The Mystery of the Missing Pint (A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys FanFiction)

Chapter Four: Compromising

After the children had finished all of Hannah's cookies, they ran around outside playing all sorts of tag. First they played Freeze Tag and then they played Cartoon Tag. They played Chinese Freeze Tag and Hide and Go Tag. Neither of them wanted to get sweaty or dirty, so Deirdre and Brenda played as the referees for each game. They called the arguable shots- with bias opinions of course.

Soon, the children became tired and all voted in favor of a break. It was a warm day, so they all piled into the air-conditioned kitchen searching for Hannah. The housekeeper was sitting at the table. As the children swamped her in pleas for lemonade, the woman chuckled and shooed them into basement where they were all to sleep that night.

"I'll make a large pitcher of iced lemonade just for you, my munchkins. You all set out your sleeping bags and pillows so that you won't have to tonight," Mrs. Gruen shook her head and headed back up the stairs. After brining down a tray of lemonade, Hannah walked over to the television that sat in one corner of the furnished basement. She looked in the closet and pulled out several videos. "Children, would you like to watch a movie?"

"Hannah," George said, "Can we wait until it gets dark?"

"Yeah, we still want to play outside!" Ned added.

"Eww, no," Brenda squealed, "We should stay inside and watch something."

"But why not wait?" Bess turned to her, "We can always watch a movie, but we can't go outside after it gets dark. Shouldn't we play outside while we can?"

"What other games could we possibly play?" Deirdre stepped up behind Bess, "We've already played tag and Freeze Tag and Chinese Freeze Tag and-"

"Yeah," George interrupted, "but we could play Hide and Go Seek or we could have a scavenger hunt or we could play Cops and Bad Guys or, ooh, how about we-"

"Ughh!" Brenda said.

"Booorrring!" Deirdre rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, do you have any fun suggestions?" Brenda added, her hand on her hip.

"We could dress up and play a pretending game," Bess tried to helpfully suggest, "Ned and George could be firefighters and I can be a princess and Nancy can be a detective and you guys can be reporters." Nancy smiled at Bess's effort to make things work out for everyone. Despite how she felt about the two girls, Bess had been the better person and played nice. George wasn't as inclined to be nice. She had been about to suggest that they dig for worms and make mud pies. George only restrained herself for Bess's sake. Bess was rising above Brenda and Deirdre's remarks as of earlier, and George had enough sense not to tamper with the fragile line that she was attempting to form.

"That is the stupidest game idea that I have ever heard," Brenda retaliated, "Who puts firefighters and princesses in the same story, really? You couldn't come up with anything better than that? How pathetic."

"Now, I think I've heard quite enough!" Hannah stepped in, "Brenda, you should apologize to Bess. That was very cruel and uncalled for. She was simply doing her best to accommodate everyone. If you disagree with her idea, you need to try suggesting your own."

"But I did!" Brenda whined, "I want to stay inside and watch something. It's hot outside!"

"Brenda," Ned said, "We'll give a little if you'll give a little. We need to compromise, all of us."

"That's right, Ned, very good," Hannah said, "I'm impressed. You should all sit down and come up with a game that everyone will enjoy playing. You can even make up a game if you put your minds to it. Now, play nice. I have to go to the store for dinner. I'll be back soon. If anyone needs anything, Elizabeth is in her garden." With that she turned to ascend the stairs.

"Okay..." Deirdre sighed, "So, what do we do?"

"Well," Nancy said, "You guys want to play inside and we want to play outside. We could make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Ned asked.

"What if we play inside today, because it's so hot out now, and we play outside in the morning before it gets too hot out?" George suggested.

"We don't have to stay inside for all of today," Brenda added, "We could just stay inside for a few hours and then go back out before it gets too dark, but after the sun starts to go down, when it's not as hot anymore."

"That sounds reasonable," Nancy smiled, "Now we're getting somewhere."

"So we'll play inside for now," Bess said, "but what will we play?"

"Okay," Deidre said, "Hannah said both sides should give a little, so that everyone would be happy. You guys gave up the outside, so now it's our turn to give something up."

"We don't have to watch a movie now," Brenda said, "We can play something a little more...active, if that's what you guys want."

"Why don't we all say something that we like to do?" George thought allowed, "We can use that to decide what to play."

"I like to dress up in pretty clothes," Bess said, smiling.

"Me too," Deirdre took Bess's hand, smiling too.

"I like to pretend I'm a pirate!" Ned charged the air with a pretend sword, "Ha ha, take that!"

"Well, I like to be in charge," Brenda said simply.

George laughed, "When I'm outside, I like to hike, but when I'm inside I like to take things apart and put them back together."

"You're turn, Nancy," Bess said.

"I like solving puzzles," Nancy shrugged, "but what can we do that involves puzzles, dressing up, playing pirate, being in charge, and taking things apart and putting them back together?"

"Maybe," Deirdre's eyes lit up as she spoke, "Ned can dress up as a pirate, Bess and I can dress up as pretty lady pirates, Brenda can be the captain, George can be the ship's engineer, and Nancy can be..." She thought really hard, "Oh, I suppose we can't play. I don't know what Nancy can do."

"We can make it a treasure hunt!" George said excitedly, "and the puzzle is where the treasure is! Nancy can be the one to hold the treasure map. It's perfect Deirdre."

"Oh, not so perfect," she looked down, "Who's going to hide the treasure? It can't be one of us. It wouldn't be fun that way."

Just then, Nancy's mom walked down the stairs, "I'll hide your treasure for you."