Peter Carrot-top by Yolanda Jackson (ebook audio reader txt) 📖

man stroking his long beard and pale skin.
"What happened to you, Sam?" asked his father, David. "Your mother and I were also banned from Baja. We had to work in the hot underground tunnels as our punishment for having a failure as a son.”
David explained that they had been kicked out of Baja after Sam had. David let Sam know that his mother was barely holding on, and today was the first time they had seen daylight. Sam became very angry, and he blamed himself. He told his father he would straighten everything out.
Peter began to pull on his father's coat tail. "What about me?"
"Oh! Father, I would like to introduce you to your grandson, Peter," Sam replied.
"You are the one that wizards and witches are talking about," said David.
"Witches?" Peter mumbled.
David told his grandson not to be afraid of evil, but by the look in Peter's eyes, he was still afraid. Then Jane came forward and stretched out her hands for a hug.
"Oh! Jane, my beautiful daughter-in–law," cried David as they hugged.
Peter noticed that a strange man was watching them from across the street, but when he turned around to tell his father, the man was gone, vanished into thin air. Peter's eyes began to bulge out and he looked vigorously from side to side. But the man was nowhere to be found, so he never told his parents anything else about what he had seen.
David quickly looked around and told his son that he would take him home.
"Home?" Sam replied.
"Yes, home," said his father.
David explained to Sam and his family that their house was never destroyed; the house was put onto the house farm.
"House farm?" asked Peter.
"Yes, a house farm," said Grandpa David.
Jane and Sam explained to Peter that when any citizen was facing punishment of any sort, all their belongings, including their house, were stored on the house farm. Then, when that individual was set free, he or she went to the farm and requested their belongings.
"Let's go," said Peter.
Grandpa David just laughed and was happy to have his family back. As they were leaving, a group of royal soldiers came and stopped the family. There were five soldiers in all, dressed in all white uniforms and top hats. They explained to the Carrot-Tops that because they were important citizens of Baja, they would be escorted everywhere. One of the soldiers pointed to their beautiful transportation. It was all white, and had wings like a bird and eight wheel tiers. Brown leather covered the seats inside.
The transportation was new and shiny. Peter was about to run over to see it until his mother pulled him back.
"No! We do not need your charity. We will make it on our own," said Jane.
Then the Carrot-Tops walked away, leaving the soldier's puzzled.
"That fixed them!" said Grandpa David, and the family went off to find their home.

