Nancy Drew: 1. The Old Clock at Lilac Inn

The Hardy Boys

 Nancy rushed up the stairs and into her room, almost slamming the door behind her. She tossed her purse onto her bed and practically lunged for the phone on her desk, or the Pal Phone, as she used to call it, used only for her pen pals. She knew the number by heart now and quickly dialed it. The phone rang. While she waited for them to pick up the phone, she opened the top drawer and pulled out a few photos that Mrs. Hardy had sent to them over the years. The majority of them were Christmas cards, but there were a couple that Mrs. Hardy had managed to capture of the boys doing their own thing, dark-haired Frank with his books and blond Joe with his sports. Nancy liked looking at the pictures as they talked, she could almost imagine them talking to her in person.

Nancy blinked when no one picked up after the fifth ring. Had they gone out, not knowing what time she would be in, or had they stayed out longer than they had originally planned? Or was there another reason? If they hadn't picked up by the tenth ring, Nancy would hang up. She did wonder why they never set up an answering machine for their line. Sometimes Mrs. Hardy would pick it up, just like Hannah would pick up her phone at times. Nancy glanced at the clock, starting to think she should hang up. It was five o'clock her time, meaning it was six their time, dinner time. Sometimes dinner would be later, but since she was nearing the tenth ring, she figured they had to be sitting down to dinner.

"Hello? Who is this? What do you want?" came a voice on the other line, startling Nancy.

"Oh, um, hello! I'm Nancy Drew. May I speak to Frank and Joe?"

"Oh," said the voice, much nicer this time, "you're that pen pal of theirs. Well, I hope you have a lick of sense, because . . ."

"Aunt Trudy!" Frank's voice could be heard in the background. "Chet thinks your pie is about to burn!"

"Oh no!" Aunt Trudy's footsteps seemed to echo off into the distance.

"Hey Nance, sorry about that. We just got in."

"Where did you go?"

"We went to Chet's for a party, but we rushed back as soon as we could."

"Oh, I'm sorry to have been the reason for cutting your party short."

"Oh don't be, we did tell Hannah it was urgent. We just forgot that we were invited to the party, so we went for a little while."

"That's good to hear, I guess." Nancy let out a little sniffle.

"Hey, are you alright? I know Aunt Trudy can sound mean, but she's got a heart of gold."

Nancy let out a laugh. "Oh no, this has nothing to do with your aunt. But thank you for that, that did make me feel better."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Hey! Don't hog Nancy!" came Joe's voice over the line. Nancy could tell the difference on the line, they were using the speaker phone.

"Joe! I was trying to find out why she's upset!"

"Oh? Why are you upset?"

"I just asked her that, and you interrupted her."

"Oh, sorry."

Nancy chuckled. "It's OK, guys." She told them about Emily Crandall.

"Oh man, that's, that's harsh," said Joe.

"And you thought about your mom, didn't you," said Frank softly.

Nancy sniffled as a tear fell down her cheek. "You know me way too well."

"Yeah, we just have that natural talent of getting people to talk to us."

"Good grief, Joe, she just told us about this Emily losing her mom. Can you at least give her a minute?"