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

Tom shook his head, and his face was very serious. “I’m afraid you’ll never find out what happened to Black Beauty or ever get to ride Dusty again,” he said.

        I couldn’t have been more surprised if he had suddenly kicked Dotty on the behind.

        Her lips began to tremble, and she almost burst out crying. “Why?” she whispered. “What did I do?”

        “It isn’t what you did,” Tom said. “It is what you didn’t do. You aren’t even trying to learn anything in school. You won’t even try to learn how to read and write.”

     
    “What has that got to do with it?” Dotty asked.

        “Everything,” Tom answered. “I got a brand-new bike for Christmas. And do you know where it is? I’ll tell you. It is up in our attic. And do you know why it is up in our attic? I’ll tell you. Because of you.”

        “Me?” Dotty asked. She looked at Tom as if my brother had suddenly gone plumb loco.

         “My mother and father want you to learn how to read and write and won’t give me back my bike until you do,” Tom said.

        “What business is it of theirs?” Dotty asked as she straightened up with that too-proud-to-be-helped look on her face.

        “They made it their business because your father doesn’t care if you grow up ignorant like him,” Tom said, passing out insults as if he made a habit of it. “Wouldn’t you like to learn how to read, so you could read wonderful stories like Black Beauty?”

        “Sure,” Dotty said, “but my Pa don’t want me to learn to read and write.” Then she looked as if she didn’t have a friend in this world. “And I can’t go against my Pa,” she sobbed. Then she turned and ran down the street, and I knew she was crying.

        “Boy!” I said to my brother. “If Papa and Mamma knew what you just said to poor Dotty, they would give you the silent treatment for a whole year.”

        “It is all a part of my great brain’s plan,” Tom said. “Now we can go see her father.”

        Tom walked boldly into Mr. Stout’s shop with me following. Dotty’s father was mending a bridle. Tom looked at the back of Mr. Blake’s head. “I’m Tom Fitzgerald,” he said. “I want to talk to you, Mr. Blake.”

     
        Dotty’s father turned around on the stool and rubbed a finger across his yellow mustache. “Dotty has told me about you,” he said.

    “Know where she is now?” Tom asked.

        Mr. Blake shrugged his shoulders. “Home, I guess,” he said.

        “You guessed right but only half of it,” Tom said. “She is home crying her eyes out, and it is all your fault. Oh, she won’t be crying when you get home. She’ll pretend that everything is just fine.”

    “Whadya mean my fault?” Mr. Blake asked amazed.

        “I told her I wouldn’t read to her anymore and she couldn’t ride Dusty anymore,” Tom said.

        “But you can’t do that,” Mr. Blake said. “All she talks about is that book you’re readin ‘ to her and gettin’ to ride that horse.”

        “If I can’t ride my bike on account of you,” Tom said, “I’m not going to let Dotty ride Dusty.” Then he told Mr. Blake about the deal he’d made with Papa and Mamma.

        “Nuthin” I hates worse’n meddlers,” Mr. Blake said. “What business is it of your ma and pa how I raise my daughter?”

        “Dotty wants to learn,” Tom said. “She wants to get an education. But she isn’t going to try because she believes you don’t want her to learn anything.”

        Mr. Blake slumped back on his stool. “I reckon as how that is what I made her think,” he said. “I kept tellin’ her I didn’t hold with book learnin’, but only because I didn’t want the other kids makin’ fun of her.”

        “Dotty has a good mind,” Tom said. “She could learn quickly if she tried. I’ll bet Mr. Standish would let her skip a grade almost every year if she tried. But she