The Splendid Baron Submarine
Page 15
But the lizard didn’t have much time to enjoy it because suddenly a desert fox appeared from behind a bush. The fox ripped the diamond from the lizard’s teeth before spinning around and preparing to run as fast as foxly possible in the other direction.
The fox had barely secured the diamond in her teeth before a large hawk came down from the sky and yanked it from the fox’s mouth with its large claws. The hawk flapped its powerful wings and took off, leaving the fox, the lizard, the squirrel, and the Howards staring longingly up at the little diamond that they had each owned for a precious moment.
Shortly after the hawk had returned to its place high in the sky, I spotted a large cluster of crows, vultures, ducks, geese, owls, parrots, and sparrows, which had all stopped midair and changed direction when they spotted their fellow flyer’s newfound treasure. The birds began to chase the hawk across the sky, each one crying and croaking and cawing and shrieking and screeching and chirping for that shiny little peanut which they believed was rightfully theirs.
I suppose the animals are all still chasing one another, fighting over ownership of that silly little diamond. It might have been wrong for me to introduce that kind of greed into the animal kingdom. Then again, it was probably very, very, very wrong for my family to introduce a stick wielding monkey that rides throughout the world on a giant earthworm. But to be honest, I had more important things on my mind, like my father’s new invention . . . and the banana cream pie that I knew we had in the ice box. In fact, my mind was especially focused on the banana cream pie that I knew we had in the ice box. I love banana cream pie.
While my mind was distracted with thoughts of adventures and pie, I accidentally stumbled over a twig in the middle of the path, flipped end over end, and landed right on top of my head. But for some reason, the fall didn’t hurt, even though I had landed directly onto a pile of rocks.
I realized that I was still wearing the pointy dunce cap that Miss Danielle had put on my head as punishment for lying. It hadn’t taught me a lesson like my teacher intended, but it did protect my skull from what would have otherwise been a very painful fall.
So I suppose there are some benefits to being a dunce.
Extravagant Adjectives
Eric Bower is a large, furry-faced man, who is married to a lovely, curly-haired woman named Laura. They live in a one-hundred-year old cottage in sunny Southern California, with their fuzzy and willfully difficult cat and dictator, Freyja. Eric enjoys writing silly books, playing his acoustic guitar, and using an extravagant number of unnecessary adjectives.
Bringing Words to Life
Agnieszka Grochalska lives in Warsaw, Poland. She received her MFA in Graphic Arts in 2014. Along the way, she explored traditional painting, printmaking, and sculpting, but eventually dedicated her keen eye and steady hand to drawing precise, detailed art reminiscent of classical storybook illustrations. Her current work is predominantly in digital medium, and has been featured in group exhibitions both in Poland and abroad.
She enjoys travel and cultural exchanges with people from around the world, blending those experiences with the Slavic folklore of her homeland in her works. When she isn’t drawing or traveling, you can find her exploring the worlds of fiction in books and story-driven games.
Agnieszka’s portfolio can be found at agroshka.com.
Amberjack Publishing
1472 E. Iron Eagle Drive
Eagle, Idaho 83616
http://amberjackpublishing.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, fictitious places, and events are the products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Eric Bower
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, in part or in whole, in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Bower, Eric, author.
Title: The Splendid baron submarine / Eric Bower.
Series: The Bizarre Baron Inventions
Description: New York, NY: Amberjack Publishing, 2017.
Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-944995-25-6 (Hardcover) | 978-1-944995-39-3 (ebook) | LCCN 2017937082
Subjects: LCC Adventure and adventurers--Juvenile fiction. | Inventions--Juvenile fiction. | Inventors--Juvenile fiction. | Ghosts--Juvenile fiction. | Pirates--Juvenile fiction. | Buried treasure--Juvenile fiction. | United States--History--19th century--Juvenile fiction. | Adventure fiction. | Fantasy fiction. | Science fiction. | BISAC JUVENILE FICTION / Steampunk | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General |
Classification: PZ7.B6758 Sp 2017 | [Fic]--dc23
Illustrations & Cover Design: Agnieszka Grochalska.