Sister+Brother=Trouble by Frank Murphy (good non fiction books to read .TXT) đź“•
Excerpt from the book:
A funny tale about a boy growing up in early 1970s California!
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- Author: Frank Murphy
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he wasn’t allowed to cross Lemon Avenue; he didn’t want to have to chase after those dogs.
Frank got out of bed and did his normal morning stuff: brush teeth, get dressed and eat Rice Krispies. He threw his cereal bowl into the sink and went outside. He ran from his front porch to the fence and back to the porch. He did it seven times. He wished he had a stopwatch so he could time himself.
Right along the edge of the property, in between the two houses there was a kumquat tree. A kumquat is a fruit. It is almost like a mini-orange, but it is oval shaped and a little bigger than a grape. Frank loved picking the kumquats off the tree. He popped the whole little fruit into his mouth – skin and all. The skin tasted sour and the fruit inside tasted sweet. Frank imagined it as his own personal candy tree. There was also a lemon tree in the backyard. Frank thought that was why Lemon Avenue was named Lemon Avenue.
Frank’s grandma told him that eating too many lemons makes a person’s blood thin. And that freaked out Frank. He was afraid if he ever got a cut after eating too many lemons, he might bleed to death! So Frank hardly ever ate lemons.
Chapter 6
Runaway Dogs
After running back and forth, eating kumquats and avoiding Leon next door Frank was sitting on the fence at the driveway. Kathleen called out to him, “Frankieeeeee! Mom said to watch the dogs. She’s letting them come out!”
“Okayyyyy!” Frank screamed back.
Frank watched Kathleen let them out the front door. They leaped over the little porch. They started running faster and faster – straight towards Frank. Frank’s eyes opened up. His jaw dropped. He saw Hilde’s and Heidi’s tongues flapping in the wind. He knew what that meant – the dogs were aiming to jump right over the fence.
Frank jumped down and both dogs leaped over the fence. They ran straight toward Lemon Avenue and turned left.
“Kathleeeeennnn!” Frank called out, “Mommmmm! Daaaad! The dogs escaped!!!!”
Frank’s mom, dad and Kathleen came running out of the house. Mr. Murphy was holding two leashes. All four Murphys began chasing after the dogs, running down Lemon Avenue. For the first time ever Frank noticed that Hilde and Heidi weren’t chasing invisible wild animals after all. Instead, they were chasing cars. Both dogs were barking and growling while running full speed. The funny thing was neither dog ever ran directly into the street. They ran right along the edge, sort of running sideways at times. Frank thought it was almost like his mom told the dogs too that they weren’t allowed to go into the street without an adult.
Eventually the dogs stopped running and barking and they walked back with Mr. Murphy holding both leashes.
Frank looked up at his mom. “Mom, it seems like you told the dogs they can’t cross the street either,” he said.
“No, honey! I wish. And I wish they listened to me about not jumping the fence like you and your sister do about the street!” she said.
“I noticed they were chasing cars,” Frank said.
“You’re right about that, son,” Mr. Murphy said. “And I have an idea about how to fix it!”
“What?” Kathleen asked.
“We’re going to get a bucket full of vinegar and water. Your mom’s going drive the car down the street. I’m going to sit in the backseat. We’ll let the dogs chase after our car. And when the time is right, I’ll dowse them both with the magic potion!”
“What will that do?” Frank asked.
Kathleen quickly spoke up, “It will teach them to stop chasing cars! I love it!”
“You love it?” Frank asked. “Why? Hilde and Heidi’s eyes will sting!”
“I know. But they’ll stop jumping the fence.” Then she whispered to Frank. “But I love it for another reason. Shhh. I’ll tell you later!” Kathleen said.
Chapter 7
Dad’s Experiment and Dr. Pavlov’s Dogs
“It’s called operant conditioning. I learned it when I was in school,” Mr. Murphy said as he filled the green bucket with vinegar and water from the hose.
Frank couldn’t believe his ears. “That’s what we are going to do to the dogs with the vinegar and water? We’re going to operate?” he asked.
Mr. Murphy started laughing. “No, you silly kid,” he said. “I said oper-ANT conditioning. Not oper-ATE conditioning!”
“What’s that?”
“A long time ago there was this doctor. His name was Dr. Pavlov. He wanted to prove that someone could be trained to react in different ways to different situations. So he trained dogs. He tried to teach a dog to respond to something by adding a good or bad thing to go with it. If he wanted a dog to like something, he put something the dog would like with it. If he wanted a dog to not like something, he put something the dog would hate with it,” Mr. Murphy explained.
“I sorta get it,” Frank said.
“Okay. I’ll explain it this way. Does your mouth water when you hear the ice cream truck’s bell jingling?”
“Yes! Totally!” Frank said.
