HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

Frank frowned as he opened his eyes; it took a few moments of blinking and rubbing his eyes to remember he couldn’t see – hadn’t been able to see for over two months now. He sighed as he shook his head and sat up in his bed, taking care to not jostle his injured leg.

“Look who finally decided to join the land of the living!” Joe called out with a laugh. He sang the birthday song again, this time even louder than before, and Frank put his hands over his ears in mock protest to the noise – what his brother called ‘singing.’

“You trying to wake all of Bayport, little brother?” Frank asked the younger boy. Frank rubbed at his head and sighed. He really needed to figure out how to take a shower – or, heck, a bath today. His hair was starting to stand up on end – all by itself.

“It’s your birthday; we should post announcements all over the place!” Joe exclaimed excitedly. “You only turn twenty-one once in your life. You made it, big brother!”

Frank smiled cheerily and swung his legs off the edge of the bed. A hand grabbed his arm and he let Joe help him across the space to the bathroom.

“You aren’t planning on trying to help are you?” Frank demanded when they reached the bathroom and he didn’t hear Joe leave.

“Frank, you’re my brother and my best friend but let me be honest with you. You’re ripe. You smell. You need to take a shower in the worst way. Capiche?”

Frank blinked several times in innocence. “Wow, that’s quite the birthday message, Joe. ‘Happy Birthday, you smell.’”

Joe laughed. “Well, it’s true. You have two choices the way I see it. You can let me help you with the whole shower and bath thing – or you can let mom do it. One of them is less embarrassing than the other one. Guess which one it is?”

Sighing, Frank admitted Joe was right. And it would be far more embarrassing to have his mom help him take a shower than it would be to have Joe do it. Besides, Joe was acting at least somewhat cheerful and if he wanted to help, Frank wasn’t going to deny him.

“Let me get those plastic thingies for your cast,” Joe said. “I’ll run a bath for you and I promise not to get any soap in your eyes.”

“You sure you won’t get all embarrassed helping me? I could actually have Dad help, you know.”

“I know,” Joe chuckled. “But, heck, we took baths together as kids. And remember that one time when you were sixteen and had bandages on both hands? Mom and Dad weren’t home so I had to help you take a bath then too.”

Frank flushed as he remembered that incident. He’d gone as long as he could stand without a bath and begged Joe to help him.

“It’s still embarrassing,” Frank admitted. “You’re my brother, for Pete’s sake!”

“Well, I can always get our sister…” Joe threatened.

“Don’t you dare!” Frank exclaimed.

“Then quit fighting and accept facts. I’m helping you. Get over it.”

Still flushing, Frank relented and allowed his brother to help. Joe wrapped the cast on Frank’s arm up in plastic and helped Frank take off the brace on his leg. The water was run at just the right temperature and Joe finally helped Frank get into the very warm water.

“Wow,” Frank sighed with relief as he leaned back against the back of the tub, stretching out. “This is great.”

“I know,” Joe said modestly. “I run a good bath.”

“Yeah, Jeeves,” Frank laughed.

The bath was completed without too much more embarrassment on Frank’s part and Joe helped Frank back into his room. Joe laid a dry towel on Frank’s bed so Frank could sit down and finish drying off. Frank heard Joe opening and closing drawers in the bathroom and he came back while Frank was combing out his hair.

“I found one of your hair ties,” Joe said. “Here.”

Frank felt something being put in his hand and he set it down on his lap while he finished combing his hair.

“You look a lot less like an unmade cow bed,” Joe decided.

“Do I smell something in the kitchen?” Frank asked.

“Yeah,” Joe agreed. “Aunt Gertrude got in late last night. She’s cooking like crazy in there.”

Frank grinned happily. “Cool. I wonder if she’s making donuts? Or cinnamon rolls? I’d kill for one of her cinnamon rolls.”

“Both, I dare say,” Joe said. “Come on, get dressed so we can go!”

Joe handed Frank some clothes to put on and left Frank to his own devices. Frank dressed quickly and carefully before he sat back on the bed and waited for Joe to help him with the knee brace. Finally, he shifted over to the wheelchair and let Joe push it down the hall to the new dining room.

