The Highjinks Family and Their Two-Footed and Four-Footed Friends

By Lindy J. Lou and Jim Dandy

Follow Junior and the Highjinks Family through strange and comical adventures such as The Hypnotized Chicken and The Trip Up the Telephone Pole. Trouble with their four-footed friends, the Digwells and the Scampers, adds to the fun. Smile at the stories of Grandpa and his friends such as The Fly Ball that Didnt Come Down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481706940

Lindy J. Lou

Jim Dandy is a retired teacher, coach, and grandfather. Throughout his teaching career, he has written short stories for children and adults. This is his first children’s book.

Book preview

Chapter One

Junior was alone in the house. He wandered through the rooms, tossing his baseball a few inches into the air over and over. Smiling to himself, he thought about the events of the day before. He could still hear the roaring crowds and feel the thrill as he looked far up to the top of the circus tent. The sights and sounds were still vivid—the flags flying and the bright red of the band’s uniforms as their fanfare announced the entrance of the performers. More than once, he thought his heart would pound out of his chest as he watched the tumblers and acrobats leap and roll in a dizzying swirl.

That must be so hard to do. They must have to practice and practice, he thought to himself. At that moment, his eyes rested on a small board and large red ball he’d left in the corner of the porch. I wonder… , he thought. He picked up the board, and placed it on the ball. Carefully, he lifted one foot onto the board, kept it steady, and then quickly jumped up onto it with both feet. He shifted wildly from side to side, but caught his balance with outstretched arms. He was still upright! I’m up! I’m doing a circus stunt! he thought.

Suddenly the board flew out from under him, bounced off the porch railing, and shot straight into a nearby windowpane. He heard, Clink! as it struck the glass. Oh no, Junior muttered as he gazed up from the floor at the spider web of cracks in the windowpane. Not again.

His sister, Janet, had heard the ruckus and ran out to see what had happened. She followed his gaze to the new crack.

When did you get home? Junior asked, as he rose and dusted himself off.

Just now. Mom isn’t going to like this. It’s the fourth window you’ve broken this year! she reminded him. He looked up at her guiltily. The red curls and freckles of his twin sister matched his, but her warning reminded him that she was seldom in the same kind of trouble.

I know, I know, Junior replied in a flat tone. She waved her finger at him, which was, he knew a sign of the events to come when his parents came home.

It had been a month since his last breakage, but he knew he’d have some explaining to do. James Highjinks, Jr.! his mother would call. How many times have I told you to play out in the yard, and not in the house? Junior knew that if she called him by his full formal name, he was really in trouble.

Switcher, their calico cat, walked silently onto the porch and weaved in and out of his legs. The cat had been given that name because his switching tail always told them what he was thinking. If it switched back and forth very fast, Switcher was not in a good mood. If his tail relaxed, he was ready for a purr.

Oh well, thought Junior. Might as well get it over with. Mrs. Highjinks was unloading bananas and potatoes from a brown bag onto the kitchen table when Junior approached.

Mom?

Yes, Junior.

I’m sorry, but there is a crack in the front window.

She stopped and looked at him. How did that happen? she asked.

Well, see… I was… trying out a stunt I saw yesterday at the circus… and I was actually balancing on a board like the acrobats! He tried to sound excited, hoping to head off the lecture he knew was coming. I was doing really well, too, but… then…

His speech was suddenly interrupted by a small brown streak that shot across the kitchen floor and disappeared under the sink. Switcher darted after it, and jammed himself into the narrow space between the stove and the sink as far as his bulky yellow belly would allow. He stabbed the space behind it, claws bared.

Eeeeek! Janet shrieked as she jumped onto the wooden kitchen chair. What was that?

Junior knew. It was one of the Scampers, as he called them. He knew that a family of mice had made their home somewhere in the house, and he knew, too, that Switcher had been on the watch for them for weeks.

In fact, the Scampers were living quietly under the sink near the warmth of the pipes. One of their youngest members had decided that a forgotten corner of bread crust was worth risking Switcher’s claws, and had taken the chance to bring it to their hidden home.

Well, at least that got me out of trouble… for the time being, thought Junior. He watched as his mother peered under the sink, poking with a broom. Mom, I don’t think that will work, he offered, trying to sound helpful. She continued, but she and Switcher were getting in each other’s way.

Switcher, what’s going on in there? she asked the cat, who crouched and peered menacingly into the dark space. I’m going to have to tell your father about this when he gets home, she sighed.

Junior knew his father was already in a battle with their four-footed friends—but the ones in the backyard, not in the house. He gazed out at the long line of bumps that had appeared in the lawn that morning. Dad’s gonna be pretty busy when he gets home, he said quietly. The Digwells are back.

The Digwells were the newest creatures that had moved into their neighborhood. Being moles, they were out of Switcher’s grasp most of the time, though on his backyard patrols, he would sometimes catch a glimpse of one breaking through a tunnel onto the grass. Then he would crouch, quietly perched, waiting to pounce on these intruders.

The Digwells often outsmarted Mr. Highjinks, in spite of all his efforts to slow down their tunneling. Junior knew that they ate the grubs under the grass, and made tunnels as they traveled. On Saturday mornings, he would sometimes see his father stamp down the newest tunnels that broke up his smooth carpet of lawn, and shake his head. They’ve done it again, Mr. Highjinks would say to himself. Something has to be done about this—but what?

Unlike the Digwells, the activities of the Scampers were almost invisible—most of the time. They got enough to eat, thanks to Junior. He wasn’t too careful at the dinner table (or at lunch or breakfast, for that matter), and the Scampers often found crumbs from that day’s meal under his chair.

The Scampers had made a system of success. They stationed Speedy,