"Robert_McCloskey-Homer_Price" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mccloskey Robert)

Homer Price

By

Robert McCloskey



V1.0 Initial release



(Picture 01)

1

THE CASE OF THE SENSATIONAL SCENT


About two miles outside of Centerburg where route 56 meets route 56A there lives a boy named Homer. Homer's father owns a tourist camp. Homer's mother cooks fried chicken and hamburgers in the lunch room and takes care of the tourist cabins while his father takes care of the filling station. Homer does odd jobs about the place. Sometimes he washes windshields of cars to help his father, and sometimes he sweeps out cabins or takes care of the lunch room to help his mother.

When Homer isn't going to school, or doing odd jobs, or playing with other boys, he works on his hobby which is building radios. He has a workshop in one corner of his room where he works in the evenings.

Before going to bed at night he usually goes down to the kitchen to have a glass of milk and cookies because working on radios makes him hungry. Tabby, the family cat, usually comes around for something to eat too.

One night Homer came down and opened the ice box door, and poured a saucer of milk for Tabby and a glass of milk for himself. He put the bottle back and looked to see if there was anything interesting on the other shelves. He heard footsteps and felt something soft brush his leg so he reached down to pet Tabby. When he looked down the animal drinking the milk certainly wasn't a cat! It was a skunk! Homer was startled just a little but he didn't make any sudden motions, because he remembered what he had read about skunks. They can make a very strong smell that people and other animals don't like. But the smell is only for protection, and if you don't frighten them, or hurt them, they are very friendly.

While the skunk finished drinking the saucer of milk, Homer decided to keep it for a pet because he had read somewhere that skunks become excellent pets if you treat them kindly. He decided to name the skunk Aroma. Then he poured out some more milk for Aroma, and had some more himself. Aroma finished the second saucer of milk, licked his mouth, and calmly started to walk away. Homer followed and found that Aroma's home was under the house right beneath his window.

During the next few days Homer did a lot of thinking about what would be the best way to tame Aroma. He didn't know what his mother would think of a pet skunk around the house but he said to himself Aroma has been living under the house all this time and nobody knew about it, so I guess it will be all right for it to keep on being a secret.

He took a saucer of milk out to Aroma every evening when nobody was looking and in a few weeks Aroma was just as tame as a puppy.

Homer thought it would be nice if he could bring Aroma up to his room because it would be good to have company while he worked building radios. So he got an old basket and tied a rope to the handle to make an elevator. He let the basket down from his window and trained Aroma to climb in when he gave a low whistle. Then he would pull the rope and up came the basket and up came Aroma to pay a social call. Aroma spent most of his visit sleeping, while Homer worked on a new radio. Aroma's favorite place to sleep was in Homer's suitcase.

One evening Homer said, "There, that's the last wire soldered and my new radio is finished. I'll put the new tubes in it then we can try it out!" Aroma opened one eye and didn't look interested, even when the radio worked perfectly and an announcer's voice said, "N.W. Blott of Centerburg won the grand prize of two thousand dollars for writing the best slogan about 'Dreggs After Shaving Lotion.' "

"Why I know him, and he's from my town!" said Homer.

Aroma still looked uninterested while the announcer said that next week they would broadcast the Dreggs program from Centerburg and that Mr. Dreggs himself would give Mr. N.W. Blott the two thousand dollars cash and one dozen bottles of Dreggs Lotion for thinking up the best advertising slogan. "Just think, Aroma, a real radio broadcast from Centerburg! I'll have to see that!"

The day of the broadcast arrived and Homer rode to Centerburg on his bicycle to watch. He was there early and he got a good place right next to the man who worked the controls so he could see everything that happened.

(Picture 01a)

Mr. Dreggs made a speech about the wonderful thing Mr. N.W. Blott had contributed to the future of American shaving with his winning slogan: "The after shave lotion with the distinctive invigorating smell that keeps you on your toes." Then he gave N.W. the two thousand and one dozen bottles of lotion in a suitcase just like the one that Homer had at home. After N.W. made a short speech the program was over. Just then four men said, "Put 'em up," and then one of them said to N.W., "If you please," and grabbed the suitcase with all of the

(Picture 01b)

money and lotion inside it. Everyone was surprised, Mr. Dreggs was surprised, N.W. Blott was surprised, the announcer was surprised, the radio control man was surprised, and everybody was frightened too. The robbers were gone before anybody knew what happened. They jumped into a car and were out of sight down route 56A before the sheriff shouted, "Wait till I send out an alarm, men, then we'll chase them. No robio raiders, I mean radio robbers can do that in this town and get away again!" The sheriff sent out an alarm to the State Police and then some of the men took their shotguns and went off down 56A in the sheriff's car.