Fern is kidnapped and locked in Mindy's cellar. Mindy threatens to harm Fern's mother if Fern does not share her secret recipes. Fern devises an escape plan to flash an SOS signal with moonlight or use light signals to alert the police. Her plan is successful, and the police rescue Fern and arrest Mindy and her family. Fern is reunited with her mother and able to return home.

1. 1st Draft<br />Tina<br />December 18, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> It’s almost Christmas, and the restraunt’s so busy! Everyone has a lot of work to do. Cooking, decorating, and delivering. Oh, and the restraunt looks so colorful! It’s all full of Christmas trees, wreaths, lights, etc. I’m not even sure that the customers will have enough room to eat! Today, I called all of my employees together for a meeting. I talked to them about hosting a big Christmas party for all of our guests. We could release a new dish that I made up. Everyone agreed with the idea. But then we need to do a little more work. Some of them might need to stay back and do some work or come early in the morning. I hope that they won’t feel too tired. After all, they are working very hard these days. Well, write to you later! <br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />A Few Days Later… <br />December 21, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> Ohmigosh! ThereisonlythreemoredaysuntilChristmasEve, whicheveryoneknows, isthe busiestdayoftheyear! Especiallyforrestrauntsmostly. Whew! Sorry, I’m just sooooooooooooooo excited! The only thing that I can think of (and the thing that I keep doing) is WORK, WORK, AND MORE WORK!!! At least everyone’s happy, well everyone except Mindy. She keeps groaning about too much work, and I always see her trying to watch me cook. It annoys me to see her face in the window every time I go there to put a pie or some muffin by it in order to let it dry. I can’t help but think that she might be jealous of me. From now on, I might have to keep the blinds down if I want to keep my recipes secret. This really surprises me that she is working against me. But I guess it happens once in a while to all famous people who have employees. I hope that she doesn’t plan to threaten me at this time of year. When I’m about to host an enormous party. She’s also a good cook. Did you know that? I wish that one of the other assistants can point that out to her, so she would stop sneaking around my cook room. Well, that’s all I’ve got to say. I’ll write to you another time. Anyways, I’ve got to get some sleep. I’ve got another busy day ahead. (Although all of the days these days are busy, humph.)<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />The Next Day…<br />December 22, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> Oh, you’re sooooooooooooooo lucky that you can stay home and sleep. I get so little sleep that I have dark circle under my eyes. I’m so tired that my whole face is as pale as a piece of paper. I will look like a ghost if I don’t us enough make up. I’ve GOT to go to the store to get more comics, but I don’t even have 1 second to spare. Collette, a waitress has offered to buy me some during her break, but the nearest store was sold out. Unfortunately, there is only 1 store in the whole state and 6 in the whole country. So, I’m DEAD. <br /> Anyways, Mindy invited me over to her house for a sleepover on the 23th. She said that she could drive us to work. I agreed because the party is on the 25th. Well, write to you another time. <br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />The Next Night, At Mindy’s House…<br />December 23, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> It has been and exhausting day. Now, I can finally rest. However, I’ll give you a brief summary of what happened here, at Mindy’s house.<br /> When I walked into the house, I immediately smelled the delicious smell of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and fresh green peas. We quickly sat down after washing our hands, and started on the meal. While I was eating, I noticed some other people that were sitting around the table. A man that was short and plump, an old woman that wore an apron, and an old man that was rather tall for his age. I guessed that the gentleman was Mindy’s husband, the old woman was her mother, and the old man was her father. I saw that the person that sat across from me kept starring in my direction. She was a little girl around the age of five. I supposed that she was Mindy’s daughter. The family all made a lot of sense to me, so I don’t think that I will have anything to worry about. Anyways, after we finished eating the main course, Mindy’s mother got up to clear the dishes away. When she came back to the table, she was carrying a whole plateful of blueberry muffins. As I bit into the delicious muffin that as still hot from the oven, I was reminded of kind of muffin that I made. Surprisingly, it tasted the same in every single way as that one! Before, this thought only occurred to me once, but I pushed the thought away. After all, it seemed quite impossible, but now… I think that Mindy might be copying my recipes. That’s why she’s at the window watching me while at work at the restraunt. Well, write to you another time, probably tomorrow at home.<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />The Next Morning… In Mindy’s Secret Cellar…<br />December 24, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> I-I’m-m scar-ared-ed to DEATH in this-is pla-ace. Min-mindy-dy ju-just lock-cked-ed me in this-is se-ecret ce-el-llar of-f he-er’s. It-t’s fr-re-ez-zing col-ld in her-re. I-I wil-l try-y my-y be-est to no-ot shu-ud-der whi-ile I wri-ite. Ple-ease-e wa-ait a mom-me-ent. A-A-A-CHOO!<br /> OK, sorry for that, but I had to run around in order to heat up my body. It’s literally freezing in here! So, as I was saying or rather writing… This morning, I woke up early for work. It must have been really early, because my eye lids were sort of heavy. I tried to get off the bed, but no matter how crawled, I never managed to get to the end of my bed. That’s when my mind started to wonder what in the world was wrong. As if there was magic, my eye flew open. And once I saw my surroundings (in which I am writing to you from) my whole body seemed to forget everything that has to do with sleeping. I was wondering, “How in the world, did I get here, and why?” Then, all of a sudden, I heard a voice say, “So, are you finally awake, sleepyhead?” I was so scared that I practically almost jumped out of my skin!!!! <br /> “Ha! Hermione won’t even be that startled or scared. I bet the newspapers would love to hear that Fern Nightingale, the BEST COOK IN THE COUNTRY, is scared of things that a little girl isn’t! That will definitely lower your popularity.”