THE NIFTIEST IDEA IN THE WORLD

by

Duckling

Chapter 1

The Chapters

INTRO

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

“It’s the niftiest idea in the world!” Young Biff Hooper exclaimed to his serious-eyed friend. “Absolutely the best. And all we need are some cans, hooks, and string.”  

As the excited nine year-old rattled on happily, explaining the details of his latest scheme, his dark-haired companion listened intently. The bigger boy’s enthusiasm was contagious, however, and young Frank Hardy soon found himself agreeing to go along.  

***

Seven year-old, blond Joey Hardy stood on the top-most step leading to his family’s house and scowled. He had searched everywhere for his older brother Frank, but the nine year-old was no where to be found. He was not inside the house, and he wasn’t in any of the boys’ shared secret hiding places.  

Normally the brothers were inseparable. But ever since Frank’s ninth birthday, the older boy had expressed an interest in doing things without his younger brother, much to Joey’s dismay. And to make matters worse, their parents actually approved of Frank’s wish.  

Joey sat down glumly on the steps. He really wished Frank wanted to play with him. Sighing, he stood back up and jumped off the step. Maybe he just needed to look harder. Maybe if he found Frank, the older boy would be so happy to see him that he’d let Joey stay with him. Maybe.  

The blond boy wandered aimlessly around the neighborhood for the next half-hour. Suddenly he heard a faint metallic ping of something- a hammer, perhaps- hitting something metal. Curious, the little boy followed the sound to the white-washed fence of a neighbor’s yard. This was Biff’s house, a schoolmate of the Hardy boys. Biff and Frank were in the same class at school and had become fast friends. Joey knew the older blond boy, but not very well.  

Slipping through the gate, the younger Hardy brother traced the strange pings to the back corner of the Hooper’s yard. There, busily crouched over a small table, were Frank and Biff and a bunch of empty metal cans, some tied together with string.  

“Watch’ya doing?” Joey suddenly asked, happy to have found his brother.  

The older boys jumped in surprise; they hadn’t heard the younger child come into Biff’s backyard.  

“What are you doing here?” Frank asked a bit peevishly. While Joey was a great little brother, he was still a little brother.  

“Looking for you,” the blond boy responded.  

Biff rolled his eyes. “Well, you found him,” he announced shortly. “Now, go away.”  

Joey kept his brilliant blue eyes on his brother, desperately hoping the older boy would want him to stay.  

Frank looked at the little blond boy and felt a sudden sadness fill him. But he really just wanted to be alone with Biff. With a pang of regret, he turned to his brother. “Joey, please. Go home.”  

The seven year-old quickly dropped his eyes. He felt tears begin to form, and he wasn’t about to let the other boys see him cry.  

“I’ll be home, soon, Joey,” Frank continued. “We can play then, okay?”  

The dark-haired Hardy boy eyed his brother with concern. He hadn’t meant to make Joey almost cry. He just didn’t understand why the younger boy couldn’t leave him alone.  

Joey didn’t say a word. He just turned around and glided silently away, like a forlorn little ghost.  

“Come on,” Biff stated after a minute of awkward inactivity. “Just a few more and we can set this up!”  

Suddenly forgetting his brother, Frank looked over at his friend and grinned in anticipation.  

The two boys resumed their task, eager to put their plan into action.  

***  

Soon, Biff had completed nailing small hooks into each of the twenty empty metal cans they had. Frank, meanwhile, had been occupied in tying each can together with string. Now, both boys having finished, they stood back and admired their handiwork.  

“Where should we put this?” Frank asked his friend.  

“Somewhere where we can watch all the fun without being seen,” the blond boy answered, a grin on his face.  

“Do you think someone might get hurt?” The thought had just come to Frank. As much fun as pulling a prank would be, he wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.  

“Nah,” Biff assured him. “They’ll see the cans.”  

“But if they see the cans,” Frank persisted, “then no one will accidentally trip over them.”  

“Of course they’ll trip over them,” Biff asserted airily. “They just won’t get hurt.”  

Frank stared hard at his friend for a long minute.  

“Besides,” Biff continued, as the possibility of someone getting hurt suddenly began to sink in. “The others know that we set a trap for them, so they’ll be ready.”  

The dark-haired boy only nodded his head. He wasn’t quite convinced yet, but was willing enough to go along with his friend’s theory.  

That having been settled, the boys quickly set up their maze of cans across the sidewalk. They had just scrambled behind the bushes fronting Biff’s yard when they heard a squeal of laughter further down the street. Recognizing it as the sound of their other friends, the two boys hurried off to investigate.  

***  

Joey Hardy hadn’t gone very far after Frank had asked him to leave. Instead, he had huddled down beside a hydrangea bush in Mrs. Addleson’s yard, across the street from Biff. He had half-hoped that Frank would come running after him, asking him to stay. In that case, the blond boy decided, it would be better if he were close by, so that Frank wouldn’t have to go that far to find him. He watched as Frank and Biff placed the cans carefully on the sidewalk and hid in the nearby bushes, and then blinked in surprise as they suddenly run off down the street. Curious, the younger boy crossed over to the spot where the other two had been.  

Crouching down, he took a closer look at the web of cans. He ran a hand lightly along one of the strings running between two of them. It didn’t look very safe to him. Straightening back up, he decided to follow the other boys.  

He was a couple yards away when he suddenly turned back around and saw Mrs. Willows out for her daily jog. Although late in the day for most joggers, Mrs. Willows preferred to run mid-morning as it was her only free time of the day.  

Before Joey could cry out a warning, she had unwittingly stumbled across the trap, falling hard onto the ground.

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