It Takes A Village (Part 4)

He was the neighborhood bully by the name of  Paul Ellison.  He was twelve at that time and already he was as big as the average adult male. He used this size advantage quite effectively, picking on younger and smaller kids. He bordered on cruelty, but it seemed to me he particularly liked to make my life miserable.

I had no time to turn around and go back the way I came. If he saw me running, he would chase me down with sinister pleasure. So I tried my best not to look as scared as I felt. I was about 10 feet away from him when he started in on me. He was smiling, always a bad sign with him.

It Takes A Village (Part 3)

I explained to him everything that happened, though I left Johnny's and Shane's name out of the story. I might of been thoughtless and destructive at times, but I wasn't a snitch.

Officer Sullivan's sudden glare now unnerved me. I decided that maybe, this was not a good idea on my part.

As I turned to leave, I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder and bring back around. Officer Sullivan crouched down so his face was even with mine.


"And where do you think your going?" He asked. And from his tone, I knew it was going to be an even worse day than it was already.

It Takes A Village (Part 1)

I was relating a funny story to my son about something that happened to me when I was a boy his age. After telling it, he said I should write about it, so here is it is.

Kids today are spoiled. You can't even yell at kid without someone butting in and telling you are abusive.  Some people raise eyebrows just to the fact you looked at your child at what is perceived as a menacing manner.

When I was a young boy, I was lucky if I even got to my mom intact if I did something boneheaded.

Here is one example on what I mean.