over to the girl sitting next to him in class and whispered, "Red
Roses "
The shocked girl stood up, slapped Joey in the face and went crying to
the teacher. The teacher called Joey to the desk and asked what he had
said.
"Red roses" was Joey's reply, at which the teacher screamed and sent
poor Joey to the principal's office.
As Joey waited in the lobby to be called in, he pondered what was
happening to him. His thoughts where cut short by the sound of the
secretary saying he could go in. Joey walked into the office and was
told to take a seat, which he did.
After telling the story of how he had been wrongly accused and how he
knew there was some mistake, the principal smiled and asked, "OK,
Joey, I understand. What did you say to her?" Joey was sure the
principal would be a reasonable man and responded "Red roses." you
could watch as the principal turned red and shouted "YOU'RE EXPELLED!
GET OUT!"
Joey asked to wait for the bus to take him home, since he lived some
distance away. "NO!" Then Joey was informed that if he were caught on
the premises again, he would be arrested for trespassing.
Very distraught, Joey set out on his way home. He had made it about a
mile down the road when Old Man Jones, the local pig farmer, stopped
and offered a ride home. Joey, being very upset, of course, accepted
the ride.
Not more than a mile down the road, Old Man Jones asked why Joey
wasn't in school, so Joey told the story of the events that had
happened that day. At the end of the story, the old man said that it
sounded like Joey had quite a rough time of it "Oh, and what did you
say?" Joey hesitated-- should he tell the man what he said, or not? He
decided to tell him. "Red roses."
The tires squealed as the truck ground to a halt.Old Man Jones reached
over and opened the door and pushed Joey out on his car.
Now very angry, Joey got up, brushed himself off, and continued on his
way home. Upon arriving at home, Joey's mother, Mrs. Campbell, saw
that her son wasn't looking too good, and asked why he hadn't caught
the bus. Joey told her. She fixed Joey a bowl of soup and then asked,
"Joey, dear, what on earth did you say to that little girl?" Joey
wasn't sure what to do. He knew his mother loved him, but he didn't
want her to have the same reaction everyone else had. But he told her
anyway. "Red roses."
Joey waited in his room with a bruised ego and a sore bottom,
wondering what would happen when his father got home. Six o'clock came
around and Joey's father got home. He could hear his parents arguing
outside his door and then suddenly it was quiet. Mr.. Campbell came
into the room and said, "Your mother told me you had some trouble at
school, but I told her you and I would figure it out.
But the first thing is you have to tell me what you said." "OK, Dad, I
said red roses'," was Joey's response. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU"RE NO
SON OF MINE!"
The next morning, Joey decided he needed to get a job. It was awhile
before he found anyone who would hire a 15-year-old who had been
expelled from high school and kicked out of the house. But Joey wasn't
a quitter, and he did find a job working at a gas station in a
neighboring town. After a few months, Joey had managed to get settled
in his new job and had even moved into the apartment over his boss'
garage.
On a particularly slow day at work Joey's boss asked what had happened
that caused everything that had happened to happen. Joey went into
along story of emotional stress,misunderstoo d youth, the pain of
having lost all of his friends and family in one fateful day. The tale
Joey spun was so powerful; his boss was moved to tears and, out of
compassion, offered to adopt Joey.
With the firstsmile to cross his lips in months, Joey accepted. On the
way to thecourtproceedings a few days later, Joey's boss asked him,
"Exactly, what did you say to her?" Without thinking, Joey replied,
"Red roses." His boss grew as white as a ghost and said, "That was my
niece, you little pervert!"
Once again, Joey was without a friend in the world. The next day Joey
took all the money he had managed to save and bought a bus ticket "to
wherever the farthest place from here is.
As he waited for his bus, a little old lady sat down next to him on
the bench. Even though he didn't want to, she started talking, and
before you knew it, she had heard almost the whole story. But she
interrupted and asked what he had said."Ma'am, I said 'red roses'.
Well, the words were just barely out of his mouth when she started
beating him with her cane.
In order to flee the fury of the old woman, he ran across the road,
but he never made it to the other side. He was hit by a speeding Mack
truck and he died.
The moral of this story is,
Always look both ways before crossing the street.
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