Read Online Invasion of the Road Weenies by David Lubar - Free Book Online

why
it
only happened in the fall.
    A moment later, a station wagon came up Hudson Street the other way—the legal way. The driver, who was lost, scanned the sidewalks. He’d hoped to ask someone for directions. He’d seen a boy before, but he didn’t want to scare him by stopping the car. He knew kids were taught to be careful about strangers. But even if he’d wanted to ask the boy, he couldn’t now. There was nobody in sight. The streets were empty. It was almost as if the kid had vanished.
    The driver headed down Hudson Street. Behind him, the piles of leaves swirled in the breeze of the passing car.

GOOSE EGGS
    A goose is about the meanest and nastiest creature on the planet. That’s how Charlie felt about those stupid, messy birds. He’d never seen anything that came close to being as unpleasant as a goose. And this goose, the one his little brother had named Honker, was no exception. If anything, it was even worse than most geese. From the moment it had wandered into their yard, Charlie hated it. He’d figured his folks would get rid of it, but Cliff had named it and claimed it.
    His folks had gone along with the whole thing. After trying and failing to find out who owned the goose, they’d decided to keep it. “Well, Cliffy,” his father had said, “it looks like you and Charlie have a new pet.”
    â€œYippee,” Cliff had shouted, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. “You hear that, Charlie? We get to keep Honker.”
    Charlie didn’t say anything. Honker hissed. Then he tried to bite Charlie. Cliff laughed and squealed in delight.
    And that’s how Charlie found himself in the only family in town that had a goose for a pet.
    Charlie never paid much attention to Honker, except to keep out of the goose’s way. But one day, as he was walking through the backyard, he noticed something strange. Usually, Honker would chase him, biting at his legs as he walked past. But today, the goose was just sitting in the middle of the lawn.
    Maybe it’s sick,
Charlie thought, unable to keep from smiling at the idea of the goose getting ill. “Your goose is cooked,” he said out loud. Then he laughed.
    Just as Charlie spoke, Honker stood for a moment, then settled back down. During that brief time, something glittered in the sunlight.
What was that?
Charlie wondered. He wandered closer to Honker, but the goose glared at him and hissed.
    Charlie backed up. But he had to see what was under the goose. He waited for the bird to move. It stayed where it was.
    â€œWhatcha doing?” Cliff asked when he wandered into the yard.
    â€œYour goose is sitting on something,” Charlie said. He really didn’t want to tell Cliff, but maybe his brother would be able to get the goose to move.
    Cliff walked over and reached beneath the goose. “Wow. An egg,” he said, pulling out the object from under the bird.
    Charlie just stared. It wasn’t any ordinary egg—it was a golden egg.
Unbelievable.
He opened his mouth. Then he closed it.
    â€œLook, Charlie, it’s a golden egg,” Cliff said. He didn’tseem to be surprised. Charlie had noticed that about little kids—they pretty much accepted anything that came along. They didn’t know that, despite what they read in books or saw on TV, dogs didn’t talk, fish didn’t grant wishes, frogs didn’t turn into princes, and geese certainly didn’t lay golden eggs.
    Charlie walked over and held his hand out. Cliff gave him the egg. “We have to hide this,” Charlie said. He knew that he couldn’t go around showing the egg to people. Gold made adults do funny things. He’d read stories—true stories—about people who’d done bad stuff to get gold. Charlie turned the egg slowly in his hand, then said, “We need to put it in a safe place.”
    â€œWhere?” Cliff asked.
    â€œMy bottom drawer,” Charlie said. The