This is a first-person account of an adventure of the Great Brain. The Great Brain series is by John D. Fitzgerald, and is based on his growing up in Utah, during the 1910s. The series is told from John D’s perspective about his older brother, known as the Great Brain. The Great Brain (Tom D), is around 12 years old, and is, if nothing else, very intent on leveraging his opportunities for profit. Sammy Xu decided to write from the Brain’s perspective, and the result is below. Good job, Sammy!
Herr Gunta and his Toy
It was a fine summer morning in Adenville, and JD, my brother, and I went outside to play. Every Saturday, we always play a game of baseball with our pals. However, JD and his friends are no match for my friends and me. Ever since they let school out, we’ve been playing baseball at the field every day. We always play at the field near the school, because that’s the only field that’s open on weekends. When we reached the field, all of our friends were there, ready to play baseball.
We played for the whole day; when it was about 8 o’clock we decided to end the game with one last inning. Who ever won the last inning would win the whole game. It was the top of the inning, I was pitching for our team and JD was up to bat. So far, the score was 1-0 for this last inning. I needed one more strike to end the bottom of the inning. I wound up my pitch, and threw it with incredible speed. JD didn’t even know I pitched. Once we switched sides, Basil got a base hit, then Sammy, and Allan struck out. Now I was up to bat and I got two strikes. Then JD pitched: I smashed the ball out of the park. My team had won! After the game, JD and I headed home.
On our way home, we saw a boy. We’ve never seen him before, but he looked German. He was playing all by himself, with his toy. His toy was weird; it was a long stick with a spring on the bottom. When you jumped with the toy, it would allow you to jump higher than normal. We decided to ignore him, because he was probably a tourist.
The next day, when JD and I were heading to the field, we saw the kid again. He was still playing with his jumping stick. We invited him to play baseball with us.
“I don’t know how to play,” the German boy said.
“That’s alright, I’ll teach you,” I told the boy. “But it will come at a price.”
“Ok! I really wanted to learn how to play your American sport so I can fit in,” the German kid replied, “but I don’t have anything, all I have is a pogo stick.”
“Ok, if I teach you how to play baseball, you can give me your pogo stick … by the way, my name is Tom.”
“Deal … by the way, my name is Herr Gunta.”
JD and I headed home, so I could put my Great Brain to work. I knew that if I could get the pogo stick, I would be able to patent it and sell it. No one in America has a “Pogo stick”, and I would be willing to spend as much time as I need, to be the first to sell the pogo stick. Then all the kids will buy one for around $5! I would become rich in a few moments.
The next day was Monday. JD and I headed towards Herr Gunta’s house; I brought my baseball bats and gloves. We didn’t go to the school baseball field, because that’s where everyone else would be, so we headed towards the soccer field, to work alone.
By the time we got there, it was around noon. I started teaching Herr Gunta how to throw a baseball. Herr Gunta was terrible! I’ve never seen someone as bad as him. I knew that it might take the whole summer to teach him; but I didn’t give up. He was so terrible that that it was too big of a task for one man. Then I thought of a great idea, I would get all my friends to play a baseball game with Herr Gunta, I would pay them to go easy, and slowly, Herr Gunta would improve. I decided to tell my friends.
The next day, I told Herr Gunta that I would teach him at noon. I went to the baseball field. “Hey everyone!” I screamed. Many heads turned to stare at me. “I’m teaching a kid how to play baseball, and I need your help, I’m going to pay all of you 10 cents each, if you play baseball with Herr Gunta,” I screamed, “but you have to go easy so he can improve.” Everyone looked in amazement as I said 10 cents.
“All right!” everyone replied.
My friends and I started to play baseball with Herr Gunta every day; he slowly got better. In a couple of weeks, Herr Gunta was as good as us. He got so good, that he was better than us! He started hitting home runs every time he was up to bat.
One August afternoon, after I got back from swindling Mr. Meyer out of his cool bike, and Allan out of his miniature basketball hoop, I was surprised to see Herr Gunta. He got was holding a package for me. I remembered the deal we made – I must have gotten confused with all my other swindles.
“Hi Tom, since you taught me how to play baseball, I was able to have a lot of fun over the summer. Here is the pogo stick I promised.”
“Thanks Herr Gunta.” I took the pogo stick and went home, thinking of how I would make money off of it.
It was the beginning of September, and the school year approached. No one was playing baseball anymore; everyone was busy preparing for the work, making up for all the work skipped in the summer. Still, they were willing to spend around 5-10 minutes using my pogo stick. I was able to make a fortune! I charged 2 cents per minute. I made about 30 cents a day. By the time it was Christmas I made about 30 dollars! After I patented the pogo stick, kids everywhere bought one. They each sold for 5 dollars. I got 25% profit of all the pogo sticks that were sold. The pogo stick swindle I made with Her Gunta was the best I ever made. I became rich. I bought a swimming pool for my backyard (the first in Adenville), I bought about 10 bikes, and I bought some more pogo sticks. But if you wanted to use them, you would be charged.