Hardy Boys Fan Fiction at the HDA - Boardwalk Bust

I woke up the next morning when the sun shone right into my face. It glinted over the ocean, magnifying the light till it was blinding. There was no way to keep on sleeping.

“Oh man,” I heard Frank mutter. “You forgot to close the curtains.”

I had the pillow over my head but I threw it at him. “I forgot?”

Frank threw his pillow at me. This is why we no longer share a room. Mom got tired of having to replace our pillows. But, hey, they make handy weapons. Since I wasn’t getting up to retrieve mine, I held onto his. “Close the curtains.”

Frank halfway sat up. “Me? Why me? You’re closer to the window.”

I rolled over to look and winced. “I’m paralyzed by the brightness.”

“Yeah, right. Close the curtains.”

“You.” I pulled his pillow over my head. “I can always just ignore it. Try that and both of us can stay in bed.”

I heard Frank’s bed squeak and I knew he was sitting up. “I forgot to call Jack last night.”

“I am not getting up this early. It can’t be even seven in the morning and it’s not school. No, not budging.”

“Want me to steal your covers?”

I peeked over the edge of the pillow to see Frank using his cell phone. “You did that enough in Philly.”

“Twice. I only did it twice.”

“That was more than enough.” I pulled the pillow back over my face to block out the glare. Unfortunately, I couldn’t block out the noise.

“Jack....yeah, we made it....Really, so it was an outfit out of Ocean Point?”

Suddenly the glare was muted and I peeked out from behind the pillow to see Frank had closed the curtains. He had that suspicious look on his face again. Uh-oh.

“I see....I’ll try to find out today, if I can.”

Obviously, I wasn’t getting back to sleep. I sat up to see Frank staring at his cell phone. I threw his pillow at him. “What?”

“Jack said the banner pilot was out of Ocean Point. You know, Bump said he owned an outfit. He never gave the name, did he?”

“No. It’s probably Bump’s Banners or something lame like that. He seems fond of the nickname.”

Frank arched an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. “Come on, you didn’t that impression? Like he really thinks he’s Paul Bunyan, gentleman giant, hero of the day.”

“You’re getting cynical in your old age.” Frank picked up the pillow but instead of whopping me with it, he tossed it on the bed and put his phone back in his duffle. “I’m grabbing a shower.”

I rolled my eyes and decided that if he was going to hog the bathroom, I could go back to sleep. “Well...wake me...with breakfast, in about an hour...or two. Maybe three. Give me my pillow first.”

Frank just sighed and handed me my pillow. I smirked at him as he darted into the bathroom. I started to lie back down but a thought crossed my mind and I got out of bed. I started digging through the low bureau that held several drawers. Finally after finding assorted faded brochures, a Gideon Bible and several old receipts, one being nearly two years old, I located a phone directory.

My first thought was that it wouldn’t much help. Judging from the receipts and brochures, I was certain the directory was probably five years out of date or more. Imagine my good fortune when I saw it had been issued just this year. I thumbed to the back and the Yellow Pages. I looked under advertising to find four banner services listed. I grinned. Yep, I’d been right. Bump’s Banners. The other three were Jersey Shore Banner Advertising, Unique Ads, and Banners, Inc.

“Thought you were going back to bed,” said Frank, coming out of the bathroom.

“Yeah, but I got an idea.”

Frank snorted. “ ‘Well, it must be Tuesday...’ ”

I glared at him. “You finish that quote and I’ll throw the phone book at you.”

“I wasn’t even quoting it right. It goes: ‘So Dawn’s in trouble. It must be Tuesday.’*”

I sighed, very dramatically. “Do you want to know now or later?”

“Well, later, you’ll probably forget.”

I hefted the phone book. “Frank...”

“What idea crashed your sleep?”

“I was right about Bump’s outfit. Now I also have the other three outfits’ names. You think we should check them out?”

Frank frowned. “I don’t see how it could have been intentional, Joe. It would mean either Bump knows why we’re here or someone else does. And that would mean there’s someone inside ATAC, passing out secrets – which I seriously doubt. I don’t think it was meant to even scare us. It was just an accident.”

“You could have just said no. It would have been quicker. Guess I’ll go shower. Go grab me some breakfast.”

“Anything in particular, oh demanding one?”

“Whatever you’re going to have.” I grabbed my stuff to go shower, not really worried Frank would pick something I’d hate. It was breakfast anyway. There’s a limited selection for breakfast. Except...

I yanked open the bathroom door to see him on his way out. “No rutabaga muffins.”

Frank gave me a smirk. “I’ll try to avoid those and the tofu patties, too,” he said and was gone.

I shook my head and took my shower. I decided to pull on some swim trunks and a T-shirt; might as well be ready for some swimming. After all we were practically next door to the beach. I’d barely finished dressing when he came back – empty handed. “Don’t tell me, rutabaga muffins are all the rage now.”

