Title: The Contact Case

A Hardly Boys Adventure

Date Written: April 17, 2003

Written by: Joseph T. Arendt

Carrying a small red plastic cooler, Fritz Hardly entered the boathouse. It housed their speedboat. Inside, the boathouse smelled. Not of must, dust, and mildew as it had in the summers for the last decade whenever Fritz had gone in, but of fresh paint and caulk.

Fritz yelled, "Are you in here, John or Craig? I brought sandwiches and cold sodas."

John shouted back, "Craig and I at the bow putting the name back on. I’m glad you brought food. I’m starving!”

Fritz headed to the front of the speedboat. He watched as his brother John put a sticky decal letter T on the bow. It currently spelled, "INVESTIGAT."

Fritz noticed that through continued exposure to the bright Port City summer sun, John's light brown hair had naturally bleached so it could be properly called blond. His own hair always remained dark, even if he spent time in the sun, although he realized he had spend little time in the sun this summer. While Fritz’s pasty skin had hardly any tan because of being indoors so much, John had gotten a golden tan. Their chum Craig Peters had gotten more freckles than tanned. However, Craig’s red hair had gotten more intensely red. Fritz thought many girls would kill to have hair like Craig’s.

Still noticeably chubby despite all the hard labor on the boat that he and John had been doing for the past month and a half, Craig Peters said, "This has to be the oldest speedboat on the bay."

John proudly said, "I don't think there is another wood speedboat still in use on the bay.”

Fritz boasted, “The Investigator certainly is a beauty. Modern speedboats simply do not look as good as a classic wood one like this.”

Craig admitted, "She's certainly nice looking, but a wood boat requires so much maintenance. Why not get a fiberglass or aluminum boat like everybody else has? No caulking or painting needed on those, and certainly not replacing of rotted boards. Consider that it's already July. John and I spent part of May and the entire month of June taking out the rotted boards, steam bending new ones, getting everything put back together and re-caulked, then painting it. The job would have gone faster if you'd helped us, Fritz."

"I was busy solving cases," Fritz replied.

Craig said, "Without your brother helping? Without leaving Port City?"

Fritz shrugged, "These were the boring kind of cases that never make it into our books. A few days on the computer and telephone does it. It's amazing what some people will pay detectives like us to do. If they knew a few tricks for getting people to give up information on the telephone as well as some Internet search strategies, they wouldn't need us. Still, it pays well."

John said, "Better you than me doing that kind of work, brother. Can you say BORING? Sitting at a computer or on a telephone during a beautiful summer like this is such a waste. Besides, it’s not like we need the money.”

“I’m keeping in practice for our real work, which is being detectives. Not fixing old boats,” Fritz insisted.

John shrugged, the asked, “Hey, Craig, why are you griping? We're paying you well for your time. You said you didn't have a job this summer."

Craig returned, "I do appreciate the pay. High school isn't going to last forever for me. I need to save money for college. Given the number of hours we put in during the past month and a half, which you have generously paid me for, I don't see how this old boat is worth it to you. Don't you two need to save money for college yourself?"

John laughed and replied, "Not really. We're well-heeled from the rewards of the hundreds of cases we solved. I must admit you work hard, Craig. Out of the many best chums we’ve had over the years, you certainly are the hardest working."

Fritz said, “You have been here working with Craig each day, John. People work harder when watched.”

Craig said, "My point is that I think it would be cheaper if you'd get a new boat rather than rebuilding this antique. Plus, you could get a more technically advanced and much faster boat."

Fritz proudly proclaimed, "The Investigator was once the fastest boat on the bay."

John said, "My brother ts right, Craig. Speedboat races crossing the bay used to be held every August. We won four years in a row, then came in second the next year."

Craig skeptically said, "I can't imagine this boat winning anything other than a contest against other antique speedboats."

John declared, "Well, the last time we won was in 1932."

Fritz corrected his brother, "No, that was the year we came in second. The last year we took first was 1931. We only got honorable mention in 1933."

"Oh, that's right," John agreed.

Pointing at his younger brother, Fritz said to Craig, "He's only seventeen years old, but already losing his memory for dates. Imagine what he'll be like when he gets to be old."

John Hardly grinned and claimed, "No need to worry about that. I'll never get old!"

Fritz said, "Craig, you are correct that the Investigator would not win against expensive modern speedboats. Technology has advanced since my brother and I built this boat seventy-five years ago. Still, if you two have it ready for the water, I think Craig will be pleasantly surprisingly by the respectable performance even now in 2003."

Craig recalled, "John showed me the inboard motor. It's a lot bigger than I expected."

John said, "It's a 1927 Chevrolet V-8 engine. It's actually an automobile engine that we took out of a wrecked car."

