Nancy Clue Mysteries 1 - The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse (28 page)

Cherry turned off the highway and onto the Pleasantville exit. It had finally stopped raining. A few more minutes, and she would be home.

She arrived at the Aimless house just as two handsome young men were getting out of a taxi. It was her beloved twin Charley and his chum Johnny!

Suddenly, Cherry felt much gayer!

She hopped out of her car, ran to the boys and gave each a big hug. "Golly, it's good to see you both!" she cried. "Mother didn't tell me you were coming."

"Mother called after she spoke to you," Charley explained, his brown eyes dancing with delight. "I couldn't pass up a chance to see my favorite sister!"

"I'm your only sister," Cherry laughingly reminded him.

"But you're still my favorite," the handsome lad grinned. He took a manly set of leather luggage from the trunk of the cab and gave the driver a generous tip.

"Besides, since Johnny and I are decorators, well have that parade float finished in no time at all."

"We want to hear all about San Francisco," Johnny cut in.

"I've got so much to tell you!" Cherry cried, aching to tell someone about her adventures.

But before she could, they heard a shriek from the house. It was Mrs. Aimless, and she had spied Cherry's new hair-do!

Mrs. Aimless ran out the front door and stepped gingerly through the wet grass, taking care not to muddy her summer sandals. She was dressed in a charming summer shirtwaist, a checkered apron tied with a neat bow around her slender waist.

"You've cut off all your hair!" Mrs. Aimless wailed when she reached Cherry. "And Charley, you're here. I'm so glad to see you!" she cried.

"And Johnny, you're here too. What a surprise!" Mrs. Aimless cried upon spying Charley's chum. "I'm afraid the house is really in no shape for company," she worried aloud. "I haven't had time to touch the guest bedroom and there are no fresh guest towels."

Charley interrupted his mother with a big hug. "Now, Mother, there's nothing to worry about. Why, Johnny can sleep with me in my old bedroom."

Mrs. Aimless threw up her hands. "That would be such a relief!" she exclaimed. "Your father has been assembling paper poppies for his float in the guest room. There are hundreds of them in there! Oh, kids, there's so much work to be done! We've simply got to finish the float. Why, your father's reputation depends on it!"

Cherry explained to Johnny that the Aimless Realty float had been chosen to lead the parade.

"It's quite an honor here in Pleasantville," Mrs. Aimless chimed in. "Your father had been looking forward to it all year. And now this had to happen!" She took a clean hankie from the pocket of her apron and dabbed at her eyes.

Johnny and Charley filled her in on their plans to finish the float, and a big smile of relief crossed Mrs. Aimless's face. "Oh, I have the best children in the whole world!" she cried, hugging Cherry and Charley, and Johnny, too.

A bell rang out. "That's your father," Mrs. Aimless chuckled. "I got him a bell so he could ring when he wants something."

Nurse Cherry Aimless swung into action. "I'll just get the medical bag from my car and get started on this case," she declared.

"Your father is in a great deal of pain," Mrs. Aimless cautioned. "So don't be hurt if he's a little cross with you. Why, he was so grumpy earlier, he threw his lunch at me.

"And, Cherry, I found an old uniform from when you were a visiting nurse for Doctor Joe; you'd better put it on. There's no telling what your father will say when he sees you in slacks. And, if I were you, I'd put a cap over that haircut!"

Johnny winked at Cherry behind Mrs. Aimless' back. "I love your new look," he whispered. "Even if your mother doesn't."

Cherry grinned. Leave it to Johnny to say just the right thing! Johnny was always the first to compliment her on a new outfit or hair-do.

She gave him another hug. "You're just like the sister I never had!" she exclaimed.

"Cherry, your father's ringing!" Mrs. Aimless cried, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Cherry hurried inside. There would be time enough for talking later, but right now, she had a job to do!

"Golly, I'm tired!" Cherry complained in a good-natured way. She plopped onto the porch swing next to her mother and wriggled out of her summer sandals. She had just taken a walk to Tilly's Drugstore to pick up some magazines for her father, and the walk into town had wiped her out.

She looked cheery in her lemon-yellow summer shift, but she felt anything but!

"Father is so demanding! Why, he's like a child!" she complained to her mother.

Mrs. Aimless just chuckled and cast another row of her knitting. "Your father can be an awful crab apple, that's for sure!" she laughed. "Imagine the fuss he'd kick up if he got a monthly visitor like we do. Why, we'd never hear the end of it!"

Cherry felt her face grow warm. Why, her mother had never spoken this intimately to her before! Mrs. Aimless passed her daughter a cool glass of iced tea.

"Drink up, Cherry. You look peaked."

Cherry drank thirstily of the tasty mint tea. The last week had been exhausting. Besides caring for Mr. Aimless, there were meals to get and beds to make. Thank goodness Charley and Johnny had taken full charge of the float. They were secreted out in the garage and refused to allow Cherry or Mrs. Aimless anywhere near there until the day of the unveiling!

All they would say was that it was going to be the talk of the town!

Johnny and Charley came out of the garage, their hair full of sawdust and their jeans splattered with paint. "What are you boys doing in there?" Mrs. Aimless asked.

Johnny and Charley just smiled in that secretive way they had. "You'll just have to wait until the parade tomorrow!" Charley grinned. They disappeared into the kitchen. Cherry could hear their shrieks of delight when they discovered the chocolate cake cooling on the windowsill.

"That Johnny is such a nice boy, Cherry. Don't you think?" Mrs. Aimless asked. But Cherry's mind was miles away.

