Nancy Clue Mysteries 1 - The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse

by Mabel Maney

  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!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 28

  * * *

  A Gay Day

  "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."

  On the back of the float was a little white doghouse, surrounded by a picket fence. Green paper poppies gave the appearance of a lush lawn. The sign on the side of the float read:

  Aimless Realty: No house too large... or too small!

  "Oh, isn't it wonderful, Cherry?" Mrs. Aimless hugged her daughter. Cherry agreed. Leave it to Charley to make everyone laugh. The crowd applauded loudest for Charley and Johnny's float, and was Cherry ever proud when they won first prize.

  Cherry managed to enjoy the picnic in the town square, especially when her mother's Brown Betty won first prize, but she begged off the afternoon square dance. She had had a nagging feeling all day, and she dearly wanted to get home so she could call Aunt Gert and find out what had happened to Nancy!

  * * *

  CHAPTER 29

  * * *

  Oh, Nancy

  Suppertime had come and gone with no word from Nancy. Cherry shook her head. "Silly!" she scolded herself. "Nothing's happened!" But deep in her heart, she knew something was terribly wrong!

  She moped around the house and waited for Charley, Johnny and Mrs. Aimless to return from town. Her father was fast asleep, and there was little to do in the tidy house.

  She flipped through a fashion magazine, but the pretty models only reminded her of Nancy and made her feel sad. She leafed through a cooking magazine but soon found her mind wandering. She felt like flinging the magazine across the room but then came to her senses. She smoothed its thick glossy cover and put it back on the coffee table, where it belonged.

  "Perhaps a cool drink will steady my nerves," she thought, going to the sunny kitchen to mix a pitcher of lemonade. She heard a car pull into the drive, and was glad that someone was finally home to distract her!

  "I'll put some of these cookies on a tray and we'll have a nice chat on the front porch," Cherry thought. But the car turned out to belong to someone visiting the family next door, so Cherry sat alone on the porch, nibbling on the cookies. The phone rang, but it was only Doctor Joe, calling to check up on his patient.

  Doctor Joe was his usual jovial self. "By the way, Cherry, that was some fine float in the parade today! I don't know which was better-that float or your mother's Brown Betty!" he chuckled. "You Aimlesses sure are a talented bunch!"

  After the phone call, she took up her post on the front porch. Something was bound to happen. She sat on the swing awhile and watched the sun go down. Golly, it felt like the first time she had sat down in days! "If only Nancy were here to enjoy this," she sighed.

  "If only..." But before she could finish, the Aimless family car pulled into the driveway! "I'm so glad you're home!" Cherry cried, running to help her mother carry in the leftover food. Suddenly, she was ravenous!

  After they brought in the food, Mrs. Aimless shooed Charley and Cherry away from the kitchen. "Johnny and I are going to prepare a nice picnic supper," she said. "Now you two go away for a while!"

  Charley said he had to tidy the garage, and Cherry decided to get out of her sticky dress and into something fresh. She ran a tub of water, using her mother's luxurious bubble bath. She was glad her family was home. Even if they weren't Nancy, they sure were swell!

  After her bath she felt refreshed and her mood improved. She spent time selecting a pretty party dress from among the old clothes still in her closet. She hadn't taken anything fancy along with her to Seattle General, knowing there would be little time there for frivolity!

  She selected a lovely taffeta frock with a dressy shirred skirt and tight-fitting bodice. To complete her outfit, she borrowed her mother's pearl drop earrings. She paid extra attention on her face, penciling in glamorous eyebrows and experimenting with a bright red lipstick.

  "Not exactly a movie star, but not bad either," she grinned at her reflection in the mirror. She was so engrossed in getting dressed that at first she didn't hear her mother calling to her.

  "I'll be right down, Mother! " Cherry cried, giving her hair one last pat.

  Her mother called up the steps to her. "Cherry, there are some girls here to see you!"

  Cherry raced to the window and gasped when she looked outside. Could it be true? There was Nancy's yellow convertible, and inside the car sat Velma and Midge and Jackie, and Lauren, too! And that darn Lauren was beeping the horn. It sounded like music to Cherry's ears!

  She flew down the stairs, flung open the door and fell into Nancy's arms.

  "I was so worried!" she sobbed. "I was sure something terrible had happened to you!"

  A tear rolled down Nancy's cheek. "Something terrible has happened! Oh, Cherry, we've got to get to River Depths as soon as possible! Hannah's taken ill, and we've got to get her out of prison! You will come help us, won't you, Cherry? Please?"

  "Oh, Nancy, I'll go anywhere with you," she murmured. "But I'll need my purse!" When she turned around, Johnny and Charley were behind her. And Charley had her purse in his hand!

  Cherry felt all flustered. "Golly, there's so much to do; I've got to call the hospital and tell them I'm going to be a little late getting back, and Father's still sick and Mother needs me..." She stopped when she saw Nancy's face.

  Nancy was here; that was all that mattered!

  Nancy, her h
eart kept repeating, over and over again.

  Nancy... Nancy... Nancy...

  "I guess they'll all survive without me," she whispered. She bolted for the car. Mrs. Aimless suddenly appeared on the porch. Her fair face was flushed.

  "Where's Cherry going? Oh, she's going to miss supper. What's going on?"

  Charley put his arm around his Mother's waist.

  "Come and sit down, Mother. Johnny and I have something to tell you!"

  About the Author

  "I was born in the thriving metropolis of Oshkosh, Wisconsin," writes Mabel Maney. "'I'll never forget that night,"' she recalls her mother telling her. "'We had that big lightning storm that knocked out all of Oshkosh and most of nearby Menasha. I always thought Mabel had something to do with it,"' Mabel's mother chuckled.

  After her parents were lost at sea, Mabel took up residence with her Great Aunts Maude and Mavis Maney, who had as young women earned their living as bareback riders in a traveling circus before settling in the farm town of Appleton to write their memoirs, Circus Queens.

  Mabel's life was idyllic until the arrest and conviction of Great Aunt Maude for the murder of her late husband, whose body surfaced from under Maude's wisteria bush during the summer of the Great Wisconsin Rains.

  Mabel spent the next three years dividing her time between Appleton and the State Penitentiary for Women in LaFayette. After her Great Aunt Maude's release, the trio moved to Bear Lake, where Mabel attended Catholic Girls School, graduating with highest honors in Conversational Skills and Table Manners.

  Mabel Maney's installation art and hand-made books, self-published under the World O'Girls Books imprint, have earned her fellowships from the San Francisco Foundation and San Francisco State University, where she received her MFA in 1991. Her art has been exhibited in numerous galleries throughout the United States. Artspace wrote of the hand-made World O'Girls edition of this book: "In Maney's refigured narrative, The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse, gay heroine Cherry Ames moves unhampered through a world populated by lesbian nuns and adventuresses, even engaging in a one-nighter with Nancy Drew. Entertainment aside, by appropriating and redefining the sexual orientation and cultural limits placed upon her fictional female characters, Maney provides a powerful reminder of the exclusionary nature of the ruling (in this case, straight) culture, with its power to define specific roles and acts as 'natural' while denying or marginalizing others."