The character named Finnegan moves to a small town named Easy. Because he is a stranger and somewhat of a recluse, the towns people call him "Flat-Faced Finnegan" Finnegan has an extremely long beard that trails behind him when he walks through the town, and he always wears a hat to cover his bald head. The children of the town make fun of him and jump on his beard to ride along behind him. In reality Finnegan is a scientist who has been experimenting with chemicals to replace the hair he has lost, but no matter what he does, his head remains bald and his beard keeps growing even when he cuts it. Even though the children ridicule him and step on his beard, he still has a genuine fondness for them. One day as he is taking his daily walk, he notices that the schoolhouse has caught fire and all the children and teachers are trapped on the top floor. Thinking fast he runs into the burning building and into the room with those trapped. He then throws his beard out the window so the children and teachers can climb down to safety. He then ties his beard to a heavy desk and climbs down until he is near the ground. A bystander form the crowd that had gathered cuts Finnegan's beard with a pair of scissors so he can drop to safely to the ground. From then on the whole town considers Finnegan a hero and erects a statue.
Flat-Faced Finnegan
By Mildred Ognibene Daniel NobleTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2006 Daniel A. Noble
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4120-9880-9Chapter One
He became a legend in the town of Easy and that was good, because every town needs a hero to talk about.
The Townspeople of Easy learned what makes us different, makes us special.
Many years ago, in a little town called, "Easy," there lived a man named Finnegan. This Mr. Finnegan was known by the townspeople as "old flat-faced Finnegan." Mr. Finnegan had this nickname even though his face wasn't really flat and no one learned his true age.
Flat-face Finnegan always seemed old to the people of Easy because of his strange ways and his very long beard. Never before in history had there ever been such a beard. His long grey beard trailed a full block behind him when he walked along the town's streets, and the folks of Easy would stop to watch as he passed by.
Flat-face lived alone, just outside town and, because he spent so much time in his basement, the people believed he was a bit balmy.
Finnegan's life was completely changed from that day on. His beard slowly grew back and he now was loved by all the children and respected by the grownups who even erected a statue of him in front of the new school. There were no more jeering cries when he walked the streets.
The children still followed him, walking beside his beard out of respect, and now their favorite chant was, "Let's give a cheer again for brave Mr. Finnegan."
By now a crowd had gathered and was cheering for Flat-Face. One of the men ran to the nearest house and brought back a pair of scissors. The man cut the beard from Finnegan's chin and Finnegan fell to the ground with a gentle thud. All the townsfolk gathered around to acclaim their hero with glee. What old Flat-face Finnegan was actually doing was working in his home-made lab that sat in his basement. He was trying to figure out how to make hair grow. Alas, as long as his beard was, poor Finnegan was bald as a cue ball. Flat-face Finnegan was a scientist, you see, and he had spent many years working in different labs all over the world. After he retired and moved back to his hometown of Easy, he tried many different ways to grow hair, and finally came up with a medicine he thought would do the trick.
The medicine was a smelly, gooey mess, but Flat-face rubbed it on his head twice each day, every day. He also smeared some on his chin because he thought a beard might look like nice.
After many weeks of using the goo, Flat-face saw that his beard had grown wildly - but not one hair broke the smooth, pink surface of his head! He was still bald!!
Flat-face was very disappointed, of course, that hair had not grown on his head, but he was quite pleased with the amazing beard that was growing on his chin. He was so pleased that he stopped worrying and looking at his head. Flat-face's beard grew to seven feet! He quit using the goo medicine he had created. But, to his surprise, his amazing beard continued to grow! It grew and grew and grew until it was all over his house.
Finnegan had no intention of staying there to be roasted alive! His active mind had come up with another plan of escape-this time his own. With his beard all inside again, he tied the end of it to one of the desks, climbed onto the window ledge, and hand over hand shinnied down his own beard until he was almost touching the ground. It didn't quite reach, so there he hung with his chin smarting from his own weight!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Flat-Faced Finneganby Mildred Ognibene Daniel Noble Copyright © 2006 by Daniel A. Noble. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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