Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook, #35

The one with the flies!!! It's crazy how I can remember specific lines and images from certain books even after the 20+ years since I first read the series. This one was one of my favorites, so maybe that's why so many details of this one jumped out at me this time.

So, we start this one with Stacey visiting her dad in NYC, going shopping (where she almost asks her dad to buy her a cropped purple suede fringed jacket - how 80s is that, yikes - but instead gets heart-shaped black-and-white checkerboard sunglasses), plus has brunch on Sunday with Laine, pre-breakup. She gets back to the 'Brook late Sunday evening, so she actually rewears her train outfit to school the next day (which is nice to see, AMM makes it always seem like Stacey and Claudia have these magical, never-ending, Cher Horowitz-type closets. Even Kate Middleton recycles outfits, AMM. Wonder if Duchess Catherine was a BSC fan?). Anyway, that Monday afternoon, the BSC meeting turns out to be a momentous one, at least for this story's purposes. Kristy (whom Stacey refers to as "a little babyish," hee hee) announces that an old historic home is about to be torn down in Stoneybrook, which Stacey thinks is super lame. However, the phone rings, and Dr. Johanssen calls with an interesting proposition. Charlotte's grandfather is having surgery and will be hospitalized for a week (back when insurance companies let you stay that long for a procedure), and the Johanssens want to go stay with him, but don't want Charlotte to miss school. So they ask if Stacey would mind having Charlotte stay with her for the week, and that they would pay her accordingly. Ok, I know Stacey considers Charlotte like a little sister, but this just seemed a little weird. You think maybe they would want Charlotte to stay with the Ramseys, since Becca and Charlotte are best friends, or have some family member from the other side of the family come stay for the week. Whatevs, AMM. Anyway, somehow Mrs. McGill enthusiastically agrees to this, because this is Stoneybrook, after all.

Stacey decides to decorate the guest bedroom for her "little sister," putting some Raggedy Ann bedsheets on the bed (oh, I remember the Raggedy Ann bedsheets!!) and places some of her old stuffed animals (any of her stuffed pigs, I wonder?) on the bed. Charlotte is super homesick the first day, so Stacey decides to walk her down the street to look at the old house that is about to be demolished. The workers have already left for the day, so they walk around the perimeter of the house. Suddenly, Stacey sees a face in one of the turret windows, but dismisses as her imagination. Then, both she and Charlotte hear what sounds like chains being dragged across the floor from somewhere inside, plus some sort of moaning sound. Then, as she and Charlotte walk around the back of the house, they spot a huge swarm of flies right by the back door, which reminds Stacey of The Amityville Horror, which she had recently seen with Claudia (really?!? Not sure if my parents would have let me watch something like that at 13, but then, I do remember watching Alfred Hitchcock movies at a sleepover in 6th grade, so I guess it's plausible...). Anyway, the flies are too much for Stacey, she and Charlotte are seriously spooked and run back to the McGill house. 

The next BSC meeting, Stacey brings Charlotte along (with Kristy's permission, of course), and they recount their adventures at the house. Kristy manages to find a book about the history of Stoneybrook in Watson's library, and it contains an old map of the town. Apparently, the old home was built on top of an ancient graveyard (because...of course it is. The thing that gets me, though, is that I don't see there being any way of them not knowing about the graveyard already. Something tells me that something like that would be a story passed down to each generation, to scare young kids and such. I mean, our town had the old Thompson family burial plot, buried deep within the woods, that kids had to hike out to on a dare at some point. Now, of course, those woods have disappeared, and the family graveyard is in the middle of a neighborhood, stupid surburban expansion...). Kristy brings the old book and map over to Stacey's house, so that she and Charlotte can study them as well, and Claudia actually goes to the library *gasp!!* to find out who actually owned the house. She finds out that the last owner's name is Ronald Hennessey, and that he is currently alive and well, and is resident as Stoneybrook Manor.

