Grazie! Gracias! Merci! Obrigado! Danke! Mange tak! Kitos! Kærar þakkir!
Eeek! Oh, man! The happiness…but first things first:
I want to thank a few people; JV4ever, Shallowbunny, LazyPanther and especially lightwarai for clearing some things up for me.
-And of course, my regards to you who reviewed:
happychica: Sorry about killing your favorite character…but you'll even that out for us with your stuff, right? ;) Thanks for reading!
whitetigers: Thank you but me? Capturing emotions? Wow, I must really be growing up!
astalder27: Erm. We'll see how that plays out. Ehem-hem…Thank you.
bhar: Thanks so much! Sorry for scaring you but it gets better…um, before it gets worse…
Shallowbunny: Ugh! I knew it! My teacher was just saying it, when he said he couldn't improve it… but since he's not actually English or American I guess he can't be blamed… it just makes him less believable as an English teacher, you know? Anyway, thank you very much, that means a lot to me coming from you. :D
thunderknight: Thank you and sorry for not updating sooner but if I update too fast, I'll run out of written material and that would mean even longer time between updates…which is probably gonna happen anyway…
Jolly001: Thanks, like I said; writing is my way of sharing and I find it works…reading the responses feels so good. :P
My English skills have only developed as well as they have because of the Hardy boys and all of you; this fan fiction community, so thank you!
Here's another chapter (kinda short, I know), now excuse me while I go and faint from happiness…
XOXOXOX
Crystal Flowers
A loving mother, beloved wife and a devoted friend:
Laura Mildred Hardy
1967-2006
-The true home of our hearts, foundation of our strength and savior of our souls.
May you forever rest in peace.
This was written on the headstone that would crown Laura Hardy's grave.
The sky was dark; thousands and thousands of enormous snowflakes fell down and tucked in the ground with a soft, white duvet.
Not many people were invited to the funeral. Only closest relatives and friends: Laura's parents, Fenton's sister Gertrude and their second cousin Elmer, Fenton's partner: Sam Radley and his wife Ethel, Ezra Collig, some of Laura's friends, the Morton family, the Hooper family and lastly Terry Wyatt.
After the church ceremony Fenton, Frank, Joe, Sam, Ezra and Terry carried the coffin from the black car to the cemetery where it was lowered to its place. The minister shoveled a bit of mould on the coffin finishing off with the traditional words: "Dust you are and to dust you shall return."
It was quiet and quick. No purpose in prolonging things.
And all the while the redwings and robins sang their fairest songs where they sat on the tree branches above the black-dressed people that stooped their heads in homage to the dead and the snowflakes fell, decorating the bare branches with white crystal flowers of snow.
XOXOXOX
There was no funeral reception either. Fenton felt he just couldn't handle any more of it. Everything that reminded him of Laura was too painful. Half of him was gone and he didn't know what to do with himself.
The days before the funeral were spent trying to find the tiniest tinge of a clue that would lead him on the track. On what track he had no idea. He just had to believe that there was one. But the investigation was weak. There was absolutely nothing to go on.
The rational part of his mind told him that it had simply been an accident, that she had just lost control over the car, that there was no track, that he should just let go...
That tiny part was overshadowed by the part of his mind that was infected by his sons' fury.
He could only blame himself. He had always preserved the investigator in them and raised them to be sharp-witted and skeptical, always preaching: 'I don't believe in coincidences.' He snorted and shook his head. Apparently, he hadn't been thorough enough on the difference between 'coincidence' and 'accident.'
When they came home the brothers locked themselves in their bedrooms and Fenton excused himself to his office.
Gertrude and Elmer sat down in the kitchen and had a cup of coffee. They tried to have a conversation but didn't quite know what to say.
"I shouldn't have let her go," Gertrude said after a while of silence.
Elmer looked at her questioningly.
"Laura was staying with me in New York while she was helping her parents moving to the supporting apartment. It's easier that way, what with her father's illness and all. -He has a bad case of Alzheimer, you see. Anyway, she insisted on leaving in the middle of the night. Said she wanted to avoid the traffic," Gertrude said.
"It wasn't your fault," Elmer said, taking her hand in his, "And it's rational. Hell, you would expect there to be less odds of accidents when there's less traffic."
They were quiet for a few minutes.
"And are you now going back to… wherever it was you came from?" Gertrude asked.
Elmer was a shipman. He worked on a trawler.
-"Yes, I've got no business here; wouldn't know what to do. That's your territory. You are staying, aren't you?"
-"Yes, I'd better do that. At least for a while so I can help with the household while Fenton re-collects himself."
