A TALE OF 4TH GRADE REVENGE
My Bully Owned My Teacher Until I Called for the Family Superhero
Are There Rules About Fighting Back?
(Senior Airman Tabatha Zarrella, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Pain plus giggles.
My pain. His giggles.
That was the common routine with fourth-grade bully Timothy Snodgrass.
This was his first year at our school. He came from a different part of town, a different state, or maybe even a different planet.
All I knew was that he was larger than any of us. Timothy (name changed) stood three inches taller. Plus, he had a 20-pound advantage over me.
He hurled me back-first into a row of lockers. I tried shoving him in return, but telephone poles don’t move. I fell down again.
Timothy loved tripping people. He sent me sailing when I was headed to the pencil sharpener on the wall.
“Heehee,” he’d snicker with high-pitched glee.
Why did he act this way? That was only one mystery that tormented me. The other puzzle involved my teacher, whom I’ll call “Miss T.”
Miss T looked ready to retire. Her face was a mixture of boredom and exhaustion. Smiles were few and fleeting.
