Last Lemonade Standing Read online

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE: SOUR POWER

  CHAPTER TWO: TOP SECRET!

  CHAPTER THREE: RECIPE FOR TROUBLE

  CHAPTER FOUR: COOKS . . . OR CROOKS?

  CHAPTER FIVE: GETTING ANTSY

  CHAPTER SIX: SQUEEZE OR TEASE?

  CHAPTER SEVEN: LICKETY-FIT

  CHAPTER EIGHT: LEMON-RAID

  CHAPTER NINE: PAGE PUZZLER

  CHAPTER TEN: SURPRISE CUSTOMER

  ABOUT CAROLYN KEENE AND PETER FRANCIS

  SOUR POWER

  “I don’t get it,” eight-year-old Nancy Drew said. “Doesn’t anyone want lemonade?”

  Nancy sat with her two best friends behind their lemonade stand. The table holding a pitcher of lemonade and paper cups was set up in the Drews’ front yard.

  “Maybe it’s too hot,” Bess Marvin suggested.

  “We’re selling ice-cold lemonade, Bess,” George Fayne groaned. “Not hot cocoa!”

  Nancy counted the few quarters and dimes in a glass jar. She then wrote the total on her favorite writing pad with the ladybug design.

  “At the rate we’re going,” Nancy said with a sigh, “we’ll never earn enough money to buy Katy Sloan tickets.”

  Bess and George sighed too. Katy Sloan was their favorite singer. When they had heard that Katy’s next concert would be at the River Heights Amusement Park, they knew they had to go. But Nancy, Bess, and George had already gone to the amusement park twice that summer to ride the rides. Both times their parents had paid for the tickets. So they would have to buy these tickets with their own money.

  That’s when Nancy had the idea for a lemonade stand. They even taped a picture of Katy to the table to make them work harder! Bess had written the date of the concert right on it.

  “We’ve been selling lemonade for two whole days,” Nancy said.

  “And I know our lemonade is good enough,” Bess insisted. “I got the recipe from my Pixie Scout cookbook!”

  “Maybe that’s the problem, Bess,” George said. “Sometimes good enough isn’t enough.”

  Nancy glanced over her shoulder at her house.

  “If only Hannah would give us her top-secret recipe for pink-strawberry lemonade,” Nancy said. “It’s awesome!”

  “Top secret?” Bess said, her blue eyes wide.

  “Even from you?” George asked Nancy. “Hannah has been your housekeeper since you were four years old.”

  “Three years old!” Nancy corrected. “And Hannah is more than a housekeeper—she’s like a mother to me.”

  “Then why won’t she give you her recipe?” Bess asked.

  “I told you, it’s top secret!” Nancy said. She flashed a little smile. “Even from detectives like us!”

  When Nancy, Bess, and George weren’t selling lemonade they were part of a detective club called the Clue Crew. Nancy even had a special Clue Book so she could write down clues and suspects.

  “Speaking of detective stuff,” George said with a smile. “I joined the Spy Girl Gadget of the Month Club.”

  “You joined a club without us?” Bess gasped. “But Nancy is your best friend—and I’m your best cousin!”

  “Are you sure you two are cousins?” Nancy joked.

  Bess and George were cousins, but totally different.

  Bess had blond hair, blue eyes, and a closet full of fashion-forward clothes. George had dark hair and eyes and liked her nickname better than her real name, Georgia. George’s closet was full too—with electronic gadgets!

  “The Spy Girl Gadget of the Month Club isn’t really a club, Bess,” George explained. “I just get a new spy gadget in the mail once a month.”

  George held up a purple pen and said, “The first gadget came yesterday. It’s called a Presto Pen.”

  “What does it do?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t know,” George admitted. “I think my little brother, Scott, took the instructions—just like he takes everything else that belongs to me—”

  “You guys, look!” Bess interrupted.

  Nancy turned to see where Bess was pointing. Walking toward their lemonade stand were Andrea Wu, Bobby Wozniak, and Ben Washington from their third-grade class at school.

  “Customers!” Nancy said. She smoothed her reddish-blond hair with her hands and whispered, “Everybody, smile!”

  The kids approached, each wearing a ready, set, cook! T-shirt.

