Read Online The Clockwork Twin by Walter R. Brooks - Free Book Online

bride’s father.”
    â€œGosh, I’m leaving!” said Jinx, and began to edge toward the door. A number of other animals evidently had the same idea, and as Charles hopped up on to the dashboard of the old phaeton, the barn became suddenly less crowded.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen,” began Charles, “friends and well-wishers, it is my pleasure and my privilege to come before you on this happy and auspicious occasion to say a few words in the name of the happy pair who have just been joined together in the bonds of matrimonial wedlock. It is a happy occasion, I say, and yet, my friends, it is a sad occasion too. For while Ronald, here, the gay and gentlemanly Ronald, hero of a score of poultry shows, has gained a lovely bride, I, I, Charles, who stand before you, have lost a cherished daughter. Yet, my friends, ’twas ever thus …”
    â€œYou bet ’twas ever thus when Charles gets a chance to sound off,” said Jinx to Freddy, as they came out into the bright barnyard, where refreshments were being served. “A good deal more thusness than I can stand.”
    â€œThere’s one thing about Charles’s speeches,” said the pig. “Nobody has ever found out how they end.”
    â€œI expect the happy pair, as he calls ’em, will have to find out how this One ends,” said Jinx. “Everybody else is leaving, but they’ll think they ought to stay.”
    â€œAdoniram’s staying, too. He’s politer than we are, Jinx.”
    â€œHe’s a nice boy.”
    Freddy was silent for a minute. Then he said: “I’ve been thinking a lot about Adoniram lately. He’s been having a pretty good time since he came here. All the animals like him and they’re always ready to play with him, and Mrs. Bean can’t do enough for him. But just the same, he ought to have another boy to play with.”
    â€œI expect he’ll go to school in Centerboro next year,” said the cat.
    â€œCenterboro is too far away for him to have much fun playing with the boys he’ll meet there. And there isn’t a boy on any of the farms around here.”
    â€œYou mean you think we ought to find another boy for the Beans to adopt?”
    â€œThey’d adopt one if we could find one, all right. But where are you going to find one? Most boys have families or something. No, I’ve got another idea. Come on down to my study. I’ve got something to show you.”
    So the two friends left the crowded barnyard, where the wedding guests were feasting and dancing and enjoying themselves. As they passed the barn door they peeked in. Charles, all unconscious that his only remaining listeners were the bride and groom and Adoniram, all three of them sound asleep, was still orating away like anything. “The fourteenth consideration which I wish to bring before this distinguished gathering,” he shouted, “is respect due to parents. How often, my friends, we see children who—”
    â€œI never can think of Charles as a parent, somehow,” said Freddy, as they went on.
    â€œMore like a phonograph,” said Freddy. “How do you suppose he remembers it all?”
    â€œHe doesn’t. I think he just keeps going around and starts all over again every ten minutes. Nobody ever listens, so nobody has ever found him out.”
    When they got to his study, Freddy spread out a large piece of paper before Jinx. Neatly lettered at the top were the words: “Plans and Specifications for Playmate for Adoniram,” and then there was a big drawing of a clockwork boy, with hundreds of little wheels and levers and springs and things, all very carefully drawn.
    â€œYou remember that plan of the mechanical man you saw on my desk?” Freddy asked. “Well, I’ve been working on that for some time, anyway, because I was interested in it. And then I thought, if we couldn’t get a real boy to play with Adoniram, maybe we