What Happened After...

Author's Note: In this piece I wanted to demonstrate my predicting skills in a way.  I changed the ending and I made a logical prediction in what might have happened next.  The Italicized my alternate ending.  The text that is crossed off is what I changed and went on with the story.

She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Goodnight!" Behave yourself, boy!" she said, looking out into the street.

The boy wanted to say something else other that "Thank you, ma’am" to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door. He barely managed to say "Thank you" before she shut the door. And he never saw her again.

Roger stood there staring at the shut door under the luminous flickering light from the porch lights.  He took his hand and placed it in his jeans pocket, feeling the money and making sure it wasn’t all just a dream.  It had sure felt like one to Roger.  Right then and there Roger made a promise to himself that he would never steal again.  He half-smiled as he walked down the street.  Roger would never steal mostly because that he learned that nothing good comes out of it and partly because he was scared out of his mind about what would happen if Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones caught him stealing again.