“Good morning, boys!” Aunt Gertrude said cheerily and Frank felt a kiss on his cheek and smelled the musky odor of Aunt Gertrude’s perfume. “Good to see you awake. Happy birthday, Frank!”

“Thanks, Aunt Gertrude. What am I smelling?” Frank asked.

“Cinnamon rolls,” Aunt Gertrude said. “Which you can have after a healthier breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, eggs and bacon.”

“Aunt Gertrude,” Frank protested. “Eggs and bacon aren’t really that healthy.”

“Nonsense,” Gertrude said pertly. “You’re still growing boys, you need the protein.”

“Good morning, birthday boy!” Mandy announced as she entered the room. She gave Frank a kiss on the cheek. “Good morning, Joe!”

“Hey, Mandy-Nic,” Joe said to his twin.

“Get settled down, kids,” Aunt Gertrude demanded, then she called out, “Laura, Fenton, it’s time for breakfast!”

Frank’s birthday breakfast was a huge success. Nobody talked at all about what happened to Joe, since he seemed to be making such an effort at normalcy, and Frank didn’t talk about any impending surgeries. He was grateful to have his whole family together.

“Okay birthday boy, we have presents,” Fenton declared after breakfast was over and Frank had finished off two of Aunt Gertrude’s deluxe cinnamon rolls. “You want them now or later?”

“Now!” Frank motioned imperiously.

“They never change,” Laura laughed. “Let’s go into the living room and get comfortable.”

Joe pushed Frank’s wheelchair into the living room and Frank shifted over to the couch, propping his injured leg on the coffee table. Several packages landed in his lap and he opened them carefully – with help from both Joe and Mandy. Many of the presents were items of clothing – polo shirts, t-shirts, jeans and two new sweaters. His best present, in his opinion, was the Palm Pilot he got; it had an audio version that allowed him to talk to it and allowed it to talk back to him.

“Cool!” he exclaimed. “This is great. Now I can really get organized.”

“You can play games on it too,” Joe announced. “There’s a whole bunch you can download from offline.”

Frank shook his head, laughing. “Trust you to want to use my organizer for playing games.”

“Hey,” Joe slapped Frank’s arm, gently. “If they make ‘em why not play ‘em?”

“Leeeemmmming,” Mandy said, sing-song.

Frank heard protests and giggling and Mandy demanding that Joe stop tickling her at once or he was going to lose a hand, maybe a whole arm!

“Children, children, children,” Laura said. “Cut it out.”

Frank sat back and grinned, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere around him. For once they were all determined to enjoy a day.

“Later on we’ll go out for a fancy dinner,” Fenton said. “So decide where you want to go, Frank. You can even have your first glass of wine.”

Frank raised an eyebrow. “Whoa, I just realized. But I can’t drink yet, Dad, I’m still on medication…”

“One glass of wine won’t hurt you,” Fenton promised. “But it’s totally up to you if you want to try it.”

Frank nodded in agreement. “All right. I’ll see.”

Samantha and Connor joined them for the birthday celebration at “Miguel’s,” Frank’s favorite restaurant. The food was great – better than great, and they all enjoyed the meal – and Melina the waitress’ teasing as well.

“I can’t eat another bite,” Frank declared after he’d eaten one of the large chimichangas that Miguel served. “I’m stuffed. I’m more than stuffed.”

“Me too,” Fenton agreed. “But how do you feel about one more birthday present?”

Frank raised an eyebrow. “Another one?”

“Yeah,” Laura said. “It’s not something we paid for, but we thought the news would make a good present for the day. Doctor Beckett called this morning – yes, on a Saturday – while you were taking a bath. He said he’s studied all of the tests that they took and you are definitely a good candidate for the surgery he wants to do.”

Frank’s mouth dropped open in both excitement and nervousness.

“We went ahead and scheduled the surgery for you,” Fenton chimed in. “How does December 1^st sound?”

“December 1^st?” Frank asked. “My eye surgery is on December 1^st?”

“Yeah,” Fenton agreed, still cheerful. “By December 25th the bandages can come off. How would you like to have your sight back by Christmas?”

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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.