Chapter 5

Going Home

Peter watched out of the wagon window. As they rode down so many roads, people were waving and saying, "Welcome back." Some even stopped the wagon to get a glimpse at the boy wonder.
"You're a very special young man," said Grandpa David.
Peter just smiled with a large grin on his face.
Baja was so beautiful with golden rain and purple and yellow clouds. The bears that roamed the hillsides were as big as houses, but they were very gentle creatures. There were even trees that grew popcorn! Peter and his family stopped as they saw a tree getting ready to start popping.
"Oh boy!" said Peter.
The family just laughed, running to the tree like kids in a candy store. Jane kept her mouth open to catch the popcorn while Grandpa David and Peter made snow angels in the popcorn. Sam sat back and watched his family have the time of their lives. After eating until their hearts were content, the family sat by the tree and caught up on old times. Sam was very reluctant to ask his father about his brother Marcus. Marcus was a bad seed. From the time he was born, he was very mischievous and rude, always blaming everything on Sam. Besides, Marcus was the one who turned his own brother in to the royal authorities for losing the eighth key, even though he’d had a hand in it.
David shied away from the question of where Marcus was. Finally he said, "Your brother has gone to the other side. He sold the family out and went to work for the seven wizards." Tears started to form in David's eyes as he thought about his child fighting on the side of evil.
Sam was in shock. He began to pace back and forth, asking his father, “Why?” over and over again.
David went on to tell his son that Marcus was so drawn in by the key and the power that it held that he was willing to risk his life for it. So, he found someone that would let him divide and conquer -- the seven wizards. They were a small group of men, women, and children that had powerful magic spells, and so far, no one could stop or undo them. This group could flow in and out of Baja without notice. Since the elders were in hibernation, the citizens of Baja were no match for those evil forces.
David went on to tell Sam that Marcus was also kicked out of the boundaries of Baja, but not Baja completely, like Sam and his family were. Because Marcus turned Sam in, the elders showed him leniency and made him live on the outside of Baja.
Sam was very hurt and didn't want that road for his brother, but Marcus chose power instead of family. Now Sam felt like it was his duty to stop his brother, because whatever he was planning would soon come into effect.
Sam and his father continued watching Jane and Peter have fun in the popcorn field, and then they were ready to leave. Peter and Dingo had one last run around the field and one last taste of mouth-watering popcorn. Back in the buggy the family went. Peter stared out the window waiting to reach the house farm. Jane and Sam looked anxious.
"A few more feet and we're there," shouted Grandpa David.
Suddenly the buggy pulled up to a metallic gate made entirely of gold. They rode up to a guard shack and signed in to see their home again. The guard bowed to them and told them he was glad to see them back. As the gate opened, they saw an amazing sight, house upon house, there were even houses stacked on each other all the way up to the sky.
"Which one is ours?" shouted Peter.
"I don't know," Jane replied.
The family marched on and went up to the help desk. The lady looked the family over and over, out of the corner of her eyes. She was very snooty and rude to the Carrot-Tops.
"Well, where is your passport? I must verify you are who you say you are," said the lady.
The family showed their passports with plenty of objections from Grandpa David. "They don't have to show anything," he said with an angry voice.
But the lady took their information anyway, walked over to the computer and did a few searches. "Here, I have found your house," said the snobbish woman as she ripped a piece of paper out of the machine and handed it to Sam.
Sam was not too pleased by the lady's attitude, but he gently took the paper out of her hand. His face was filled with anger to see the citizens praise them one minute and mistreat them the next. The family was escorted to the sorting field by a security guard. The guard apologized to the family for his coworker's attitude and told Sam and his family that he still believed in Sam. He also said that Baja would be set free and the elders would wake again. With a smile on his face, the security guard took the keys out of his pocket and opened the main gate to the house farm.
The family stood on a ledge that was about 200 feet tall and watched as houses were checked in and out of storage. It was like going to the store and buying a house off the shelves. The houses were on a large belt that moved back and forth. There were big houses and little houses all in line to either be stored or un-stored. After the houses reached their destination, workers pulled them off the line. The movement was so in sync that even Grandpa David was impressed.
Peter held onto his father's coattail as he looked all the way down. There were thousands of houses as far as the eye could see. Peter and his family were a long way up, they could even see other families buying or retrieving their homes. Suddenly the belt stopped and Peter's eyes grew.
"Is that our house, Father?" asked Peter.
"Yes, sweetheart, it is ours, totally untouched," said Jane.
The image of the house was in 3-D. With a turn of a golden dial, the guard let the family see every aspect of their home the way they’d left it. The house was huge, like a royal palace. There was a courtyard, tennis court, swimming pool, and a royal garden where the birds were still humming and flying around. Jane's touch was everywhere. There were huge plants the size of hills that wound up to the sky. There was also a Beanstalk that never seemed to end; it just kept going and going. Goldfish were frozen in the pond waiting to be thawed. Peter's eyes grew bigger and bigger as he saw all that the home had to offer.
The guard told the Carrot-Tops to go inside and check everything out to make sure it was the way they’d left it. It was like stepping back in time for the family; everything seemed to be in slow motion. Sam was overcome with emotion, and so were Jane and the rest of the family. Sam trembled as he went near the door to turn the knob. For a minute, he could not do it; it was too overwhelming for him.
Grandpa David placed his hands on his son's shoulder assuring him that everything would be okay. Sam took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He closed his eyes and opened the door with a quick turn of the wrist. Dingo suddenly jumped out of Peter's pocket and ran into the house. Jane was upset, and she told Peter to leave Dingo in the wagon. But Peter didn't listen, and off Dingo went, leaping and hopping up and down the stairs. Peter was right on his heels, but Jane was angry, truly not at Peter, but at all the time they had lost.
Sam, Jane and Grandpa David slowly entered the house. The family walked through the massive hallways and into the entertainment room, where Jane rubbed her hands over the furniture, reminiscing about the good times they’d had. She sat on the edge of the sofa and looked over the pictures on the table. One was of Peter as a baby and the others were friends and family. Back in the good old days, Jane was a well respected socialite. Every afternoon, ladies would come over either to gossip or talk about life in Baja. Jane missed those days.
Because everything was frozen in time, the home was the way they had left it. Jane continued to walk off by herself into the kitchen where water was still boiling on the stove and the ice box was open just as the housekeepers had left it. Then she walked out to her favorite place, the garden. The