by Mabel Maney
Midge raced through the house and outside after her chum. She spied Cherry a block away, leaning against an old sycamore tree and sobbing into a handkerchief. "Wait up, Cherry," Midge yelled.
But when Cherry spotted her, she took off around the corner, and just as Midge was about to catch up with her, she hopped onto a bus.
"You don't know where you're going, Cherry," Midge called. "Come back."
But Cherry either didn't hear her, or pretended she didn't. The bus zoomed off.
* * *
CHAPTER 40
* * *
A Sudden Awakening
Almost an hour had passed since Cherry and Nancy had had their spat, and Cherry still hadn't appeared. The girls had driven through town searching for their distraught chum, then given up and returned to Nancy's home on Maple Street to wait for some word from Cherry. They were beginning to get mighty worried about the whereabouts of their wayward friend. Why, they could barely eat!
"Where could she be?" Midge fretted as she pushed aside her plate of franks 'n' beans "It's going to be dark soon."
"We'll give her ten more minutes, and then take the car out and look for her," Jackie said. She hadn't touched her meal either; only nibbled absentmindedly at the potato salad.
"Earlier I thought it best to leave her be for a bit, but now I'm getting worried. I don't like the idea of her wandering around with a broken heart in a strange town," Velma declared.
An anxious look flashed across Nancy's face. "What if Cherry doesn't get home in time for us to make up before I go to jail?" she worried aloud. Nancy was in a race against time for she had an appointment to see Hannah in just one hour; now that the housekeeper had recovered slightly from her heart attack, she'd been moved back to her private cell and was allowed to have visitors. Nancy still had to pack the costume and theatrical makeup that would transform her into the pleasantfaced, elderly housekeeper.
Jackie shot Midge a disgusted look. Midge could tell what she was thinking. After the blow-up today, Jackie wasn't so sure Nancy and Cherry should make up. She was beginning to think Nancy wasn't the best possible girlfriend for her nurse chum.
"Cherry needs someone older, more mature. Someone strong and steady. Someone who wouldn't pull the kind of stunt Nancy pulled today," Jackie thought angrily. She kept her feelings to herself, though.
Nancy would need their help to pull off her scheme, for she was determined to masquerade as Hannah and had before her the exacting task of preparing to sneak into jail carrying a complete Hannah costume, wig and all, while at the same time fretting frantically about her missing chum, Cherry.
"I was awfully hard on Cherry," Nancy moaned aloud. "I should have never said what I did. Why, Cherry's just about the best girlfriend I've ever had!"
Jackie winced.
"When you go to apologize, I'd leave out the part about the other girlfriends," Midge cautioned.
"I'll do anything I can to make it up to her," Nancy said.
"Here's your chance," Midge said, as she saw Cherry appear at the back door. "Be very nice," she added.
The girls jumped up and headed for the living room, but before they could make their getaway, Cherry walked in and announced that she had something to say to all of them.
"I'm going back to Seattle," she said in a shaky voice that belied the matter-of-fact tone she was trying to maintain. "I'm of no use to anyone here, and that way, Nancy can get on with her life without having me and my silly standards get in her way." She took a clean hankie from her purse and daintily wiped two tears trickling down her cheek.
"I'll go and pack now," she sniffed softly.
The girls gasped and glared at Nancy. "Stop her," their eyes cried out.
"I'm so sorry for what I said," Nancy blurted out. "Please stay."
Cherry bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. Nothing Nancy could say could ever change her mind!
"Please don't leave me now, Cherry," Nancy begged as she knelt next to her friend and clasped her hand to her bosom. "How could you, after all we've meant to each other? Remember our night in San Francisco? Our first kiss?" Nancy appeared to be overcome with emotion. Tears filled her eyes. She struggled to continue. "I was wrong to ask you to do something so unscrupulous," she admitted. "Why, I admire you for your strict code of conduct. It's one reason I was drawn to you in the first place."
"Nurses set an example for girls everywhere," Cherry explained proudly.
"I know that," Nancy said. "Why, I even considered becoming a nurse when I was younger," she admitted slyly.
Cherry was thrilled to hear this. She hedged a little smile.
