The girls were quiet. Then Nancy sighed. “Friends make mistakes,” she said. “And you felt bad for what you did and tried to make it up to us. And you apologized. Of course we’ll be your friends.”
“I want to apologize to Lisa and Mrs. Thorton, too,” Katharine said.
“Maybe you should start by forgiving yourself a little,” a voice said.
The girls all turned. There was Mrs. Rhodes, standing there, her arms folded.
“Mom!” said Katharine. “I can explain!”
Mrs. Rhodes shook her head. “What you did may have been an accident, Katharine, but not telling the truth about it at first wasn’t right. I’m glad that you are apologizing.”
“I’ll do anything to make things right,” Katharine said.
“What else do you think you should do?” Mrs. Rhodes gently asked.
Katharine was quiet for a moment and then her face lit up. “I know!” she said. “I’ve been saving these glittery Popsicle sticks. I was going to make my own castle out of them.” Katharine turned to the girls. “I want you to have them.”
“Are you sure?” Nancy asked.
“I’ve never been more sure,” said Katharine. “I have them in the back of the store.”
Katharine ran to the back and returned with her hands full of the most beautiful Popsicle sticks Nancy had ever seen. They were sparkled with red and blue swirls.
“Oh, thank you!” Nancy cried.
“That’s a very nice thing you just did, Katharine,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “I’ve been thinking, though. Maybe what I’ve been doing isn’t right, either. Maybe next year, you can enter the contest.”
“But how can I do that?” Katharine said. “Peppermint Park gives out the prize. It won’t be fair if I enter.”
“Well, maybe Peppermint Park is due for a break,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “Maybe the Leaning Tower of Pizza can offer all the pizza you can eat.”
Katharine smiled. “Really? You’d really do that?”
Katharine’s mother put her arm about her daughter. “I’d really do that.”
“I’m going to go find Lisa and Mrs. Thorton now,” said Katharine.
Nancy held up the beautiful Popsicle sticks. “And we really have to go to work,” she said. “The judging is this afternoon.”
• • •
The girls quickly finished putting up the Popsicle stick fence around their castle and then went home to change into sundresses. Mr. Drew and Hannah walked with the girls to the beach.
“Oh, look!” exclaimed Nancy. “They put up a little stage.”
“And rows of seats,” added George.
In front of all the sand castles was a small wooden platform. On top of the platform was a table with three shiny trophies that looked like golden sand shovels. There were three chairs and three people sitting in the chairs. “Those must be the judges,” said Mr. Drew.
“Let’s sit right up front,” Nancy said. “So we can see what’s going on. Maybe we can tell who the judges will choose just by the expressions on their faces.”
“You’re always looking for clues!” Mr. Drew laughed, ruffling Nancy’s hair.
They all sat down. Soon almost all the seats were filled. Everyone was so excited, Nancy could feel it in the air.
Mrs. Thorton stepped onto the stage. She was all dressed up in a short-sleeved dress with a big red flower on the collar. Beside her was Kurt Jeffers. “I hope Katharine and Lisa made up,” Bess said. She looked around. “I don’t see either one of them anywhere.”
“Let’s save them a seat,” Bess said.
Nancy looked around, too. She had never felt more nervous. Would they win?
“There go the judges,” Mr. Drew said. He pointed to three adults who were walking around the castles.
“Oh, I hope, I hope we win!” Bess moaned.
“There’s James,” Bess said, pointing to James who was holding a young girl’s hand. The little girl had hair as red as James’s. “That must be the little sister he was making the green sandbox for.”
“And there’s Katharine and Lisa,” Nancy said. She waved and the two girls came over.
“Mrs. Thorton was great!” Katharine exclaimed. “She said that my feeling bad was punishment enough. She’s not going to tell anyone!”
“Tell anyone what?” said Kurt Jeffers, suddenly appearing. “Is there a story somewhere that I need to hear?”
“Not that we know of,” said Nancy quickly.
“It doesn’t matter, because I have a real scoop!” said Kurt.
“You do?” Nancy said. She hoped he wasn’t going to say he was writing a story about Katharine causing all the trouble. She had apologized and that was enough for Nancy.
“Mrs. Thorton isn’t going to retire after all!” Kurt exclaimed. “She said that having everything turn out all right made her realize how much she loved this contest.”
“The judging will now begin!” called Mrs. Thorton.
Everyone stood along the beach watching the judges. They seemed to take forever. They stood in front of each castle. They crouched down and frowned. When the judges got to Nancy, Bess, and George’s castle, Nancy held her breath. Her father rubbed her shoulders. “Pudding Pie, your castle is wonderful,” he whispered. “And no matter whether you get a prize or not, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve won!”
Nancy looked over and saw Lara and Jane, in summer dresses, sitting way in the back. They looked really nervous, too.
The judges walked over to Mrs. Thorton and whispered something to her. She smiled and nodded. “We have our winners!” she announced.
Nancy held her father’s hand tightly.
“First prize—castle number eight! Lara and Jane!”
Nancy clapped hard.
“Their castle is great,” Bess admitted.
“Second prize—” said Mrs. Thorton. “Number nine! Nancy, Bess, and George!”
Nancy jumped up and down. Bess clapped her hands and hugged George. “We won second prize!” said Nancy.
“Hooray! Hooray!” cried Katharine.
“Yay!” shouted Lisa.
“Great work, girls!” said Mr. Drew.
“Third prize,” said Mrs. Thorton. “Number one! Ronald Tiger!” A small boy started cheering.
“Will the winners come forward and get their pictures taken?” said Mrs. Thorton.
“Will we ever!” said Bess. The girls walked forward and stood in a line on a small platform. Mrs. Thorton had one small gold trophy in the shape of a sand shovel. Printed on it was SECOND PRIZE ECHO LAKE SAND CASTLE CONTEST.
“Who gets it?” Bess whispered to Nancy.
“We’ll all share,” Nancy said firmly. “We can keep it one week at your house, one week at George’s, and then it’s my turn.”
“Say cheese!” cried Kurt Jeffers as he snapped pictures of the girls.
“Wait,” said Nancy to Kurt. “Can Lisa and Katharine get their pictures taken with us, too? They helped us so much. We couldn’t have done it without them!”
Katharine and Lisa smiled.
“Sure, why not?” Kurt said.
“Wait until we get home,” said George. “Brenda is going to be so jealous when she sees our pictures in the paper. Let’s bring an issue home.”
“No,” said Nancy. “Let’s bring an issue home so we can share it. Being jealous does nothing but cause trouble.”
Mr. Drew approached. “Let’s all go out for ice cream,” he said.
• • •
That night in the cottage, Nancy took out her notebook and wrote:
The sand castle case is over. And so is our vacation here. But I’ve learned one thing.
She crossed that out.
But I’ve learned TWO things from this case. One. It’s better to share than to be jealous about what you don’t have. And two. Sometimes you have to dig deep for clues. But the real buried treasure is in friendship!
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 August 2002
Copyright © 2002 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.
The text of this book was set in Excelsior.
NANCY DREW and THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2001097939
ISBN 0-7434-3767-5
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8073-5 (eBook)
The Sand Castle Mystery Page 4