The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue by Trish Hanan (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

Westinghouse and frowned.
“What on earth was that?” he said and his secretary rushed into the room.
“We’re being attacked!” Wayne screamed; his handsome face hysterical. The General got up and ran to the window and saw all the men in black.
“My God it’s the rebels!” he shouted. He and the Governor exchanged a worried glance.
“We’ll go out the back way,” Furbush decided and they rushed from the room.
“What about me?” Wayne wailed as they left him behind. Tony, the other secretary comforted him.
“Don’t worry, they rarely kill the secretaries,” he assured him but he didn’t look too sure about that. They sat at their desks and awaited the arrival of the enemy. They didn’t have long to wait. Within ten minutes, dozens of men in black jackets waving rifles were storming the offices. Both men stood up and held their arms over their heads. The soldiers stood them against the wall and checked the offices.
“All clear, General Donoghue,” one of them shouted. A tall, very handsome man walked casually into the offices and looked around. Wayne almost swooned he was so magnetic. He smiled at the two men.
“The Governor and General Westinghouse have sneaked out the back haven’t they?” he asked them in a teasing voice. Both men nodded. The General laughed. “They won’t get far,” he said. Then he turned to one of his men. “Tell President Adams that the building is secure and he and the others have their new offices.” The man saluted and hurried off. Sean looked at the two men who still had their arms in the air.
“Relax, put your arms down, gentlemen, you’re in a free country now,” he told them. “And you don’t have to go back to Hamish with the Governor if you don’t want to, anyone who wants to is welcomed to stay in Anamylia, we welcome all to our home of the free.” Both men put their arms down with relief and sighed. Wayne smiled at him.
“That’s a relief because I just bought a house,” he informed him and all the soldiers laughed. Just then four soldiers came in escorting the Governor and General Westinghouse who both looked rather rumbled.
“Look who we just caught trying to climb the back fence but couldn’t, they’re both way too fat,” Sergeant Donoghue said and they all laughed. Both men flushed red with embarrassment and the former Governor pointed his finger at Sean.
“I’ll see you hung for this, you General imposter!” he yelled. A calm voice in the doorway spoke.
“That would be rather difficult all the way from Hamish which is where we’ll be sending your fat arse,” Henry Adams informed him as he strolled rather majestically into the offices. Every soldier stood at attention and saluted him. Sean clicked his heels together.
“Former Governor Furbush, General Westinghouse, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to the President of Anamylia, Mr. Henry Adams and his Vice-President, John Matthews,” Sean said formally. Both Hamish men frowned.
“The Hamish Crown doesn’t formally recognize Anamylia as a country, as far as we are concerned the five Territories are still Territories of His Majesty, King William the Fourth,” Governor Furbush said pompously. Henry shrugged.
“Oh, I’m sure King William will recognized us as a country when all of his soldiers and sailors come marching home with their tails between their legs and you finally hand him that Declaration of Independence that you’ve never bothered to send him,” he informed him. The Governor flushed.
“How did you know I haven’t sent it?” he sputtered and turned to glare at Wayne who shook his head.
“I didn’t tell him you never sent it,” the secretary denied. Henry laughed.
“You Hamish are so stupid, I knew you wouldn’t send it, but we decided to give you the year anyway, you’re the ones who turned the clock up when you kidnapped our wives and children. Did you really think we were going to meekly turn ourselves in to be hung? Who’s the idiot who came up with that stupid plan?” he asked and everyone turned to look at General Westinghouse who glared at them.
“It would have worked in Hamish,” he snapped. Sean smiled at him.
“But you’re not in Hamish, Westinghouse,” he informed him. “You’re in Anamylia where boys learn to kill their first bear at fourteen and you’ve been charging us two gilders a pound for coffee that costs a quarter a pound for in Ennis. Face it, Westinghouse; this revolution has long been overdue.” Both men looked shocked.
“This isn’t a revolution, it’s a simple uprising and as soon as we get some of those rifles, we’ll be back to teach you rebels a lesson,” General Westinghouse promised. Sean nodded.
“Take them away, Captain and let’s find a ship to put them on,” he ordered and his men hurried off to do his bidding. The secretaries were marched off also and the offices were left to the Anamylians.
“Do you really think they’ll be back?” John asked; a worried look on his face. Sean nodded and put his arm around the man’s shoulder.
“Of course they will, Anamylia’s too important and too rich for them to give up without a fight,” he told them. “But it will take them at least a year to get enough rifles and their ships and men together and by them we’ll have lots more cannons waiting for them. We’ll blow them out of the water before they can even hit the shores,” he promised and they both looked reassured. Henry laughed.
