The Green Beans, Volume 2: The Strange Genius of Lefty O'Houlihan

By Gabriel Gadget

Two weeks have passed since the Green Beans solved the mystery of Hollow Oak, making remarkable discoveries in the process. In the wake of their findings, Jack has been placed within the huge, eerie manor of his new guardian – an eccentric uncle, known as Lefty O’Houlihan.

Before long, Jack comes to suspect that something strange is afoot in his new home. Weird noises, curious sights, and his uncle’s odd behavior have led Jack to believe that all is not well at Lefty’s Manor.

Seeking help, Jack finds that his friends are more than ready for adventure and investigation. Neil, Sara, and Maria gladly answer the call, along with Nibbler, the faithful Labradoodle.

From the rumors that the Green Beans have been able to gather, it seems that Lefty may have once been a brilliant scientist... until his ‘strange genius’ spiraled out of control, forcing him to part ways with his former employers. Now, the Green Beans are determined to uncover the truth behind Lefty’s current scientific project... and what it may mean for the future of Hollow Oak.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gabriel Gadget
• Release date: Mar 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301070732

Book preview

Chapter One

You Can Lean on Nibbler

His breath held within his lungs, and his ear pressed against the door to the basement, Jack listened closely. For a moment, there was nothing. Nothing in the stretching silence, but for the thudding of his own heart, echoing in his ears.

Upon further contemplation, he could also hear the tick of the odd, ancient grandfather clock, which stood in the nearby parlor. Its elegant hands, piano black in color, slowly revolved, marking the passage of time as midnight drew closer. The clock was a strange relic, in a house of similarly weird objects and items.

Had he imagined it, Jack wondered? Had it all been inside of his head? His lungs burned from holding his breath, and his skin felt clammy, cool, and peppered with goose bumps.

His dog, Nibbler, stood beside him, braced and ready to leap into action. The big, furry Labradoodle waited in equal stillness, his head tilted up at Jack in a quizzical fashion.

"Ah-roo?" the dog inquired softly.

"Shh, boy," Jack whispered to Nibbler, with a finger pressed against his lips.

As if sensing the gravity of the matter, and understanding that stealth was in order, Nibbler said no more. He leaned closer, carefully easing his weight, so as to not let his claws click upon the floors, which were built from durable lengths of maple wood. He pressed his own furry ear against the basement door, and his glistening, black nose quivered about in concentration. Together, the boy and dog listened.

As the silence continued, Jack eventually began to give up on the notion that there were strange goings-on occurring in the cellar. He slowly eased away from the basement door, and once more began to draw in regular breaths.

But then, just as he began to retreat from the door, the sound came again.

Thoom!

Jack’s heart lurched within his chest, and his breath staggered. Caught by surprise, he briefly stumbled as he stepped away from the basement door, but Nibbler leaned against him. Jack steadied himself by placing a hand on the dog’s sturdy back. Having regained his balance, Jack once more pressed his ear against the door.

Yes! There it was!

Thoom! …Thoom! …Thoom!

Jack felt the flesh upon his forearms and the nape of his neck crawling, once more alive with goose bumps. Every now and again, the strange noise could be heard from the other side of the door, down in the basement. Each time it sounded, Jack’s heart seemed to leap into his throat.

Thoom! …Thoom! …Thoom!

Whatever it was that was causing such a ruckus down there, it was something of raw, savage power. Jack could not even begin to guess what it might be.

Now, at this close proximity to the door, he realized that there was another sound drifting from the basement. It was some kind of funky music, like nothing he had ever heard before. It was playing at a somewhat subdued volume… but it was still loud enough for Jack to hear, even at the top of the stairs, on the other side of the closed door.

And then, when it seemed that things could not possibly get any weirder, another sound joined it… that of laughter from the basement. A more precise definition of the laughter might have been… cackling. It was more than enough to generate hair-raising results.

Forcing himself to focus on the moment (a skill he had learned playing baseball), Jack took a few slow breaths. He pressed two fingers against his wrist, and was not surprised to feel that his pulse was racing.

But this was okay. In fact, this matter was relatively mild (strange as it might seem), compared to his recent experiences in what could only be called extreme weirdness. Once, there had been room (however small) in his life for things like fear. But there was room for such, no more. He had, after all, faced some of the worst that life could throw at him, and he was still standing.

