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

Little Brother™
By Bruce Holland Rogers

30 October 2000


Peter had wanted a Little Brother™ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite
TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have
teaching Little Brother™ 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 Brother™. Until
this year.


This year when Peter ran into the living room, there sat Little Brother™ 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 Brother™ a big hug around the neck. That was how he found out
about the button. Peter's hand pushed against something cold on Little
Brother™'s neck, and suddenly Little Brother™ wasn't babbling any more, or
even sitting up. Suddenly, Little Brother™ was limp on the floor, as lifeless as any
ordinary doll.


"Peter!" Mommy said.


"I didn't mean to!"


Mommy picked up Little Brother™, sat him in her lap, and pressed the black
button at the back of his neck. Little Brother™'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 Brother™ 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 Brother™ 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 Brother™ 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 Brother™ was expensive. That was okay. Little Brother™ was the best
present ever!
Well, that's what Peter thought at first. At first, everything that Little Brother™
did was funny and wonderful. Peter put all the torn wrapping paper in the wagon,