Consecutive Palindrome Grub
Red Roses
There was a boy in high school we will call Joey. One day Joey leaned
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
was caught on the premisses again, he would be arrested for
tresspassing.
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 ear. Now very angry, Joey got up, brushed
himself off,
and continued on his way home.
Upon ariving 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, 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, 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 a while
before he
found anyone who would hire a 15-year-old who had been expelled from
high scool
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 a long
story of
emotional stress, misunderstood 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
first
smile to cross his lips in months, Joey accepted.
On the way to the court proceedings 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. |
