Free The Orphan of Awkward Falls by Keith Graves

improvements to the parietal lobe of Felix’s brain and adjusted his larynx. After that, it was a simple matter of tutoring. I’ve charged Norman with teaching him proper English, though the results have been somewhat spotty.” He stroked the cat’s grizzled fur affectionately. “He was a denizen of the street, after all.”
    “I ain’t no powder puff,” gruffed the cat as he gnawed a hooked claw. Josephine found it hard to imagine this cat losing a fight to any dog.
    “Did you build the little train, too?” she asked.
    “Of course.”
    “Very nice. But I was wondering about those legs on the train…are they real?”
    He nodded proudly. “Rats’ legs. A nice touch, I think.”
    “Yes, but it’s kind of…well…icky. I mean, how did you…get them?”
    “Ah, I see what you’re thinking. Not to worry. The various parts I use in building my little toys are from creatures that are already deceased. Felix finds them and brings them to me.”
    “But I don’t kill ‘em no more,” the cat added defensively. “I quit eatin’ rat a long time ago. Too much cholesterol. I’m hooked on the canned stuff now, anyway. I just deliver the stiffs to the kid.” The cat shrugged. “Keeps him happy.”
    “Our pet-repairing enterprise is dependent upon Felix’s scavenging. We have a short list of loyal clients, mostly elderly women from the widow Gladstone’s poker club, but they keep us busy.”
    “Isn’t that kind of risky? What if somebody tells the police—or the orphanage—about you?” she asked.
    Thaddeus waved off her concern. “A minimal risk. Our rendezvous point is elsewhere, and the widow has only met me once or twice. Norman primarily conducts our business with her. I believe she rather fancies him, actually.”
    “But she knows he’s a robot, right?”
    He shrugged. “The woman’s vision is not keen. Besides, Norman does have a certain charm.”
    “How have you managed to stay hidden for so long?”
    “It helps that I sleep in the daytime and do my puttering about at night. I’m quite stealthy.”
    “You must get really lonely, not to mention bored.”
    “My work keeps me busy,” said Thaddeus, “and I have Norman and Felix for company. Besides, Mother and Father will be home soon.”

The early morning sky was at its blackest when Fetid Stenchley finally emerged from the forest. Creeping through the cold fog on all fours, he found himself at the stone wall behind Hibble Manor. He opened the rear gate and entered the familiar grounds cautiously. Spackled with mud and twigs, the surgical gown he still wore now ragged, he looked like something from the underworld.
    As Stenchley looked out at the familiar silhouette of the stately house, fragmented memories began pricking his damaged mind. Inside the mansion’s moldy stone walls, Stenchley had once experienced something like happiness. There, he had spent almost his entire adult life living and working side by side with the famous Professor Celsius T. Hibble.
    Long ago, the professor had found Stenchley starving and homeless, begging on the streets of Awkward Falls. The great scientist had taken the deformed man into his home, fed and clothed him, and unlike anyone else in Stenchley’s miserable life, treated him likea human being. Stenchley’s grateful devotion to the professor had been boundless. No labor was too difficult, no hour too late, no burden too heavy, if the good professor asked it of him. Fetid Stenchley had loved the professor with all his twisted heart.
    Ironically, it was the power of this love that would eventually drive the madman to kill his master. Stenchley coveted his status as the professor’s closest companion, and deeply mistrusted any others whose relationship with the great man became too close. After Hibble’s near marriage to the Twittington woman, the hunchback took it upon himself to protect his master from the devious influence of outsiders.
    Stenchley was diligent in his task. One spring morning, a