Nancy saw that her desperate words had done the trick. "So you'll stay?" She sneaked a look at the clock on the mantle. If she was going to finish her preparations and be at the prison on time, she really needed to hurry! Time was running out!
Cherry sighed and sank into the couch. "I don't know if I could be happy here, knowing I ruined your plans to free Hannah," she whimpered.
"My plans aren't ruined," Nancy replied. "George has agreed to come with me and-er-convince Hannah to go through with the switch. George has always had a way with Hannah," Nancy chuckled. "One word of praise from George, and Hannah would bake a truckload of her famous lemon meringue pies!"
"That's right," George said with a grin. "Nancy and I will surely make Hannah see the justice of her scheme."
"So you've selected George to go instead of me?" Cherry said in dismay.
"I need you here," Nancy said. "Hannah's going to need the best nursing care possible when she gets home, and you're the only one who can do it, Cherry. You're going to nurse as you've never nursed before!"
Cherry forgot all about Nancy's earlier harsh remarks. The call to duty rang clear and true. "I'll stay! " Cherry agreed. She threw her arms around Nancy and gave her a big kiss.
"Splendid," Nancy declared when Cherry finally released her. "Then you'll prepare the attic room for Hannah's arrival and nurse her back to health?"
Cherry could only nod. Golly, she was happy! She set about putting the last-minute touches on Nancy's disguise. Nancy decided to smuggle in the costume under her own clothes after Midge warned her that prison matrons were wont to search one's purse-and thoroughly!
Nancy showed them her bag of tricks, which she had gotten from Mr. Donald: the pieces of tape to pull parts of her face into a different shape, the rubber prosthesis that would give her a new nose, and the pair of simple, steel-rimmed glasses that would make her transformation into the elderly, pleasantfaced housekeeper complete. "I'll hide them in my shoe," she decided.
Nancy then donned the gray bun meant to replicate Hannah's prim hairdo. The theatrical makeup kit was stowed in her purse and looked much like her everyday cosmetics bag.
"But how are you going to make Hannah look like you?" Bess wondered. "Hannah's forty years older, and, although she's a very handsome woman, you two really don't look anything alike. Plus, she's a lot taller."
"That's going to be the tricky part, since she's going to have to walk out past prison matrons," Cherry agreed.
"Easy," Nancy replied with a smile. "Remember when I was crowned Miss River Depths 1956 and Grossman's Department Store honored me by making a Nancy Clue mannequin for their Junior Deb department? Mr. Donald was the costumer hired to design it, and, lucky for me, he still has the mold in his basement! While he was serving us tea in the guise of Jeeves he was really waiting for the quick-dry rubber to harden into a mask.
"I'll merely wear it into the prison over my own face, along with my scarf and dark glasses. See?"
"Remarkable! " the girls chorused when Nancy donned the rubber face.
"And Mr. Donald loaned me this flowered frock with a false hem."
"I'll run and get my stethoscope. You can take it along in case you need it," Cherry offered helpfully.
"There's no time to waste," Nancy cried as she gave Cherry a quick kiss and raced for the door. "George, let's go! We'll take your old jalopy so we're not so conspicuous."
And off they went.
"I've never seen Nancy so jumpy," Bess remarked.
"I just hope all goes as planned," Cherry said.
"If I know Nancy, it will," Bess said. "She's one girl who always gets her way, and George is always up for any adventure Nancy has in mind."
"Well, there's no time to worry now," said Cherry. "I have a job to do!"
Nurse Aimless got to work. "We've got to dust and air out that secret attic room, move a comfortable bed up there, find clean blankets and sheets, and do any number of things to get ready for our patient," she said in a brisk tone. She clapped her hands sharply, and within minutes, the girls were scurrying about the house, gathering supplies that would be needed in the sickroom while Cherry slipped into her lightweight travel uniform, perky cap, and rubber-soled nurse's shoes.
While Velma sterilized jars in a large double-boiler on the stove, Jackie and Midge got to work disassembling a bed to take upstairs. Cherry sent Bess to the store for tapioca and cottage cheese-easily digestible foods that wouldn't upset a sick person's delicate stomach.