Does your mouth water because of the sound of the bell or because you know there’s ice cream coming?”
“The ice cream!” Frank shouted.
“Exactly. And that’s what Dr. Pavlov did with his dogs. He fed meat to his dogs. That made the dogs’ mouths water. Then he started ringing a bell each time before he fed them the meat. He did this a bunch of times. Finally, he could just ring the bell and the dogs’ mouths would water. The dogs expected that meat was coming when they heard the bell.”
“So he sorta tricked them?” Frank asked.
“Yes! But he called it conditioning them,” Mr. Murphy explained.
“Ohhh! So you’re gonna trick Hilde and Heidi. They are NOT going to like vinegar in their faces. Then they’ll think whenever they chase a car they might get splashed with vinegar in their faces. Then they will hate chasing cars. I get it!!!”
“You got it!” Mr. Murphy said.
Frank was thrilled that he figured it out. But he still wasn’t sure how he felt about vinegar being splashed in the dogs’ faces.
Soon Mr. Murphy had everything in place. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were at the end of Lemon Avenue, waiting in the car. Frank was standing at the edge of the driveway. It was his job to signal to his parents when the dogs were escaping. Kathleen was standing at the gate opening, ready to let the dogs out.
Kathleen gave the sign – three fingers up in the air. “One, two, three – GO!” she said.
The dogs rushed out, heading straight to the end of the driveway. Frank gave the sign; he raised his hand and quickly lowered it. The race was on!
Mrs. Murphy drove the car along Lemon Avenue. Mr. Murphy sat in the backseat holding the filled bucket outside of the car window. The car and the dogs met at exactly the same time. The dogs raced and turned left. They barked at the car. They chased it. Frank could see his mom giggling. His dad’s eyebrows were crunched up. The dogs were running alongside the curb when Mr. Murphy swung the bucket and sent the potion into the air. It went right at the running dogs. Then…they stopped. The potion flew and splattered right in front of the dogs. Not a drop hit them. The dogs just stood there, tilting their heads, looking at Mr. Murphy with his arms hanging out the backseat window, holding that empty green bucket. Then they sniffed the puddle of potion and started licking it up.
Mr. Murphy’s experiment was a complete failure!
Frank leashed up the dogs and walked them back to the house. A few minutes later Mr. and Mrs. Murphy pulled up in the car. Frank and Kathleen saw their mom giggling (a lot) and their dad was just shaking his head. His eyebrows were crunched up even more!
Chapter 8
Kathleen’s Experiment (The Plan)
Later that day Kathleen and Frank were riding their Big Wheels. “Listen, that kid Leon is gross,” Kathleen said, “and it’s wrong that he does that to bugs.”
“Yes,” Frank said.
“So I have an idea.”
“Uh oh,” Frank said.
“Remember yesterday when I whispered to you about loving dad’s idea?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, here’s what I loved about it: we can do that same thing to Leon!” Kathleen said. “Here’s the plan. I’ll stand at the kumquat tree, right by the fence. I’ll call him over and tell him that there’s a really weird looking bug on the fence. You know he’ll come running over to see if it looks delicious. Then, when he gets to the fence, you’ll splash him with the bucket of vinegar and water.”
“Where will I be standing?” Frank asked.
“That’s the really cool thing. You’ll be sitting up in the kumquat tree, above him,” Kathleen said.
Frank could see the look in her eyes. It was the same one that he imagined goes with those imaginary horns, tail and pitchfork.
“I dunno,” Frank said.
“Come on! You can do it!” Kathleen said.
“But what if the potion hurts his eyes or blinds him?”
“It won’t. You’ll be above him. You’ll just splash it on his head,” she said. “He’ll probably lick it up off the ground, just like the dogs did.”
Frank giggled. “Okay, I guess,” he said.
Another thing that Frank worried about was whether or not the branches would hold him. The kumquat tree wasn’t that big and the branches weren’t that strong. But he didn’t want to seem like he was wimpy, so he just agreed.
Chapter 9
Kathleen’s Experiment (Preparation)
The next day Kathleen was awake before Frank. Thump! Thump!! Thump!! Frank woke up to knocking on his door.
“Wake up Frankie!!” Kathleen said. “It’s time!”
“Time for what?” Frank asked.
“Time to prepare!”
“Huh? Oh…the potion. Okay, I’ll be ready soon.” Frank said.
“I’ll be waiting outside, by the back porch,” Kathleen said.
