NO SOUVENIRS
by
Piper Merlyn
Chapter 3
The Chapters
The little Italian bistro wasn’t far from Macey’s apartment and judging from the greetings she received from the owner and the waitress, she was a frequent patron.
The waitress, an older woman with long dark hair in a single braid, showed them to the largest table and took their drink orders. She disappeared into the kitchen leaving the four teenagers alone in the nearly empty dining room. The only other patron was a large black man with a shaved skull, sitting in one corner.
Macey took a deep breath. “Oh, Nessa, it’s so good to finally meet you.”
She glanced at Frank, Joe and Callie. “I feel as if I know you all already, Nessa’s told me so much about you all.”
Joe shared an awkward glance with his brother. For some reason, Vanessa hadn’t ever really mentioned having a pen pal before this trip had come up. “She was telling us all about you on the flight over here,” said Callie, suddenly. “Wow, on your own in a city like this.”
A shadow passed over the girl’s face. “Well, Mother and I never really saw eye to eye and after she married again...well...” Macey shrugged. “My father left a long time ago.” She shook her head and smiled brightly at Frank and Joe. “I’ve heard so much about you two, though.”
Frank managed a slightly embarrassed smile. “Really.”
Macey nodded. “’Nessa told me all about how she met you two and how you helped her and her mother out. And I thought how cool is that, a pair of brother detectives, just like Simon & Simon.”
Joe blinked. “Who?”
Macey laughed as the waitress brought their sodas. “Oh it’s a detective show from the 1970s. My older brother Steve was hooked on Simon & Simon, Magnum, PI...all those.”
The waitress waited while they ordered and then left them alone again. “Anyway, Simon & Simon – two brothers, Rick, the wild adventurous one and A.J., the smart logical one. A.J. was the younger one, Rick older.” Macey took a sip of her soda. “But enough about old detective shows. How do you all like San Francisco?”
“Oh wow, it’s beautiful,” said Vanessa.
Callie nodded. “I’d always thought the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty but it’s gorgeous close up. Well, closer than I’ve seen it before, which is usually on television.” She glanced over at Frank but he gave her a puzzled look.
Suddenly Frank jumped and he shot Callie a glare. He nudged Joe who looked at Frank. “What?”
“We’ve been here before. Really nice,” said Joe a moment later, after the glare Frank gave him.
Vanessa frowned over at Joe and rolled her eyes. She turned to Macey. “I’m so glad I finally got out here to meet you .”
Macey grinned. “Yeah, me too.”
An hour and a half later, after a satisfying meal of lasagna and crusty Italian bread, Vanessa made plans to meet Macey the next day, as Macey dropped them off at the Hotel Triton. The four teenagers headed across the lobby to the bank of elevators.
“I cannot believe her van, man,” said Joe, shaking his head.
“I think it’s nice,” said Vanessa, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder. “It’s different.”
Frank grunted. “It’s dated. That thing’s got to be twenty years old. It’s a wonder it can make it up and down the hills.”
“For a second, I thought I’d timewarped into the ‘70s with all that shag carpeting inside and the painting outside. I wonder if she did the painting herself?” said Callie.
The four of them got into the elevator and Joe punched the button for their floor. “Whatever or whoever did it, is talented. But still...that van.”
“So I guess we can never expect a bit of decoration in your van, can we,” said Vanessa, sounding rather annoyed.
Joe turned to look at her. “What? What’d I do now? You gave me that glare earlier. What was I supposed to say?”
“You could have said something like San Francisco’s really nice this time of year.”
Joe snorted. “You wanted me to talk about the weather?”
“Argh,” muttered Vanessa, throwing her hands up in the air. “Forget it.”
“Why’d you nudge me, anyway, Frank?” asked Joe.
“Callie kicked me.”
“I did not kick you, I just nudged your leg.”
“Nudge? You call that a nudge? I probably have a bruise where you kicked me. And why’d you kick me anyway?”
