A SMACK OF COMMON SENSE
by
Duckling
Chapter 5
The Chapters
As
Joe Hardy searched for the fugitive genie, he suddenly smiled in amusement
as he pictured his brother’s exasperation with the brown-eyed girl. Very
rarely did the elder Hardy brother act on such impulses, and the fact that
Frank had on this occasion was almost funny. Had Callie not
disappeared, Joe would have found it hilarious, and would have derived
immense satisfaction from tormenting his brother with that “exasperated
love pat” of his.
The
blond boy opened door after door, peering into empty classrooms,
maintenance rooms, and utility closets. Since school had ended for the
day, he saw no one either within the rooms or without. Casting a quick
glance at his watch, he continued on, hoping the others were having more
success.
***
No
more magic lamps for you, Miss Callie Shaw,
Vanessa muttered to herself as she explored the school cafeteria for signs
of the genie. The large, open space- normally teeming with light and smell
and noise- was eerie in its sterile silence.
The
girl left the cafeteria and checked the classrooms that lined the hall
leading to it. She had just concluded that the genie must have spirited
himself away somewhere else when she heard footsteps sounding in the
distance.
***
Frank
stalked first one hall, then another, all to no avail. The dark-haired boy
was riddled with guilt. While he had been seriously upset with his
girlfriend for wishing his brother away, he never meant to do the same
thing to her.
Well,
I guess it’s not technically the same thing, the boy thought as he unconsciously continued to
analyze the situation. Either way,
he concluded glumly, she’s gone
and it’s all my doing.
They
had almost lost Joe, forever, to that dratted lamp, and now Callie might
be out of action for three hundred and fifty years. As much as Frank had
wanted to strangle the girl at the time, even that seemed a harsh term of
imprisonment.
Thinking
briefly on the chief cause of their collective misery, the boy made a firm
resolution. Once they managed to free Callie from her enchanted prison,
they must somehow destroy that
lamp. The world wasn’t safe with that thing around.
Frank
turned down yet another apparently empty hallway, when he suddenly spotted
a dark figure near the other end. Not really believing it to be the genie,
he called out to it nonetheless.
“Hey!
Hey you. Wait up a second.”
The
figure spun around to face Frank. Even from that distance Frank recognized
that face and those eyes: it was the genie!
The
genie ran the short way down the rest of the corridor and disappeared
around the corner, Frank in hot pursuit. As he neared the stairwell, he
heard the clambering of feet on the concrete stairs.
Taking
the stairs three at a time, he soon found himself winding through a maze
of halls on the ground floor; his quarry always just a step or two ahead.
Finally, as he sped around yet another bend, he saw the figure run
full-tilt into another person, causing both to fall.
As
Frank panted up to the pair, he smiled when he recognized the second
person as none other than Vanessa Bender.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.