  “ ‘Ready, set, cook,’ ” Nancy read out loud. “Isn’t that the kids’ cooking show on TV?”

  “Exactly!” Andrea said proudly. “You’re looking at one of the next teams on the show—Team Lollipop!”

  “Neat!” Bess said. “What are you going to cook?”

  “Our challenge is to put together a picnic basket,” Ben explained. “We’re making chicken salad on rolls, potato salad, crunchy coleslaw, and pecan bars.”

  Nancy was surprised to see Bobby on the team. Bobby’s nickname was Buggy because he loved bugs!

  “You like to cook, Buggy?” Nancy asked.

  “Not really,” Bobby said. “My mom made me join the cooking show so I’d stop thinking about bugs this summer.”

  “How about some lemonade?” Bess asked.

  “I’d rather have bug juice!” Buggy sighed.

  “I’ll have a cup, please,” Ben said with a smile.

  “One cup coming up!” George said. She picked up the pitcher and carefully poured lemonade into a paper cup. Ben drank it in one gulp.

  “Not bad,” Ben said, smacking his lips. “I taste lemons, sugar, water, and a small dash of vanilla extract.”

  “You tasted all that?” Nancy exclaimed.

  “I can taste anything and name each ingredient!” Ben said proudly. “Superheroes have X-ray vision, but I have X-ray taste buds.”

  “Wow!” George said. She offered Andrea a cup, but she shook her head.

  “No, thanks,” Andrea said. “I just had a cup at Lily Ramos’s lemonade stand.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George knew Lily from school. They also knew that Lily’s Aunt Maria owned a chain of famous coffee-and-tea cafés called Beans and Bags.

  “What’s Lily’s lemonade like?” Nancy asked.

  “Pretty sour,” Andrea said, scrunching her nose. “But her lemonade stand rocks!”

  The girls traded surprised looks as Team Lollipop walked away.

  “What could be so special about Lily’s lemonade stand?” Bess wondered.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Nancy said. “Let’s go over to Lily’s house and check it out.”

  Nancy wrote BE RIGHT BACK on her ladybug pad. After putting the lemonade pitcher in the kitchen fridge, the girls made their way to Lily Ramos’s house two blocks away.

  Nancy, Bess, and George each had the same rule: They could walk anywhere as long as it wasn’t more than five blocks away and as long as they were together. They didn’t mind. Being together was more fun anyway!

  “Whoa!” George gasped when they reached the Ramoses’ front yard.

  Behind Lily’s lemonade stand were cushy chairs and a rolling book cart for customers. There were board games on tiny tables and a FREE WI-FI sign.

  When Lily saw Nancy, Bess, and George, she smiled.

  “This is your lemonade stand, Lily?” Nancy asked.

  “I like to call it a lemonade experience!” Lily said. “My aunt Maria told me exactly what to do.”

  As Lily gave the girls a tour of her yard, she said, “It’s also pet friendly . . . and for your sipping pleasure, my cousin Carlos will play his recorder!”

  Nancy watched as Lily’s six-year-old cousin strolled by, playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” She then noticed something else. The prices of the lemonade, cupcakes, and cookies were written on the same ladybu
g paper she owned.

  “Andrea was right,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George. “Lily’s lemonade stand really does rock.”

  But when they tried Lily’s lemonade, their faces puckered up. Andrea was right about something else—Lily’s lemonade was too sour!

  “Don’t you like it?” Lily asked.

  “Um . . . it just needs a little something,” Nancy said nicely.

  “Like magic!” George joked.

  “It’s just that we have a lemonade stand too, Lily!” Bess said quickly.

  “And your lemonade is better than mine?” Lily cried.

  “Not better,” Nancy said slowly. “Just . . . different.”

  Lily was still frowning as she left to help a customer. But as the girls walked out of Lily’s yard, they were frowning too.

  “No wonder we have no customers,” Nancy said. “All the kids in River Heights are going to Lily’s lemonade stand.”

  “You mean lemonade experience,” George said. “Nobody seems to care that the lemonade tastes like swamp water.”

  “How are we going to sell enough lemonade for Katy Sloan tickets,” Bess asked, “when everyone is buying from Lily?”