Elmer nodded although personally he thought Fenton wouldn't be able to recover until someone had been locked up for this; someone had been brought to justice. But like everybody except for Fenton and the boys, he believed it had only been an accident.
Gertrude lifted her head and looked out of the window. And then muttered, "What the…?"
XOXOXOX
Frank and Joe lay on their beds each in their separate rooms, each with their own thoughts.
Frank was slowly coming to the same conclusion as everyone else. Every single thing they came up with, to somehow connect this to a crime, came to a dead end. It was infuriating but Frank had to admit to himself that if his mother had been murdered, none of them would ever have been at peace even though they found the murderer. All of them would want to kill that person with their bare hands, but would never allow each other to do so. And there certainly wouldn't be any peace in knowing that the killer would be alive, even behind bars.
These thoughts were infuriating too because he wanted to hate someone. He had already gone through the train of thought whether there really was a God that allowed something like this to happen, what was the purpose, the meaning. Who deserves, who doesn't…. But these thoughts were pointless. They gave no answers and no comfort. –Only dozens of others and equally complicated questions. And it was just too much to take.
XOXOXOX
Joe's mind was overclouded with anger, anger towards the world, the injustice; everything. There was no space for grief anymore. He had already cried all the tears he possibly could into his pillow.
The rancorous thoughts shot back and forth in the turmoil of his head, completely adrift and there was no way of settling them so finally it felt like his scull was splitting apart and his vision grew red and cloudy.
XOXOXOX
Fenton was sitting behind his desk in sort of a trance, his mind completely blank. It was almost comfortable. A framed photograph of him and Laura was standing on the desk in front of him and although his eyes were fixed upon it, he had long stopped seeing it.
Then he had to blink, and the room around him came back into focus. He looked around in it and suddenly felt that there weren't enough of things that reminded him of his family in there. Not enough pictures on the walls for instance. Just a number of file cabinets and all kinds of detective devices: spy cameras, microphones, wires, detectors…
He looked into the corner where there was a couch. The wrinkly cover on it was hanging off the edge of it, halfway to the floor.
He had slept in there ever since Laura died. He hadn't even opened the door to the bedroom; somehow couldn't bring himself to do it.
He sighed softly and closed his eyes, tried to regain his previous state of mind.
He was interrupted by his sister's voice. "Fenton! Boys! Come down, you must see this!"
XOXOXOX
It was growing dark and the snow kept falling. But the weather was no hindrance to human sympathy, compassion; love.
When Fenton stepped outside the door he had to blink several times before he could take in the sight. His sons came to stand by his side and Gertrude and Elmer behind. They were all in awe.
In front of the house there was an ocean of flowers, candles, sympathy greetings -and people. Never before had the Hardys witnessed such a display of affection from their fellow townsmen. And even Joe's dark thoughts succumbed to gratitude and mutual affection for these people.
There were hundreds of them; the entire street was tightly crowded.
Everyone present at the funeral was there. And there were also a number of faces they knew and cared about. There were the boys' friends: Chet Morton, his younger sister Iola, Biff Hooper, Callie Shaw, Tony Prito, Phil Cohen, Jerry Gilroy and all of their families.
There were many of present and former colleagues of Fenton's, including Ezra Collig, Sam Radley, Con Riley, Jack Wayne and many cops from New York.
And there were family friends such as Hurd and Adelia Applegate and Elroy Jefferson.
But the majority of the gathering was people that they didn't know personally, but people that knew them and appreciated them. And there they all stood and lowered their heads in respect.
Fenton's chest swelled up and his eyes filled with tears. He thought about saying something but then decided he couldn't. No words could describe what he was feeling so he just nodded his own deep appreciation.
Frank looked over the crowd, overwhelmed with emotions. Then he couldn't help but smiling, it was too beautiful and he could only whisper the heartfelt words, "Thank you…"
Joe bit his lip when he realized that he could still cry a little more. When he knew that this was all there was to it; the closure. He couldn't hate a world with such people. Such people made it worth living in it.
And while the people stood silent in the cold, radiating fondness, and honoring the memory of Laura Hardy, the snow kept falling and forming crystal flowers.
XOXOXOX
Aaw…if it wasn't for the little twist I'm about to add, this could have been the whole story…-But I thought of the twist before I ever thought of killing Laura so I guess it couldn't have been that way…hmm…anyway…
Laura's middle name appeared in one of the originals; I can't remember which one… I think it had something to do with a ring or a key or whatever…
Elmer was in The Mystery of the Whale Tattoo
In case you were wondering…
Until next week! Please review!