The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery (8 page)

“
Where did you get all those
brochures?” asks her friend Beth, a thin, bright-eyed girl with
frizzy, uncontrollable hair that she is always trying to tame with
a flat iron.

Nancy answers, “I wrote the
chamber of commerce of each city where I’d like to visit this
summer, asking them for travel information. This is what they’ve
sent.”

“
Why bother doing that; why
not just look it up on the web?” Beth asks.

Nancy says, “I love getting
things in the mail. Who doesn’t?”

“
I don’t,” says her friend
Hannah, a tom-boyish, athletic girl who looks like she’d feel more
at home on a horse or a motorcycle than in Nancy’s French
provincial bedroom.

“
Why not?” Nancy asks.
“Don’t you love getting a handwritten letter in the mail? I mean,
just think: someone may have actually taken the time to purchase
nice looking stationary, used a good fountain pen, and gone to the
post office to buy a book of commemorative stamps. Letter writing
is a lost art, in my opinion.”

“
All I get is junk mail,”
Hannah complains.

“
Ah, poor Hannah,” Nancy
says. “I’ll send you a letter soon.”

“
I’ll look forward to that,
Nancy. Your cards are always beautiful. And you put so much of your
heart into it.”

“
Thanks, Hannah. Actually,
the reason I wrote those letters is because my Dad asked me
to.”

“
So all you have to do is
pick one of these destinations and your Dad will take you there?”
Hannah asks. “Can I adopt your Dad?”

“
No; it’s not like that at
all. Dad just won a big case he was working on and wants to go on a
special trip with me to celebrate.”

“
I wish we could tag
along.”

Nancy thinks that her
father may want this trip to be just the two of them, so she
changes the subject. She asks her friends, “What are your plans
this summer?”

Hannah, tells her that
she’s training to run in a 10K. Beth says that she’s planning to
work as a junior lifeguard. “It’s a great way to meet cute guys and
check out their bodies at the same time.”

Nancy laughs and says, “All
you think about is boys, boys, boys.”

“
You should talk, Nancy. I
saw you hanging out with that cute new boy who just transferred
here.”

“
We’re just
friends.”

“
Every girl in school has
the hots for him.”

Nancy says, “He’s shy. I
don’t think he likes it if girls come on too strong.”

“
You get all the guys,” Beth
pouts.

“
Alright, you two. Let’s
talk about these brochures,” Nancy reminds them.

Beth says, “I think you
should go to Manhattan. I would love to see how Don Draper
lives.”

“
He’s a made-up character,”
Hannah says.

“
But he sure looks good in a
suit,” her friend replies.

Nancy says, “I just
finished watching last season of “Mad Men”, and I think Don Draper
is back to being a womanizer again.”

“
But, why would he do that
if he has that wonderful Megan.”

Hannah says, “Reality
check. It’s a series on TV and not a girl’s fantasy come true,
Beth.”

Nancy says, “Well, I do
love the fashions on that show. I’ve been thinking about sewing a
hip hugger mini-skirt and a ‘poor boy’ sweater to go with
it.”

Her friend Hannah says,
“What’s a ‘poor boy sweater’?”

Nancy grabs her iPhone and
searches for a picture of Twiggy. “Here she is,” she tells her
friends. “See, she has a ‘poor boy’ sweater on with her
mini-skirt.”

“
Oh, Nancy,” Beth says.
“Will you make me a mini-skirt too? I may even get some white go-go
boots to go with it.”

“
Sure. We’re both the same
size, so it should be easy for me to sew another one for
you.”

Hannah tells Nancy, “I
think you should have another one of your famous costume parties.
We could all come wearing 60’s clothes.”

Nancy warms up to the idea
and says, “Yeah. I could dust off my grandfather’s old turntable
and play some of his Beatles albums.”

Beth says, “We could have a
name-that-tune contest.”

Nancy says, “And I could
demonstrate how to make tie-dyed t-shirts.”

“
Okay,” Nancy’s friends say,
sounding slightly less enthusiastic.

Nancy is on a roll: “We
could have a hula-hoop contest. Or maybe do the limbo.”

“
The what?” Hannah
asks.

Before Nancy can answer,
Beth says, “And you could invite that new boy who likes you. I’d
love to bob for apples with him.”

Nancy says, “That’s it!
We’ll have a Halloween party with a 1960’s theme. That would be
awesome.”

“
Love it!” both her friends
say.

“
Okay, ladies,” Nancy says,
“back to my dream vacation.”

Nancy then tells her
friends that she wants to go to New Orleans. “Just think,” she
tells them, “the land of jambalaya, jazz, plantations and
riverboats.”

“
Moonlight and magnolias,”
Beth says dreamily.

Hannah says, “I’d like to
take a row boat out in the bayous and search from
alligators.”

“
Yuck,” Beth says. “Give me
vampire Bill Compton and creepy graveyards.”

“
You’ve been watching a lot
of TV lately: you’ve mentioned both “Mad Men” and “True Blood” all
in a matter of 15 minutes,” Hannah says.

“
I just think Vampire Bill
is sexy,” Beth says.

“
Isn’t he a little too old
for you?” Hannah asks.

“
Okay, you two. Enough
already. Which one: Manhattan or New Orleans?”

Beth says, “Manhattan,” and
Hannah says, “New Orleans.”

