NIGHTIME STARS

Nancy rose early the next morning. In fact, she was one of the first people to rise. She showered, dressed herself, and went downstairs to have breakfast all before the sun rose. As she entered the large room that served as a dining hall, she noticed that only two men were there. They were both eating scrambled eggs and bacon with toast. Classic, she thought to herself.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. Do you know where I could get a plate for myself?" she asked, "I'm new."

One man pointed to a door at the other end of the room, "Cook's in there. Ask her for a plate. But don't sneak up on her, you might not get anything for a week that way."

"Thankyou," Nancy nodded, taking care not to 'sneak up' on the cook as she entered into the hallway that led to the kitchen. "Hello?" Nancy asked as she turned a corner and went through another door. She saw a woman wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt under a grease-stained apron. Her fiery red hair was pinned up, the tangled ringlets popping out here and there as they pleased. "Good morning," Nancy asked, "Are you the cook?"

"What does it look like to you?" the woman replied, "I don't believe I've seen you around before. Who are you?"

"My name is Nancy Drew," Nancy smiled, "I'm here to visit with Erin. My friends and I all are."

"Your friends and you?" the woman raised a brow, "And just how many of you might there be?"

"Just myself and one other, Bess Marvin," she answered, "We're friends of George Fayne."

The woman scowled, "Erin should warn me about this kind of thing! It's my responsibility to feed everyone here. I can't do that properly if I don't know how many that is!" She continued cooking the strips of bacon that were on the griddle that she stood before. "There's a plate and fork over there," she waved her spatula toward a counter on Nancy's left, "Get yourself a spoonful of eggs, four pieces of bacon, and one piece of toast. There's a pitcher of orange juice in the dining hall with some glasses."

"Yes, Ma'am, thankyou," Nancy hurried to get her food and leave the kitchen. When she returned to the dinning room, the two men weren't there anymore. Their dishes were in a bucket of water near the door to the hallway that Nancy had just come from, and so Nancy did the same with her own when she had finished. Just as she was exiting the room, John was coming in.

"Howdy, Miss Nancy," he tipped his hat, "You're settling in just fine I hope?"

"Yes, thankyou," she replied, "I was just on my way to find Erin. Do you know where she might be?"

"She's probably on her way down right about now. She'll open all the curtains in the house and then come to eat. She always starts in the front room," he answered.

"Thanks," Nancy smiled. She found Erin just where he said she would.

"Good morning, Nancy!" Erin exclaimed, "I see you're an early riser. That's good!"

"Yes," Nancy answered, "I tend to rise early when I have a mystery to solve. By the way, the cook seemed upset that I was here. She said that you hadn't mentioned us coming. Does she hold grudges easily?"

"Oh, that's Linda. I did forget to tell her about you and Bess. No, she'll ease up on you as soon as she gets her point across: No one takes more than she dishes out and they all clean up the way she likes, or else. She just wants you to respect her, that's all."

Nancy sighed, "Good. I don't need to have anyone pitted against me. I came to ask you for our lists of chores. I figured I'd pick up the lists for all three of us while I'm here. I think we'll have to get Bess up soon or she'll sleep in until someone does."

Erin giggled, "Well, all I'll need from you today is to burn the cardboard, take out the all the trash, and help Linda to clean out the freezer in the back and help her with the dishes. Now when you take out the trash, make sure you keep track of which bag is what. We have metal with metal, plastic with plastic, perishables with perishables, etc. I like to recycle what I can, so don't mix them up."

"Okay, got it," Nancy said goodbye and headed back to their room to find George and Bess. She walked in just as George was attempting to wake her sleeping friend.

"Bess!" George shook her cousin again, "Come on now! I know you're only pretending. I heard you moving around while I was coming out of the shower."

"Any luck?" Nancy closed the door behind her. She leaned against it, watching.

"No, she won't budge," George shrugged hopelessly, "but I'm positive that I heard someone shuffling around in here."

Nancy looked puzzled, "If it wasn't Bess…"

George's eyes widened, "…then who was it?"