Fritz thought back and said, "Using a V-8 engine from an automobile to power a boat was a common trick for moonshiners back then. Even a boat like this barely gave us an edge for catching moonshiners because they were doing the same thing."

John put in, "When some of our cases were selected to make a children's series, the issue of Prohibition and alcohol was left out. It’s a shame, really, because Prohibition led to some of our most exciting and dangerous cases."

"The books didn’t entirely leave out moonshining," protested Fritz. "It came up in our spelunking adventure."

John said, "Only as a red herring, though. How about when the moonshiners were using an airplane to bring in the product? Look what happened when that case was written up. Who came up with the case being about robbing postal airplanes?"

Fritz shrugged and said, "I didn't think the novel of it was that far off base. After all, the story got it right that the pilot was an alcoholic. He crashed his plane while drunk."

“Yes, that part was correct,” John admitted.

Craig scratched his stubbled chin as he had been lax about shaving this summer and asked, "Moonshiners? I thought they had stills out in the woods, so needed fast cars. I can see airplanes being of use, although pretty high tech back then. Why speedboats, though?"

John laughed and responded, "Because Port City is so close to Canada. Whiskey was legal up there. Prohibition was limited only to the United States. It was a lot easier to just zip up there and buy some then making a still in the woods. The problem was getting the booze back to the U.S. without getting caught."

Fritz said, "The roads between the U.S. and Canada were well watched back then, but the ocean is a big place."

John added, "It was risky going out beyond the bay in just a speedboat, but it was worth the risk to the moonshiners. They'd drop a V-8 taken from an automobile into a boat. The authorities had nothing as fast as that. The moonshiners in their boats could run circles around them. With a fast boat, they could simply get away."

Fritz elaborated, "A reward was offered by the U.S. government for helping catch the moonshiners. The reward wasn't enough for John and I to bother making a speedboat fast enough, though."

John said, "That is, it wasn't worth it until Dad wrecked his sedan. He completely destroyed his car, but at least he wasn't hurt. He was just knocked out, but getting knocked out never permanently hurts us Hardlys. It’s a genetic trait."

"The moonshiners kidnapped Dad, then we had to rescue him. That was a big deal," Fritz asserted.

"Yes, but rescuing him finally made Dad treat us more like real detectives," John said.

"Not by much. He sometimes still treated us as foolish teenagers even after that," Fritz countered.

John said, "Well, nobody is perfect, not even our Dad. Anyway, that wrecked car meant we had a V-8 engine from it. We decided to build a boat designed around the engine, which we did."

Fritz remarked, "We then caught some moonshiners. They never expected to race against a speedboat as fast as the Investigator. Since we didn't have to pay for the motor, the government reward did pay off our boat after all."

John grinned and added, "Plus, it was great fun having the fastest boat on the bay."

Fritz looked at the boat and said, "She looks ready."

John said, "She is. Only two more letters to stick on, then we can take her out for a test ride. The next letter, please."

Craig peeled off an "E" and handed it over.

Fritz chimed in, "No, Investigator ends in O-R, not E-R."

"Oh, right," Craig said with obvious embarrassment. He secretly thought if he’d been in high school for seventy-five years rather than just three, his spelling and other school related skills would probably be better too, but he kept those thoughts to himself. He peeled off an O and handed that over. The R came next.

As Craig and John finished the name, Fritz stowed the red cooler on board.

The three high school boys then got the boat lowered into the water. Fritz opened the door that looked somewhat like a garage door for an automobile. However, below the door was water that the boat floated in rather than pavement.

Fritz cast off the ropes, then jumped onto the boat, joining the others already in it.

John turned over the starter. The motor roared to life.

John smiled and proclaimed, "She still runs great after all these years."

Speaking loudly to be heard over the engine, Craig said, "I'm amazed any engine can keep working after seventy-five years. My car’s only thirty years old and the engine burns oil like crazy. It needs to be rebuilt or replaced, but I can’t afford that."

John sheepishly said, "Well, this engine has been rebuilt twice. The last time was twenty-two years ago, though."

John then put the boat in gear. He moved at trolling speed past the various other boathouses and docks and moored boats along the shore. Once clear of these and out to open water, he suddenly shoved the throttle to maximum.

Craig had just started to get up. He fell back into his seat. He was amazed how fast the Investigator accelerated. It felt like riding a rocket.

John said with glee, "This baby can still move!"

"Wow! I'll say," Craig admitted.

Fritz remarked, "Why don't we head out to Cottage Island?"

"Good idea," John said. "We haven't been out there in a decade. I wonder if the condos are done yet. We used to have some wild adventures on that island."

