Befuddled, the boy brushed bits of bottle from his back and continued down the street. He was deep downtown now, walking in a haze. Everything that had been happening to him was racing through his young mind. After having been kicked out of class, out of school, and out of his house, he was wandering aimlessly down the street, moving simply for the sake of moving. Since he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, he didn’t realize he was walking right into a policeman until he had bumped into the man’s belly.

“Hey, there now,” the policeman said, grasping the boy’s shoulder to keep him from falling down from the rebound off the round belly. “Well, son, just what are you doing out of school?” The policeman crossed his arms over his barrel chest and waited on the boy’s response. “Well, yesterday my teacher gave everyone in the class an assignment to learn a new word. I went home and learned a new word. Then when I went to school this morning, I told my teacher the word and she sent me to the principal’s office. When I went to see the principal and told him the word, he sent me home. When I went home and told the word to my mom, she kicked me out, so here I am.” The officer listened to the boy’s story then asked, “What was the word, son?” “Pumpernickel,” said the boy. Upon hearing the word, the poliecman pulled out his nightstick and started hitting the boy with it, shouting “What’s wrong with you?! Get out of my sight! I ought to arrest you!” Terrified, the boy ran away down the street to escape the policeman’s wrath.

Bruised, battered, bitten, burned, and bleeding, the boy–in a mad dash of desperation–ran out across the street and was hit by a bus and was killed instantly. The moral of the story? Look both ways before crossing the street.