Things Will Work Out

Things Will Work Out Jeffrey A. Oakley Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved ISBN: Dedication For my wonderful wife Khristina andour beautiful daughter Charlee. Acknowledgement I would like to thank Khristina, my lovely wife, and our daughter Charlee for always believing in me. Content Dedication. .....................................iii Acknowledgment. ........................ iv About the Author.......................vi Preface............................................ viii About the Author Born and raised in Pennsylvania. Previous member of the US Army.Hobbies include woodworking and fishing. Background in IT Project Management. Preface Sitting in my recliner I began to think about some of my former classmates. I wondered if they could have been treated better. Would this allowed them more posi-tive options post school. Thus the tale of this children book began.  “Here he comes! Here he comes!” the children called out.“Here comes Jabroni the giraffe!” Jabroni tried to hold back his tears. He was a tall, thin boy who had just turned nine. He spent his birthday alone.He had invited the kids at school but nobody came. In the end,he had to cut the cake with his little sister, his mother, and his father. He spent the rest of the day playing games. Peter was the new boy at school. He saw the way the other kids were treating Jabroni and asked, “Why do you call him that?” “Because he is tall, awkward, and clumsy,” Lisa said. She was a clever little girl who wore glasses and was wayahead of the class. “Everyone is good at something. Tommy can ride a skateboard, Lilly can garden, Henry can paint well, Jill can ride a bike, Billy can bake, and Hannah can play    basketball. Only Jabroni is not good at something.”     “Well, that is still a mean way to treat someone,” Peter said. He also had a skill. He was very good at chess. “Who knows? Maybe one day Jabroni can also be good at something.” “Jabroni doesn’t even try to be good at anything. All he likes to dois waste his time. He is okay with being bad at everything. He plays video games all day and never does his homework. Hejust gives up because he is bad at everything,” Jill, the other girl, said. “Maybe we need to give him a chance?” Peter wondered.“You can give him a chance all you like. He will always be a failure for us,” Billy said, and all the other children laughed. All the children were sitting on the bench in the playground whilethey were talking. Near that bench was a huge tree,     and sometimes, Jabroni climbed the tree. He liked to hide in itand secretly eat his lunch there. He overheard them talking about him, and he felt very sad     “That’s so mean,” he said silently. He stayed in the tree even when the other children went away. “IhateLisa,Jill,Billy,andTommy. Ihate all of them. They are all awful!” Jabaroni said. He felt like a failure. Tearsrolled down his cheeks and he started to cry. It was true, Jabroni was not good at anything, and he knew the other kidshated him for that. “He doesn’t even try to be good at anything,” Lisa had said. Jabroni said these words to himself over and over again. It was true, he realized. However, that did not make it hurt any less. He still hated their words, but when he understood what they meant, he stopped hating them. He thought very hard about all the times his mother told him to study, but he never listened to her. He joked, and laughed in his class,acting goofy, and trying to waste time so that he did not have to study. After school, he usually played video games or pranked his younger brother. He was good at video games, but he knew   that he was not the best at them. He did not have any hobbies, but he liked to sleep. Sometimes, he kicked around a football, but he was not good enough to be part of a team. He could paint a little, but his paintings were often messy, andhe never liked to try to be good at anything.                                                    When recess was over, he quietly slipped down thetree and made his way into class. He had dried histears and his eyes were determined. “Peter was right!” he whispered to himself. “All Ineed is a chance. I will prove it to them all!” That day, instead of keeping his head down on thetable and sleeping in class, Jabroni stayed awake. Instead of goofing off and laughing at silly stuff, he listened to what the teacher was explaining. He thought that he would not be able to under- stand anything in class, but, to his surprise, he understood everything perfectly. “That means I am not dumb, or a failure. I just need to try!” Jabroni said, his eyes wide and happy. The other children were very surprised by his behavior, but they did not do anything about it. They just continued teasing him like they normallydid.     “I’ll show them!” Jabroni promised himself. “I’ll show them all!” That day, he went home, had hisfood, and sat at his desk right away so that he could study.                                                                                                           His parents were very surprised by his behavior butthey were also very proud of him. “What’s gotten into you, Jabroni?” his mother askedat the dinner table, but Jabroni said nothing. He just stayed quiet and smiled. He was confident that things would work out, and he would never let anything anyone else said affect him in any way. He would use their harsh words andturn them into a source of silent power, learning from them. Every day, Jabroni went to school and studied veryhard. He started to get good grades, but he neverboasted about his grades. “I got 70 marks!” Tommy exclaimed.