"I think I'll take another walk, Mother," she said, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but there. But before she could slip on her sandals, her father rang.

Mrs. Aimless sighed and put down her knitting. "I'll get that, dear," she said to her exhausted daughter. "You just sit here and rest." She fished a letter from her skirt pocket. "This came for you while you were in town," she said, handing Cherry a perfumed envelope.

Cherry sniffed deeply. "Ah! White Shoulders! It must be from Nancy!"

She waited until her mother left to open the letter. Her hands shook as she held the delicate paper. She missed Nancy so! Their phone conversations, snatched between chores, hadn't been nearly enough, for Cherry longed to have Nancy with her. Nancy had begged to come, but Cherry had said no. She was afraid that the stress of more company would send her mother over the edge!

"Darling Cherry," the letter began. "Last night I had the most wonderful dream about you!"

"Here's some cake, Cherry," Charley said. He leaned over his sister's shoulder. "Hey, what's this? Have you got a secret admirer?" He playfully peeked at the letter, and blushed when he read the contents. He looked contrite. "I didn't mean to be nosy, Sis," he said. Then he grinned. "Hey, you do have an admirer! And she's not so secretive!"

"What's this?" Johnny asked. "Cherry, what have you been keeping from us?"

Cherry blushed. "I've been trying to talk to you guys all week!" she cried. "But every time I try to get you alone..."

"Cherry, I need you," her mother called.

Cherry grinned. "See what I mean?" She put the letter in her pocket and rushed up the stairs.

"Come and talk to us later in the garage!" Johnny called after her. "We'll be up late, finishing the float!"

But Cherry had no spare time that evening, for despite modem medication and patient nursing, Mr. Aimless had taken a turn for the worse. It was after midnight by the time his fever broke.

"Your father really should be in the hospital, Cherry, but he is so darn stubborn!" Doctor Joe grumbled. "He's come through the worst of it, but you'll need to look in on him every hour!"

It was six a.m. by the time Mr. Aimless was truly better. "Now go and get some rest, dear," Mrs. Aimless shooed her daughter off to bed.

Cherry slept so soundly that her mother couldn't wake her, not even for the telephone call from Nancy. She awoke as if from a fog. "I know there's something special about today," she thought. "But I can't remember what it is!"

Suddenly she jumped out of bed and hastily dressed. "It's Founder's Day!" she cried. And it was already past noon! She flew down the stairs and ran into the kitchen.

"Mother! Why didn't you wake me?" she cried. "There's so much to do! The parade's in an hour! And who's taking care of Father?"

Her mother was busy making mayonnaise for her delicious potato salad. She was dressed in a festive summer shift, and her hair had been styled in a neat French twist. And, best of all, the worry lines that were threatening to become a permanent part of her face were gone!

"Relax, dear! Doctor Joe sent over a relief nurse from the hospital. And darling Johnny got up at the crack of dawn and helped me prepare all this food!" She waved toward the table, which was covered with pies and jams and loaves of homemade bread. "He's a fabulous cook! And look what he did with my hair!" she exclaimed, twirling around to show off her new coiffure.

Cherry sat down to a breakfast of grapefruit and poached eggs while her mother finished putting the food into wicker hampers. Mrs. Aimless explained that the boys had taken the float to the parade site an hour ago. "And they still wouldn't let me look at it." Mrs. Aimless checked her watch. "We've got to hurry, Cherry. The parade's set to begin in fifteen minutes!"

After a few last instructions to the relief nurse, and a quick good-bye to her father, who was sitting up in bed and looking better than he had all week, Cherry rushed out the door and climbed into the family car. Her mother sped down the gravel driveway and headed for town.

"Oh, it's going to be a glorious day!" Cherry cried, feeling happier than she had all week. For tomorrow she was going back to Seattle General Hospital, and then in a few short days, Nancy would join her there before beginning her trip to River Depths.

Mrs. Aimless pulled the family sedan into a parking spot in front of Tilly's Drugstore. The downtown street was festooned with colorful balloons and streamers. The whole town was going to have a gay time!

"Oh, I wish Nancy were here to see this," Cherry murmured.

"Nancy? Oh, Cherry, I forgot to tell you something," Mrs. Aimless suddenly remembered. "A girl named Nancy called while you were sleeping. She gave me a message; let's see, what was it? Oh, yes. I remember now. She said that she can't meet you in Seattle as planned, because she has to go out of town suddenly. She said she'll call you as soon as she can."

Cherry had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wished with all her heart that she had been awake when Nancy called. She tried not to let her mother see her worry; after all, today was supposed to be a celebration. She put on her best smile, and turned her attention toward Main Street. The parade was about to begin.

The sound of the Pleasantville High School marching band grew closer, and as the parade neared, the cries from the crowd grew louder.

"Would you look at that!" a man behind Cherry exclaimed.

Cherry looked up, and gasped when she saw the Aimless Realty float! For instead of a miniature version of the Aimless house, as her father had intended, Johnny and Charley had made a giant replica of Mrs. Aimless's beloved pet poodle Gigi, complete with a wagging tail and a rhinestone collar!

"Oh, it's Gigi!" Mrs. Aimless cried with tears in her eyes. The crowd laughed gaily at the sight of the giant poodle, tinted a luscious lavender. Running alongside the float were Charley and Johnny, holding a gigantic pair of scissors. They were pretending to give Gigi a French poodle cut.

"Oh, what will your father say?" Mrs. Aimless cried, clapping her hands. "He never did like Gigi. I declare, he wasn't the least bit sad when she passed on."