“Well, you’ve been right about everything so far, we’ve got no reason not to trust you now, General Donoghue,” he said. Sean patted him on his back.
“You two and your cabinet concentrate on running the country and leave the defenses to me,” he told them. “I won’t let you down.” They went into their new office and soon were followed by the other men of the original committee; there was hard work to do.
The transition from Hamish government to Anamylian government went very smoothly. The people were very happy. First went the high taxes to be replaced with a very reasonable five percent tax and only on merchandise not on food so no more tax on coffee or tea or sugar. The people were joyous. The price of coffee went from two gilders a pound down to twenty-five cents. And the price of a toaster went from fifty gilders to ten gilders. People went out and went shopping so the merchants were happy. And the government reimbursed them for the high Hamish taxes that they had to pay. All they had to do was bring their invoices on the merchandise they had in their stores and the government paid them back. This was Sean’s idea and it was a good one, it made the merchants happy and caused them to lower their prices and the people could now afford to buy their new inventions and made them happy. And when the people were happy, they loved their government. It was a good will gesture that insured that the new government was welcomed by all Anamylians.
“I was hesitant to do this but Sean was right about this tax reimbursement program, the people love us,” Walter gushed at a cabinet meeting. John agreed.
“He’s a very clever young man,” he informed them. They all nodded.
“Is your speech ready?” Kent asked Henry who was going to address his people on March first. Henry nodded.
“John helped me, its going to be a very good speech,” he told them. They all grinned.
“We’ve come a long way from a conversation in a coffee shop,” Thomas remarked. They all grinned again. Neil frowned.
“It’s not over yet, we still have the Hamish to beat again,” he was the worrier. Thomas waved his hands.
“Sean will take care of the Hamish like he did before, I wouldn’t worry about them,” he declared. Henry laughed.
“I think the Hamish have met their match when they met that young man,” he informed them and they all laughed.
The first President of Anamylia Henry Jacob Adams gave his first presidential speech in the capital of Jamestown to over ten thousand people on March first Seventeen hundred and two. It was a chilly morning at eleven and Sean bundled up Ryan who was seventy-three and Danny who was seventy so that they wouldn’t miss the speech. They had great seats in the first row and they beamed at their Granddad sitting up on the dais in his dress uniform as General Donoghue to the President.
It was a great speech talking about the long struggle ahead, the expected arrival of the Hamish, the freedom of the slaves and the return of the Topangans to their home island. It talked of liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the promise of a brave new world and the hard work it takes to build it. The education of their children and the promise of a better, brighter future for them, and of course all the new inventions coming out of Ennis and why not some of them coming from Anamylia for a change. At this all the people cheered.
After the speech there was a great ball at the new Presidential mansion. Danny and Ryan went home and took a nap so they could attend for a bit and then Sean took them home to the barracks at Fort Jamestown where he and the boys and his three cannons were now stationed. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Anamylian Army and it would be his job over the next year to prepare his troops for the invasion that was to come.
“It was a great day, Granddad,” Ryan said to him as they hugged goodnight.
“Ah, lad, yes indeed it was, I was real proud of Henry and the boys, they did a good job,” he said and hugged his two boys and sent them to bed. “Love you, Danny, love you, Ryan,” he called and they said the same and closed the door. Sean went down to the foundry and worked on his mold. He was building several and planning on building as many cannons at a time as he could. Young Sean wandered in.
“Night guard is on, Fort is secure,” he told him and sat down to watch. Sean smiled at him.
“You’re really liking this soldier thing aren’t you, lad?” he teased him. Sean grinned.
“Its fun for a while, but I’ll be glad to go back to the Ridge when we kick some Hamish arse,” he informed his Granddad. Sean nodded.
“I know what you mean, lad, all this marching around and saluting get old real quick don’t it?” he asked. Young Sean nodded.
“How did you learn how to do that?” he asked and waved at hand at the wood Sean was carving. Sean shrugged.
“I just picked it up and figured it out,” he informed him. “Why don’t you pick up a piece of log there and I’ll show you,” he offered. Sean grinned and he picked up a log. Soon they were both carving and the night went quickly. After that Young Sean and a few other Donoghues joined him and the molds went much faster.
General Donoghue sent out a call to the new country asking for cast-iron and steel to defend their new country against the Hamish invasion. The new country answered his plea and soon Jamestown was flooded with metal