Generalsleepy

Apparently, the 1928 Missing Chums was the first appearance of Aunt Gertrude. In this iteration, she’s a horrible, bitter, overbearing, arrogant, brow-beating harpy of a woman, and apparently the only reasons they let her stay around are that 1) Laura Hardy has the spine of a jellyfish and 2) that Gertrude is old and in possession of a small fortune. Basically, the Hardys have to tolerate her, so they won’t be written out of the will.

I might have mentioned before that the ’20s and ’30s versions were a lot darker than the blue spines. 

Writing short stories is ridiculously hard. Writing a novel, you just have to figure out what story you want to tell, then put nose to grindstone, and if it’s too long you cut out the boring bits, if it’s too short you add in some interesting stuff. With short stories, you have to know exactly what you want to do and in exactly what timeframe you’re going to do it. Every sentence has to be leading up to that point, no meandering, no nifty little cul-de-sacs or embellishments.

It’s like the difference between working for years for a modest salary until you retire and collect your pension fun and just robbing the place. Same payoff, both take hard work, but the short one is just so much more stressful.

Both boys had provided themselves with revolvers before leaving home. They were not adept with firearms, but the nature of their mission had prompted them to come prepared for any emergency. Fenton Hardy had a collection of weapons in his study, all trophies of his various cases, and the Hardy boys had each taken a small and efficient automatic pistol for protection.

-The Missing Chums (1928 edition)

Okay, even in the 1920s, the average person had to have some idea that maybe it wouldn’t be a great idea to have YOUR LARGE COLLECTION OF LOADED FIREARMS UNLOCKED WITHIN EASY REACH OF YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN.

FENTON HARDY WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

“Blacksnake Island!” exclaimed Frank.”That’s the place that is overrun with big blacksnakes, isn’t it? Nobody ever goes there.”

“That’s the place, and that’s why it’s called Blacksnake Island.”

-The Missing Chums (1928 edition)

It almost makes a kind of sense, if you think about it.

So, I’m reading the original version of The Missing Chums right now, and the descriptions of Laura Hardy make me wonder why she ever married Fenton in the first place. I mean, yeah, it’s understandable that she’d be worried about him going on dangerous assignments (especially when he runs off without telling her anything, as he is wont to do), but she just seems permanently worried and disapproving of the entire detective thing. She definitely never seems interested or enthusiastic about this thing that’s so important to her husband and children.

Like, she had to have known this was just what he does when she married him. Did she assume that she could change him? Or did he promise that he was going to retire soon and then didn’t? I just have a lot of questions about Laura Hardy’s thoughts and motivations.