“No. The restaurant up the block is serving pancakes.”

“Let’s go.” I finished up in the bathroom, yanked on some deck shoes and we headed out.

It was a gorgeous summer morning. The hotel was only half a block from the boardwalk. In between was a miniature golf course, already packed with kids and their parents. “Hey, Frank, we have to play at least once.”

“You are ruthless when it comes to miniature golf, Joe. I stopped playing against you years ago.”

It was a little early for swimming, but by ten o’clock, lots of people would be on the beach and in the water. I squinted up at the sky, feeling the warmth already. It was going to be a hot one. I poked my brother. “We’re going swimming today. You know that, right.”

Frank shook his head. “We’re here on a case, remember,” he said in a low voice. “We need to start—”

“Ah-ah, all work and no play makes Frank a dull boy. We’re here on the boardwalk...which way is it to the pancakes?”

Frank led the way and we went into the restaurant. We managed to find a booth in back and we ordered breakfast. I decided that once Frank had eaten, he’d be more agreeable. He tends to get cranky without regular feedings.

We finished breakfast and headed back in the direction of the inn. “Swimming,” I said, pointing at the water.

“We need to go to the stores that were robbed...”

“We can do a little surfing too...we could rent boards...”

“Joe...”

“Hey, there’s information to be dug up on the beach, too, right?”

We stopped outside the inn and I just looked at him. Frank turned on his heel and headed back inside. Five minutes later, he was out, dressed in his trunks and T-shirt. I grinned at him and headed for the beach.

I knew there was no better way to get the lay of the land than to go out and do what everyone else was doing. In Ocean Point, that meant swimming...surfing. Maybe a beach volleyball game, hitting the arcades and amusement park rides.

We crossed the boardwalk and went down the wooden stairs to the beach. There we were, surrounded by kite flyers, Frisbee flippers, volleyball players and boogie boards. Everywhere we looked, there were blankets spread out, with cute girls busy getting tans.

“Hi,” one of them said as we passed.

I spun on my heel and smiled at her. “Hi.”

She sat up and patted her blanket. I didn’t take longer than a second to take her up on her invitation. “Nice view.”

She smiled. “Hi, I’m Summer,” she said, tossing her long strawberry blond braid back over her shoulder. She pointed to her companion. “That’s Madison.”

Madison had jaw-length blond hair and she was smiling at Frank. I was tempted to tell her not to bother. He thinks he’s married to Callie. I guess it’s okay but I’d rather not be tied down just yet. “Hi, Summer, I’m Joe.”

“Hi,” she said again, and giggled. I stretched out my legs and nodded to the water. “Will you go swimming with me?”

“Oh, it’s early yet, the water’s still chilly. But later...” She winked. “Ask me again later.”

“Oh, you bet I will.”

I heard Frank clear his throat but ignored him as best I could. “So are you from here?”

Summer giggled again. “I’m from Oklahoma. Madison and I are here to visit relatives. We’re cousins.”

“Welcome to the Jersey Shore—” This time when Frank cleared his throat, I gave him a glare. “Hey, bro, chill.”

Summer glanced over at Frank and Madison. “Is something wrong?”

Frank shook his head. “We’re just looking for someone. A friend.” He glanced around, as if actually expecting to see someone we knew. “Oh, there he is.”

I followed Frank’s gaze but saw the image in the sand first. It was a huge drawing in the sand, probably created with rakes. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was really an advertisement. The Shore Thing: Fine Jewelry, it read.

There was a guy with a metal detector walking across the beach, slowly waving it back and forth. He was close to the advertisement. Suddenly it hit me that Frank meant him. “Oh...yeah.”

“Do you have to go?” asked Summer.

I wanted to tell her no. We had all this sand, this beautiful ocean...all we needed was some uninterrupted time. Before I could, we heard someone screaming. Frank and I scrambled to our feet to find a whole group of people shouting.

“That little girl out there!” I heard someone say, pointing to the ocean. “She’s drowning!”

There are supposed to be lifeguards up and down this beach, but I didn’t see any of them running to help. In fact, the lifeguard chair nearest us was empty. I didn’t even have to look at Frank as I raced for the water. I knew he was right behind me.

I could see her now – a little girl of about eight, drifting way out over her head, flailing her arms and screaming for help. I saw Frank come up beside me and as we were about to dive, we heard a loud voice behind us: “Everybody out of the water!”

It was the lifeguard. He was standing on the ladder that led up to his chair, holding on with one hand. In the other, he was holding a megaphone. “Out of the water!” he repeated. “Sharks! Sharks!”

Suddenly, like a human wave, all the people in the water – most of who had been swimming toward the drowning girl – were turning back and heading for shore. I glanced at Frank and he shook his head.

I agreed. Sharks or no sharks, somebody had to save that little girl’s life. We dived.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency 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.