Callie let out an exasperated sigh. “So you’d say something and stop my babbling.”
“I didn’t think you were babbling. I thought it made perfect sense. We have only seen the bridge on television. What was that show you used to watch, Frank? That neat freak guy with the three daughters and all those guys that lived in the same house?”
Frank rolled his eyes. “It was called ‘Full House’.”
Callie shook her head and looked at Vanessa. “Men.”
The elevator stopped and the doors parted. The four of them exited the elevator and veered for their rooms. Vanessa glanced at her watch. “It’s rather early still. Do you guys want to check out the convention?”
“I want to get my jacket,” said Callie. “It’s chillier here than I thought it would be.” She and Vanessa went into their room and shut the door.
Joe shrugged and unlocked the door to their bedroom. “I don’t get why they’re so upset. Macey seems nice.”
“Well, you have to admit, it’s kind of one-sided. Vanessa’s told her all about us but has never mentioned Macey before now.”
Joe stood in the middle of their room and thought about it. “True, but aren’t pen pals kind of like diaries, you know, you don’t tell the world you have a diary. Pen pals are kind of private, you know.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Frank moved to sit down on his bed but frowned at the dresser. “Joe, did you move my CD player?”
“Now why would I do that when my mine’s right here by the bed within easy reach?”
“I know I put it right beside the lamp, but now it’s almost falling off the dresser.”
“Maybe the maid moved it.” Joe flopped down on his bed, flinging his arms out wide. “Ahh, the bed’s soft, at least, but if those stars on the ceiling glow in the dark, I’m requesting another room.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “Right. You, who had a dozen sets of those glow-in-the-dark planets pasted all over your walls a few years ago.”
“You notice I took ‘em all down. That was such kid stuff.”
Frank moved to the bed just as someone knocked on the door. He changed direction and opened the door wide. “Come in,” he told Callie and Vanessa with a grin.
Vanessa walked to the window. “Wow, nice view.” She turned to see Joe spread-eagled on the bed. “You awake over there?”
“Not sleeping.” Joe rolled over on his side and looked up at her. “You ready?”
“You?”
“Don’t I look ready?” Joe pushed himself to his feet and grinned at Vanessa. “C’mon, Van, when we get home I’ll buy some fuzzy dice to go on the rearview mirror.”
Vanessa laughed softly and moved closer to him. He slung an arm around her shoulders and headed for the door. Joe glanced over his shoulder. “Get a move on, bro,” he called as he and Vanessa left the room.
Callie shook her head. “You know the scary thing?”
Frank looked down at her. “What?”
“I think I can actually see them married someday.”
Frank and Callie headed for the door, pausing only long enough for Frank to make sure it was locked before following Joe and Vanessa down the corridor back to the elevators. “And that’s scary?”
“Frank, can you imagine it? Day or night, she’s going to come over and ask my advice, Joe’s going to ask yours and...” Callie shook her head. “That’s scary.”
Frank pulled her close. “Hmm, maybe they’ll move.”
“Yeah right. What, across town instead of next door?”
Frank laughed. “Come on, Cal. Let’s go catch up to them.”
Joe and Vanessa were holding an elevator for them and Frank and Callie ducked inside. Joe shook his head. “What took you so long?”
“Had to make sure the door was locked.”
The elevator slid smoothly down and a few minutes later, they were once again walking across the lobby. Frank stopped at the desk long enough to ask directions, and then they headed out.
The Moscone Convention Center wasn’t far. Once the four teenagers arrived, they saw it was packed full of attendees. Vanessa told the man at the convention center’s entrance their names, and after checking to make sure they were on the list, he handed them visitor badges to clip to their shirts.
The concourse was crowded with booths and people. Joe grimaced as he looked around, quite tempted to put his hands over his ears. With all the people and the high ceiling, the loud voices and noises seemed to echo over and over.
“So where do we go?” shouted Callie.
Vanessa shrugged and pointed at the booths. “Just look?” she shouted back.
