28 - The Cuckoo Clock of Doom by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online Page B

against the shop window. The cuckoo clock was standing
there, two feet in front of me.
    And I couldn’t get to it.
    The window stood between me and that clock.
    The window…
    Normally, I would never think of doing what I decided to do at that moment.
    But I was desperate. I had to reach that clock.
    It really was a matter of life and death!
    I strolled down the block to the construction site, trying to look casual.
Trying not to look like a kid who was planning to break a shop window.
    I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my cowboy jeans and whistled. I was sort
of grateful to be wearing this stupid cowboy outfit after all. It made me look
innocent.
    Who would suspect a seven-year-old in a cowboy suit of trying to break into
an antique shop?
    I kicked around a little dirt at the construction site. Kicked a few rocks.
Nobody seemed to be working there.
    Slowly I made my way over to a pile of bricks. I glanced around to see if
anybody saw me.
    The coast was clear.
    I picked up a brick and hefted it in my hand. It was very heavy. It wouldn’t
be easy for me, in my little second-grade body, to throw it far.
    But I didn’t have to throw it far. Just through the window.
    I tried stuffing the brick in my pants pocket, but it was too big. So I
carried it in both hands back to the shop.
    I tried to look as if it were perfectly normal for a boy to be carrying a
brick down the street.
    A few adults quickly passed by. No one gave me a second glance.
    I stood in front of the shiny plate-glass window, weighing the brick in my
hand. I wondered if a burglar alarm would go off when I broke the window.
    Would I be arrested?
    Maybe it wouldn’t matter. If I made time go to the present, I’d escape the
police.
    Be brave, I told myself. Go for it!
    With both hands, I raised the brick over my head…
    …and someone grabbed me from behind.

 
 
16
     
     
    “Help!” I shouted. I spun around. “Dad!”
    “Michael, what are you doing here?” Dad demanded. “Are you by yourself?”
    I let the brick fall to the sidewalk. He didn’t seem to see it.
    “I—I wanted to surprise you,” I lied. “I wanted to come visit you after
school.”
    He stared at me as if he didn’t quite understand. So I added, for good
measure, “I missed you, Daddy.”
    He smiled. “You missed me?” He was touched. I could tell.
    “How did you get here?” he asked. “On the bus?”
    I nodded.
    “You know you’re not allowed to ride the bus by yourself,” he said. But he
didn’t sound angry. I knew that line about missing him would soften him up.
    Meanwhile, I still had the same major problem—getting my hands on the
cuckoo clock.
    Could Dad help me? Would he? I was willing to try anything. “Dad,” I said,
“that clock—”
    Dad put his arm around me. “Isn’t it a beauty? I’ve been admiring it for
years.”
    “Dad, I’ve got to get to the clock,” I insisted. “It’s very, very important!
Do you know when the store will open again? We’ve got to get that clock
somehow!”
    Dad misunderstood me. He patted me on the head and said, “I know how you
feel, Michael. I wish I could have the clock right now. But I can’t afford it.
Maybe some day…”
    He pulled me away from the shop. “Come on—let’s go home. I wonder what’s
for supper tonight?”
    I didn’t say another word all the way home in the car. All I could think
about was the clock—and what would happen to me next.
    How old will I be when I wake up tomorrow? I wondered.
    Or how young?

 
 
17
     
     
    When I opened my eyes the next morning, everything had changed.
    The walls were painted baby blue. The bedspread and the curtains matched. The
material was printed with bouncing kangaroos. On one wall hung a needlepoint
picture of a cow.
    It wasn’t my room, but it looked familiar.
    Then I felt a lump in the bed. I reached under the kangaroo covers and pulled
out Harold, my old teddy bear.
    I slowly understood. I was back in my old bedroom.
    How had I ended up