J.M.J.

A Cure for Boredom

Bess – Secrets Can Kill (original)

1998

"I'm so bored," Bess Marvin complained with a dramatic flair as she sat with her legs draped over the arm of a chair.

Her mother, Anna, smiled slightly at the sight. It wasn't the first time her daughter had made the same complaint in the same attitude—not by a long shot—and it wouldn't be the last. If it had been anyone else, the volume of declarations of boredom would have annoyed Anna, but somehow it didn't when it came to Bess. Maybe she was just being an overindulgent mother, or maybe it was because she knew that Bess's boredom only lasted a short time. It was probably only because her two closest friends were doing other things. Her cousin, George, had said she was running several errands that morning, none of which appealed to Bess so she hadn't asked to come along. Her other close friend, Nancy Drew, was flying down to Florida to work on a mystery case. It might not have been what a typical eighteen-year-old girl would do, but Anna was used to Nancy's passion for mysteries by now, especially since Bess usually wound up involved in them. This time, though, Nancy had gone by herself, and that was probably the real reason for Bess's boredom. She didn't like being left out of mysteries, as much as she insisted that she didn't like being involved in them.

Bess lifted herself up on her elbows. "Are you going to do anything today, Mom?"

"I thought I'd get some housework done," Anna replied.

"Oh."

"And when I finished, I planned on going down to the mall."

"Oh!" Bess sat up at that. "What can I do? To help you finish faster."

"The carpet in here could use vacuuming. I'll sweep and mop and then we can both tackle the dusting."

Bess hurried to get the vacuum and started running it over the family room. It was hardly an exciting occupation, but Bess was honest enough to admit that it was better than sitting around and thinking about how bored she was. Especially with Nancy down in Florida. It was fall, and Bess loved fall—scarves and boots and jackets and pumpkin spice and maple and costumes!—but the beach sounded pretty nice right now, too. She would have loved to be stretched out on the sand, soaking up some last sun before she consigned herself to the cold weather for another season. Of course, Nancy wasn't really there on a vacation. She was there to look for a murderer, which Bess told herself she was more than happy to pass on, but surely there would have been time for a little bit of sunbathing? Oh, probably not. Bess would probably be right in the middle of relaxing on the beach when the murderer would show up and try to start a shoot-out or something. That was the way it always went.

As frivolous as that sounded—even to Bess—she couldn't repress a shiver as she thought about Nancy tracking down a murderer by herself. Nancy had promised to keep Bess and her other friends up to date on everything that happened, but if Nancy got into any trouble, there wasn't much Bess could do over the phone, except maybe scream.

That was about when she realized that she was going over the same part of the carpet that she had already done three times. She switched off the vacuum and swapped it out for a duster. She still couldn't banish her worries about Nancy from her mind. Since there really wasn't anything she could do, she decided to distract herself by turning on some music and turning it up loud. She and her mother had similar tastes in music, so before long, they were both singing along as they worked and laughing whenever one of them hit a wrong note or started in on the refrain when there was supposed to be another verse. Worries and boredom were both relegated to the back of Bess's mind.

Finally, the housework was done, and Bess and Anna headed out to the mall. They went in through the doors closest to one of the big name clothing stores, and the first thing Bess saw was an adorable cream-colored jacket in the display. She grasped her mother's hand and started leading her toward the store.

"We've got to go in there for a little while," she said.

Before she reached the jacket, she was distracted by a dress with a tasteful fall-leaf print and long sleeves.

"Look at that," Anna pointed it out at the same moment.

Bess picked up one of the sleeves. "This would look great with my denim vest."

"Why don't you try it on?"

Bess did and she also tried the jacket. It turned out that the shoulders of the jacket were stiffer than she liked, but the dress was perfect. For her part, Anna spotted a blouse that appealed to her and she tried it on. After that, there was a style of sweater that they both liked, and so they each tried one on. From there, they each tried on at least a dozen other pieces, too many for them to recount afterwards exactly what they all looked like. When they finally tore themselves away from that store, they each had spent a good deal more than they had expected.

After that, they had to go to the shoe shop next door. Bess hadn't any shoes that matched her new dress, and Anna had gotten a pair of slacks that really needed some pumps in a matching color. Then it just happened that all the sandals were on clearance after the summer, so they had to look at those. They were such a good deal that somehow buying them felt like making up for what they had spent on clothes.

"I'm starving," Bess commented as they were standing in line to pay, checking her watch. It was nearly one in the afternoon. "No wonder! Maybe we should get something to eat."

"Sure. That little sandwich shop down at the other end is great."

Walking all the way to the other end of the mall would have taken all afternoon if Bess and Anna hadn't been so hungry. There were several shops that tempted them as they walked past, but they determinedly continued to the sandwich shop. Once there, it was well worth the walk. The sandwiches served there were both delicious and very large and they had a wonderful assortment of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate so that it was hard for either Marvin to decide what to order.

Finally, however, they were sitting down with their meal. Bess was in the middle of taking another bite out of her sandwich when she remembered something.

"Mom, did you need something here at the mall? You were the one who said you wanted to come."

Anna grinned. "That might have just been an excuse to spend the day with you."

"You don't need an excuse to get me to spend time with you, Mom," Bess insisted, although she was rather touched. "Oh! Since we're not here for anything specific, there's a rom-com playing at the theater I've been wanting to see. It has Brady Armstrong in it," she added dreamily before saying, "Maybe there's a matinee."

"You know I'm never one to pass up a good rom-com," Anna agreed.

It happened that there was a matinee starting in a half-hour. Bess and her mom had no trouble keeping themselves occupied until it began. The movie wasn't destined to become an instant classic, but it elicited several laughs from Bess and Anna, especially when one of them would whisper some comment poking fun at the improbable storyline to the other. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

As Anna parked the car in the Marvin driveway later that afternoon, she glanced at her daughter. "I hope you're not still bored," she teased her.

"What? Oh. No, not in the least." Bess laughed as they walked to the front door. "I've barely even thought about Nancy and Florida and…" She trailed off as she thought more and more about what she was saying she wasn't thinking of.

The phone was ringing as the entered the house and Bess snatched it up, dropping her bags on the desk next to it. "Hello? …Oh, Nancy! I've been dying to hear from you! Did you solve the mystery yet? Did you get to the beach?"