“I got 78,” Peter cheered. “I got 73,” Hannah said sadly. “And I got 80,” Lisa told them. Everyone thought Lisa had the most     marks, but they were wrong. Later, when everyone was payingattention to the teacher, Jabroni proudly looked at his test. He had gotten 85 marks!                                                                                                                                   His parents were very proud of him when they sawhis test sheets. He started getting As in every test, and they were very happy. “I am so glad you are working hard, Jabroni. That’sall we wanted you to do; to at least try to get goodgrades. We are very happy that your hard work is paying off, and we want to give you a gift,” his father said. “What would you want?” “Let’s get him the latest video game,” his mothersaid, smiling. Jabroni shook his head. “I want a football,” he said quietly. He had never been interested in football, but his little brother liked watching football games. Jabronihad watched them with him a few times and he decided he really liked it. He wanted to play football, and even if he was bad at it, there would be no harm in trying to see if he would like it. Besides, he had made up his mind to be     good at everything.                                                          When his parents got him the football, he played with it every day after his studies. At first, he wasvery bad at it. The ball hurt his foot, and he could not kick it properly, but then, he learned to play theright way. He and his brother played football on the weekends,and Jabroni formed a strong bond with his brother.He became his brother’s mentor, and their parents were very proud to see them getting along.                                                   Soon enough, Jabroni became really good at foot- ball, but nobody really knew about it. When he gotinto high school, his school held football tryouts. Jabroni did not want to take part, but his little brother made sure he did. “You need to at least attempt the tryouts. If youfail, then you fail, and you can try again. If you don’t fail, then you’ll be in. But you need to give it a go,” his brother said.          I r  I  I        - - •• •• II•• I r       •• •• •• II         - - r II •• •• •• C, f Football outs -             So Jabroni decided to participate in the tryouts. Hewas very nervous, but much to his, and everyone else’s surprise, he made the first pick! All the children who had once mocked Jabroni stood around in shock. It was a small town, so they had allgone to the same high school as him. “Jabroni, I didn’t know you liked playing football,” Peter said. “Maybe we can play together sometimes?”“Sure!” Jabroni answered.                                                                                                     Soon, the children stopped teasing Jabroni. Hebecame known as the boy who was amazing atfootball, and everyone was in awe of him. Jabroni and Peter became close friends, and Jabroni was very glad he finally had a friend. “Hmmp,” Lisa said when she saw Jabroni. “At least he is still dumb. He is so bad at his studies.”Jabroni remained quiet. He did not need to prove his worth to anyone, because he already knew he had made it.         The next day, the teacher was absent, so Lisawas in charge of handing out the test papers.She announced everyone’s names and marks, must to all the children’s annoyance. Lisa had grown angry, and mean over the years.She liked picking on and making fun of the kids whose kids were not as good as her, so she was truly enjoying mocking everyone. “85,” she announced, proudly, knowing nobodywould have gotten more. “I got 85 marks inmaths!” Her eyes widened when she saw the next sheet. Billy snatched it from her impatiently.                       -                         =:J      rr   He looked shocked when he saw the test sheet.“Jabroni got 89 marks!” he said aloud, and all the children looked at Jabroni in surprise. Jabroni, on the other hand, felt very shy.He held out his hand and took the test. “Th-thank you,” he said, with a small stutterwhen Tommy let go of it. “How did you get the best marks? Did youcheat?” Lisa demanded meanly.     ••• I I• •   Ir r • . .   r            -  -                                           v -     - - -  “Of course not!” Peter said, standing up for hisfriend. “Jabroni always gets good marks. Even better than yours. Sometimes, he teaches me too!” “But, why didn’t you ever tell us?” Jill asked,surprised. “I never saw the need to,” Jabroni told herhumbly. “Well, next time, can we study together?” Jillasked.     •   I r •                              - -  “Me too,” Billy said. “And me,” Sally exclaimed. Suddenly, all the children wanted to study withJabroni, and he felt very happy. “You never ask to study with me!” Lisa said angrily.“Well, that is because you make fun of us, and call us dumb,” Hannah said. “Jabroni was humble, even when he was getting the best marks, so, of course,we want to be friends with him. He is not only smart, and hardworking, he is also humble and kind.”                                                                                                                                         A few weeks later, Jabroni’s birthday rolled around. He had not wanted to invite anyone, thinking they would not show up, just like thatone time when he was younger. However, Peter had convinced him to invite his friends and hold a birthday party. Much to his surprise, all of his friends showed up. He had invited Lisa too, and she was also there. She hadapologized to him and he had forgiven her. That day, Jabroni was extremely happy. He lookedat all his friends and was very glad that he did not give up. He had worked hard, until the very end, and he had stayed humble instead of being proud and arrogant like Lisa. “I did it!” he whispered to himself while he cuthis birthday cake. “I     finally made sure that things worked out. And I wish they always do!”   a {, f,IJ ) ,  '                       - - --- -