Von Gobstopper's Arcade by Alexandra Adornetto Read Free Book Online

allowed to interfere with a good story, Miss Macaw told them everything she had gleaned from her own reading plus some extras thrown in for effect.
    ‘Gustav Von Gobstopper was born in Austria and grew up there with five brothers and sisters. His family were honest but impoverished and his parents couldn’t afford to buy their children expensive toys and games at Christmas or on birthdays. They were so poor, in fact, that a new pair of shoes or socks meant a great deal to them. Every year, Gustav, the youngest of the children, would stand outside the toy store in the town’s main street and watch the children of affluent families come out clutching brightly wrapped parcels full of new delights to entertain them when they got home. Gustav would look at the dolls and bears in the toy shop windowand imagine conversations with them. He would fantasise about playing with the handcrafted marionettes with their painted faces or about riding on the wooden rocking horse with its gleaming saddle and silky mane. Every year he hoped for even the smallest pocket-sized toy that he could call his own, but no one ever bought it for him.
    ‘His passion for toys did not desert him even as he grew into a young man. Finally, when he was about eighteen, Gustav could stand it no longer. He began to stitch his own toys, scavenging materials and scraps from wherever he could. He discovered that all he needed was a lump of rough wood and a handful of screws to make a toy soldier that walked and talked. He used to take his toys into town in a sack and give them away to those children too poor to ever have toys of their own. One day, when he was squatting on the pavement and showing a little girl how to wind up her clockwork doll, a rich merchant noticed him. It was the man who owned the toy store on the main street. He could see at once that Gustav had a gift and immediately took him on as his apprentice.When the merchant died, Gustav inherited his shop and business went through the roof. In no time at all his toys became world-renowned and he opened more shops all around the globe.
    ‘As his fame spread, Mr Von Gobstopper could no longer work in his shop as people queued up just to catch a glimpse of him, tried to talk to him and invariably interrupted his concentration. He began to travel widely, looking for characters upon whom he could model his creations. On one of those trips he met his soul mate, the Parisian dancer Pascal Le Plastierre. They married, but Pascal contracted a fever, lapsed into a coma and died, exactly a year to the day of their wedding. Gustav never recovered from his tragic loss and became a recluse. Few have laid eyes on him since. That is why his interest in our little town is all the more astonishing.’
    Miss Macaw paused for breath. A glance at the clock told her there was only a minute to the end of the lesson but the faces around her seemed in no hurry to move.
    ‘I can only conclude that your story of abduction and your clever escape touchedMr Von Gobstopper’s philanthropic soul,’ she finished. ‘And now, thanks to him, we have a toy arcade, the first of its kind, right here in Drabville. And you children will be the first to visit it. What do you say to that!’

CHAPTER FIVE
Excursion Fever
    S chool excursions can be a bother for teachers but for students they represent a welcome departure from routine—a light at the end of a dark tunnel, an oasis that offers refuge from the parched desert of classrooms and textbooks. It was little wonder that all of Milli’s lethargy had evaporated by the time she skipped her way down Peppercorn Place at the end of the day. A toy arcade erected in their honour and constructed for the express purpose of their enjoyment—now that was something to look forward to! She would bet all the money in her piggy bank that no other group of children had ever been singled out bysomeone as famous as Mr Von Gobstopper. Perhaps this momentous event might one day be featured in history