After donning her uniform, Cherry took Lauren upstairs to dust. To her surprise, Lauren turned out to be a helpful partner, and soon the little attic room was as neat as a pin. Lauren cleverly located an old wooden box that, when turned on its side, could double as a bedside table. "Make sure there's nothing fragile in there first," Cherry cautioned.
"There's nothing in here but bunches of old love letters tied up with ribbons," Lauren said. "They're from someone named Terry."
"It's not polite to read other people's mail," Cherry was about to scold, when a commotion from the stairwell drew her attention. She forgot all about the letters as she ran to help Midge and Jackie, who were struggling to get the double-bed frame and mattress up the narrow stairwell. Cherry guided them up the stairs and, while they were setting up the bed, raced downstairs for her firstaid kit and some fresh linen. Soon the little attic room was as fine a sick room as Cherry had ever seen.
"Good work," Cherry clapped as Midge and Jackie sank to the floor in mock exhaustion.
It had been weeks since Cherry had done any real nursing, and the excitement of preparing for a patient had driven all worry about Nancy from her head.
"Get up," Cherry ordered with mock severity. "We've still got plenty of work to do. Now, who's going to be my scrub nurse in case I have to change bandages?" she asked.
"I will," Velma volunteered cheerfully. She arrived in the attic carrying a tray loaded with sterile jars covered with a clean cotton cloth, as Cherry had instructed.
Cherry saw that Velma had done a thorough job. "Good work, Nurse Velma," Cherry said brightly. "Now I'll need my own table so I can spread out my medical equipment, in case I need to get to it in a hurry."
"I know what you can use," Lauren said. She raced downstairs and returned a minute later with a small folding t.v. table.
"It's just the ticket," Cherry declared as she set up the table and began laying out the contents of her firstaid kit. She realized immediately that something was out of kilter. A good nurse knew the contents of her firstaid kit like the back of her hand. And Cherry was nothing if not a good nurse!
She took a quick visual inventory and gasped when she discovered that something indeed was missing! "My vial of Valium is gone," she gasped aloud. "Who could have... oh, no!" she cried, throwing up her arms in alarm when she realized who must have taken it. Velma tried to calm the frantic nurse while making a careful search of the firstaid kit, but she couldn't locate the vital vial of Valium anywhere.
"So that's why Nancy was in such a hurry to get out of the house!" Cherry cried. "Not only did she lie to me, she stole from me, too. And stole medication, which, in the hands of the wrong person, can be lethal!
"Why, unless you're a health professional, it's against the law to carry controlled substances. Not only that, Nancy doesn't know what she's doing."
"Nancy knows how to give medication," a small voice said. Bess was standing at the top of the stairs with a guilty look on her face and a bag of groceries in her arms. "Once when Nancy and I were volunteer nurse's aides at the county clinic, a nurse showed us how to give out pills," Bess explained. "We weren't supposed to, but there was an epidemic and people were waiting hours for that one nurse to medicate them."
"That's unethical," Cherry gasped. "Who is that nurse? Why, she ought to be reported! And Nancy must be stopped!"
"But Hannah's at no real risk," Bess pointed out. "Nancy would never do anything to harm Hannah."
"But what Nancy's doing is wrong," Cherry insisted. "Isn't it?"
She looked around the room at her chums. She could see by the expressions on their faces that they didn't share her feelings. "Midge?" Cherry said in a weak voice. "What do you think?" Surely Midge would come to her defense! "Do you find me rigid and unbending?" Cherry asked.
Midge didn't know what to say. She tried to choose her words carefully. "Sometimes, Cherry, people do the wrong thing for the right reason."
Cherry puzzled over this for a moment. "I think I understand what you mean," she finally said. "It's like when I accidentally killed that evil priest. It was wrong to beat him to death, but I did save the lives of many women. Is that what you mean, Midge?"
"Something like that," Midge nodded.
"Tell me the truth, Midge," Cherry begged. "Am I really so awfully good that I get on people's nerves?"
"Yes, Cherry, you are," Midge blurted out before she could stop herself. When Velma heard this, she crossed her arms over her bosom and glared at her girlfriend. Midge had a feeling she would be sleeping on the sofa that night.