Callie nodded and she and Frank tried to follow Joe and Vanessa in the crowd as best they could. The booths were roughly all the same size and were manned by either animation artists or fans. Several booths catered specifically to the anime style of animation, popular for years in Japan and having made a big splash in American television.
Frank had learned several years ago, when doing a book report, that the majority of animation was done in Japan, but the anime type of animation was exclusively Japan’s style.
He knew that Andrea Bender having her own animation production was a risky venture but her animated series seemed to have paid off, despite the influx of anime. Frank had seen some anime-styled shows and wasn’t sure if he really liked them.
He held Callie’s hand mainly to keep her close but enjoyed their being together, even if it was in a crowded concourse. They found Joe and Vanessa at a comic book display. Joe was rapidly scanning through some old Batman comics, a look of intense concentration on his face.
Callie leaned close. “What’s Joe doing?”
“Probably making sure he has all the Batman comics ever printed,” answered Frank, rolling his eyes.
Callie grinned, remembering when Frank had told her how excited Joe had gotten finding his old comics. “But why are there booths for comics and graphic novels?” she asked. “This is an animation convention.”
The man seated at the booth apparently had overheard her since it was marginally quieter now. “Animation was born from comics. Each cell of animation was once hand-drawn the same way each panel in a comic is done.”
Frank wandered over to the boxes lined up on two long tables. More boxes were beneath the tables. Each box was labeled and Frank saw that the man had some of the older and rarer comic books. He also saw a smaller box full of digest-type comics of Archie, the Avengers and other assorted characters. “You have quite the collection.”
The man nodded. “No one these days realizes just how valuable these are.”
Joe nodded and for the next few minutes, they just looked through the boxes. Even Callie got into looking through the many comic books. They spent several hours wandering from booth to booth. One held hand-painted porcelain figurines of famous animated characters. Another one held rare animated movies.
Finally, they found themselves back at the double doors they’d initially come through. They left the convention center and Vanessa shook her head. “Wow.”
Joe nodded. He held up a book with a black dust jacket. “I finally found it.”
Frank shook his head. “How much did you pay for that?”
“Never you mind. It’s the novel-ization of that miniseries in the comics,” Joe grinned. “I’ve looked for this for a long time.”
Vanessa laughed. “Come on. I’m ready to get back to the hotel.”
The four teenagers made their way back to the Hotel Triton and started for the elevators when a bellhop walked up to them. He grinned at Vanessa. “You’re Vanessa Bender, right? I brought your luggage up.”
“Yeah,” said Vanessa. She turned to introduce her companions but the bellhop handed her a piece of paper. She took it, read it and then read it again, her expression growing concerned.
Joe frowned. “What is it?”
She handed him the piece of paper, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”
Joe looked down at the paper. It was a message from Macey, that she couldn’t make their date the next day. “Well, maybe she had to work or something.”
“It’s just that...” Vanessa shook her head again. “She said she was off. She said she asked for Wednesday off, because she needed a break.”
“She did mention that,” said Callie. She looked at Vanessa. “What?”
“You met Macey. She’s not formal like that message.” She looked at the bellhop. “Who took the call?”
“I did. That’s exactly what she said. I swear.”
Vanessa sighed and took the message back. “Well...Callie, I guess we’ll just go shopping tomorrow without Macey.”
Joe rubbed her shoulder. “Hey, you have us.”
Vanessa managed a wan smile and headed for the elevators. Joe let the girls get ahead of them. “You know, she’s got a point. I would have never thought Macey would just brush her off like that,” he told his brother in a low voice.
“Neither did I.” Frank looked at Joe and then shook his head. “Maybe Macey was so upset, she ended up being all abrupt or whatever. No trouble this trip.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said on that trip to Las Vegas when you went to compete in that chess championship. Look what happened then.”
Frank hurried toward the elevator. “I ought to make you take the stairs.”
“Yeah right.” Joe darted past his brother into the elevator.
Frank just sighed and shook his head, wondering if his brother would ever grow up.
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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.