In the town of Hollow Oak, Jack had recently become a celebrity of sorts… but his was a reputation that nobody would willingly seek. With his father jailed for crimes against the town, he had become an object of pity, and at times… contempt.

The only family that Jack knew had been taken from him, without warning or preamble. But what made the matter far worse was the fact that he had been ridiculed beyond endurance, by those who sensed a weakened prey, and were eager to strike. The worst offenders were the surly Cragglemeisters, who seemed to harbor an unrelenting vendetta against him.

Fortunately, Jack had the support of his friends. They had remained beside him, when others were glad to turn their backs. They were there for him… Neil, and Sara, and Maria… his very best friends. And there was, of course, the undying loyalty of Nibbler, who was a cold-snouted, floppy-eared, and thoroughly fur-covered friend like none other.

With such recent, trying experiences in tow, there was no fear to be gleaned from Jack. He had always possessed an aptitude for adventure, and his recent trials had only made him more resilient.

He had suspected strangeness abounding in this old, weird house, ever since he had come to live with the man known as Lefty O’Houlihan… a person who Jack had only recently learned was his uncle. Apparently, his father had not stayed in touch with Uncle Lefty, because Jack had never even heard his name mentioned before.

When Jack’s father had gone to prison, employees of the state had gotten involved. They were searching for a home to place him in, but finding relatives had been a difficult task. As far as Jack knew, his father was his only family (other than Nibbler, but for obvious reasons, the Labradoodle was not a suitable caretaker).

After several days of researching, however, the state workers had discovered that Jack did indeed have one relative… the mysterious and eccentric Lefty O’Houlihan.

Chapter Two

Not Your Ordinary Basement

Jack had soon come to learn that Uncle Lefty was a man of a rather odd reputation within the town of Hollow Oak. He was known as an outsider, a recluse, and a man of what might perhaps be called strange genius.

It was rumored that he had once been a scientist for the federal government, lauded for his brilliance and revolutionary concepts. Far more alarming were the further rumors that he had been released from his employment with the government… following a breakdown that was a consequence of his strange genius, spiraling out of control.

None of this could be confirmed, however. There had been a great deal of secrecy not only concerning his research with the government, but also the terms by which his employment had been severed.

What could be confirmed was that Lefty O’Houlihan had managed to accrue a vast amount of money during his earlier years, whatever he might have been up to. It was rumored that he was an inventor, and that his royalties from patents he held for his various creations kept his bank accounts full. Not only did he now enjoy a life free of regular employment, but he had also purchased the vast, weird estate that he now resided in, at the outskirts of town.

It was a history (as you might imagine, my astute reader) that inspired very little in the way of Jack’s confidence in Lefty. After all… when odd men from the state placed a ten-year-old with a previously unknown uncle who was rumored to have lost his job with the government, when his strange genius began spiraling out of control… it stands to reason that the available options were pretty darned slim. Jack realized that there might have been a very good reason why his father had never spoken of Lefty… it was entirely possible that the man was bonkers.

Jack, however, had done his best to embrace the change. It was exciting to learn that there was a relative that he had previously never known of (although Uncle Lefty had proven to be rather aloof and distracted). Jack was always up for adventure, and his new home was a place that seemed ripe for exploration.

The residence of Lefty was a huge, weird house, built hundreds of years ago at the edge of Hollow Oak, and it had been further expanded upon several times. At this point, it was a sprawling property, perhaps even reaching the status of a mansion.

It was filled with countless rooms and fireplaces, and Jack suspected that there were most likely hidden passageways located somewhere in the house. This conclusion only stood to reason, based on all the oddities that he had thus far witnessed, in the short span of a week at Lefty’s Manor (as he had come to call it). He had seen much weirdness, and he had heard things within the walls that he could not explain or identify.

Needless to say, he had not been sleeping particularly well in this new environment, and his teacher, Ms. Waffler, had found it necessary to wake him from time to time when he dozed off at his desk. She took it easy on Jack, however, for she seemed to be sympathetic to the fact that he had been having a rough go of it lately.

The bedroom he had been staying in at Lefty’s Manor was located on the second floor, and it was so big, it was as spacious as some small homes. It had its own fireplace, enormous bookcases that were filled with dusty tomes, and even a towering suit of armor. Although this all looked undoubtedly awesome by the hours of daylight, it made for less than ideal sleeping arrangements.

