Pony Problems (4 page)

“Good idea.” Nancy made a column and added the two facts. She also wrote a reminder to think about why there weren't very many people at the petting zoo on such a beautiful spring day. Then she closed her notebook.

“There must be more clues around here somewhere.” Bess quickly surveyed the pen and the animals but didn't immediately see anything out of place.

The three friends decided to split up and search around.

“Over here,” George called after a few minutes. Bess and Nancy hurried to where George stood outside the fenced pen. Through the rails, she pointed at a bale of hay sitting near the fence. A goat was standing on top of the bale, eating. Yellowish-green strands of hay were hanging out of its mouth as it chewed.

“It's hay,” Nancy said. “There's hay all over the ground. That's not a clue.”

George pointed out that the bale of hay was half-eaten.

“I still don't understand what the clue is,” Nancy prodded.

“Well,” George said. “If Mr. Johnson puts a bale of hay inside the fence every night and the animals eat it, why is there so much hay outside the fence too?” She pointed at the ground nearby.

“You're right!” Nancy exclaimed. “It is a clue!” She bent low to the ground to examine
the evidence. Even though they were standing outside the fence, there was hay all over. “Do you think the goats, sheep, and pony can spit this far?” Nancy asked, then took a few big steps to where the last scraps of hay were lying on the ground.

“These aren't
camels,”
Bess remarked. When no one laughed, she explained, “Camels are known to be big spitters. I read it in a book at school.”

George laughed. “I get it now. But are goats big spitters too?”

“I didn't read about that.” Bess shrugged. “I can check on Monday when we get to school.”

“Maybe Mr. Johnson simply dropped bits of hay when he carried the bale into the pen,” Nancy suggested. “But we should write it down anyway.” She opened her notebook and wrote in the clue column:
Hay outside the animal pen.

Just as Nancy was closing the notebook, Bess asked, “Isn't that Amanda Johnson over there?” On the other side of the pen, they could see a girl in white painter's pants standing on a small
ladder, leaning over the top rung of the fence.

“It sure is,” Nancy answered. The girls decided to go talk to Amanda about the pony's disappearances. “Maybe she's seen something suspicious,” Nancy said as they made their way around the pen.

Amanda was busy painting. She was smearing a new coat of red paint on the top rung of the animal pen fence.

“Hi,” Nancy greeted Amanda. “We hear you're new to town. I'm Nancy Drew and these are my friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.”

Amanda didn't get off the ladder. She didn't even look down at the girls. She just kept on painting.

“Welcome to River Heights,” Bess said, reaching up and putting out her hand for Amanda to shake.

Amanda didn't shake Bess's hand. She kept painting.

George began to explain that they were investigating the mystery of Buttons's visits to town.

“She won't talk to you,” a voice behind them
said. The girls turned to see Stacy standing behind them. “I've tried a thousand times. She won't talk to me either,” she continued.

Nancy felt weird talking about Amanda in front of her, but since Amanda wouldn't say anything, Nancy asked Stacy, “Why won't she talk?”

Stacy gave Amanda a second to answer for herself, but Amanda simply dipped her brush in the red paint and silently swiped it along the fence.

“Mr. Johnson told me that Amanda doesn't talk to any kids in River Heights. Not here at the petting zoo and not at school, either.”

“Is she sick?” George asked.

“Nah. She just doesn't talk. That's all. She's refused to say one word to any kids since the day she moved to River Heights. I guess she doesn't want any new friends.” Stacy shrugged and pulled an apple out of her jacket pocket. “I still try every day.” Stacy turned to Amanda and said, “Hi. Want to go feed Buttons with me?” She held out the apple so Amanda could see it.

When Amanda didn't answer, Stacy said, “We have the exact same conversation every single day. I ask her to join me and she doesn't answer. I keep hoping that one of these times, she's going to take the apple and come into the pen with me. Until then, I'm feeding Buttons on my own. I just love that pony!” She called, “See ya!” over her shoulder as she ran toward the pen.

When Stacy was gone, Nancy stepped closer to Amanda and said, “We'd like to be your friends.” Bess and George nodded their heads, totally agreeing.

Amanda didn't answer. She turned her eyes away so that Nancy couldn't see them. Then, even though she hadn't finished the fence rail, Amanda put the lid on her paint, tucked her paintbrush into her overalls pocket, picked up the small ladder, and walked away without saying a single word.

The phone at Nancy's house rang early Sunday morning.

“Hello?” Nancy picked up the phone after Hannah told her the call was for her.