"But we really like you anyway, don't we, girls?" Midge added hastily.
"Really and truly," Velma gushed.
"Very much," Jackie added in a sincere tone. "I like you very much," she added softly. "Very, very much."
But there was no consoling Cherry, who flung herself on the newly made bed and burst into tears. "It's true; I am a good-for-nothing girlfriend," she sobbed. "I've let Nancy down the one time she really needed me. I should be at the jail cell right now, drugging Hannah. Instead, I'm here, frantic with worry. You know, my nickname in high school was Miss Goody Two Shoes, and until today, I was always a little proud of it," she confessed between sobs. "I thought it was an honor! But now I'm ashamed of myself!"
Suddenly, a determined glint came into Cherry's eyes. She blew her nose on the handkerchief she always kept in her pocket and raced down the attic stairs. The rest of the gang followed close behind. Where could she be going in such a hurry?
Cherry grabbed a lightweight blue cardigan sweater from the hall closet, paused for a second to powder her tear-stained cheeks, and headed for the front door. "Maybe I can make it to the prison in time to offer assistance to Nancy," she explained to her chums. "Any assistance she needs." But when she opened the door, she was shocked to find an attractive brunette girl, dressed in the sharp royal blue uniform of a Navy Nurse, standing in her way.
"Terry Tickerson, what are you doing here?" Bess cried.
The attractive girl smiled, showing off a darling dimple in her left cheek. She put down a leather satchel and took off her striking nurse's cap-a snappy, white cotton number with an impressive gold navy insignia on its brim.
Cherry noted with not a little envy that the girl's uniform, with its smart black piping and gold military buttons, was much handsomer than Cherry's own plain nurse's whites. She stifled an urge to salute.
"Didn't Nancy tell you I was coming to visit?" Terry grinned. "Why, when I saw her at the Tin Tan Club last night, she invited me to stay a few days until my ship left port. So here I am," Terry said cheerfully. "Ensign Tickerson, reporting for duty," she announced, standing straight at attention.
"Nancy said you might be in the market for a nurse," she explained when she saw their puzzled expressions. "But I see you've already hired one," Terry said as she spied Cherry. Cherry looked ruefully at her own rumpled uniform, now dusty from her work in the attic.
She looked downright drab in comparison with Terry!
Terry picked up her valise, pushed past Cherry, and walked into the living room. "It sure is good to be back," Terry said, looking around the attractively furnished Clue living room. "I remember this place so well. Nancy and I used to spend a lot of time on that couch," she murmured, gesturing toward the overstuffed gray wool davenport. "It's good to see this old place. And Nancy, boy, does she look good!" Terry gave a loud wolf whistle.
"By the way, where is that girl?" she asked. As she pulled off her pristine white cotton gloves, took her compact and lipstick from her modern blue handbag, and refreshed her makeup, she continued her confession to Bess. "I was thrilled when Nancy asked me to spend a few days here," she admitted. "When I ran off to join the Navy, I thought she'd never forgive me. But after the way she acted the other night, well, it seems she's not only forgiven me, but she may even be as eager as I am to pick up where we left off."
Terry snapped her compact shut and put it back in her purse. "I'll just put my bag in her bedroom and slip into a fresh uniform," she said. "And when I come back, Bess, you can introduce me to your friends."
Cherry opened her mouth, but nothing came out. "You don't need to show me the way," Terry said, patting Cherry on the shoulder. "I've been to Nancy's bedroom plenty of times." She picked up her valise and headed upstairs.
"I've got to roll some bandages," Cherry gulped as she raced for the little attic room. The girls heard the door to the secret room slam shut, then the unmistakable sound of a true heart breaking.
"Do something," Velma hissed to Midge. "I don't care how you do it, but get rid of that nurse-now!"
"Let her stay!" Jackie cried. "Let Cherry see, once and for all, what Nancy really is."
Bess gasped. "What do you mean by that?" she cried in defense of her oldest friend. "Are you saying that Nancy's a...a-" Golly, Bess could scarcely bring herself to say the word.
"Yes, I'm saying that Nancy's a flirt!" Jackie thundered.