The Investigator cut straight across the wide bay, a distance greater then the width of many large lakes. Although the winds were brisk so the waves were fairly high, the speedboat handled the voyage with ease. They came to the island. There were twin towers on the island, each about fifteen stories tall. A two-lane bridge stretched to shore. Besides the twin towers, there were several obviously very expensive mansions on the crowded island. Just looking at it showed this was highly valuable property.

John said, "It looks like the condos in those twin towers are finally completed."

Fritz sighed and said, "Seeing this island makes me sad. It used to be covered with woods with just one cottage on it, which is how it got its name. Even that one cottage didn't have electricity."

John brought the Investigator in close to shore, then said, "Oh, big deal, Fritz. Various farms in this area that still didn't have electrical power back in 1929."

Craig asked, "Why mention 1929 specifically?"

John said, "That was the year the cottage on Cottage Island was destroyed by a storm. We were in it as the storm hit. The place came down around our ears. It was a miracle that none of us was hurt. Still, we solved the case and received the reward."

Fritz snorted, "That was the only time we got a reward that I felt we hadn't earned."

John shot back, "Sure we earned it! We solved the case."

"God or Fate solved the case, not us. However, we got the reward because it is much easier to give it to us," Fritz said.

Craig asked, "How can God or Fate solve a case?"

Fritz replied, "Even the Hardly Boys can hardly take credit for a terrible storm that knocked down the cottage. We found something that solved the case in the wreckage that we never would have found if not for the storm."

Guiding the Investigator around the island, John said, "At least Fritz and I wouldn’t cause a storm that would then bring a cottage down on top of us! No case is worth doing that. The cottage was located where the northern of those twin towers is now located."

Fritz thoughtfully said, “That was perhaps the only time that God or Fate played such a direct role in solving one of our cases. However, God or Fate has played a big role in our getting into about half of our cases.”

John agreed, “We got into a remarkable number of cases just by going to a gas station, a mall, a bank, or whatever. On a couple cases, we got involved by being out in the Investigator. Cases would just fall into our laps.”

Fritz said, “It is like Fate or God delivers the cases to us. If our airplane crashes or our car breaks down, it is because we need to be in that place to get involved in a case. It’s quite remarkable and consistent.”

Having completed a circling of the island, including going under the bridge, John pointed the Investigator back into the main bay.

John said, “One of the most remarkable times we got involved in a case was out in the middle of this bay when the Investigator ran out of gas.”

Fritz remarked, “We got involved in more than one case by having our boat run out of gas. Which case do you mean?”

John rolled his eyes at his brother, then said, “The one where evidence fell from the sky. It was like Fate or God dropped it down on us. Of course, we guessed that no angels were really dropping evidence down to our boat. We figured it fell from an airplane.”

"You’re still having memory problems, brother. It fell from a helicopter, not an airplane," Fritz said.

"Who’s telling this story? I know that. I was building up to it," John said. "Our initial guess it fell from an airplane. When we finally saw the helicopter, it was the first one I ever saw in my life! I'd seen thousands of airplanes by that time. Helicopters were extremely rare back then. That wasn’t that long after World War Two."

Fritz stated, “Most of the cases that involved using the Investigator were somehow related to moonshiners. This even though most of the books covering our adventures sanitized that part out do to the target audience being so young. It’s been over fifty years since just taking a boat ride got us involved in a case.”

John suggested, “I think it is because the Canadians are such good neighbors. I have heard of people smuggling cases of cigarettes the other way because the Canadians tax them so heavily compared to here in America. I’m not sure we would even get involved in such a case. After all, having a boat chock full of cases of cigarettes is legal while still in the U.S.”

Fritz said, “I haven’t heard of people doing that much in speedboats. The payoff just doesn’t seem worth the risk. Besides, the cigarette taxes have gotten a lot higher in our own country.”

Craig looked back at the island falling away into the distance. The two fifteen-story towers were like miniature skyscrapers.

This caused Craig to say, “Those twin towers remind me of the former Twin Towers in New York City.”

Both of the Hardly boys looked back.

John said, “I suppose at this distance they do. They are both about a hundred stories too short for your comparison.”

Craig said, “I know these are small in comparison. However, these made me think of terrorists attacking the large twin towers. A couple of the terrorists were supposed to have gone to Canada first. It was much easier to get into Canada then the U.S. Once in Canada, it was easy to sneak into the U.S. without getting caught. I read that the border control has gotten much tighter since September 11, 2001. However, don’t you think that even now in 2003, it’d be pretty easy to sneak to Canada in back in a boat like this?”

“I suppose it would be,” Fritz said thoughtfully. “However, my brother and I don’t work on cases with terrorists. We leave those to our clones.”

Craig asked incredulously, “Your clones?”

