Thanksgiving Thief (7 page)

“This is kind of embarrassing, Nancy,” said Bess.

“Well, what's really embarrassing, Bess, is that we failed to catch the turkeys,” Nancy said. She sighed. “If there's no Thanksgiving Celebration this year, then it'll be our fault.”

When Nancy got home, Hannah said, “The school called. Your father will be upset that you got there so late.” She shook her head. “I certainly hope you didn't look like that all day!”

Nancy told Hannah about chasing the wild turkeys all over their part of town. “I'm sure they're the ones responsible for what's been going on, but the only evidence we have so far are three feathers.”

“Some evidence,” said Hannah. She took a deep breath, let it out, then added, “Well, why don't you clean up before dinner?”

“Okay,” Nancy said. She looked around. “Where's Dad?”

“He's working late at the office,” Hannah told her.

“Oh, darn!” Nancy said. “I wanted to talk to him about the case.”

“Well, it'll have to wait until morning,” Hannah said, “because I have strict orders that you're not to stay up until he gets home.”

Nancy was so tired, she didn't argue this time. Chasing two wild turkeys around River Heights was not something she did every day.

When Nancy awakened on Tuesday morning, she opened her drapes in hopes that the two turkeys had returned. But she saw only dead leaves being scattered by the wind.

Mr. Drew was already at the breakfast table, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper, when Nancy went downstairs.

Nancy gave him a big hug, then sat down next to him and drank half the glass of orange juice Hannah had already put by her plate.

“I'm sorry about being late to school yesterday,” Nancy apologized.

“It's not like you, Nancy, so I'm guessing you must have had a good reason. Hannah said you had something important to tell me about your current investigation,” Mr. Drew said.

Nancy told him about the wild turkey chase. “But we finally lost them,” she finished, “and we don't know where they went.”

Mr. Drew thought for a minute. “So you think these two turkeys are responsible for all the destruction?” he said.

“Well, Daddy, it's really just a hunch, since the only evidence we have are three wild turkey feathers,” Nancy told him. “But the fact that the turkeys were in town makes them suspicious.”

“You're right about that, Nancy,” Mr. Drew said. “I have an idea. I think I know where we might find these two birds—provided, of course, that they are responsible.”

“Really?” Nancy said. “Can you take us there after school?”

Mr. Drew drained his coffee cup and replied, “Of course!”

That afternoon Bess and George went home with Nancy, where Hannah gave them an after-school snack. Then Mr. Drew drove them to the new city park, two blocks from River Heights Elementary School.

Nancy looked around, puzzled. “Why are we here, Daddy?”

“This is the only part left of what used to be a large area of wilderness. It used to stretch
way out into the countryside,” Mr. Drew explained.

“Really?” Nancy said.

Mr. Drew nodded. “This whole area was once all trees and bushes,” he told the girls. He stopped the car. “Let's get out and look around. We'll need to be quiet, just in case our friends are around here, and I think they are.”

“Friends?”
asked Nancy.

“I don't consider anyone trying to destroy Thanksgiving a
friend
,” Bess added.

“Me either,” George put in.

“Don't be so quick to judge,” said Mr. Drew. “There are always two sides to every story.”

For the next several minutes, the four of them made their way through the thick underbrush, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Suddenly Mr. Drew held a finger up to his lips, warning them not to make a sound. He slowly pulled apart a couple of branches and peered between them. “Nancy, look at this,” he whispered.

“Oh my gosh!” Nancy whispered back. “I don't believe it.”

Bess and George took turns looking. Then the four of them moved back, away from the thicket, so they could talk about what they had seen.

“They're the crooks, all right, Nancy,” George said. “We've solved another case.”

“Right,” Nancy said. “We caught them red-handed with the evidence.”

In the thicket, Nancy had seen the two adult wild turkeys, along with three offspring. They were surrounded by a bag of stuffing mix, some dried pumpkin puree, and piles of green beans.

