hardy boys fan fiction

MY BROTHER'S GIFT

hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction

by

CQB

Chapter 4

hardy boys fan fiction

THE CHAPTERS

INTRO

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

“Frank’s Story”  

I knew right away that Joe was bothered by something the morning of my tenth birthday.  I just assumed it was because of my birthday present.  

I had always wanted to go and see Washington, D. C.  When my parents asked if there was something special I wanted for my birthday, I told them that I’d love to take a trip to Washington .  They thought it was a great idea and plans were immediately made for us all to go.  

Joe wasn’t excited at all, but that didn’t surprise me.  Joe, at eight years old, was not interested in history.  While I love school, especially social studies and English class, Joe just goes ‘cause he has to go.  

Don’t get me wrong, Joe’s no dummy.  He’d just rather be doing something else.  His grades are okay, but he gets notes sent home saying things like, ‘Joseph has a short attention span’, or ‘Joseph daydreams too much’, or ‘Joseph is not meeting his potential’.  

They just don’t know Joe.  Joe gets straight “A’s” in science ‘cause he likes it.  He has a pretty impressive rock collection for a little kid; and he knows what rock is what and where they’re found and all that stuff.  He could tell you all about plants or different soils in the earth, or how clouds produce rain.  When it’s something that interests him, Joe has all the attention in the world.  

Last summer, Joe disappeared for several hours while we were at the Morton’s farm.  We’d been playing ‘Star Wars’ with Chet and our other friend, Biff Hooper.   

Chet was ‘Darth Vader’ as always, ‘cause he had a ‘Vader’ costume left over from Halloween.  Biff was ‘Hans Solo’ and I was supposed to be ‘Obi-wan’.  Joe got to be ‘Luke Skywalker’.  We were playing and Joe just vanished.  None of us saw him leave.  It was like the earth opened up and, poof! Joe was gone.  

Biff and I started looking around the yard and the barn while Chet went to look in the house.  We couldn’t find Joe anywhere.  

Just when we were ready to tell Chet’s mom, his sister Iola came up from the woods that line the creek behind the Morton’s house.  Chet asked her if she’d seen Joe.  

She told us that she had just talked to him down by the creek. “But don’t bother,” she’d said, “He’s busy watching bugs.  He hardly knew I was there.”  That statement made Chet snort and Biff and I both grinned.  Everyone knew that Iola thought Joe was the cutest boy at Oak Street Elementary school , but Joe only thought of Iola as Chet’s little sister.  

Anyway, we went down to the creek.  Joe was up on the grassy part of the bank, lying on his belly.  He was looking at the sand that’s between the creek water and the grass.  

“Hey Joe!” I called out, but he never heard.  Like I said, teachers at school don’t know Joe.  He was concentrating on watching that colony of ants building their little ant city in the sand so much, he never heard us. No attention span…right!  

So, Joe didn’t really want to go to Washington for my birthday.  I suppose in some ways, I was being selfish.  I knew he didn’t want to go, but I wanted him there.  Joe is fun to be with.  He can make me laugh better than anyone and, well, I just wanted him with me.  

I’m sure he could have stayed with the Mortons.  (Iola would have been happy!) But I made a point of saying it should be a family trip.  I guess I made it impossible for him not to go.  

He was cranky most of the way to Washington , and got downright mean with me at the airport when we landed.  At the hotel, he seemed a little better and even joked with me, but something still wasn’t right.  

At lunch, I caught Joe playing his ‘distraction game’.  When he thought we were all looking away, he’d stuff some of his lunch into his napkin.  I think I’m the only one that saw what he was up to, and I figured he just wasn’t hungry.  That should’a been a clue – and I want to be a detective like Dad someday!  Joe likes to eat, almost as much as Chet.  For him not to be hungry, I should have known something was very wrong with my little brother.  But, Joe’s a real expert at ‘pretending’.  

Once we got to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum , Joe perked up.  That’s why I had picked that museum first.  Of all the places I wanted to see, I thought Joe would like it the best.  

Then Joe disappeared.  It was like last summer when we were playing, only this time, we saw him go into the men’s room.  We knew where he was supposed to be, but he never came out and he wasn’t in there when I went to find him.  

We spent the rest of the day at the museum.  Dad went with the police to search the building, but I had to stay with my mom.  The police were letting all the visitors out of only one door.  Mom and I were supposed to look for Joe in the mass of people.  He wasn’t there.  

I remember at one point, I thought, ‘What a crummy way to spend my birthday!’  Then, I was really mad at myself for being so selfish.  My baby brother was missing, for crying-out-loud and I was whining about my birthday.  

Then I thought, if something bad had happened to Joe on my birthday, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to celebrate my birthday again.  It was a very long day.  

* * *

Once we got back to the hotel room, I didn’t want to stay in our room by myself.  It made me miss Joe too much.   

I sat in bed with Mom and we watched some old re-run on TV while Dad talked on the phone.  

I felt Mom reach over and wipe a tear off my cheek.  I hadn’t even known I was crying.  I’d messed up.  I knew something was wrong with Joe, something was bothering him.  I should have stayed with him.  I never should have left him outta my sight.  

You have to understand.  I take my role as Joe’s older brother very seriously.  Ever since he was born, I’d vowed to protect him at all costs.  

That probably seems a little strange considering the fact that Joe and I are almost exactly a year apart in age.  That means I was just a year old baby when he was born.  

I can’t explain it, but by the time I was two, I knew that red-faced wriggling creature needed me to look after him.  Lord knows, Joe never ceases to get into some kind of trouble.  

Even when he was born, he was in trouble.  We were living in New York City where Dad was a detective for the NYPD.  Joe wasn’t due ‘til after Christmas, so Mom went to California with Dad on Halloween night to a Police Convention.  I was sent to Bayport where we live now, to stay with my Pap Pap, Nana and Aunt Gertrude Hardy.  

When the plane landed in Los Angeles , Dad says that Mom’s water broke and she started going into labor.  She was taken to the hospital and the doctors tried to stop Joe from being born, but sixteen hours later, he came.  

He was born on November 1^st and weighed only 4 pounds and 6 ounces.  They had to put all kinds of tubes and machines on him, just to keep him alive.  He was already in trouble, and he was only a few minutes old.

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