Gentle Joe

• Laken Hornick , Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2014

It was the worst day of Gentle Joe’s life.
Gentle Joe was a short, skinny kid with a cute like appearance. He had a green button up shirt and three quarter pants. He has always lived in a small town. The little school had wet, grassy grounds and an old, gloomy
playground.
Gentle Joe, the kind and friendly boy, was kicking the soccer ball around joyfully with his friends near the old gloomy playground. He was having a fantastic time, however the ball had just been pumped up and it was new and
shiny. So it was really tough. Gentle Joe kicked the soccer ball a long way and accidently hit Billy McSmasher in the back, Gentle Joe laughed quietly and panicked .Billy McSmasher and his gang were pushing him around and then Lucky Laken told them to leave Gentle Joe and his friends alone. Everything went quiet and Billy McSmasher and his gang took a minute to think about what Lucky Laken said. Then Billy McSmasher and his friends trudged away slowly. The next few days he wasn’t seen. This was really strange for some people. Kids were searching for him but he still couldn’t be found. When they had to go back to class he wasn’t there. Mrs Horn went looking for him
and found him sitting in the playground sadly. “What happened” said Mrs Horn. Billy McSmasher said “I thought I was the bravest kid in the school and no one would stand up to me.” “Sometimes that happens” said Mrs Horn.
Gentle Joe apologised to the boys and eventually they accepted it and they became friends.
The next day they were playing football together shouting cheerfully. It ended up as a pretty good day for Gentle Joe. He went home to
tell his mum and dad about his day and what happened. They were very proud of him. Next week Lucky Laken got an award for being helpful and she said that Gentle Joe should get one too.