked off the hatband. “Now it really looks like Orson’s hat!”

  “Let’s give this hat to Orson!” Nancy said. “He’ll know it’s not his real hat—but maybe he’ll give this one a chance.”

  Nancy carried the hat home. The next morning she brought the hat to school and into the auditorium.

  “My hat!” Orson cried. “You found my hat just in time!”

  Before Nancy could explain, Orson grabbed the hat. He plopped it onto his head and began babbling his lines.

  Nancy didn’t get it. Didn’t the twins tell Orson about his real hat?

  “The Mad Hatter is back!” Orson cheered. “And better than ever!”

  While Orson ran over to Mrs. Reynolds, Nancy turned to her friends.

  “Orson thinks I found his real hat!” Nancy said. “Which means the twins still didn??
?t tell him the truth.”

  “Let’s hope they don’t tell him until after the play on Friday!” George said.

  “Yeah.” Bess giggled. “Orson may be a pest, but he’s a pretty good Mad Hatter!”

  Nancy smiled to herself. The hat was never magic. Orson just thought it was!

  On Friday the curtain came up on Alice in Wonderland. George blew too many bubbles from her bubble pipe. And Kyle knocked over the teapot. But everyone remembered their lines. And Nancy didn’t forget to grin once!

  When the play was over, Mrs. Reynolds’ class joined hands and bowed. Other students and families cheered. Alice in Wonderland was a big hit!

  “I’m sad that the play is over,” Bess whispered as they kept on bowing.

  “Me too,” George whispered.

  “Me three!” Nancy giggled.

  But Nancy still had work to do. So that night she sat on her bed and opened her notebook. Then she began to write. . . .

  “Daddy gave me pink roses after the play. He also gave me advice that really clicked. A good detective doesn’t need gadgets and gizmos to solve a mystery. Just her eyes, her ears, and something else. Good friends like Bess and George. And that is something to grin about!”

  Case Closed!

  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.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition February 2003

  Copyright © 2003 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster

  Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  All rights reserved, including the right of

  reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2002109950

  ISBN 978-0-689-85428-6

  ISBN: 978-1-4391-1456-8 (eBook)