"Bruce Holland Rogers - Little BrotherTM" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rogers Bruce Holland)

Little BrotherЩ
By Bruce Holland Rogers

Peter had wanted a Little BrotherЩ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have teaching Little BrotherЩ to do all the things that he could already do himself. But every year, Mommy had said that Peter wasn't ready for a Little BrotherЩ. Until this year.

This year when Peter ran into the living room, there sat Little BrotherЩ among all the wrapped presents, babbling baby talk, smiling his happy smile, and patting one of the packages with his fat little hand. Peter was so excited that he ran up and gave Little BrotherЩ a big hug around the neck. That was how he found out about the button. Peter's hand pushed against something cold on Little BrotherЩ's neck, and suddenly Little BrotherЩ wasn't babbling any more, or even sitting up. Suddenly, Little BrotherЩ was limp on the floor, as lifeless as any ordinary doll.

"Peter!" Mommy said.

"I didn't mean to!"

Mommy picked up Little BrotherЩ, sat him in her lap, and pressed the black button at the back of his neck. Little BrotherЩ's face came alive, and it wrinkled up as if he were about to cry, but Mommy bounced him on her knee and told him what a good boy he was. He didn't cry after all.

"Little BrotherЩ isn't like your other toys, Peter," Mommy said. "You have to be extra careful with him, as if he were a real baby." She put Little BrotherЩ down on the floor, and he took tottering baby steps toward Peter. "Why don't you let him help open your other presents?"

So that's what Peter did. He showed Little BrotherЩ how to tear the paper and open the boxes. The other toys were a fire engine, some talking books, a wagon, and lots and lots of wooden blocks. The fire engine was the second-best present. It had lights, a siren, and hoses that blew green gas just like the real thing. There weren't as many presents as last year, Mommy explained, because Little BrotherЩ was expensive. That was okay. Little BrotherЩ was the best present ever!

Well, that's what Peter thought at first. At first, everything that Little BrotherЩ did was funny and wonderful. Peter put all the torn wrapping paper in the wagon, and Little BrotherЩ took it out again and threw it on the floor. Peter started to read a talking book, and Little BrotherЩ came and turned the pages too fast for the book to keep up.

But then, while Mommy went to the kitchen to cook breakfast, Peter tried to show Little BrotherЩ how to build a very tall tower out of blocks. Little BrotherЩ wasn't interested in seeing a really tall tower. Every time Peter had a few blocks stacked up, Little BrotherЩ swatted the tower with his hand and laughed. Peter laughed, too, for the first time, and the second. But then he said, "Now watch this time. I'm going to make it really big."

But Little BrotherЩ didn't watch. The tower was only a few blocks tall when he knocked it down.

"No!" Peter said. He grabbed hold of Little BrotherЩ's arm. "Don't!"

Little BrotherЩ's face wrinkled. He was getting ready to cry.

Peter looked toward the kitchen and let go. "Don't cry," he said. "Look, I'm building another one! Watch me build it!"

Little BrotherЩ watched. Then he knocked the tower down.

Peter had an idea.


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When Mommy came into the living room again, Peter had built a tower that was taller than he was, the best tower he had ever made. "Look!" he said.

But Mommy didn't even look at the tower. "Peter!" She picked up Little BrotherЩ, put him on her lap, and pressed the button to turn him back on. As soon as he was on, Little BrotherЩ started to scream. His face turned red.

"I didn't mean to!"

"Peter, I told you! He's not like your other toys. When you turn him off, he can't move but he can still see and hear. He can still feel. And it scares him."

"He was knocking down my blocks."

"Babies do things like that," Mommy said. "That's what it's like to have a baby brother."

Little BrotherЩ howled.