Frank went through his morning routine: brush teeth, get dressed and eat Rice Krispies. On this day he remembered two things. First he slid his favorite toy into his pocket – for good luck. It was his best Hot Wheel car, a silver Mustang with blue racing stripes. Second he remembered to put his bowl and spoon into the dishwasher. His mom was always reminding him. He was proud of himself. But the feeling didn’t last long. He started worrying about falling out of the tree. And worse than that, he worried about hurting Leon’s eyes with the potion. He sort of hoped he would fall out, that way he wouldn’t even have the chance to hurt Leon’s
Frank got out of bed and did his normal morning stuff: brush teeth, get dressed and eat Rice Krispies. He threw his cereal bowl into the sink and went outside. He ran from his front porch to the fence and back to the porch. He did it seven times. He wished he had a stopwatch so he could time himself.
Right along the edge of the property, in between the two houses there was a kumquat tree. A kumquat is a fruit. It is almost like a mini-orange, but it is oval shaped and a little bigger than a grape. Frank loved picking the kumquats off the tree. He popped the whole little fruit into his mouth – skin and all. The skin tasted sour and the fruit inside tasted sweet. Frank imagined it as his own personal candy tree. There was also a lemon tree in the backyard. Frank thought that was why Lemon Avenue was named Lemon Avenue.
Frank’s grandma told him that eating too many lemons makes a person’s blood thin. And that freaked out Frank. He was afraid if he ever got a cut after eating too many lemons, he might bleed to death! So Frank hardly ever ate lemons.
Chapter 6
Runaway Dogs
After running back and forth, eating kumquats and avoiding Leon next door Frank was sitting on the fence at the driveway. Kathleen called out to him, “Frankieeeeee! Mom said to watch the dogs. She’s letting them come out!”
“Okayyyyy!” Frank screamed back.
Frank watched Kathleen let them out the front door. They leaped over the little porch. They started running faster and faster – straight towards Frank. Frank’s eyes opened up. His jaw dropped. He saw Hilde’s and Heidi’s tongues flapping in the wind. He knew what that meant – the dogs were aiming to jump right over the fence.
Frank jumped down and both dogs leaped over the fence. They ran straight toward Lemon Avenue and turned left.
“Kathleeeeennnn!” Frank called out, “Mommmmm! Daaaad! The dogs escaped!!!!”
Frank’s mom, dad and Kathleen came running out of the house. Mr. Murphy was holding two leashes. All four Murphys began chasing after the dogs, running down Lemon Avenue. For the first time ever Frank noticed that Hilde and Heidi weren’t chasing invisible wild animals after all. Instead, they were chasing cars. Both dogs were barking and growling while running full speed. The funny thing was neither dog ever ran directly into the street. They ran right along the edge, sort of running sideways at times. Frank thought it was almost like his mom told the dogs too that they weren’t allowed to go into the street without an adult.
Eventually the dogs stopped running and barking and they walked back with Mr. Murphy holding both leashes.
Frank looked up at his mom. “Mom, it seems like you told the dogs they can’t cross the street either,” he said.
“No, honey! I wish. And I wish they listened to me about not jumping the fence like you and your sister do about the street!” she said.
“I noticed they were chasing cars,” Frank said.
“You’re right about that, son,” Mr. Murphy said. “And I have an idea about how to fix it!”
“What?” Kathleen asked.
“We’re going to get a bucket full of vinegar and water. Your mom’s going drive the car down the street. I’m going to sit in the backseat. We’ll let the dogs chase after our car. And when the time is right, I’ll dowse them both with the magic potion!”
“What will that do?” Frank asked.
Kathleen quickly spoke up, “It will teach them to stop chasing cars! I love it!”
“You love it?” Frank asked. “Why? Hilde and Heidi’s eyes will sting!”
“I know. But they’ll stop jumping the fence.” Then she whispered to Frank. “But I love it for another reason. Shhh. I’ll tell you later!” Kathleen said.
Chapter 7
Dad’s Experiment and Dr. Pavlov’s Dogs
“It’s called operant conditioning. I learned it when I was in school,” Mr. Murphy said as he filled the green bucket with vinegar and water from the hose.
Frank couldn’t believe his ears. “That’s what we are going to do to the dogs with the vinegar and water? We’re going to operate?” he asked.
Mr. Murphy started laughing. “No, you silly kid,” he said. “I said oper-ANT conditioning. Not oper-ATE conditioning!”
“What’s that?”
“A long time ago there was this doctor. His name was Dr. Pavlov. He wanted to prove that someone could be trained to react in different ways to different situations. So he trained dogs. He tried to teach a dog to respond to something by adding a good or bad thing to go with it. If he wanted a dog to like something, he put something the dog would like with it. If he wanted a dog to not like something, he put something the dog would hate with it,” Mr. Murphy explained.
“I sorta get it,” Frank said.
“Okay. I’ll explain it this way. Does your mouth water when you hear the ice cream truck’s bell jingling?”
“Yes! Totally!” Frank said.
Does your mouth water because of the sound of the bell or because you know there’s ice cream coming?”
“The ice cream!” Frank shouted.
