Dirty Boy
Matthew Tucker was a normal kid. He wore the cleanest clothes and had the shiniest pairs of shoes around. His parents doted on their young son often. Folks would often compliment how nice young Matthew, or Matt as he was called by his friends at Pre-School, looked. And young Matt was a happy boy.
Then one day, Matt was with his mother at the grocery store. As they were packing the last bit of groceries in the station wagon, Matt's mother strapped him in to his booster seat. As she was backing up, a young girl all of the sudden leaped out from behind the car, causing Matt's mother to hit the girl. She got out immediately to see if the girl was all right. She was unconscious and bleeding heavily. The ambulance came and took the girl to the hospital. Matt's mother, after talking to the police about what happened, went there as well.
Matt and his mother were in the Emergency Room waiting to hear what happened to the poor girl that she hit. The girl's parents arrived at that moment. When they learned that Matt's mother was the one that hit their daughter, they were understandably angry.
The girl's mother said to Matt's mother, "I hope, for your sake, that my Victoria pulls through. The Sparkyville police may not charge you with anything seeing that it was an 'accident', but don't think we will let you off scott-free!"
It was then the doctor came out to see everyone. Young Victoria had died from a hemorrhage caused from her injuries. Victoria's mother then looked at Matt's mother and said, "You know we are Gypsies, don't you? And when someone in our family dies because of someone else negligence we take it personal!"
"Now wait a minute!" Matt's mother said. "No offence but your daughter ran out behind my car as I was backing out. I couldn't stop in time to keep from hitting her. I'm sorry for your loss, but this isn't my fault!"
"Balderdash!" said Victoria's mother. "Is that your son?"
"Don't bring my Matthew into this!"
"It's too late! Because of you he's already, as you say, 'into this'. Because of your negligence, I place the curse of the 'Dirty Boy' on your son! For all the days of his youth, he will remain dirty and dusty, even during a rainstorm or snowstorm! He will gradually come out of his curse the closer he comes to adulthood, but for his childhood and teenage years, he will remain a 'Dirty Boy'!" And the lady stroked Matt's face with her index finger.
"What are you doing?!" yelled Matt's mother. "Get your hands off my son!"
"The curse of the 'Dirty Boy' has been placed," Victoria's mother announced. "Starting tomorrow, he will no longer be 'Matt'; for the days he is under the curse he will be known only as 'Pig Pen' the Dirty Boy! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!"
The next day, Matt's mother got up and went to her son's room. She gasped when she saw him. Young Matt was covered head to toe in dirt and a dust cloud enveloped him. She screamed for her husband to come into Matt's room. He was equally shocked to see his boy now dirty and disheveled.
"It was that Gypsy witch!" cried Matt's mother. "She did this to our boy!" Just then the phone rang. The mother went to answer it. It was Victoria's mother. How she got their number didn't matter because she wanted to fix her son.
"Get rid of this curse NOW!" Matt's mother yelled.
"I cannot lift it," Victoria's mother said calmly. "The 'Dirty Boy' curse takes time to wear off. Just thank your lucky stars it's not permanent. Besides, he can still be clean for some periods of time. Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, but for most of his childhood days, he will remain a 'Pig Pen'!" Matt's mothers collapsed to the floor crying. Her husband comforted her. Matt was, for all his childhood days, was now Pig Pen, the Dirty Boy.
THE END