John said, “Yes, our clones. They have exactly the same names as us, but fortunately live much, much further south. The bay they live on never freezes over like this bay does on some winters. They work for a secret government agency rather than their father. Unlike us, they often battle terrorists. They have their own series of children’s books. Perhaps you’ve seen their books. They are the Incident History series. Unlike our cases, our clones are often involved in cases with planned mass murder, terrorist attacks, political assassinations, and so on. My brother and I didn’t want cases like that. Too grisly and violent. If our clones want those cases, more power to them."

Fritz said, “The Incident History series was canceled before September 11, 2001. I don’t know what our clones have been doing since the cancelation. Perhaps going against terrorists is the sort of case we’ll start having to get involved in, John. It might be our duty.”

John for several moments drove the boat without comment. It seemed like he was about to say something when the motor sputtered. John fiddled with the throttle. The motor sputtered again, then died.

The three high school boys looked around. They were in the center of the large bay. No other boats or ships were close.

Fritz shrugged his shoulders and said, “Looks like Fate or God has decided to involve us in another case. Maybe it’ll be a terrorist case like Craig suggested.”

John chuckled and said, “Imagine us getting in a case by running out of gas when out in the Investigator. It’s been over fifty years since God or Fate used that trick on the Hardly Boys.”

Fritz suggested, “We might get in fewer cases if we were more careful about checking the fuel in our boat, car, and airplane.”

John asked, “What fun would that be? We need these sorts of minor disasters to get into our best cases.”

Craig told the other two boys, "Early this morning, I checked the tank. There wasn't much gasoline in there. This is where we would have run out if I had not filled it, but I did."

John looked, then said, "Hey, Craig is right! We have plenty of fuel. None of our other best chums over the years ever took the initiative to fill the gas tank without being told to do so."

Eighteen-year-old Fritz pessimistically remarked, "We probably need to overhaul the engine for a third time. It has been over twenty years on this overhaul, after all. Oh, well, time for another case to fall into our laps."

Unlike the nice new cars or vans the Hardly boys routinely drove to high school, Craig Peters drove a thirty-year-old rusted out wreck. It was fast muscle car when it worked, but the car liked to break. It took a lot of work keeping that junker going. As a result, Craig had gained much experience fixing it. Craig thought about how the Hardly boys mentioned the Investigator had an automobile engine in it.

Craig said, "Let me take a look at the engine."

John shrugged, then he and Fritz opened the cowl. As Craig fiddled with the engine, the Hardly boys went back to sit in the front seats of the boat. The two brothers popped open cans of soft drinks. The two brothers relaxed. They seemed content to wait for a case to fall into their laps, even though they were alone in the middle of a very large open bay with good-sized waves pounding the side of their non-functioning boat.

John held up a sandwich high, then said, “We’ve got food. Why don’t you give that up and come eat?”

Fritz said, “We know how you love to eat.”

“No, thanks,” Craig said as he kept working. “I’m on a diet.”

“Sure,” said John with a wink at his brother. “But you and I’ve worked hard already today. You’ve earned this. Come up here and relax. Have a bite and we’ll see what case comes to us.”

“I’m serious,” Craig said. “I’m on a diet. I’ll eat what’s in my diet plan when we get back.”

John said, “Your loss. Fritz and I are about to split your sandwich.”

Craig ignored this and bent down over the engine. Both the brothers seemed surprised by his dedication.

Craig declared, "The contact on the ignition coil is corroded, probably because of the salt from the saltwater in the bay. I forgot my pocketknife. Did either of you bring one?"

Fritz did not have one. He used to carry one, but stopped because of the Zero Tolerance policies at their high school. Since it was summer and they weren’t in school now, John had resumed his old habit of carrying a pocketknife. He knew he had to stop that habit when school resumed or get expelled. For today in mid-summer, he had the precious tool. He pulled out his pocketknife and handed it over.

Craig used the blade to scratch off the corrosion. He then reattached it and said, "Give that a try."

John turned the key. The old and much rebuilt motor roared back to life, sounding strong.

Fritz whistled and said, "I’m shocked! Craig Peters solved the Contact Case."

"About time I solved something rather than it always being the Hardly Boys, even if it was just a small mechanical problem," Craig said in obvious embarrassment and pleasure.

John engaged the propeller. The old Investigator confidently surged forward, heading back to the waiting boathouse.

Fifteen minutes later, out in the center of the bay, the sound of a motor could be heard. Soon, a speedboat appeared, but nobody not on that boat was there to see or hear it. This was a pity because the boat had on board several terrorists sneaking from Canada to the United States. God’s plan or Fate's plan to get the Hardly Boys involved in this important case had been thwarted because Craig had solved the mystery of the corroded contact.

THE END