THE DIRTY BIRD Chapter one

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THE DIRTY BIRD   Chapter one

“Justin, you tell that boy not to be coming around here.”

“Ma he is just coming over to play and have we have fun.”

“Justin did you hear me?”

“Yes ma but why?”

“That boy never washes himself or his clothes either and he smells bad.”

“I never noticed it Ma … he ain’t no worse than the hogs.”

“I ain’t going to ask you again, tell him not to come around anymore.  One more thing I think he is stealing for some things are missing from the house and I’m sure he took them.”

“Okay Ma but it is going to be embarrassing. He’s bound to ask why and I hate to tell him you suspect he has been stealing and he ain’t welcome here anymore.”

“Well you don’t have to tell him all of that just say you don’t have time to play anymore so don’t come over.”

So it went people were always shying away from Dirty for some of the reasons Justin’s ma said.  As a matter of fact everyone said Dirty was a thief and would steal anything he could carry.

When he was seven he was caught with the goods and brought before the Justice of the Peace.

The Justice asked Dirty why he was always stealing and Dirty said, “Because I am a Bird.  We Birds have been thieves for way back when and it is my nature to do it.”

The justice said, “Now Dirty … what is your name anyway?”

“Well Dirty is what everyone calls me but my ma said she named me Bobby.”

“Alright Dirty or Bobby I’m gonna give you a chance to go agin your nature and become a honest young man but if you come back here again you are going to jail till you are grown up.  You better think it over cause you ain’t going to like jail one little bit.”

“Okay Judge Brown I be good or at least try to.”

Justin’ Pa was a lawyer and he heard everything the judge said about Dirty and decided to look into it.  

What he found out wasn’t pretty for his ma wasn’t all there and Dirty had to do everything around the house.

His pa was long gone and Dirty had to scrounge for food to eat for both of them. He figured this was the reason Dirty was a stealing not because he was a thief.

He had the county go out and when they saw what was going on they put Dirty’s ma in a home for the mental cases.  

After some wrangling it was decided that Dirty should come and stay with Justin and his family. Justin’s ma was against it but in the end she gave in.

The first thing she said, “He is going to have to clean up and stay clean.”

Justin said, “They done cleaned him up at the county orphanage and he is alright.”

“Another thing that name Dirty has to go for it don’t sound good to be called Dirty.”

Justin said, “His name is Bobby but I named him Robert.  So everyone can call him Robert from now on.”

Ma said, “You ain’t gonna steal anymore are you?”

Robert said, “No, there is no need to unless you were hungry then I would for you and the family.”

Well that’s thoughtful, but there won’t be no need for that you just remember.”

That fall both Justin and Robert turned eight years old and were in the third grade.  Robert was smart and got the best grades in the class.  

Justin leaned on him a lot for he struggled at times.  Robert thought it might have had something to do with Justin’s interest in girls. He thought a lot about them and Robert’s interest was stirred up some because of the way Justin acted.

A couple years later Justin got the notion he and Robert should start going to the school dances. He caught his older sister kissing a boy from the church and made her promise to teach him and Robert all the new dances.

After this they went to all the dances every week and Justin would get them some partners to dance with for the night. The girls were usually a couple years older than the boys but it didn’t bother Justin for he and Robert were growing taller every day.

The boys were having a good time with the twelve year old girls and it made the girls Justin’s age jealous. They started to rag on the older girls by saying things like “robbing the cradle” and "why can’t you get someone your own age to play with."

After a while all the teasing began to have its effect and the boys lost their appeal to the older girls.

Robert was disappointed at that for he liked the fact that some of the twelve year olds were showing signs of looking grown up. Anyway the younger girls were doing their best to act like the older girls and that helped a little.

After two years Ma treated Robert just like Justin for she was quite taken with him.  Being around people who spoke proper English and were well mannered he adopted their habits and was nothing like the boy named Dirty anymore.

To be Continued