“Exactly. And that’s what Dr. Pavlov did with his dogs. He fed meat to his dogs. That made the dogs’ mouths water. Then he started ringing a bell each time before he fed them the meat. He did this a bunch of times. Finally, he could just ring the bell and the dogs’ mouths would water. The dogs expected that meat was coming when they heard the bell.”
“So he sorta tricked them?” Frank asked.
“Yes! But he called it conditioning them,” Mr. Murphy explained.
“Ohhh! So you’re gonna trick Hilde and Heidi. They are NOT going to like vinegar in their faces. Then they’ll think whenever they chase a car they might get splashed with vinegar in their faces. Then they will hate chasing cars. I get it!!!”
“You got it!” Mr. Murphy said.
Frank was thrilled that he figured it out. But he still wasn’t sure how he felt about vinegar being splashed in the dogs’ faces.
Soon Mr. Murphy had everything in place. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were at the end of Lemon Avenue, waiting in the car. Frank was standing at the edge of the driveway. It was his job to signal to his parents when the dogs were escaping. Kathleen was standing at the gate opening, ready to let the dogs out.
Kathleen gave the sign – three fingers up in the air. “One, two, three – GO!” she said.
The dogs rushed out, heading straight to the end of the driveway. Frank gave the sign; he raised his hand and quickly lowered it. The race was on!
Mrs. Murphy drove the car along Lemon Avenue. Mr. Murphy sat in the backseat holding the filled bucket outside of the car window. The car and the dogs met at exactly the same time. The dogs raced and turned left. They barked at the car. They chased it. Frank could see his mom giggling. His dad’s eyebrows were crunched up. The dogs were running alongside the curb when Mr. Murphy swung the bucket and sent the potion into the air. It went right at the running dogs. Then…they stopped. The potion flew and splattered right in front of the dogs. Not a drop hit them. The dogs just stood there, tilting their heads, looking at Mr. Murphy with his arms hanging out the backseat window, holding that empty green bucket. Then they sniffed the puddle of potion and started licking it up.
Mr. Murphy’s experiment was a complete failure!
Frank leashed up the dogs and walked them back to the house. A few minutes later Mr. and Mrs. Murphy pulled up in the car. Frank and Kathleen saw their mom giggling (a lot) and their dad was just shaking his head. His eyebrows were crunched up even more!
Chapter 8
Kathleen’s Experiment (The Plan)
Later that day Kathleen and Frank were riding their Big Wheels. “Listen, that kid Leon is gross,” Kathleen said, “and it’s wrong that he does that to bugs.”
“Yes,” Frank said.
“So I have an idea.”
“Uh oh,” Frank said.
“Remember yesterday when I whispered to you about loving dad’s idea?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, here’s what I loved about it: we can do that same thing to Leon!” Kathleen said. “Here’s the plan. I’ll stand at the kumquat tree, right by the fence. I’ll call him over and tell him that there’s a really weird looking bug on the fence. You know he’ll come running over to see if it looks delicious. Then, when he gets to the fence, you’ll splash him with the bucket of vinegar and water.”
“Where will I be standing?” Frank asked.
“That’s the really cool thing. You’ll be sitting up in the kumquat tree, above him,” Kathleen said.
Frank could see the look in her eyes. It was the same one that he imagined goes with those imaginary horns, tail and pitchfork.
“I dunno,” Frank said.
“Come on! You can do it!” Kathleen said.
“But what if the potion hurts his eyes or blinds him?”
“It won’t. You’ll be above him. You’ll just splash it on his head,” she said. “He’ll probably lick it up off the ground, just like the dogs did.”
Frank giggled. “Okay, I guess,” he said.
Another thing that Frank worried about was whether or not the branches would hold him. The kumquat tree wasn’t that big and the branches weren’t that strong. But he didn’t want to seem like he was wimpy, so he just agreed.
Chapter 9
Kathleen’s Experiment (Preparation)
The next day Kathleen was awake before Frank. Thump! Thump!! Thump!! Frank woke up to knocking on his door.
“Wake up Frankie!!” Kathleen said. “It’s time!”
“Time for what?” Frank asked.
“Time to prepare!”
“Huh? Oh…the potion. Okay, I’ll be ready soon.” Frank said.
“I’ll be waiting outside, by the back porch,” Kathleen said.
Frank went through his morning routine: brush teeth, get dressed and eat Rice Krispies. On this day he remembered two things. First he slid his favorite toy into his pocket – for good luck. It was his best Hot Wheel car, a silver Mustang with blue racing stripes. Second he remembered to put his bowl and spoon into the dishwasher. His mom was always reminding him. He was proud of himself. But the feeling didn’t last long. He started worrying about falling out of the tree. And worse than that, he worried about hurting Leon’s eyes with the potion. He sort of hoped he would fall out, that way he wouldn’t even have the chance to hurt Leon’s
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