The Misadventures of Orville Hempstead

By Shirley Lambert

Orville Hempstead is a young teenage boy living in the small town of Greenville with his parents and sister June. Orville has a very active imagination and often wakes up thinking he is someone else - a rodeo rider, trapeze artist, even Ben Franklin! These fantasies lead to adventure and sometimes trouble - Mom and Pop wonder how Orville scrapes by and survives his antics; sister June can't wait until he grows out of his hijink nature and becomes a normal brother. She's the only one though, as we love following Orville on all of his fun adventures and discoveries. Join us in smiles and laughter reading through Orville's exciting stories, lessons and triumphs!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667898308

Book preview

Orville and His Flying Machine

Orville Hempstead woke up one morning and thought he was Wilbur Wright. He announced at the breakfast table that he was going to fly his airyplane with his brother. Which was a little strange since he didn’t even have a brother. And which was even stranger, Orville wasn’t even the least bit into building anything. Talk about a klutz, that described Orville to a T.

Orville lived with his Mom and Pop, and older sister June. They lived on a farm at the edge of a small community called Greenville.

Orville was a very curious boy; his family would wonder what he was coming up with next. He might go to a movie, and it would stay in his mind and then he would have these thoughts rolling around in his head. He would amaze his parents but was a pain in the neck to his sister, June. She was in high school and had no time for Orville’s foolishness.

Well anyway, back to Orville the flyer. He went to his room to give this matter of flying some serious thought.

After some time, he came up with a great idea. He decided to go to the barn and see what kind of materials were out there that he could use. He went downstairs and passed the kitchen and saw June talking to Mom.

Orville turned to June and said that he was going to need her help in getting materials together for his airyplane. To him, June had become Orville Wright. You see, Orville was Wilbur Wright and June was Orville Wright. Are you getting confused? So was everyone in the Hempstead household. June refused to help and told him he was nuts.

Orville told June she would be sorry when he became famous. Now, those of you who do not know who Orville and Wilbur Wright were, will be glad to know that they were the first pioneers in airplane building.

Mom and June looked at each other and rolled their heads from side to side slowly while looking heavenward for strength to live through this next whim of Orville’s. June just flounced out of the dining room to escape. She was having a hard time with her friends due to having a looney brother.

Orville went to the shed in back and gathered various sizes of lumber and materials that caught his eye. He spent all morning hammering and sawing. Mom looked out the window to see what all the noise was, then sighed and went back to her housework.

Orville came in once that morning about ten o’clock to get a glass of buttermilk, then went back to his building. Pop came in for lunch and asked where Orville was. Mom told him Orville was out back building his airyplane.

Orville spent all day building his airyplane. By six o’clock he was finished as far as he was concerned.

June went out to the clothesline to gather some clothes that she had hung up earlier and the sight of Orville’s airplane set her off in such a state of convulsive laughter that she was almost on the ground. It was a good thing Orville was in the house or he would be really mad, he thought he had built a fine airyplane.

At suppertime Orville’s face was all aglow with pride in his creation. He asked Mom and Pop to come out after supper to look at his airyplane. June declined because she knew that she would not be able to control her laughter. Orville led them out to see his pride and joy. They were convinced that Orville could not get this thing off the ground.

Orville was so excited that he couldn’t go to sleep that night. He had to figure a way to get that plane up. He thought and thought and finally came up with an idea. He decided to get up, he couldn’t sleep anyway.

There was a full moon out that night. He went to his window and gazed at the plane. He didn’t know how to fly a plane; he would worry about it later. He quickly put on his clothes and slipped out of the house.

Pop had put a pully on the front of the barn to hoist up the bales of hay to the loft. Orville thought he could hoist his plane up on the pully and then he could begin to fly.

The plane didn’t even have a motor, a slight miscalculation on Orville’s part. Being aloft was his only thought at that moment.

Orville dragged his airyplane until it was right under the pully. He attached the hook to the plane and proceeded to pull it up slowly. He stopped when it was even with the loft, and then he tied the rope where it would hold the plane in place. He ran to the loft and climbed into the plane. The combined weight of the plane and Orville was too much for the pully, when it gave way Orville for a split second had the sense of flight before it hit the ground.

Mom and Pop heard a loud crash. They jumped out of bed and ran to the window where the noise came from. There in front of the barn, in the moonlight, lay the heap of Orville’s plane and Orville himself. Mom and Pop ran out to the barn to see if Orville had killed himself. By this time June was up due to all the commotion. They found Orville unconscious and together they carried him into the house.

What in the world was he doing? asked June.

Trying to fly that contraption, said Pop.

They laid Orville gently on the couch and checked to see if he had any broken bones. Presently, Orville came to and did not seem to be hurt too badly. Mom and Pop didn’t bother to ask him what he was doing, they already knew. June let out an exasperated sigh and went to bed. Satisfied that Orville was alright, Mom and Pop left him on the couch and went up to bed.

Mom told Pop that someday that boy was going to make her old before her time. Orville fell asleep with a smile on his face. He had really flown his airyplane, even if it was for a short time. He slept soundly. Who knows, maybe tomorrow he may wake up and think he was Henry Ford or someone else. Heaven help Orville Hempstead.

Orville the Trapeze Artist

Well, Orville came to the breakfast table the next morning and said that he sure was sore, he must have fallen out of bed during the night. After breakfast Pop took him out to the barn and told him to clean up that pile of lumber and junk. Orville had forgotten the incident with his plane.

He grumbled and mumbled about cleaning up the mess, but he did it anyway. Things were usually quiet for a while after Orville’s crazy ideas, but it was too good to last.

A circus had come