“
I’ll take New Orleans,”
Nancy’s father says as he pokes his head into the
bedroom.

“
Dad, I hope you didn’t hear
all of our conversation?”

“
No. I just happened to come
in on the part about how sexy Vampire Bill is.”

“
How embarrassing,” Beth
says.

“
Let’s go to New Orleans,”
he says to his daughter.

“
Yay! “That’s my choice
too!”

Hannah says, “You guys are
so lucky. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“
Well,” Nancy’s father says,
“why don’t you ask your parents if you can come too?”

“
Gee, I don’t know Mr.
Keene,” Hannah says. “We don’t want to cut in on your quality time
with Nancy--“

Beth cuts off her friend’s
speech by saying, “We’d love to go, sir.”

He says, “Nancy wouldn’t be
happy without the two of you anyway.”

Nancy claps her hands and
says, “Laissez les bon temps rouler!”

“
What does that mean?” Beth
says.

“
You’ll find out when we get
there.”

###

Travel with Nancy as she
goes to Lake Wobegon:

Nancy Keene, a teenage
sleuth, longs for the change in seasons since she and her father
moved to Santa Ana, California from their home in upstate New York.
She talks her father into taking a pilgrimage to Minnesota in
search of fall foliage and Lake Wobegon and, while there, they end
up as members of a search party when a bachelor farmer goes
missing.

Excerpt From:

The Missing Bachelor
Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery
.

Available Now At Your
Favorite On-Line Bookstore

Chapter One

Nancy Keene and her father
are sitting in their backyard painting headstones for Halloween
decorations. Nancy, a blue-eyed/blonde-haired fifteen year old, has
found some good epitaphs to paint onto the headstones. She’s
currently painting the words:

Here lies Les
Moore

Shot in the head with a
44

No Les, No more.

They live in Orange County,
California and it is 90 degrees outside with Santa Ana winds that
are blowing leaves into their swimming pool. There are brush fires
in the foothills nearby and the wind is blowing ashes down on them
as they paint.

“Oh, look Dad. It’s
impossible to paint with these ashes sticking to the
headstones.”

Her father, Drew, a
prominent attorney downtown, tells her, “I think we’re going to
have to go inside to continue our painting, honey.”

They gather up the
headstones, paint, and brushes and go into their kitchen to lay
everything out on the table. Nancy gathers up some newspapers to
put on and underneath the table to prevent paint from dripping onto
their floor.

“You know, Dad, it’s really
hard to get into the spirit of the season when it’s this hot
outside. I wish we still lived in the Adirondacks. Remember how
beautiful the autumn was there?”

“I know what you mean. I’m
sorry we had to move. There were just too many memories of your
mother in our New York house. It was too hard for me to stay there
after her death.”

“I understand, Dad. We had
to move on, didn’t we?”

“Are you not happy here in
Santa Ana?”

“Oh, Dad. Don’t worry about
me. I’ll get used to it.”

“You’ve met some nice
friends here. I’m sure you’ll all have fun at your Halloween
party.”

“You’re right Dad. Listen to
me complaining. I’m the luckiest girl in the world!” she says and
walks over to him to give him a big hug. “Let’s listen to A Prairie
Home Companion. That always cheers us up.”

They continue their painting
project indoors and laugh at all of Garrison Keillor’s jokes. When
the “News from Lake Wobegon” portion of the radio show comes on,
Nancy and her father stop what they’re doing and sit quietly in
their front room listening and hanging on to each word.

Garrison talks about Pastor
Liz, Dorothy’s caramel rolls, The Sidetrack Tap, The Chatterbox
Café, and the bachelor farmers. When the monologue is over, Nancy
decides to light some cinnamon candles that she bought at Bath and
Body Shop. She turns on the faux fireplace and tries to feel cozy
inside. “Let’s go get some Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Dad. You can teach
me how to drive, now that I got my learner’s permit.”

“Speaking of you driving,”
her father says, “I’ve been looking at a blue vintage roadster that
a friend of mine is selling. I think you’ll like it. It’s a real
classic.”

“Great! When can I see
it?”

“When you turn
sixteen.”

“Will your friend be willing
to wait that long?”

“Yes. He owes me a
favor.”

“Awesome,” Nancy
says.

Nancy and her father head
out to Starbucks, with Nancy in the driver’s seat. She manages to
back out of their driveway okay, but has trouble getting used to
the clutch and shifting. The drive back home is a little
easier.

When she and her father are
sipping their lattes in front of their faux fireplace, Nancy asks,
“Dad, wouldn’t it be great to go to Lake Wobegon?”

“It’s an imaginary
place.”

“Big duh, Dad. I’m serious.
Maybe there really are some places like the Chatterbox Café.
Wouldn’t it be fun to go find out?”

“Well--it might be fun to
try.”

“That’s the spirit,
Dad!”

“I’ll see if I can make some
time off in my court calendar later in the month.”

“Can we please go before the
fall leaves all come down from the trees?”

“Honey, what will you do
about school?”

“My teachers will
understand. They’ll see it as a great opportunity for me to write a
travelogue. I could read it to the class.”

“I don’t know if they’ll let
you do that. I’ll call the principal and see what he says. Let’s
get you through this Halloween party you’re planning first,
okay?”

“Awesome, Dad. I knew you’d
understand.”

###

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