[stylist] it got cut off, the rest of the story

[Vejas]

But she was immediately suspicious when Betten couldn't read the 
words.  Kindergarten lasted only 3 hours, and Mrs.  Korral 
reprimanded Betty Mason for her son's shirt.  Trying to sound 
patient, she said, "You know that he's going to stand out in the 
crowd."
"That's a good thing.  I want him to be unique."
"I'd like you to help your son out and be involved.  But please 
don't stay any later than any other mothers.  If you want to be a 
volunteer mom then the sign-up sheets will come home with your 
children next month."
      The next day, as soon as Betty left her son tearfully, 
children began to tease him.  They called him "Fatso", and "Not 
Christian", and said that they were never going to play with him 
again.  Naturally, Betten began to cry, the sobs echoing across 
the hall.  He told his parents, and Tennyson Mason reprimanded 
the school.  I won't tell you what he said or how he said it, but 
I will say that there were a few swear words and some 
if-this-ever-happens-again-I'll's.  Tennyson's dialogue lasted 30 
seconds and was 40 words long, and it caused the principal to 
cringe with fear.  After this everyone left Betten alone.  Nobody 
would play with him or talk to him.  Betty did her son's homework 
for him and the teachers suspected it but were too afraid to say 
anything.
       Betten began going to dread coming to school so much that 
his parents often took him out.  The Masons would take him to 
random places which they knew would make their son happy.  Once 
they went to Mc-Donald's, which had a play structure, and stayed 
there the whole day.  Betten ate a super-sized breakfast, had 
play-time, then had a super-sized lunch, had playtime, and then a 
super-sized dinner.  After dinner the restaurant was closing, but 
Tennyson used a harsh dialogue to get Betten some more time and 
the employees listened.  These new employees didn't understand 
English very well, knew some of the more choice words from movies 
and knew that they were not good, and anyway, they were too 
scared.  One even said, "Por favor, traduzca a Español" (Please, 
translate in Spanish) and Tennyson, who had taken German and 
failed it, blew up again, in English.
        The year Betten turned 8, in November, his parents had 
another child.  But they were not the most creative parents in 
the world, and so they chose the name Bettina.  Betten felt very 
lonesome.  His parents fussed over the baby constantly and it 
seemed like they didn't pay any attention to him.  In the first 
month of Bettina's life, Betten only had 1 ditch day, which he 
spent with his father only, since his mother had to take care of 
the baby.  Betten slowly had a plan forming.
            On the afternoon of the day his sister turned one 
month old, Betten Mason quietly crept out of the house.  His 
mother was putting Bettina down for a nap.  He came back into the 
house after realizing he needed a paper and pencil.  He scribbled 
something on it and put it on his mother's side of the kitchen 
table.  Then he left the house again and into his busy street, 
which his mother never let him cross himself.  He stood there, 
waiting.  The first car didn't see Betten, and ran right over 
him.  Betten had gotten his wish.
       Betty Mason came downstairs and turned on her computer.  
She began skimming for commercials to listen to.  She knew that 
she should give Betten snack and do his homework for him, but she 
was just feeling too lazy.  Besides, Betten was a good boy and 
was always in the living room.  Suddenly she stopped when she 
heard a commercial with a hawk in it.  Most birds sounded 
wonderful to Betty, but a hawk can sound like dropping a bomb or 
someone was dead.  She then took a glance at the living room and 
didn't find Betten there.  But she then found a note on her 
table.  He had never learned to read properly, and the writing 
was messy, with lots of incorrect spelling and grammar.  The note 
said:
Dear momi i just dont lyke lyf becuz nobody luvvs me anymor.  So 
I'm going.  Love, Betten
I'm going, she thought.  He could be going to the store, or the 
mall, or the arcade.  But he never did any of these things 
without her, and she sensed it.  And that's when the tearful 
Betty Mason knew that she had failed.  She had had her chance.
"Betten Mason," she said tearfully, "you are the...  were the...  
sweet-oh..."
She let out a small cry.  She knew she should finish the word 
sweetest and say that he was the sweetest boy ever, but she just 
couldn't.  Ever since Bettina had been born, she and her husband 
had focused their attention on her.  Besides, was Betten really 
that sweet? Were all her so-called efforts that bad? What she 
would never admit to herself was that although Betten had done 
this to himself, in a way she had killed him.