Free 28 - The Cuckoo Clock of Doom by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

a corner and whispered that Mona had a crush on me.
    Wow. I glanced at Mona. She turned a little pink and glanced away, shyly.
    Tara wasn’t there to embarrass me. It made a big difference.
    My friends all brought presents. I actually opened them myself. No Tara to
open my presents before I get to them.
    At cake time, I carried the cake into the dining room and set it in the
middle of the table. No problem. I didn’t fall and make a fool out of myself.
    Because Tara wasn’t there to trip me.
    It was the greatest birthday party I’d ever had. It was probably the greatest day I’d ever lived—because Tara wasn’t there to ruin it.
    I could get used to this, I thought.
    A few days later, the cuckoo clock was delivered to our house.
    “Isn’t it great?” Dad gushed, as he had the first time. “Anthony sold me the
clock cheap. He said he’d discovered a tiny flaw on it.”
    The flaw. I’d almost forgotten about it.
    We still didn’t know what it was. But I couldn’t help wondering if it had
something to do with Tara’s disappearance.
    Maybe the clock didn’t work perfectly in some way? Maybe it somehow left Tara
behind?
    I hardly dared to touch the clock. I didn’t want to set off any more weird
time trips.
    But I had to know what had happened.
    I carefully studied the face of the clock again, and all the decorations.
Then I stared at the dial that showed the year.
    It was properly set at the current year.
    Without really thinking about it, I scanned twelve places down the dial to
find the year I was born.
    There it was.
    Then I scanned my eyes back up to the dial. 1992.1993.1994.1995.1997…
    Wait a second.
    Didn’t I just skip a year?
    I checked the dates again.
    Nineteen ninety-six was missing. There was no 1996 on the dial.
    And 1996 was the year Tara was born!
    “Dad!” I cried. “I found the flaw! Look—there’s a year missing on the
dial.”
    Dad patted me on the back. “Good job, son! Wow, isn’t that funny?”
    To him it was just a funny mistake.
    He had no idea his daughter had never been born.
    I suppose there’s some way to go back in time and get her.
    I guess I probably ought to do that.
    And I will.
    Really.
    One of these days.
    Maybe.
     
     
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