<br /> I asked her who Hermione was, and it turned out to be the little girl who sat across from me during dinner last night. <br /> Ah! I think I just heard some footsteps. Well, that means that I gotta say bye for now!<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />P.S. The voice was Mindy’s voice<br />The Next Day… Fern is Trapped in the Private Basement…<br />December 25, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!<br /> I know that everyone is happy now. Well, everyone except me. I wish that I could be as happy as them. I’m sort of wondering if I deserve this harsh punishment. Oh! I haven’t explained to you why it’s brutal, have I? Now, I will.<br /> Remember yesterday, when I told you that I heard someone coming? Well, that was Mindy. She came to give me some leftovers from dinner, and had a little talk with me while I ate. This is what she told me.<br />“On the first day of your visit here, you ate dinner here, right?”<br />“Yes.”<br />“Well, my mother helped me put a pinch of sleeping powder on your plate, so that when you sleep, you wouldn’t realize what’s happening around you. But she only put a little so that you wouldn’t be sleeping forever. The reason that we do that is so we could carry you down here while you sleep at night. Now, the reason that we do all of this is because I want to know ALL of your “secret” recipes. I know that I won’t get anywhere by just asking you. So, I will threaten you. Do you know HOW?”<br />“No.”<br />“Why, of course. I wasn’t expecting a yes. Anyways, I know your mother very well. You don’t know that because I have blocked all of the letters that she sends to you about me being friends with her. NOW, do you know what I’m going to do?”<br />“Yes. You’re going to invite her over to stay as being friendly on Christmas. Then, you’re going to threaten to kill her if I don’t tell you my recipes. If she asks about me you’ll say that I went on vacation or something like that. Am I right?”<br />“Exactly.”<br />“Well… You’re not going to do any of that!!! I will find a way to contact the police before you can do anything bad! You’re going to get arrested for kidnapping and threatening murder! You might laugh, but you’ll see that I can do it when I do it!”<br />“Hahaha!!! You’re so crazy. I wonder who gave you so many bananas! Hahaha!”<br />“Grrr…”<br /> “Enough of this conversation! It’s time to sleep. I will see you tomorrow.”<br />And that was the end of our conversation. Yawn… I’m tired. I’m going to go to sleep now, write to you another time. Yawn…<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />5 Days Later…<br />December ?, 1893<br />Dear Journal,<br /> Mindy keeps threatening me every day. I manage not to tell her. That’s all I’ve got to say. Sorry, but I’m not in the mood for writing these days. I’m too busy thinking of plans to escape and help my mother. I hope that you understand.<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />A Week Later… Fern has Cooked up an Excellent Plan…<br />January ?, 1894<br />Dear Journal,<br /> I don’t mean to brag, but I think that I’m really smart. All this time, I was keeping my recipes secret. Pretty amazing, huh? Anyways, I’ve got something to tell you.<br /> I’ve got 2 plans to get out of here with mother. It’s quite easy, so I’m not sure that it’ll work. So, Plan A is:<br />First, I will build a small hill that’s made of all the things in the cellar. It’s for me to stand on, so that I can see what’s outside from the window. Next, when the moon is in the middle of the sky (When it’s midnight), I will flick the light switch of this cellar on and off, following the pattern of the light signal for the police. I will do this three of four times so that the police will see it. Then, I will watch out the window and wait until I see or hear them come. Right when they come, I will do the light signal about two more times. That way they’ll see where it’s coming from. After they find me, I will give them a quick explanation. Then, I will tell them what I need them to do. What comes next depends on what they will do or say.<br />Plan B is:<br />When moonlight shines through my window, I will quickly use all the things in here to make a big S.O.S. on a spot on the floor where the moonlight is shining on. If the moonlight moves as the moon moves, I will move the sign to follow the moonlight. If people see it, I hope that they will go tell the police. If they call through the window to see if anyone is in here, I will tell them that I’m Fern Nightingale, and I will ask them to please tell the police to come.<br /> I’m planning on doing this at night, so that Mindy or anyone else in this miserable house will notice.<br /> Well, I think that that’s enough for today. I really hope that one of my plans will work.<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />The Next Day…<br />January ?, 1894<br />Dear Journal,<br /> I have a hunch that Hermione doesn’t want me to suffer. Today, Mindy didn’t give me breakfast. So, Hermione gave me 2 croissants and a cup of milk. She begged me not to tell her mother, and of course, I agreed. I asked her if she could bring me another blanket or a fold up chair. You know that it’s for my escape, but I don’t dare tell her that. I waited for a long time for her to get back. When I was about to doubt that she was going to come back, someone burst through the door with a whole stack of blankets and fold up chairs. I was so surprised! I thanked her so much that she must have thought I was worshiping her! After all, she was sort of risking her life to help me.<br /> Well, enough for now. I’m going to do Plan A tomorrow night.<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />3 Days Later…<br />January ?, 1894<br />Dear Journal,<br /> Guess what? I’M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole thing happened soooooooooooooooooooooo fast that I don’t know how to explain it! I’ll give you a quick explanation.<br /> Well, I did Plan A, and it worked! The police arrested Mindy and the rest of her family and rescued all the good people. I told them that Hermione was helping me, so she got rescued. I went home with Mom after a lot of business in the police station.<br /> Yawn… I’m tired. I need to have a lot of rest after that accident.<br />Sincerely yours,<br />Fern Nightingale<br />THE END<br />