  Nancy gave it some thought. There was only one way to bring customers to their lemonade stand.

  “We need the most awesome lemonade in the whole world, that’s how!” Nancy announced.

  “Where are we going to find that?” Bess wondered.

  “By asking Hannah,” Nancy said with a smile, “for her top-secret recipe for pink-strawberry lemonade!”

  TOP SECRET!

  “Please, Hannah?” Nancy said. “Pretty please with sugar on top . . . and a strawberry?”

  “Why don’t I make the lemonade for you?” Hannah suggested. “Without telling you the recipe?”

  “Thanks, Hannah,” Nancy said. “But we really want to make our own lemonade for our own lemonade stand!”

  The girls held their breaths while Hannah thought. Would she finally reveal the secret Gruen family recipe for pink-strawberry lemonade?

  “Everyone in my family had to promise to keep our recipe secret,” Hannah said. “So you have to promise too!”

  “Does that mean yes?” Nancy gasped.

  “Only if you promise,” Hannah said.

  “We promise!” Nancy, Bess, and George said together.

  “Okay then,” Hannah said. “Grab a pen and paper and write down the ingredients.”

  Nancy remembered her ladybug notepad in her pocket. But when she looked around for a pen, she couldn’t find one.

  “Use this,” George said. She handed Nancy her Presto Pen.

  “Thanks, George,” Nancy said. She then stood behind the kitchen counter ready to write the secret ingredients.

  Hannah paced back and forth calling out the ingredients: lemons, strawberries, crushed mint leaves, both flat water and fizzy water to give it a little zip. . . .

  “And last but not least,” Hannah said, “two tablespoons of honey instead of sugar. That’s what makes it special.”

  Nancy carefully wrote the ingredients and measurements. When she was done, she looked up and said, “Thanks a million, Hannah!”

  After giving Hannah a big hug, Nancy ran to the calendar on the kitchen wall. She drew a heart around the date of Katy Sloan’s concert—four days away. Would it be enough time to earn ticket money?

  “Katy Sloan concert, here we come!” Nancy declared. She was about to return the Presto Pen when George shook her head.

  “Keep the Presto Pen for now, Nancy,” George said. “Maybe it’ll bring us good luck.”

  The girls walked together to the supermarket for lemonade ingredients. Once there they used two shopping carts. Since the recipe was top secret, they didn’t want anyone to see all of the ingredients in one cart. They even spoke in secret code.

  “Do we have enough aw-berries-stray?” Nancy whispered.

  “Four baskets of aw-berries-stray,” Bess said.

  “On to the oney-hey,” George whispered.

  “The what?” Bess asked.

  “The honey, Bess!” George said.

  “Shhh!” Nancy hissed. “It’s top secret!”

  Nancy and George pushed both carts up the aisle. Bess pointed to a shelf with lemon-shaped jars. They were filled with Lickety-Split instant-lemonade powder.

  “Look,” Bess said. “Lickety-Split makes pink-strawberry lemonade, too!”

  “It can’t be as good as ours,” Nancy said as she held up Hannah’s recipe. “That’s a mix and ours is fresh.”

  Then as the girls walked under a whirling ceiling fan—whoosh—the wind blew the recipe out of Nancy’s hand!

  “Hannah’s recipe!” Nancy cried as the paper shot up the aisle. “We have to get it before someone sees it!”

  “But we can’t leave our carts!” George said. “Or someone will see the ingredients!”

  Pushing their carts, the girls chased the flyaway recipe until a boy stepped out from behind a tower of cereal boxes. It was Henderson “Drippy” Murphy from school.

  Henderson’s dad was Mr. Drippy the ice-cream man. Mr. Drippy’s truck was a huge part of summer in River Heights.

  “What’s this?” Henderson asked, picking up the recipe.

  George snatched the recipe from his hand and said, “It’s our shopping list. No biggie.”

  “Whatever,” Henderson said with a shrug. He was wearing a T-shirt with Katy Sloan’s picture on the front!

  “Do you like Katy Sloan too?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t like her,” Henderson said, his cheeks blushing. “I just like her music, that’s all.”

  Henderson then pointed to the lemons in one of the shopping carts. “But I hate lemons!” he said angrily.

