Two Old Men and a Baby by Hendrik Groen

 

"'Evert, Evert, Evert, what have you got us into now?' I knew my pal could sometimes be a bit impulsive, but this was especially ill-thought-out, even for him. A baby as a surprise Santa gift! I was finding it hard to hide my anger and irritation."

    -from the novel

In March I read The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old and loved it so much that I read a sequel, On the Bright Side, The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen. Both were very entertaining. When I noticed there was another by this Dutch author, I tried to find it in my local library and finally received it as an interlibrary loan. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the other two, but it was a page-turner. I will rate it a 4.

Occurring 9 years before The Secret Diary setting, Hendrik and good buddy, Evert Duiker have a crazy, exciting adventure. The subtitle: Or How Hendrik and Evert Get Themselves into a Jam, hints of such.

Hendrik ducks into a school to use the restroom and finds an unsupervised baby asleep in a carriage. Without thinking he leaves with the carriage and when he comes to his senses, goes to Hendrik for help. See Hendrik's reaction above. Repeatedly they try to return the child to the parents with no success. 

The action alternates between the Princess Margriet School, Hendrik's apartment, the Verbeek home (baby's parents), the police station or town hall and the home of Wil, a deceitful fellow trying to capitalize on the "kidnapping" by asking a ransom with NO child. Add in some incompetent police and a nosy neighbor and you have some amusing incidents.

I should add that the first two Groen books I mentioned were very relatable to me as Hendrik is living in what he refers to as a "care home" and so do I although we call it a continuing care retirement community, CCRC. So many familiar occurrences! Those two novels earned 5 ratings from me.