Judging Joey by Elizabeth John Read Free Book Online Page A

much-older brother and his wife, Patty, were childless and had welcomed her as their own when her mother gave up her parental rights.
    Madeline saw the worry on her Uncle Mark’s face today as clearly as she remembered it on several occasions during her teenage years with them. Like the time she broke her arm climbing out her bedroom window and falling out of the oak tree in the yard or the day she got her driver’s license.
    Madeline slid back into the chair. She was acting irrationally. The last thing she wanted was to cause her uncle any grief. She might as well open up.
    “Joey O’Neill always had everything in high school, Uncle Mark. He was popular, maybe the most popular guy in our grade. He was a football star, not merely a regular player. I should know. I wrote about it in the school newspaper every week. He always had a girlfriend. He went to the prom with the most popular girl and of course they were the Prom King and Queen.”
    Uncle Mark leaned back in his chair, then stroked at a few white whiskers on his chin. “Maddie, I’m surprised to hear you talk this way. Those things never meant anything to you. Besides, you had said the prom was silly and, if I recall correctly, wouldn’t be caught dead there. And I bet if you had gone, you would have been the prettiest girl there.”
    She smiled softly. “Of course you would say that, you’re my uncle.” How could she really admit to him what was bothering her? The truth was that no one had asked her. She had dreamed that Joey would ask her, but of course he didn’t. It was a fantasy on her part. Besides, Joey being popular and a jock, meant little to her. It was so much more than that.
    As if sensing that, her uncle stood up. “This calls for a cup of tea.” He put the kettle on and set up the tea service tray.
    While he did, she patted Rusty, then gave him some fresh water, mustering up the courage to reveal what truly bothered her. She searched for the right words. Words that expressed her pain without seeming ungrateful.
    “When I saw Joey today, I realized he seemed to still have it all, Uncle Mark. Those people who threw pies at him were family and friends. Even old girlfriends! They weren’t angry with him, they wanted him back. How could a person like him have so much in his life? He doesn’t deserve it!”
    She placed her hands on her face, ashamed to face her uncle. He was always so understanding of people.
    “Maddie, what do you mean, a person like him?”
    She mumbled into her hands, knowing how terrible her words would sound when they reached the air. “He’s a selfish person. Always was. I thought he was someone special, but the reality was he barely noticed me in high school. He didn’t remember me at all today.”
    “Maddie, honey, this is so unlike you. Besides, that was years ago. He’s a man now. Probably very grown up.”
    “Joey?” She forced a laugh. “He’s the type that never grows up. His nickname should be Peter Pan.”
    “Madeline White, I never thought I’d see the day you of all people would judge another person so harshly.”
    “I’m sorry. I must sound horrible, but it’s how I feel.” She added with a whisper, “You wanted to know what was bothering me.” She removed her hands from her face, but turned away so that she didn’t have to look her uncle in the eye. She had told him a snippet of the truth. She couldn’t possibly tell her trusted uncle the real reason she disliked Joey. She hadn’t told him before, when Joey and his friend Scott caused her world to turn upside down. Why talk about it now? What possible good would come from dredging up all the pain that Joey O’Neill and his friends had caused her in high school on one fateful night?
    Uncle Mark turned off the whistling kettle and brought the tea service to the table. He let the tea steep as he said, “Let me get this straight. You’re mad at this Joey because you once had a crush on him, he didn’t reciprocate, and today he has a loving