Jonathon Wart and the Risk Factor
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About this ebook
Jonathon Wart has inherited his uncle’s fabulous fortune. But it comes with a big catch. Uncle Wart was a firm believer that no one ever got ahead in life without taking risks. If Jonathon is to control the family fortune, he also must take some serious risks—particularly financial ones—or the money will pass to Felicia Wart, Uncle Wart’s greedy and coniving daughter.
So Jonathon, aided by his faithful tutor, Emma Wang (and hindered somewhat by his scatter-brained little sister Lizzie), takes up the challenge by traveling to South Africa to acquire an old diamond mine, which is thought to be “cursed” and hasn’t been worked for decades. Nevertheless, Jonathon is convinced that, no matter how risky, it’s a great investment.
When Jonathon, Emma and Lizzie make it to the mine site, things don’t initially look very promising. But they look even worse when it turns out that the jealous Felicia and Jonathon’s unscrupulous financial adviser Mr. Thumbs are plotting against them. Will Jonathon’s big gamble pay off and can Jonathon and Lizzie save the day? Or will Felicia and Mr. Thumbs wrestle Uncle Wart’s fortune from them?
Terence O'Grady
A musicologist by profession, I've written two music-themed mysteries (The Beethoven Quandary and The Mephisto Mysteries) as well as a handful of children’s books in a variety of genres.
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Jonathon Wart and the Risk Factor - Terence O'Grady
Jonathon Wart and the Risk Factor
Terence O’Grady
Copyright 2012 Terence O’Grady
Cover by Joleene Naylor
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is a coincidence. The geographical locations in South Africa are fictional.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Living at Uncle Wart’s
Chapter 2: Learning the Rules
Chapter 3: The Plot Thickens
Chapter 4: Happy Birthday to You!
Chapter 5: Problems Ahead
Chapter 6: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 7: Touch Down…and Trouble
Chapter 8: Mr. Thumbs’ Intentions
Chapter 9: The Mine at Last
Chapter 10: Felicia Checks In
Chapter 11: A Closer Look
Chapter 12: Danger Ahead!
Chapter 13: Back to the Drawing Board
Chapter 14: A Change in Fortune
Chapter 15: Homecoming and Celebration
Chapter 1: Living at Uncle Wart’s
Twelve-year old Jonathon Wart was not normally confused. He was a smart kid, he knew it, and he felt confident about most things.
But a lot of strange things had been happening lately. So now, for just about the first time in his life, Jonathon admitted that he didn’t know all the answers.
First of all, it had been strange just coming to live in his uncle’s house. Uncle Wart was their father’s older brother, who had taken both Jonathon and his younger sister Lizzie in months earlier after their parents had passed away when a cruise ship went down in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and their European vacation had come to an abrupt end. The kids were, naturally, in shock. Their parents had been world travelers and had been gone a lot (the children had been raised largely by their housekeeper, Mildred) but Jonathan and Lizzie missed them terribly of course and had felt lost and abandoned. Then Uncle Wart had stepped in and offered to adopt them. Within days, the children had re-located from their family home in Iowa to their Uncle’s elegant mansion in Philadelphia.
And Jonathan and Lizzie were very grateful. They had a place to live and plenty of food to eat. They now had a governess and live-in tutor instead of going to school. Her name was Emma Wang; she was about forty years old with short, red hair that was generally in disarray and she had a pleasant smile. They were really quite fond of her. Still, they missed their friends at school.
And then there was Uncle Wart himself. Rather tall and sporting a closely-shaved head, he had some strange habits to say the least. He drank yak’s milk or ate yak cheese somewhere between seven and eight times a day. Cow’s milk he didn’t trust. Cows are stupid animals,
he would always say. Just look at them. They only have one expression—stupid. Anyone who drinks cow’s milk will get just as stupid.
Jonathon didn’t really agree with this. Coming from Iowa, he and his sister were fairly well acquainted with cows. He admitted that cows had a rather limited range of facial expressions but, he insisted, cows did have personalities—sort of. They could look friendly as well as stupid. They could look concerned. They could look depressed. There were a lot of emotions that cows could express if they felt it was really necessary.
But Uncle Wart wasn’t buying any of it. Nonsense,
he would say. Cows are among the dumbest of animals. Now yaks…give me your Himalayan yaks for native intelligence any day. A yak can really think on his feet,
he would insist.
At that point in the conversation, Lizzie would normally roll her eyes dramatically and Jonathon would usually just shrug and mumble something like Whatever you say, Uncle Wart.
It probably goes without saying that Uncle Wart believed that the unusual mental capabilities of the yak (and Uncle Wart owned a whole herd of them) could be passed on