The Big Gentle Boy

Once upon a time there was a mean, big, fat boy who was mean to everybody.  His name was Mean Ben.  For example, yesterday he chased the girls named Kayla, Michaela and Sarah.  Kayla said “Mean Ben, go away!”                    

Michaela said “Mean Ben don’t bother us!”   

          

                        

 

Sarah said “Mean Ben leave us alone!”  But Mean Ben would not leave them alone.

One day he did not let a little boy play with him when the little boy had no one to play with, because the girls did not want to play with him, and all the older boys would not play with them either. 

                                                                    

After he had bullied that little boy some more and school was finished for the day, mean Ben came home where he had a little sister whose name was Kelly.  And on the way home, Mean Ben was sitting next to Kelly and was punching her, and punching her over and over again. 

Mean Ben’s mother said “Stop it, Ben!  You’ve got to cut it out and you are grounded.  You are not to walk out of the door”

Mean Ben thought about it when he got home.  His bedroom was at the top of the stairs, and he thought to himself “She said that I was not to walk out of that door.  Did she say door?  Then I will climb out of the window!  Then I will not be walking out of the door.” 

So Mean Ben packed his bag, and then climbed down from the window without being heard, very quietly and rode his bike to have a sleep over with his best friend, who was also mean.  His only friend was named Mean Phelp. 

When it was dinner time back home at Mean Ben’s house, his mother called out “Dinner Mean Ben” but Mean Ben did not come.  So she called out louder “Come and eat your dinner, come and eat your dinner”.  But Mean Ben did not come so his mother yelled and yelled and yelled and said “Mean Ben come down now!  You are Mean Ben and that is where you got your name from so now you’re going to be known as Mean, Mean Ben.”

Then his mother thought a minute “he’ll probably pack his bag and climb down the window and go to Mean Phelp’s house”.  Then Mean, Mean Ben’s mother called Mean Phelp’s mother and said “Is Mean Ben over at your house?”   Mean Phelp’s mother said “Yes.  Didn’t he tell you?  He told me that he told you that he was coming here for the night.”  Mean Ben’s mother said “Well, I’m coming over”

Mean Ben’s mother drove in her car over to Mean Phelp’s house. She said to Mean Ben “I decided that your name was Mean Ben because you were so mean, but now your name will be Mean, Mean Ben.  And you are so grounded!  You are not coming out of the house unless I say to go to school.  In fact you might even miss school since you are double grounded!”  

So then Ben sighed and thought “I’m going to change.  Why did I get my name as Mean, Mean Ben?  Why did I get my name as Mean Ben?  Because I’ve been mean, and mean is not nice.  So I’m changing from mean to nice.  I do not want to be called Mean, Mean Ben, or Mean Ben either”. 

One day later he came to his mother and said, “I do not want to be double grounded”.

 His mother said “Well then you can be just grounded, not double grounded”  

But then Mean, Mean Ben said “I want to change from being mean to being nice and gentle”

So then his mother said “OK, be nice and gentle for one whole week of school and then I’ll see if your teacher says that you have changed.”

It was Monday when Ben came to school and tried not to chase the girls, but they still kept away from Ben.  He came to the little boy and was about to say “You can play with me” but the little boy was too scared and ran away.  And then he sat down lonely asking for someone to play with.  On Tuesday, the little boy and the girls came up with an idea.  They whispered “How about we see if Ben has changed.  We’ll go near him and we’ll see if he has really changed.  So if he chases us or bashes upthe  little boy then he is still mean.”

                     

 

So then they all practiced for awhile,  and the little boy pretended to be Mean, Mean Ben and another boy kindly said “I will be Mean, Mean Ben.  Then you can be sure if you want to go with Mean, Mean Ben and be his friend”

They practiced and they practiced until they were not scared if Mean, Mean Ben chased them again.  Then on Wednesday they asked Mean, Mean Ben if he would play with them and he said “Really, are you sure that you want to play with me?  Aren’t you setting up any tricks for me?  So that is why I might play with you just this once” 

On Thursday, Mean, Mean Ben and the girls and the little boy started playing a really, really good game.  So they did that all week until it was Saturday.

Mean, Mean Ben’s mother got a call from the teacher, and the teacher said “I’ve kept an eye on him all week and Mean, Mean Ben has been very nice so he does not have to be grounded”

Mean, Mean Ben’s name changed to Big, Gentle Ben.  And he was the best boy in all of the class and the best boy of the girls too.  And that was the story of Mean, Mean Ben changing into Big, Gentle Ben.