Astrid Maxxim and Her Amazing Hoverbike by Wesley Allison

Author:Wesley Allison [Allison, Wesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Children's Books, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Children's eBooks, Science Fiction; Fantasy & Scary Stories
ISBN: 9781105385902
Google: y-iOAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B006428HYY
Barnesnoble: B006428HYY
Goodreads: 21630516
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: 2010-12-31T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve: An Afternoon at the Maxxim’s

The man in black stepped forward. He wasn’t wearing a jumpsuit, but rather a black sweater and black slacks. He wore a shoulder holster with a large pistol tucked into it.

“Back off, buddy,”said Austin, stepping toward the man, though Astrid could see that he was shaking. “You don’t want to mess with me! I’m crazy!”

“Yes, that seems self-evident,”said the man, a cultured English accent making him seem even more droll than his words did.

“Is it my understanding, Mr. Toulson, that you are wandering around my house in the nude?”asked Mrs. Maxxim.

“No ma’am, I was in my room changing.”

“Your room?” Astrid looked around at her mother.

“Mr. Toulson, this is my daughter Astrid. Astrid, this is Mr. Charles Edward Toulson.”

Austin let out a deep breath and seemed to lose about two inches of his height. Astrid put an arm around him for fear he would fall over.

“And who is your brave friend?”asked Mrs. Maxxim.

“This is Austin Tretower, my friend from school.”

“Are you Pearl Tretower’s grandson?”

Austin nodded as he shook her hand, and then walked toward the closest chair. Astrid, remembering herself, stepped toward Mr. Toulson and stuck out her hand.

“Sorry about the misunderstanding and, um, you know…barging in on you when you were changing. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Toulson.”

Toulson shook her hand. “Call me Charles.”

“She’s been taught to call adults by their surnames,”said Mrs. Maxxim.

“I prefer to be on a first name basis with the primary,”said Toulson. “It makes things much less complicated in an emergency.”

“Primary?”wondered Astrid.

“We’ll talk about it at dinner,”said her mother.

“I’m your bodyguard,”said Toulson, ignoring the sharp look he received from Mrs. Maxxim.

“I don’t want a bodyguard,”said Astrid.

“We’ll talk at dinner,”her mother repeated.

“Come on Austin,”said Astrid, leaving her mother to deal with Mr. Toulson and the soon to arrive police. “Let’s go upstairs. I’ll let you ride on the stair elevator.”

She took the boy by the hand and pulled him over to the bottom of the staircase. The steps were more than eight feet wide and were hemmed in on the outside by a heavy hand-carved railing. On the opposite side, along the wall, was a steel track that followed the stairs upward. Astrid pulled open the door to a small compartment on the wall and pressed a button. Another larger door at waist level popped open, and a chair running on the rail emerged from the wall.

“This is the stair elevator. It was put in a long time ago, before I was born. It was for my grandpa when he started having trouble walking up and down the stairs. Still works though. Hop on.”

Austin sat down in the padded seat.

“Press the green button on the armrest and it’ll take you upstairs.”

He did as directed and the chair began to slowly ascend. He grinned.

“This is like Captain Kirk’s chair on the old Star Trek,”he said. “Does it only go one speed?”

“I’m afraid so. It’ll take about two minutes to get to the second floor.” Astrid shot up the stairs and was waiting when her friend reached her.

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