"Are you sure that you heard someone? Could it have been something else or perhaps just your imagination?"

"Well, it could have been anything, Nancy. But I'm almost certain that I heard someone. I just assumed that it was Bess…or you."

Nancy shook her head, "It wasn't me." She paced from the door to the bathroom and back, "Why would someone be in our room? Hardly anyone even knows were here and no one knows exactly why. I have a bad feeling about this, George. Keep your eyes peeled for anything that would be a clue."

"A clue to what?" she asked.

"Anything…anything," Nancy headed out the door again.

"Right," George mumbled, "I should have guessed." She went back to trying to wake her cousin.

"Joe, I think we were supposed to take that turn back there," eighteen-year-old Frank Hardy pointed over his shoulder at a road that they had just passed.

"No, I know where we are, and we weren't supposed to take that turn," blonde-headed Joe hardy answered.

"Oh brother," Frank rolled his eyes. They were lost. He turned to the next page of their atlas. "Maybe, I can get us out of this mess," he mumbled to himself.

"We're not in a mess, Frank, just trust me. I can handle this."

"Joe, it's okay to admit that you missed a turn. If we're lost, we need to figure it out quickly before we go even further in the wrong direction."

"We're not lost!"

"Then where are we?" Frank set down the map and crossed his arms. He looked expectantly at his brother, who was driving the car that they had rented in Nashville.

"We're…" seventeen-year-old Joe glanced at his older brother for a moment before returning his gaze to the road ahead of him, "we're…on our way…to Carthage."

"Which is where, in relationship to us now?" pressed Frank.

Joe huffed in frustration, "I don't know, okay! You win; I don't know where we are!"

"So, we're lost?" the dark-headed boy smiled.

"Yes! We are lost! Now, will you stop gloating and help me out a little here?"

"Take this next exit to Cookeville," Frank chuckled, "We should be able to circle around and still get to Carthage in just over an hour."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Joe frowned as he turned onto the exit ramp. Frank leaned his seat back and just smiled, laughing to himself.

"Eeeeeew! Eew, eew, eew!" Bess immediately dropped the wood that she'd been carrying.

"What is it now?" asked George, exasperated.

"There are bugs! All over that wood! I can't touch that!" squealed Bess.

"Oh come on, Bess!" George picked up the logs, "They're just a couple of worms on the bottom."

Bess looked at her cousin, hands behind her back, "They're icky…"

George sighed, "Fine. Here, take the cardboard. I'll carry the wood."

"Thankyou, George, you're the best!" Bess grabbed the stack of cardboard that George had been carrying. She did her best not to make too many complaints for the rest of the day. She found that she actually was enjoying the day, and before she knew it, night was falling and most of the work was done.

"I never realized how much work it was to run a farm," Nancy sat on the top porch step, "Erin, this is really an incredible place. I don't know how you manage it."

"It's not that hard," Erin shrugged. She sat on one of the rockers that littered the old-fashioned porch.

"I couldn't do this all day everyday," Bess raised her arms to indicate the farm. She stood behind Nancy, leaning against one of the columns that held up the awning. George stood on the other side of the column. She gazed silently at the stars. For several minutes, there was nothing to be said among the girls.

George sighed contentedly, "Isn't it beautiful out here?"

"Yeah," Bess smiled to herself.

Nancy shook her head and laughed quietly to herself.

"What's so funny?" asked George, looking down at her friend.

"Nothing," Nancy smiled, staring out at the ranch, "I was just thinking about how we don't spend enough time together like this. You know? We're always busy or with other people. When was the last time that we all just sat out on the porch to look at the stars?"

"Would you like me to leave?" asked Erin, grinning.

"Oh, no!" Nancy turned around to face their hostess, "No, I didn't mean that. I just meant that Bess, George, and I don't get a whole lot of time to spend together."

"I completely understand," Erin pulled her ponytail down and ran her fingers through her hair, "It's nice to pull away from the world every now and then."