Joe isn’t your typical kind of monster , he was a grumpy, mad, and sometimes sad monster. He had 3 big feathery “hair” , a big hunch back, 3 short legs , and 2 small hands. He wasn’t ever happy he always had his teeth showing like he was going to bite you and his eyes so dim like he was going to pass out. He wasn’t a very nice person to be around infact he would yell at you when you try to speak to him but there was one time when he smiled and was happy. Last summer on June 22 at 2:30pm when he met Tommy Tenner .
Joe was walking down the street one day to the store to buy some rat traps, he gets into the section with the rat traps and grabs some. When he gets to the counter he throws the rap traps, “Smack!” onto the counter . While the cashier is ringing him up “ Boop! Boop!Boop!” . Joe looks outside and sees Tommy walking down the street with crauches and he started to stare at what he was doing .
Cashier “ That would be $5.75 sir..”
Joe looked at her and mumbals under his breath
“ ugh.. I don’t know why its so much money for some stinking rat traps..” .
Joe pays for his things and opens the door “ ding ding” . He starts walking up the street to his dull, colorless house that had a small paddio. He then seen Tommy across the street going up the stairs to get to a small purple house .
Tommy was new to the neighborhood and didn’t really know anyone except for his Aunt Sally that he is staying with. Joe was wondering what was wrong with Tommy, why did he have crauches.
Later, that day he saw Tommy walking his Aunts dog, Shadow. Joe wanted to know what was wrong with the kid so he called him over.
“Hey, you kid come here for a minute.”
“ Me?” said tommy
“ Yes you !”
“ Oh... okay.”
“What’s the...what’s the matter? why do you have crauches ?”
“I have a cancer that makes my legs and arms frail and sensitive.”
“ Oh okay … I just wanted to know because I seen you earlier today when I went to the store.”
“ Oh..“
“ Well get out of my yard .Go on!”
“ It was nice to meet you mister”
“ Whatever.”
Tommy turned around and walked out of Joe’s yard.
Later that day Joe was sitting in is dull , lifeless living room that only had one recliner and a t.v. He was thinking about that boy ,Tommy ,how he was different from everyone just like him. The thing that interested him about Tommy was that town’s people weren’t mean to him and he was happy. Joe couldn’t believe it was true, he didn’t want to . That night while laying in his hard , lumpy , bed he kept thinking about it. Every time he tried to forget about it he just couldn’t. Then he had fell asleep that night with that thought on his mind.
The next morning when Joe got up at 8:10 in the morning like every day and got ready to go to the store . After he gotten ready he walked down the stairs to the front door and left . As he was walking up the street he saw Tommy again walking the oppsite direction. Joe just stared at him. Tommy waved to Joe when he saw him. Tommy yelled
“ Hi! Mister!”
“ What do you want?!”
“ I just wanted to say hi because I saw you the other day and you’re the first person who I talked to since I came to In town.”
“ Oh. Don’t you have other friends?”
“No..... I get bullied a lot because I’m... different I guess”
“ Its not so bad to be different,kid. Just watch your self people like to be mean to “different” people”
“ I know that now. You’re the only person in this town who actually talked to me .”
“Well, kid, it’s because I’m different ,too and I don’t judge.”
“Well thanks Mister”
At that moment Joe realized that he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t the only different one anymore. Joe had a weird warm feeling in him , he didn’t know what it was . Then he looked at Tommy and said
“ Your welcome. What’s your name by the way?”
“ I’m Tommy Tenner”
With a smile on Joe’s face , he shook Tommy’s hand.
“ Well nice to meet Tommy”
After that day we was happy , he spent more time with Tommy and got to know him better. He felt that Tommy was like a son he never had and he felt happy for once because he wasn’t so alone and wasn’t the only different one anymore. Everyone in town was shocked to see a smile on Joe’s face and to see him happy. Throughout the summer Joe and Tommy spent more and more time together , Tommy thought of Joe has a father figure but Joe never knew it.
One day when Joe was in his front yard standing on his paddio , he sees Tommy with a suitcase . Joe went up to Tommy, who was standing across the street putting his suitcase in the car, and Joe said with a smile
“ Where you off to,son?”
“ The hospital”
“ Oh why?”
“ The cancer has gotten worse and I need to stay at the hospital for awhile”
“ Oh. Well hope you get better ..”
“ Joe, can you come visit me in the hospital?”
“ Of course, son. I will stop by later”
“ Okay! Thanks Joe, and Joe thanks for the great summer you’re like a father to me.Thank you!”
“ You’re very welcome and I you are like a son to me .”
Off Tommy went in his Aunts black and blue SUV up the street and to the hospital.Joe was standing there waving at the car as it faded away in the distance. Later that day at about 5 o’clock he had went to the hospital to see Tommy .He walked up to the counter and asked the lady
“ Hi. I’m Joe and I am here to see Tommy Tenner”
“ Okay, sir. May you please fill out this form and sign your named her”
she points to the bottom of the page
“ Okay. Thank you ma’am”
Joe filled out the papers , signed it , and gave them back to the lady and she handed him a pass to see Tommy. When Joe got to Tommy’s hospital room , he knocked on the door and opened it. He sees Tommy laying on the bed watching t.v and he is hooked up to an I.v. Tommy looks at Joe and smiled a weak little smile.
Joe “ How are you feeling?”
“ Okay I guess”
“ That’s good”
“ Joe, the doctors looked at my sheet and looked sad. Am i going to die?”
Joe picked up his sheet and looked at it and it wasn’t so good but Joe didn’t want to scare him
“ No, son. You’re not going to die .”
“ Thats good. Hey Joe if I do pass can you promise me something ?”
“ Yes Tommy what is it ?”
“ Can you pray every night to me ?”
“ Yes i will”
“ Okay .”
Visiting hours were over and Joe had left. That same night on Tommy had passed away and Joe was very sad. Tommy was a 15 year old kid who was different from people in In town just like Joe but was also a friend of Joe.
For the next week and a half, Joe had a plaque put up in the park down the street from his house, and had a park renamed after Tommy . Joe did everything he could for that week and half to show people in In town that there was nothing bad about being different. After that Joe went back to being that mean , sad, and grumpy man that not liked anymore but the thing is people still didn’t realize being different isn’t bad.