  “Why?” Bess asked.

  “My dad traded his ice-cream truck for a dumb lemonade shake-up truck,” Henderson explained. “What’s so special about lemonade anyway?”

  “Our lemonade will be special!” Bess blurted excitedly. “We’re making pink—”

  George clapped her hand over Bess’s mouth before she could say more. Henderson shrugged again, then walked away.

  “You almost spilled our secret, Bess!” George said.

  “But she didn’t!” Nancy said with a smile. “Now let’s find the rest of the ingredients and get to work.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George spent the rest of the day squeezing lemons, blending strawberries, and measuring honey. By dinnertime they had three pitchers of Hannah’s pink-strawberry lemonade. The girls each took a test-sip. . . .

  “Yum!” George said.

  “Yummy!” Nancy added.

  “Yummy for the tummy!” Bess exclaimed.

  The girls traded high fives. Their lemonade was awesome. Hopefully their customers tomorrow would think so too!

  • • •

  “You guys,” Nancy said excitedly the next morning. “We’re lemonade superstars!”

  Nancy still couldn’t believe it as she poured another cup of cold pink-strawberry lemonade. They had set up their stand just an hour ago, and they already had served ten customers!

  “Giving out samples of our lemonade was a great idea, George,” Nancy said as more kids lined up. “Everybody is coming back for more.”

  “With their friends!” Bess pointed out.

  Nancy had remembered to tape their picture of Katy Sloan on the table next to the iced sugar cookies that Hannah had baked for them to sell. She was about to brush away some crumbs when one more customer stepped up to the table. . . .

  “Lily!” Nancy said with surprise. “Why aren’t you at your own lemonade stand—I mean, lemonade experience?”

  “I heard your lemonade is awesome,” Lily said. She bought a cup, took a sip, and gasped. “This is awesome. How did you make it?”

  “Sorry,” George said. “Our lips are zipped.”

  Lily frowned before walking away. Nancy had no time to wonder if Lily was jealous. They had thirsty kids to feed!

  “What if we run o
ut of lemonade?” Bess asked.

  “I still have the recipe if we need to make more,” Nancy said, holding up her ladybug paper. “Can you put it in your messenger bag so it’s safe, Bess?”

  Bess took the recipe just as a bunch of kids walked over. This time it was Henderson followed by Team Lollipop.

  “I’ll get more cups!” George said happily. As she ran back to the house, Henderson stepped up to the stand.

  “I heard your lemonade rocks,” Henderson said. He nodded at the pitcher. “But why is it pink?”

  “It’s pink-strawberry lemonade!” Nancy said proudly.

  “Strawberry?” Henderson cried his eyes wide. “Nobody told me it was strawberry lemonade!”

  Nancy and Bess were surprised too. What was Henderson’s problem? But then—

  “We’re in a hurry,” Andrea said as she stepped in front of Henderson. “We have to be at the TV studio soon. Ready, Set, Cook! starts filming at three o’clock!”

  “And we’re going to win the summer picnic-basket contest!” Ben added excitedly.

  George hurried back, her arms overflowing with more paper cups. Bess took three and began to pour.

  “Three cups, coming up!” Bess declared.

  Andrea and Buggy sipped their lemonade first. They thought it was the best ever. Bess was about to pour Ben’s cup when George shook her head.

  “Don’t, Bess!” George whispered. “If Ben tastes our lemonade, he’ll know the secret ingredients!”

  “Ben has X-ray taste buds!” Nancy added.

  “Um . . . what’s up?” Ben asked.

  The girls traded looks. They had to keep Ben from tasting their secret strawberry lemonade—but how?

  “Uh . . . I . . . just saw a bug inside the pitcher,” Nancy said, thinking fast. “No more lemonade until we get it out.”

  “A bug?” Buggy said excitedly. “What kind? Where?”

  In a flash Buggy reached out, knocking the pitcher and plate of cookies off the table.

  “Now I’ll never get to see the bugs!” Buggy pouted.

  Bess and George groaned as the last of the lemonade trickled onto the grass. But Nancy was more worried about the cookies. Some of them had chocolate icing on top. What if her puppy, Chocolate Chip, ate them? Chocolate was dangerous for dogs to eat.