“Nancy?” It was George. “You'd better come over ASAP. You aren't going to believe who is standing on my front lawn!”

“Is it Bess?” Nancy was kidding. She knew right away it wasn't Bess. George never got this excited about her cousin.

“No, it's Buttons!” George thought Nancy was serious. She paused for a second as she thought about Nancy's question. “You were kidding, right? You knew it was Buttons.” Nancy giggled and George laughed in return

“Gotcha! “Nancy said.

“I'm going to call Bess now,” George said.

“Okay. I'm on my way!” Nancy hung up, grabbed her purple notebook and pencil, and hurried downstairs. She paused to get permission to go to George's. The very second her dad said it was okay, Nancy fled out the door and ran the three short blocks to George's house.

“Hi, Bess. Hi, George. Hi, Buttons,” Nancy greeted the gang as she hurried up the front walkway. Bess and George were standing off to the side, watching the pony eat leaves off the Faynes' willow tree.

“What are you doing here?' Nancy asked Buttons. Buttons neighed and chewed off a few more leaves.

“I wish Buttons could tell us how he's getting out of the petting zoo,” Nancy said. “It sure would make this an easy mystery to solve.” Buttons neighed again as if he understood and was trying to tell.

Just then, Bess noticed a strange red marking
on one of Buttons's back hooves. She pointed it out to George and Nancy. They stepped in a little closer to get a better look.

“Girls!” Mrs. Fayne called from inside the house, through the kitchen window. “Stay back from that pony. I know he likes kids and is nice at the farm, but you need to be careful when Mr. Johnson isn't around. I've already called him. He's on his way.”

“But Mom—,” George began.

Mrs. Fayne didn't repeat herself. She just shot them a warning look.

“No really, Mom.” George moved back from the pony and closer to the kitchen window. “We were checking Buttons's hoof. It looks like he's bleeding.”

Mrs. Fayne came out of the house, drying her hands on a small towel. Slowly she approached the pony, talking softly and making a nice clicking sound with her tongue.

“I didn't know your mom knew about ponies,” Nancy told George.

“She grew up on a farm in Ohio,” George answered. “Sometimes she talks about how much she misses living on a farm.”

Mrs. Fayne put a soothing hand on Buttons's side, being careful to stay in front of his hind hooves. She bent low to take a look.

“That's not blood,” Mrs. Fayne remarked at last. “Hooves are hard and wouldn't bleed even if he did break one. There is no scratch on his leg.” She looked closer at the red mark. “That looks like paint.”

The girls were surprised.

“Paint?” Bess cried. “Like the red paint Amanda Johnson was using yesterday!”

Nancy immediately pulled out her notebook and pencil. In the clue column, she wrote down:
Red paint on Buttons's hoof.

“Maybe Amanda got paint on the ground and Buttons stepped in it?” George asked.

“I don't think so,” Bess replied. “Amanda was outside the fence painting. Buttons was inside with the other animals.”

“Weird.” Nancy tapped her temple with the pencil eraser. Since Mrs. Fayne knew about ponies, Nancy asked her, “Can Shetland ponies jump?”

“Do you think Buttons might have jumped over the petting zoo fence?” Bess cut in. “Maybe he dragged his hoof on the rail at the last second?”

“I was just thinking.” Nancy shrugged.
“Jumping would explain the paint. And possibly solve the mystery.”]

Mrs. Fayne gave Buttons a final pat on the back and stepped away. “We didn't have Shetlands on our farm in Ohio.” She came over to where the girls were standing. “I don't know how high Shetlands can jump. They're different from other ponies.” A truck engine vroomed as it turned onto George's street. “Here comes Mr. Johnson. Why don't you ask him?”

Mr. Johnson parked the truck and pony trailer in front of George's house. The girls waited for him to get his rope and tie it around Buttons's neck. Before he put the pony in the trailer, Nancy showed him the paint marking on Buttons's hoof.

“Can Shetland ponies jump?” George asked.

“They can,” Mr. Johnson answered. For a second, Nancy thought they'd solved the mystery. “But that's why I built the extra-tall fence around the animal pen.” Nancy recalled noticing that the fence was above her head. “Shetland
ponies can't jump that high,” Mr. Johnson said. “Nope. There's no way Buttons jumped over that fence.”

The zoo owner put Buttons in the trailer for the ride back to the petting zoo. “Why don't you come back to the petting zoo again today? We're open all day on Sundays, and I have a reporter from the newspaper coming. You can tell her about the Clue Crew and how you are working to solve this mystery.”