Rose's 24 hour diner

Chapter 3

I couldn't believe it was the same boy from earlier. Pearl and I had so many questions on where he went off to but before we could ask, my dad ushered him inside while my mom offered to grab a towel for him to dry off with. He thanked us for letting him in before asking if he could clean up first before calling his parents. My parents agreed to let him to clean up but they insisted on calling them while Pearl and I got him some of dad's old clothes that he could borrow in the meantime. He gave them the number that they could use to call his parents on our phone before I showed him the way to the bathroom on the second floor. Pearl knew where we kept the towels so she had gone to grab one while I did so. Once we gave him the towel and showed him where the bathroom was, we then went to pick out clothes for him that might be a good size. I had no brothers so all we had was dad's old clothes that he never used or hadn't gotten rid of. We managed to find a green sweater, tan colored pants, a black belt and a white shirt and socks to give to him after some time of looking. They were a bit big but they would have to do for now. I knocked on the door and let him know that we found clothes for him and that we would be leaving them by the door so he could change clothes and come down when he was ready. He thanked us before I set the clothes by the door and Pearl and I went downstairs. As we got downstairs, mom was still talking to his parents and dad was now watching the evening news on the couch.

"How is he?" Dad asks me.

"He seems fine now. I am sure he was terrified at first but seems fine now that he's getting clean." I replied.

"That's good." He said and gave a small smile.

Mom hangs up the phone and walks into the living room and says "I just got off the phone with his parents and according to them, they're visiting Mr and Mrs. Henderson, the elderly couple who live a few blocks from us for the upcoming fair. His mother apparently is Mrs. Henderson's daughter, who I guess moved away years ago when she went off to college."

"I see. Still doesn't explain how he ended up all dirty and wet though." Dad says.

Mother sighs and says "Maybe he fell into a creek somewhere or got pranked by some of the local kids while exploring the town. Either way, I feel bad for the poor boy. Lost and afraid in a town he's not familiar with. Especially when he doesn't have any friends here I would imagine."

"Well given how he looked, it was probably a prank by some of the local kids here. Or some strange hazing rite to let him into the group." Dad said.

"Dad. Pearl and I saw him on the way here from the diner. He was covered in paint and soaked. So it was probably was a prank and a pretty lousy one." I told him.

"I see. Well, we'll ask once he comes downstairs. Not much else we could do other than maybe feed him dinner if he's hungry." Mom says before going back in the kitchen to clean up. Pearl and I offered to help clean up while we waited for the boy to come down. A few minutes later, we heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and into the living room.

We could hear dad asking him how the clothes fit and the boy saying they fit just fine and we're comfortable before dad began asking him on what happened and how he became so messy.

From where we were we heard him say "'my name name is Teddy. I was walking around town when a group of the local boys came over to me in their car and began talking and saying they wanted to be friends so they invited me to come to the lake with them. At first, it seemed fine until they started to get out of the car, grabbed me and then take me to the nearby lake and threw water balloons filled with water and paint on me and left me stranded as some sort of prank saying they pretended to want to be friends and thought it was funny. That's when I walked back into town and saw your daughter and her friend at the stop sign but was too embarrassed and scared to let them help, thinking it was another prank so I fled back home where I changed clothes. I was getting the mail when I saw the same boys again and got all messy again thanks to them throwing toilet paper and ended running away a few blocks down to your house where they disappeared from sight when they saw you open the door."