It happened in the afternoon
As Gary walked along the path
And when it was over
He ran home through the park.
Gary didn’t stop until
He got home and shut the door
And he went into his living room
Then lay down on the floor.
As he lays there quietly
Someone calls his phone
But Gary doesn’t want to answer
He wants to be alone.
Gary tries to block out
The voices in his head,
He doesn’t want to think about
The nasty things they said.
Or they way they pointed at him
And they laughed out loud
As someone kicked and punched him
When Gary fell down on the ground.
Next morning when he wakes up
Gary can’t forget,
So when he meets up with his friends
He is very quiet.
Jack tries hard to make him laugh
Amy gives him a hug
But Gary tells them all
That he has had enough.
As Gary starts to walk back
Jack asks him “what is wrong?”
But Gary doesn’t answer,
He walks home alone.
Jack is really worried
But doesn’t know what he can do,
Many times he tries to phone him
And so does Amy too.
It is two days later
When Brenda hears the news,
She hears about it in the shop
But doesn’t know if this is true.
So Brenda asks her friends
If they’ve heard about the fight,
Did Gary tell them what happened?
And is he alright?
Jack said “I need to speak to him
I want to check he is okay,
To ask him what those boys did
And hear what he has to say.”
But Gary didn’t want to tell his friends,
He didn’t want to speak
And he didn’t want to think about
Those boys from down the street.
But Gary knew he had to tell
Because what happened was wrong,
So Gary spoke to his support worker
And told him what the boys had done
His support worker listened
And explained this was a crime
They reported it together
Later on that night
So why do you think Gary
Didn’t tell his friends?
And what do you think happened
When he saw his friends again?
And what would you do differently
If this happened to you,
Is there someone you could tell,
Or something else that you would do?
Tales from Magnolia street 