At night, Jack would lie awake, with the covers pulled up to his chin, and listen to the many creaks and groans of the old house. He knew that it was just the ancient wood of the residence, moving about and settling, as it was prone to do in elderly homes. But still… it was eerie.

Additionally, the whistling wind rattled the panes of the old windows. Leaves and branches would scrape against the glass, and this at times sounded like the slow drag of long fingernails, seeking a point of weakness that could be exploited.

The light of the moon would cause these swaying branches to generate dancing shadows throughout the bedroom. The suit of armor, meanwhile, cast its own, rather dubious silhouette, as it loomed in the corner. Jack would listen to these noises, and eyeball these shadows, as he lay beneath the covers, fruitlessly counting sheep. He was not afraid, of course… but it was a bit hard to sleep with such an abundance of eeriness.

Nibbler would lie atop the bedspread, his ears twitching at every sound, his snout turning toward every strange shadow. His furry tail would thump reassuringly against Jack from time to time, and his company was as welcome as ever.

Earlier tonight, Jack and Nibbler had been hoping for sleep as they lay in bed, listening to the wind whistle through the old, drafty windows. And then, there had come the other noise… the strange and startling sound that had prompted them to rise from bed, their curiosity engaged.

Thoom! …Thoom! …Thoom!

And so it was that Jack, dressed in pajamas, had eased from bed with a flashlight in his hand, and Nibbler by his side. Tracing the source of the noise, they had tiptoed down the creaking staircase, journeyed through several winding hallways, crossed the gargantuan kitchen, eased across the parlor, and finally found themselves at their current location: the door that led to the basement.

It was one of the few places that Jack had not yet explored within the manor. Lefty had not exactly forbidden him from entering it, but it had seemed to Jack to be a personal area for his uncle. Lefty spent the vast majority of his time in the basement, where he could be heard tinkering about and muttering to himself. For this was no ordinary basement… it was a basement laboratory.

Slowly… cautiously… ever so carefully… Jack moved his hand to the doorknob. Were he still prone to the occasional bouts of fear that any ten-year-old boy was sure to feel from time to time, he undoubtedly would have refrained from such bold action. But he was not just any ten-year-old boy. He was possessed of experience (particularly in the realms of weirdness) that defied his young age.

As his fingers wrapped around the doorknob, there passed from the metal to his skin a feeling that was difficult to describe. It was an electric shock! A blue-white wisp of electric current arced through the air, clearly visible in the dim lighting of the hallway.

As the mild jolt passed into his body, Jack’s eyes came to resemble saucers, and a hushed utterance passed between his lips. "Gears and sprockets!" he exclaimed.

Nibbler leaped back, eyeing the doorknob with renewed suspicion. After a moment, his tail started wagging, and he licked Jack’s shocked fingers.

"Woo, Jack gasped, as he flexed his hand, and the fingers were doused with dog slobber. That was an electrifying experience, as Coach might say."

He shook his hand once more, and then bolted for the nearest door to the outside, with his dog at his heel. Come on, Nibbler… Neil’s going to want to know all about this, isn’t he?

Chapter Three

Bedtime Can’t Stop Me

As he lay in the dreaming stages of sleep, enshrouded in a warm nest of blankets and pillows, Neil murmured to himself. He murmured in quiet contentment, having achieved that singular happiness that occurs when one has put in a hard day, and has lain down to their well earned prize – a night of sound sleep, to refresh and rejuvenate.

And Neil had indeed put in a hard day, which was the norm for him. It had consisted of school, baseball practice, dinner with the family, homework, and (last, but not least) a couple of rounds of online Virtual Baseball with his friends.

Neil’s pupils moved slightly against the closed lids of his eyes. "Hem-nem-nem, he muttered to himself, smacking his lips with slumber-filled contentment. Hem-nem-nem."

It was a magnificent feeling, to drop into sleep in the comfort of one’s own bed. But as Neil descended into that land of dreams and nocturnal machinations of the mind, there came a mild disturbance that troubled his slumber.

Rap, so it sounded, against the walls of his mind. Rap… rap… rap!

Slowly, blinking and rubbing at his eyes, Neil rose from his pillow. A gargantuan yawn was loosed from his mouth, and he murmured in the confusion that often accompanies an arousal from sleep.

He looked about, searching for whatsoever had taken him from his slumber. For the most part, his bedroom remained in darkness,