“I solved the mystery,” Nancy said. Then she told her friends what happened.
“How did you guess it was Bobby and not Mike or Sid?” George asked.
“The window was too high for Mike Minelli,” Nancy answered. “It was too small for Sid. Then I remembered something. Bobby heard Mike talk about putting salt in ice cream. That gave Bobby the idea. When I got to Sugar ’n’ Spice, I knew I was right.”
“How?” George asked.
“Bobby had marshmallow fudge smudges on his jeans,” Nancy explained. “Sid doesn’t use marshmallow fudge. Only plain fudge.”
“Wow!” Bess said. “You are the best!”
The girls entered the building with the other children. They put their sweaters, jackets, and backpacks in their cubbies.
“The good news is this,” Bess said. “The Double Dip won’t close.”
“But we don’t know what will happen to Sugar ’n’ Spice,” George added.
Nancy shook her head. “Not yet.”
Mike Minelli ran by. “Go team!” he called out. Then he stopped and asked, “What kind of ice cream does the Galactic Hero eat?” He answered the riddle himself. “Computer chip!” and burst out laughing. “Get it? The Galactic Hero is an android!”
Mike went into the classroom doubled over with laughter. The girls couldn’t help smiling.
“It’s nice to know he’s only gross and weird,” Bess said.
The school day began with math review and new math problems. Then there was reading aloud from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At ten-thirty Ms. Spencer asked the students to take out their food reports.
“Each team will tell us about its food,” she explained. “Then I’ll collect the written reports.”
Ms. Spencer’s eyes twinkled. “Shall we hear about ice cream first?” she asked.
“I scream for ice cream!” Jason said.
Everyone laughed and clapped. The ice cream team walked to the front of the room.
“You’re on,” Bess whispered to Nancy.
Nancy held up her chart and took a deep breath. “Here’s the scoop on ice cream.”
She didn’t get to say another word. The door swung open. Two people walked in.
“It’s Cathy Perez and Sid Alden,” George whispered. “And look what Sid has!”
Sid was carrying a large ice cream bucket. He put it on Ms. Spencer’s desk.
“Class,” Ms. Spencer said, “these are the owners of the Double Dip and Sugar ’n’ Spice. They’ve planned a surprise for you.”
Cathy laughed and said, “We gave the ice cream team lots of information. But we think their report needs some real ice cream.”
“We have some neighborhood news, too,” Sid said. “The Double Dip and Sugar ’n’ Spice are joining together. I’ll be making all the ice cream for the Double Dip. I’ll make my usual flavors—but get ready for some new ones.”
Cathy nodded. “In fact, get ready right now. To celebrate our partnership, we’ve already created something new. I hope you like it.”
Ms. Spencer passed out plastic dishes and spoons. Sid and Cathy scooped out ice cream. When they got to Nancy, they stopped for a minute.
“Thanks for your detective work,” Sid said. “You stopped a lot of trouble.”
“Sid and I had a long talk yesterday,” Cathy said. “We realized we could help each other by making one business. We’ll have the best ice cream in town—”
“In the prettiest restaurant,” Sid said. “But I’ll keep making the ice cream in my old shop. I’ll sell take-out there, too.”
Nancy was thrilled. “It’s perfect!” Then she asked, “What about Bobby?”
“He’ll have to pay for all the melted ice cream and the pineapple-papaya crush,” Sid said. “It will take him a long time to earn that money.”
“He understands how wrong he was,” Cathy added. “He’s learning the real way to help.”
“Now enjoy your ice cream,” Sid said.
Nancy looked in her bowl. She saw a scoop of pink ice cream with dark brown streaks. She tasted a spoonful.
“Fresh strawberry with fudge ripples. It’s my dream ice cream come true,” she said.
“My dream has come true, too,” Bess said. “Eating ice cream in class!”
“Yeah, this stuff is good,” Mike Minelli said. “Almost as good as pineapple–papaya crush. What’s it called?”
Sid and Cathy answered together. “Nancy’s Fudge Berry Clue!”
Nancy smiled and took out her blue notebook. She ate her ice cream slowly while she wrote.
I solved the mystery—and a lot of ice cream problems, too. Sid won’t lose his business. Cathy won’t lose hers. And we’ll all have the perfect ice cream place. But here’s the real scoop: I learned that you can’t ever help someone by hurting someone else. Case closed.
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Carolyn Keene, The Ice Cream Scoop
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