A Stranger’s Story
By Mihir Chakrapani
It was the third of May, a day in which I made a huge mistake, or at
least, I thought I did. I befriended a boy named Bruno.
Bruno was no ordinary boy. I mean, you can tell by the way he looked:
He had a military cut with sideburns which bulged out because all his
other hair was so short. The next thing you can’t help but notice is that
his hands are four times the size of ordinary hands. To help you notice
this even more, his arms are literally the size of sticks. Down below
the waist, his legs are one of the fattest pair you would ever find on
a person and his feet, if you could actually notice them, are the size
of erasers. And on top of all this, his clothes look like goblin mucus.
Bruno looked like weirdness at its greatest height. To be honest, Bruno
looked like a prototype robot which didn’t come out well because an
ugly spider was jammed in the machine. But, if you go to his house, his
parents are as sophisticated as Buckingham Palace guards! It’s all a big
question mark in your head. And strangely, I never noticed this the
first time I met him.
The Day I Met Bruno
I got an F in a maths test because I didn’t answer any of the questions.
Don’t blame me, it was on powers and roots, which the class did the
day I was absent. It was the first time I got a grade below B+, and I
only got B+ once, and that was in physics, my weakest subject. On the
same day, I got my first detention for accidentally dropping chocolate
pudding on Emilia Robinson, a tenth grade girl with a serious temper. As
you can guess, I was not in a good mood on my way home from school.
While I was walking, a strange looking boy jumped out of a bush and
scared the living daylight out of me! “You must be Clark Clearwater”
he said. “I’ve seen you around school”. How do you know who I am?” I
said, surprised. “I hide in the trash cans because everyone hates me.
Maybe it’s because of my looks. I’m Bruno by the way” he answered. At
that moment, I felt sympathy for Bruno and asked him to come over to
my place. Little did I know that I really shouldn’t have asked him that
question.
I opened the door and he ran right into the living room. He ran so fast,
he didn’t have time to stop before he knocked over our 60” 3D T.V
which cost us $750 right on to mom, knocking her out cold. I stood in
shock for about fifteen seconds and then decided to take him up to my
room before he destroys dad’s birthday gift, a Lenovo laptop.
Up in my room, I set down my bag and then heard a loud noise. I turned
only to find my X-Box on the floor, shattered, my World Globe rolling
out the window and a huge crack in the ceiling!
“I just threw your hockey ball” he explained, after I yelled my voice
out at him. “I’ll just be back, I need to use the toilet” he said, and ran
into it. After forty-five minutes, he finally came out. But I wish he
hadn’t; the sink was in two pieces, the toilet seat was upside down, the
bathtub had turned from white to black, the light bulb had disappeared
and the bathroom stunk as if a skunk had been let loose in there! “GET
OUT!!!!!!” I screamed, and Bruno ran home, crying. When dad got home,
I told him the whole story and he sued Bruno’s parents $100,000. Now
I know not to feel sympathetic for anyone who jumps out of a bush,
scares you to death and looks like a pigsty. However, I didn’t know the
truth…
Bruno’s Story
The amount was due to be paid on the third of July. In the middle of
June, I was taking a stroll in the park and I came across two familiar
faces; Bruno’s parents. “We wanted to talk to you about Bruno” they
said, in a friendly voice, which freaked me out. We sat down on a
nearby bench. “You see, Bruno is no normal child. He was born five
months before he was actually due. Due to this, his brain was not
fully developed and doctors said that he would have the urge to break
objects until he was fourteen. That is only one year away but until now,
he has destroyed at least two objects in every house he has been in”
explained Bruno’s mother. “Where is he now?” I asked her. “He goes
to classes which are supposed to help him with his problem, down in
Avenue Lane” replied his father. “Nobody understands his issues, they
just want money. The doctors say he is stressed too, since no one cares
about him. We hope you understand”. I almost had tears in my eyes. I
was speechless. I just got up and walked away.
After I got home, I told dad everything. He thought long and hard,
and finally decided to call off the fine. He was so sure of it, he did on
that very day, and from then on, the Smiths, which we later found out
was their family name, were our family friends, and the godparents of
my later born sister. Bruno was now a normal boy, and my best friend.
Everything turned out fine for everyone.
