Chapter 1: Bad News Brenda
"Macaroni and cheese, please!" eight-year-old Nancy Drew called out from the lunch line.
"For all of us!" Bess Marvin said.
George Fayne gave Bess a nudge.
" -- Please!" Bess added quickly.
Bess and George were Nancy's two best friends. They were also cousins who looked very different. George -- whose real name was Georgia -- had brown eyes and dark curly hair. Bess had blue eyes and long blond hair.
But all three friends had a lot in common. They were in Mrs. Reynolds's third-grade class at Carl Sandburg Elementary School. And they couldn't wait for macaroni-and-cheese Monday.
Mrs. Enid Carmichael, the lunch lady, stood behind the counter. She wore her usual pink uniform and a hairnet.
"Sorry, girls," Mrs. Carmichael said. "No macaroni and cheese today."
Nancy couldn't believe her ears. "But it's Monday," she said, surprised.
"And I said 'please,'" Bess said.
Mrs. Carmichael smiled.
"Today we're having something from my brand-new cookbook," she said. "It's a French dish called quiche à Ia fromage."
"Keesh a Ia..." Nancy tried to say.
"I hope that's French for macaroni and cheese," George said.
Mrs. Carmichael pointed to a board hanging on the wall. It was where she wrote the lunch menu in bright purple marker.
"There'll be something new and yummy each day this week," Mrs. Carmichael said.
Nancy brushed aside her reddish blond bangs. She read the lunch board.
"Stuffed hard-boiled eggs with mushrooms?" Nancy gasped.
"Zucchini pie?" Bess squeaked.
"Those sound like something Dalton Feivish would whip up for the science fair," George said.
Nancy nodded. Dalton Feivish was in Mrs. Apple's third-grade class. He was famous for his gross science projects.
"I heard that!" a voice snapped.
Nancy, Bess, and George turned around. Standing behind them was Dalton!
"Excuse me, Mrs. Carmichael," Dalton called over the girls' shoulders. "Do you have any moldy bread in your kitchen?"
"I should say not!" Mrs. Carmichael declared. "All my bread is fresh!"
"Too bad." Dalton sighed. "For my next experiment I was going to grow mold inside my gym socks."
"Eww!" Nancy and her friends cried at the same time. The girls placed their plates on their trays and hurried to a table.
"Okay," George said, staring at her plate. "Who's going to try it first?"
"Nancy's a detective," Bess said quickly. "She can solve the mystery of the weird-looking lunch."
"Thanks a lot!" Nancy joked.
But Bess was right. Nancy loved solving mysteries. She even had a blue detective notebook where she wrote all of her clues.
Nancy took a deep breath. She tasted the lunch with the funny name and smiled.
"This is yummy!" she said. "Sort of like a cheesy-tasting pie."
Suddenly Bess began to laugh.
"I just remembered when Mr. Lizard pretended to cook on his show," Bess said.
Nancy grinned. Mr. Lizard's Funhouse was their favorite TV show after school. Mr. Lizard had bright red hair and did the funniest things. He had even made up his own lizard dance.
"I remember, too!" Nancy exclaimed." Mr. Lizard was trying to cook fudge."
"Except it looked more like sludge." George giggled.
The friends began to laugh -- until Brenda Carlton sat down next to them.
"I know something you don't know," she began to sing softly.
Nancy rolled her eyes. Brenda Carlton thought she knew everything. Her father owned a newspaper, and she even wrote her own, called the Carlton News, on her computer every week.
"Mr. Lizard's Funhouse will not be on TV anymore," Brenda announced.
Nancy almost dropped her fork. "How do you know?" she asked.
"My father told me so," Brenda said. "The TV station is putting a cooking show on instead. Something called The Clever Cook."
"A cooking show?" George complained.
"That's for grown-ups! " Bess cried.
Nancy wondered if Brenda was telling the truth. She had made up stories before.
"Maybe it's not true," Nancy said.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Brenda demanded.
"Nope," George joked. "We already call you Miss Snooty Pants."
"Very funny," Brenda muttered.
Nancy turned to Bess and George.
"Let's ask someone who will know for sure," she said. "Like Karen Koombs. She's the president of the Mr. Lizard Fan Club."
"Good idea, George said. "We can go to Karen's house after school. That's where she has the fan club meetings."
Brenda rolled her eyes.
"Good luck, " she said. "The Mr. Lizard Fan Club doesn't want third graders. They wouldn't let me join."
Brenda flipped back her hair. Then she took a bite of her turkey sandwich.
"Maybe they just didn't want Brenda," Bess whispered.
Nancy returned to her lunch. She hoped the bad news wasn't true. But they would find out -- soon enough!
After school the girls each got permission to meet at Karen Koombs's house.
Nancy rang the doorbell.
"What's the password?" a girl's voice called from behind the door.
"Is it lizard dance?" Nancy guessed.
The door flew wide open. Karen stood there wearing a Mr. Lizard T-shirt.
"Follow me," Karen said.
Nancy, Bess, and George followed Karen down to the basement. Nancy saw six kids sitting in front of a TV. Some were wearing Mr. Lizard T-shirts. Others wore bright red Mr. Lizard wigs.
"This is Nancy, Bess, and George," Karen said. "They knew the password."
Peter DeSands from Mrs. Reynolds's class stood up. "How do we know they're not spies?" he asked.
"Don't be silly," Nancy said. "If we were spies, would we be able to do this?"
Nancy wiggled her fingers behind her head. She flicked out her tongue. Then she, Bess, and George danced the lizard dance -- perfectly.
"Wow!" Karen said, smiling. "You really do like Mr. Lizard! "
"That's why we want to know if the news is true," Nancy explained. "Is Mr. Lizard's Funhouse going off TV?"
Everyone looked very sad.
"It's true." A girl wearing a red wig sighed. "Mr. Lizard just said so himself. His last show will be on Thursday."
Karen pumped her fist in the air. "Unless we can think of a way to save Mr. Lizard," she said.
"I know!" a girl with curly hair said. "We can cross our fingers and our toes -- and wish really, really hard."
"We can send station WRIV a pizza," a boy with freckles said. "And write 'Save Mr. Lizard' with pepperonis and olives."
Nancy had an idea, too. "Why don't we get all the kids who like Mr. Lizard to sign a petition?" she asked.
"A pet-what?" Peter asked.
"It's a list of names," Nancy explained. "The fifth grade started one last year when they wanted granola bars in the snack machine."
"It worked," the curly-haired girl said. "We got granola bars and raisins!"
"We can bring the list to station WRIV," Nancy went on. "Then they'll see how many kids really like Mr. Lizard."
"Awesome idea!" Karen declared. "Will you put together the petition, Nancy?"
"Me?" Nancy asked. She looked at Bess and George. They were nodding hard.
"Sure," Nancy said. "I'll get kids to sign it in the lunchroom tomorrow -- "
Nancy was interrupted by a loud pounding on the door.
"Let me in! " a boy's voice yelled. "I want to watch Artie the Aardvark!"
Nancy guessed that the boy was Karen's little brother, Jimmy.
"Go away!" Karen shouted. "We're trying to save Mr. Lizard!"
"Mr. Lizard! Mr. Lizard!" Jimmy shouted. "I hope he goes away forever and ever and ever!"
Nancy's eyes opened wide.
That will never happen, she thought. Not if I can help it!
Copyright © 2001 by Simon & Schuster,Inc.
