Free Pony Problems by Carolyn Keene Page A

commented. “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a real case to solve?”
    Nancy Drew and her friends loved to solve mysteries. They called themselves the Clue Crew and had a detective headquarters in Nancy’s bedroom. Working together, the girls had already solved a couple of good cases and were ready to jump into a new investigation. If only something interesting would happen …
    â€œIt would be fun to solve another mystery,” Nancy agreed. She opened her own lunch box and took out some peanut butter crackers. “But it seems like it’s going to be a quiet weekend.Do you both want to come over tomorrow morning?” she asked her friends. “My dad said he’d take us to fly kites in the park, if you want.”
    â€œSounds good,” George said, before eating a spoonful of her yogurt. “Maybe I’ll do an Internet search to check out which way the wind will be blowing in River Heights tomorrow.” George liked computers and was always sharing interesting facts with her friends.
    Bess rolled her eyes. “I bet I can find the same information on my new wireless radio. I built it from old parts I found in that junk shop on East Town Road. My mom took me there last week.” Bess loved gadgets. Her hobby was building new stuff out of old pieces.
    â€œIt really doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing,” Nancy cut in before the cousins began to argue over which was a better weather checker—the Internet or the radio. “Just bring your kites and be there at nine o’clock.”
    While they were having dessert, Bess asked, “Did you hear about the brown and whitespeckled pony Ms. Waters found in her garden yesterday?”
    George’s short brown hair bobbed up and down when she laughed. “My mom said she saw Ms. Waters running down the street in her nightgown, waving her arms and shouting about how the pony was eating her flowers.”
    â€œThe whole idea cracks me up!” Bess exclaimed. “I mean, she’s the librarian. She’s always saying ‘shhh’ and telling us to be quiet. It’s hard to imagine her running down the street screaming. My ribs hurt from laughing every time I think about it.”
    â€œMs. Waters sure does love her garden.” Nancy giggled. She tucked a strand of her shoulder-length reddish hair behind her ear. “I heard that the day before yesterday, Mr. Geffington found the same pony standing outside the post office. It was eating a bush,” Nancy added. She took a sip of milk. “And before that, on Tuesday, the pony was discovered at the movies.”
    â€œWas it eating popcorn?” George snickered atthe thought of the pony having a snack.
    â€œNah,” Bess put in. “It was munching leaves off that big sycamore tree in front of the theater.”
    â€œThat’s one hungry pony,” George commented. “Does anyone know who it belongs to?” George’s eyes lit up as she considered that there might be a mystery to solve.
    â€œButtons is Mr. Johnson’s Shetland pony,” a voice said from behind Nancy. The girls turned to see Stacy Quinn headed their way. Stacy was in Mrs. Bailey’s third-grade class at River Heights Elementary. Stacy’s long brown hair swung as she walked. “I couldn’t help but overhear,” Stacy continued as she sat down with the three friends at the lunch table. “You guys are talking pretty loudly.”
    Nancy grinned widely as a question popped into her head. “How do you know the pony’s name?”
    Stacy reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a picture. She handed it to Nancy. “See?” she said, pointing at herselfin the photograph. “That’s me standing next to Buttons.” In the picture, Nancy saw Stacy wearing a T-shirt that said “Horse Crazy.” She had her hair pulled back and tied with a floppy bow. Her arm was wrapped around a small