Meanwhile, back at the McGill house, things get even worse. Charlotte wakes up with a sore throat, and when she starts running a fever, Mrs. McGill races her to the pediatrician, Dr. Dellankamp (who seems to be the only pediatrician in Stoneybrook, she is mentioned in several books). It turns out that Charlotte has tonsillitis, and she gets prescribed a massive dose of penicillin and has to stay home from school for several days (which kind of defeats the purpose of Charlotte staying with the McGills in the first place...). Charlotte puts up a major fuss, and Stacey yells, "Shut your whining, you little brat!! I have to give myself insulin injections every day!!" Ok, it didn't happen that way, but after Stacey shows Charlotte what she has to do every day to stay healthy, Charlotte sucks it up and takes her medicine. After a few days, she gets better and can start delving back into the mystery of the Hennessey house.

Stacey and Charlotte decide to take another stroll by the house, and this time, they see a fire coming out of one of the windows. Stacey runs to get a wheelbarrow that is full of rainwater, but by the time she gets back, the fire has disappeared, and there are no scorch marks on the window. That night, both Stacey and Charlotte have nightmares about the house, so Kristy, naturally, calls an emergency meeting. Stacey knows that this is important, because "we rarely have emergency meetings." I might have laughed out loud at that, because they have an emergency meeting every other book - you know, with the vampires, the wedding, missing cats, stolen diamonds, the list goes on and on... At the meeting, Mallory admits to having a nightmare about the house, too, and Claudia confesses that she felt a hand on her arm when she was walking by the house, but no one was there. Kristy decides the best course of action is to go visit Mr. Hennessey at Stoneybrook Manor to find out the history of his home.

The next day, Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Charlotte visit Mr. Hennessey, where he spins tall tales of all the ghosts of his house, including one called "Old Rubbernose" and a lady in a green velvet dress. The girls leave the nursing home even more determined to solve the mystery, and they all decide to attend the actual demolition of the house the next day. While there, Stacey sees the house burst into flames, but since no one else reacts, she realizes she is having some kind of vision. She sees Mr. Hennessey walking around in the flames, so she rushes to the nursing home, where she finds out that Mr. Hennessey passed away overnight. He left a letter for her, where he explains that he was just having fun with them the other day, that none of the ghost stories were true. When she meets back up with the rest of the BSC, Kristy explains that Charlie talked to some of the workmen during the demo, and found out that the moaning sound came from the old pipes, the flames were caused by a worker using a torch, and that they mass of flies were actually a hive a bees disturbed by the construction. The girls realize that there is no mystery, and Stacey wisely decides to not tell them about her "vision."

The Johanssens come home, and Charlotte tells them all about the mystery, which Stacey tries to laugh off as just something fun, and Mrs. McGill informs Dr. Johanssen about Charlotte's tonsillitis. And somehow the Johanssens decide that even though Charlotte got sick and had nightmares while with Stacey, that Stacey can still be Charlotte's go-to sitter. Because...yeah.




The Mystery Fashion!!

What Stacey Wore: "For example, I had dressed for my train ride in a white jumpsuit, layered over a blue tank top. I had on white push-down socks with blue hearts all over them, a wide blue patent leather belt, and a wild necklace made of all kinds of plastic sea creatures in a rainbow of colors."

What Stacey Wore (the next day at school) - "The same white jumpsuit, pink shirt, and oops!, red socks."

What Stacey Wore: "I'd gotten this pink polka-dotted short skirt with suspender straps and had worn it with an oversized white T-shirt. I had on my pink high-top sneakers, folded down to show their striped lining. I'd also worn these great earrings Claudia had given me for my last birthday. They had all these little pink plastic hearts dangling down from one bigger heart."

What Claudia Wore: "One earring was shaped like a little a little record, and the other looked like a stereo."

What Claudia Wore: "She was sitting on her bed, chewing grape bubblegum and blowing purple bubbles, which matched her tie-dyed T-shirt dress."

Lauren Conrad likes the purple tie-dyed look too, Claudia