Apropos of nothing, a bully story

When I was in 7th grade we, as do most schools, had a bully. His name, not changed because why protect the stupid, was Jimmy. He lived a block and a half from me. Since I walked home from school, that could pose certain problems, particularly since it was a shade over a mile from school home.

Most of the time in school I was left alone. I had my small circle of friends...okay, friend. Ironman Al.  My other close friend of the same age was already going off the deep end, so we seldom saw Mike. My other close friends were either a couple years older or a couple years younger.

Be that as it may, I pretty much kept to myself. Nobody bothered me and I bothered nobody. Jimmy and I never really interacted since I had the advanced classes and he...well..didn't. 

But one day for whatever reason on the walk home he decided to direct his attentions to me. He started trying to pick a fight. I was scared to death to fight...but not for the reasons you might suspect.

I was very, very afraid of hurting someone badly. See, when I fought, I lost all control. I had...probably still have, but I control it quite tightly now that I am mature...I had a ferocious temper. And when fists started swinging, I went ballistic.

Example 1: My older sister thought it would be funny to see how mad she could make me. Carl and Missy, 3 and 2 years older than me respectively, were there. When I snapped, they tried to keep me from getting to Sue. They both got thrashed and the only reason she didn't is because while I was beating the living snot out of Carl and Missy she saw what was going to happen and ran home. 

Carl and Missy were both taller, stronger, and faster than me. They also lost that fight really bad because when I snapped, I didn't care if I got hurt, I was going to hurt someone. And I did.

Example 2: Duane was a bully three years ahead of me. One day our family was at his family and we were out back playing. Not sure what happened, but we started fighting. I won't say I won the fight but I certainly didn't lose it either. We both had bruises to show for it for over a week and after that he never messed with me.

Well, I really did not want to go off on Jimmy. If I could do that to people stronger, faster, and older than me...what would happen to someone about the same size?

So I tried to avoid it. I would walk alternate routes which took longer. Since I hated anything taking more time than necessary, that was a pretty serious step.

Meanwhile, since Jimmy was Jimmy, he started picking on others as well while trying to catch me to, as he said, "I am gonna fight you and beat you up". He started picking on another Alan, this one with a last name something like Kagel I think?

Alan was always being picked on. He was several inches taller than anyone in our class. He was scrawny, gangly, etc. 

Well, one day Jimmy caught up top him on the pavement just back of the school. A big circle formed. Kids were screaming "fight, fight fight!"

Alan kept saying he did not want to fight. Jimmy, an 8th grader as opposed to Alan being in 7th, kept pointing out they were going to anyway.

Alan then insisted Jimmy take his coat off first. Jimmy refused and tried to attack. Alan used his long arms to hold Jimmy off, tyring to avoid the fight and still insisting Jimmy take off his coat. Finally, Jimmy said, "If I take off my coat will you fight?"

Alan reluctantly assented so Jimmy pulled off his coat and moved to attack Alan.

It was a short fight, maybe 20 seconds. Alan destroyed him. Jimmy was laying on the ground crying and bleeding. His career as a bully was over. He had the daylights beaten out of him by a tall, clumsy, skinny recluse. His aura of toughness was gone.

Alan made a lot of friends that day. Jimmy had not been popular. Neither had Alan, but his ability to handle himself got him a lot of friends.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to them later in their scholastic careers. Oh well.

Why did I tell this today? Excellent question. If you figure it out, let me know.