It Can't Get Worse

Chapter 1: Sunny Days

Chapter 1: Sunny Days

It was a cold stormy day, but Joseph's heart was sunny. He skipped 3 miles, up-hill to school with a brilliant smile on his face. He thought to himself, "What a wonderful day!" as he tripped over a bird with a broken wing and fell face first into the concrete.

After picking the shards of pavement out of his knees, he scrambled to the wounded bird to see if it was ok. It was lying on the ground as stiff as a log. Joseph started to cry over the bird's dead body when it sprang to life and bit his eyelid off.

~

"Go to the nurses before you get blood in my classroom." Mrs. Lovelynn said flatly when Joseph walked into her classroom. His eyes filled with tears and blood as he forced a smile on his face, nodded and walked to the nurses.

As Joseph stumbled along the tile hallway, he didn't notice the "wet floor" sign and once again tripped, spilling blood everywhere. "Get out of my hall! I just cleaned that!" the janitor screamed as he wacked Joseph with the mop.

~

Joseph blinked his eyes as he awoke. "Your an idiota." Ms. Perez sighed in her thick Spanish accent, as she cleaned his wounds. "Crow attacks happen a lot here, but I never seen one take off a whole eye lid. We need to reattach a faux-lid." "What's that? How did I get here..." Joseph asked/mumbled nervously. "You fell unconscious and the janitor dragged your limp body to me. No more questions. I'm putting you on anesthetics and when you wake up you will be all..." was the last thing Joseph heard before he fell asleep.

~

"Wake up." Demanded Ms. Perez. Joseph startled awake and looked into the mirror in front of him. "It's pink... my eye lid is pink..." he stated half questionably. "Well, if you don't like it I can rip it out. Malditos niños no aprecian nada más," Ms. Perez slurred, shaking her head. "It's good," Joseph sadly smiled. "Schools over. Leave now." Ms. Perez replied stubbornly. Joseph hopped out of the bed and shuffled out the door.

It was raining out side as he stumbled home. Joseph was kicking a stone when he saw the red family Jeep driving up behind him. For the first time today he finally felt lucky, until the Jeep drove by with Mike shouting, "Pink-eye loser!" and splashing him with a near by puddle.

"At least it can't get any worse..." Joseph smiled. He then straightened his poster, held his head up high and decided that this day wasn't going to bring him down. So he started to strut home, happy and feeling great. Then a bolt of lightning hit him.

And that's how Joseph developed the nickname, "Pink-Eye."