Mischievous Talking Tools

By David Brockhurst

The adventures of Fred the carpenter and his talking tools.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Brockhurst
• Release date: Dec 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311155481

Book preview

Chapter 1

The tools were behaving badly—worse than they had in a long time. Fred was on a job, repairing and painting a hot tub. Sidney Scraper would not keep himself straight and kept digging into the wood. Sandy Block would not hold his paper steadily, so it kept slipping and tearing.

The rest of the tools gradually woke up and started to climb out of the Tool Boxes. Fred told them to be careful as they began to wander about, exploring the new job site.

Don’t get lost and don’t get into any trouble, he said. As usual there were a few mumbles and some cheeky backchat. Bartholomew the Brush came and sat in his usual spot on Fred’s shoulder, to see what was going on. There was a cry for help, it was Mr. Fuller the chisel. His foot had got stuck in a hole in the floor boards as had happened a thousand times before, so Fred went and pulled him out. He stuck Mr. Fuller in his top pocket to keep him out of trouble.

Fred started to scrape some more of the old paint off the wood around the edge of the hot tub, leaving the cover in place. He was scrapping under the edge of the cover when Bartholomew scurried down his arm and brushed the old paint chips and dust away.

It’s hard to brush under this cover he said. What’s under there anyway?

It’s a hot tub, Fred replied.

He lifted the cover off the tub, and he could feel interest and curiosity from all of the tools. When the cover was off and the steam started to waft from the hot water, the tools started to make their way to the edge of the hot tub. They climbed one on top of each other, like they always did when they couldn’t reach. There was a lip about four inches high around the top of the tub. The tools moved closer to the lip and peered into the water.

Oh there’s a little rubber ducky in the water, isn’t it cute? said Clarissa the Clamp.

As Harry the non-violent Hammer leaned forward to see the duck he pushed on a button, which started the water jets in the hot tub. The water began to bubble, and the steam whirled up in plumes. The noise of the pump motor rumbled through the tub, and all