The Top Secret Toys by Tim Kehoe

Author:Tim Kehoe [KEHOE, TIM/FRANCIS, GUY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
ISBN: 9780316120906
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2012-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

Vincent and Howard climbed inside the cage. Howard pushed a button and pulleys turned, ropes moved, and the elevator started climbing toward the ceiling. It made a klop klop, klop klop sound as it climbed.

“I’ve been meaning to grease this old thing.”

KLOP, KLOP.

KLOP, KLOP.

A hatch in the ceiling opened as the elevator rose. Sunlight poured in. Vincent shielded his eyes. Once they were on the roof, Howard pointed to a giant pigeon coop near the edge of the roof.

“Those are my babies.”

“Pigeons?” Vincent asked.

“Yup. Racing Homers. Some of the fastest homing pigeons in the world. But I don’t race them any more. I just enjoy their company. And watching them fly.”

They crossed the roof to the coop. Howard struggled to pull the lever on the side. “Would you mind, Vincent?”

Vincent pulled the lever down and feed poured into the troughs.

“How’s that cousin of mine?”

“Cousin?” Vincent forgot for a moment that his favorite teacher and Howard were cousins. Vincent was still thinking about the toys in Howard’s lab. There were more than enough for a new Wishbook.

“Oh, Mr. Dennis. He’s good.”

“I imagine Dennis is a good teacher,” Howard said.

“He is. We all like, um, Dennis.” Dennis? Was Dennis Mr. D’s first name? Vincent had always assumed it was his last name.

“Dennis used to spend his summers here, you know. Years ago. He helped Royal with the Wishbook art. He even helped with the toys, occasionally. He wasn’t a half-bad inventor.”

Howard pushed the lever back up and the feed stopped flowing.

“That ought to hold them for a while,” he said as he turned and looked out over Central Park. “I never get tired of this view. I love this city.”

“Me too. I miss it.” Vincent said.

“So much history. So much energy. Speaking of energy, did you receive the copy of the Tesla notebooks I sent?”

Copies? Vincent was thrilled to hear the word copies. Maybe they weren’t the originals. Maybe his obnoxious little sister hadn’t ruined priceless historical treasures after all.

“Yes, I did. But—I’m not sure how to tell you this—but I’m afraid my sister accidentally ruined some of them. Actually, most of them, sir.”

“Ruined them?”

“She colored little pink bunnies and puppies and stuff all over them.” Vincent felt sick. “She didn’t mean to. I mean, I’m sure she wouldn’t have if she knew how important they were. I—” Vincent stopped. What could he say?

Howard roared. He laughed so hard Vincent was worried he would fall over.

“Oh, pink bunnies! That’s priceless!”

Howard sat down on the edge of the building. He wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Maybe that’s the missing piece, Vincent. Pink bunnies and puppies. It’s as good as anything I’ve got.”

“So you’re not mad, sir?”

“Mad? Why? Oh my, you thought those were the original sketches? Oh, you poor boy. You must have been sick. No, no. She would have to wait almost five thousand years to draw on the originals. The originals are buried in a time capsule a few miles from here.” Howard pointed north. “No, I have copies. Copies of what, though, I’m not sure.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.