“But that still doesn't explain who opened the refrigerator door and ruined all of Mr. Davidson's fresh turkeys,” Bess said.

“Oh, I think it does, Bess,” Nancy said. “If those turkeys are strong enough to carry some of that food here to the thicket, then I'm sure they'd be strong enough to fly up on that
table where I found the feather and open the refrigerator handle with a foot or a beak.”

“Wow!” George said. “I'm impressed with how smart they are!”

“Animals will do whatever it takes to survive,” Nancy said. “Of course, they were probably shocked when they found other turkeys in the refrigerator!”

“Well, yeah!” Bess said.

Nancy turned to her father. “How did you know the turkeys would be here, Dad?” she asked.

“Well, like I told you, Nancy, this whole area used to be wilderness,” Mr. Drew explained. “It was home to a lot of wildlife, including wild turkeys. Come over here,” he said. “I want to show you something else.”

They walked several yards to the edge of the park. They saw a group of new homes. “These housing additions were built where a lot of wild animals used to live,” Mr. Drew said. “Now there's not enough land left to support them.”

Nancy turned to Bess and George. “Well, the Clue Crew solved the mystery of who was trying to destroy Thanksgiving in River Heights,” she said, “but now we have another problem. . . .”

At school on Wednesday morning, the day of the festival, Mrs. Ramirez said, “Nancy Drew has an announcement to make.”

Nancy came to the front of the room. “The people who were trying to destroy the River Heights Thanksgiving Celebration aren't people,” she began. “They're
wild turkeys
.”

The class gasped.

“Oh, I saw them on television!” Deirdre said. “They were drinking dirty water from that broken pipe here at our school.”

“Right!” said Nancy.

She then told the class about the disappearing wilderness. She talked about how
the Clue Crew had seen the wild turkeys in the last remaining thicket trying to feed their young.

“That's terrible,” Katherine Madison said. “We can't let this happen to them.”

“We need to do something about it,” said Deirdre.

The rest of the class agreed.

“Well, here's my plan,” Nancy said. “My dad says there is some land on the other side of the river. We're going to ask the City of River Heights to buy that land so the local wildlife, including turkeys, will have a place to live.”

The class cheered.

“Why hasn't the wildlife already gone there?” Peter Patino asked.

“The river's probably too wide for some of them to swim across,” George guessed. “But we honestly didn't ask them that question.”

The class laughed.

“The wild turkeys will have a place to live and raise their families,” Bess said. “And they
won't have to come over to our school to steal food!”

“What will they do until we get the wildlife refuge ready?” Katherine asked.

“That brings me to the second part of my plan,” Nancy continued. “We're going to feed them in the park every week until the wildlife refuge is ready. Who's with me?”

All the hands in the class went up.

While Nancy was making a list of volunteers, a couple of the other teachers came into the room. They huddled with Mrs. Ramirez, then left.

Mrs. Ramirez quieted down the class. “The other classes want to be involved too, Nancy, so we should have plenty of volunteers to make sure the turkeys are fed until they can be moved,” she said.

Nancy grinned.

“Now, then, class, we're going to the gym to practice for the pageant,” Mrs. Ramirez said. “I hope you haven't forgotten that the Thanksgiving Celebration is tonight.”

“We haven't!” the class shouted.

That night Nancy, Bess, George, and Mary White Cloud were huddled in the wings behind the curtain.

George pulled the curtain back to peek out. “Oh, wow!” she said. “This place is packed.”

“Let me look at you,” said Mary. She adjusted their headbands. “Perfect. You really do look like Native American princesses.”

“Do you have our turkey feathers?” Bess asked.

Mary nodded. “Your three and one Mr. Fulton gave me!” she said.

“Super!” Nancy said.

“I am now going to perform the feather ritual,” Mary said. “I will put one feather at the back of each headband.”

“Places, princesses,” Mrs. Ramirez whispered. “You're on in two minutes.”