HDA - December Magic by RM Chapter 1

Frank forced his way down the bleachers and hurried onto the field. One of the umpires tried to stop him, but he kept moving. The closer he got to his brother, the more worried he became since Joe was still motionless.

He kneeled down beside Joe when he reached for him and felt for a pulse. It was beating steadily and his chest was rising and falling. Frank then noticed the blood soaking the ground beneath Joe’s head.

“Call an ambulance!” Frank yelled.

“It’s on its way,” a voice responded.

Frank leaned close to Joe’s head and said, “Come on, Joe. Open your eyes. Come on, little brother, talk to me.”

There was no response.

Within a few minutes, sirens could be heard approaching the field. Frank watched as two paramedics climbed out of the ambulance and hurried across the field. He took a couple steps back and watched as they evaluated Joe.

The paramedics bandaged Joe’s head and then moved him to the stretcher. Frank followed the paramedics to the ambulance and said, “I’ll meet you at Bayport General.”

Frank ran for his car and jumped in. He couldn’t believe a simple game had turned out the way it did. He just hoped his brother was going to be all right.

* * * * *

When Frank arrived at the hospital, he quickly entered the emergency room and began filling out the necessary paperwork. He knew all the important information by heart and knew that was only because of the many trips they had made there.

Once he completed the paperwork, he made his way into the waiting room and sat down. He had seen a lot of the hospital and the waiting room. There were times when their investigations did lead them into dangerous situations and there were other times when the trips were made out of no fault of their own.

The minutes dragged into a half hour, and then an hour and then two. As more time passed, the more worried Frank had become. He knew a doctor could have come out and talked to him a lot sooner.

Frank looked at his watch and suddenly remembered he was supposed to go out with Caren. He quickly went to the nurse at the desk and informed her that he was stepping outside for a moment in case the doctor came looking for him.

Stepping outside of the emergency room entrance, Frank pulled out his phone and quickly dialed the number to Caren’s dorm room. He scanned the parking lot as he waited for the call to be answered.

“Hello?” Caren answered after the fourth ring.

“Hey, Caren, it’s Frank.”

“Frank, where are you? I though we were going out tonight?”

“I’m at the hospital,” Frank said.

“The hospital? Did you get hurt? Were you in an accident?”

“Calm down, Caren. I’m fine. I’m not the one who got hurt. It’s Joe. He was injured in the game.”

“Is he all right?”

“I don’t know,” Frank said. “He’s been in the emergency room for about two hours. No one has come out to tell me anything. But I need to go back in. I just had to let you know why I was wasn’t there.”

“I understand, Frank. Do you want me to come over?”

“Thanks, Caren, but I’m okay. Use this time to study and we’ll reschedule our date.”

“All right. And call me when you hear something.”

“I will.”

“I love you, Frank,” Caren said.

“I love you too.”

“Bye.”

“Bye,” Frank said.

Frank ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. He let out a breath and headed back to the waiting room to continue his wait.

* * * * *

Another half hour passed and Frank was eager to know something about his brother. Fifteen minutes earlier a nurse had said the doctor would be out to talk with him, but no one had come.

Frank leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He usually had no problem waiting for things, but when it came to his brother, he lost all patience.

“Frank?”

He tipped his head forward and opened his eyes to see Caren standing before him.

“What are you doing here?” Frank asked.

“Well, I figured it you couldn’t take me out, I thought the least I could do was come to you.” Caren sat down in the chair beside him and handed him a cup of coffee. “Besides, I know that hospital coffee is like tar.”

Frank took the coffee cup and took a sip. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She wrapped her arm through Frank’s. “Anything?”

“A nurse came out a little while ago and said a doctor would speak to me, but no one has come out yet.”

“If they haven’t come out yet, they have to be focusing all their attention on Joe.”

“If they are focusing all that attention on Joe, then I’m more worried than before. This is taking too long. In the past, the doctor has been out to talk to us within a half hour. Something has to be wrong.”

“Frank, you don’t know that,” Caren said. “You need to calm down.”

“I’ll calm down once I know how my brother is doing.”

“Mister Hardy?”

Frank jumped to his feet and looked at the older man who was standing in the doorway. The man was wearing blue surgery scrubs with a white coat over the top. The doctor, who appeared to be in his late 50s, motioned for them to join him in the hall. He grabbed Caren’s hand and the followed the doctor.

Stepping into the hallway, the doctor turned to face them. “I’m Dr. Michaels. I apologize for taking so long to come and speak to you.”

“Is Joe all right?” Frank asked, getting straight to the point.

“Your brother is fine,” the doctor answered.

Frank let out a breath and closed his eyes, grateful to hear the good news.

“Joseph does have a concussion and we had to put twelve stitches in to close the wound. We will be keeping him overnight for observation.”

“Doctor, if Joe was all right, why did it take so long to come tell his brother?” Caren asked.

Frank looked at the doctor, waiting for a response.

“That was a mis-communication between myself and several of the other staff members. As Joseph was being wheeled to his room, a woman in premature labor was brought in. I had to take care of her. As I was going to tend to the woman, I told one the residents to come speak with you. I now know that he didn’t. I do apologize for any worry you had and will definitely have a talk with the resident.”

“It’s all right,” Frank said. “Do you know which room my brother is in?”

“He’s in room four-fifteen.”

“Thank you,” Frank said.

He and Caren made their way to the elevators and quickly headed up to the fourth floor. The nurse at the desk pointed them in the direction of Joe’s room. Moving over to the room, Frank and Caren saw that the door to the room was open. Frank peered inside and saw Joe was slightly propped up in the bed with his eyes closed. There was a bandage wrapped around his head.

Frank and Caren stepped into the room. Joe’s eyes opened and he turned slightly to face them.

“There you are,” Joe said weakly.

“How are you feeling?” Frank asked, moving t the bed and taking in Joe’s pale appearance.

“My head feels as if someone hit me with a baseball bat,” Joe said.

“Then everything is normal,” Frank said with a small grin.

“Ha, ha,” Joe said. “You’re real funny.”

“Sorry.”

Joe waved his had dismissively. “That’s all right. But could you tell me what happened? I honestly don’t remember.”

“The one batter from the Lumberjacks kissed the ground and then made his way to the pitching mound.” Frank went onto explain about the brawl that ensued and how Joe got injured.

“But luckily, you weren’t seriously hurt,” Frank finished.

“I guess I am lucky,” Joe admitted. He looked at Frank and Caren quizzically. “So, what took you so long to get here? I came to in the emergency room.”

“Actually, I’ve been here the whole time,” Frank said.

“What?”

“It’s true. I would’ve been up here a whole lot sooner if the staff would have let me know how you were doing,” Frank said. “This was not an experience I would like to repeat.”

“Do Mom and Dad know?”

“Not yet,” Frank said. “Remember, they were going out to dinner with the Martin’s tonight.”

“Oh, yeah,” Joe said and his eyes began to close.

“Joe, we’re going to get out of here,” Frank said. “You need your rest.”

“All right,” Joe murmured.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Caren said.

“Okay.”

They waited a couple minutes until they were sure Joe was asleep before leaving the room.

Once in the hall, Caren wrapped her arms around Frank and gave him a hug. She said, “I’m so glad Joe is going to be all right.”

“So am I,” Frank admitted. He leaned back and looked Caren in the eye. “Thank you for coming over, even though you didn’t have to.”

“Well, when you called, I could hear the worry in your voice and I didn’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Caren said. “Why don’t we go back to your house and watch a movie? That way, when your parents get home you can tell them what happened.”

“I like the sound of that,” Frank said. “Let’s go.”

Together they left the hospital and headed for the Hardy home.

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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.