More Adventures Of The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald Read Free Book Online

Bertha had finished the supper dishes, we were all sitting in the parlor.

        “I invited Dotty to come here tonight,” Tom said. “I don’t know if she’ll come or not. But if she does, I don’t want anybody staring at her. I want everybody to pretend that a girl wearing boy’s clothing is a common thing.”

        Mamma looked up from her knitting. “I’m glad you invited her,” she said. “And we certainly wouldn’t do anything to embarrass the girl.”

    “What have you got in mind?” Papa asked.

        “I’m going to make Dotty wish she could read,” Tom answered.

        Just then the front door bell rang. Tom went to open the door. Dotty came into the parlor. Tom introduced her to Mamma and Aunt Bertha. She had already met Papa.

        Tom walked with Dotty to our book case. “I promised to show you a picture of the most beautiful horse you’ve ever seen,” he said as he opened the book case.

        He took out my copy of Black Beauty and sat down on the floor with Dotty. He showed her the cover picture of the beautiful black horse with his bright black coat, one white foot, and white star on his forehead.

     
    “Gosh!” Dotty exclaimed. “He is a beauty.”

        “There are more pictures in the book,” Tom said, “from the time he was just a colt being nursed by his mother.”

        Tom opened the book and showed Dotty the colored pictures.

    “I didn’t know they had books about horses,” Dotty said.

        Tom waved his hand toward the book case. “There are books about everything in this world,” he said.

        “What does it say in the book about Black Beauty?” Dotty asked eagerly.

        “This is the story of Black Beauty from the time he was just a young colt. Anna Sewell, who wrote the book, grew up with horses and loved them very much. Just like you. But she lets Black Beauty tell his own story.”

    “How can a horse do that?” Dotty asked, frowning.

        “I told you anything can happen in a book. Can you imagine if a horse could talk?”

    Dotty thought for a moment. “Maybe,” she said.

        “That is what the author does in this book,” Tom explained. “She not only lets Black Beauty talk to his mother and other horses so you can understand what he says, but also made him so he can understand what people say. Of course, he couldn’t talk to people, but he could understand what they said. And he tells the story of his life just as you or I would tell the story of our lives.”

        Tom opened the book to the first chapter. “The title of the first chapter is ‘My Early Home,’ ” he said.”Now you’ve got to imagine Black Beauty is telling you his life story. Ready?”

    “Ready,” Dotty said as she shut her eyes.

        Dotty sat in a trance as Tom read aloud to her. I found myself listening with great interest although I’d read the book many times. Papa let his pipe go out, Mamma stopped her knitting, Aunt Bertha sat with her hands in her lap, until Tom came to the end of chapter four.

        “And that is how Black Beauty came to Birtwick Park and met Merrylegs and Ginger,” he said. “I think I’d better take you home now.”

        Dotty was very reluctant to leave. “What happened to Black Beauty next?” she asked.

        “If you could read,” Tom said, “I could lend you the book and you could read it. But you can’t read and it is getting late. Come tomorrow night and I’ll read some more to you.”

        “T.D. and his great brain continue to amaze me,” Papa said after Tom and Dotty had left.

        Tom continued to read Black Beauty to Dotty every night until Friday. When school let out, we walked part of the way home with her again, stopping in front of our house.

        “Gosh, Tom,” Dotty said, “I can’t wait until tonight to find out what happened to Black Beauty next.” Then she clapped her hands with joy. “And tomorrow I get to ride Dusty again.”