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Kenneth screamed like a little girl and danced away. His pack swirled around, shocked and confused and bleating like startled sheep. The monitors roared over to find blood spewing and the pencil wiggling in Kenneth’s bicep and saw Leon pointing at Simon, crying, “He did it! He did it!”
Simon made himself look as shocked as he could and said, “He pushed me and my arm jerked.”
Which carried no weight with anyone. He was hustled off to the principal as Kenneth was gently guided to the nurse, crying and wailing and certain that he was going to die.
The principal berated Simon, viciously. Obviously, this was attempted murder and that was simply not acceptable. His parents were called in. Kenneth’s parents were called in. The police were called in. All of them milling about in the man’s already tight and tiny office, snarling and smoking and threatening a life of misery on the boy.
Who sat impassively in the middle of it all, saying over and over, “He pushed me and my arm jerked.”
Kenneth’s mother finally took him to a nearby hospital to be tended to as his father continued to threaten Simon with assault charges. He was close to being hauled off to juvenile detention...
Until Leon finally yelled at him, “Shut up, dumbell, he didn’t push you that hard!”
In front of the cops.
Who looked at him, warily, then began to question not only him but the rest of Kenneth’s pack...
Who stupidly acknowledged they’d been ganging up on Simon by sneering about how he had refused to fight back.
One officer rode over to the ER and questioned Kenneth. Who whined that he’d only given the little bastard (his very words) a light nudge. Effectively verifying Leon’s claim.
And Simon’s.
The policemen now viewed Simon’s actions as more like an accident...though one sent a sly thumbs-up to him, as if acknowledging he had acted in self-defense. Now boys being boys was giving him cover. So no charges were filed.
Kenneth’s father howled at that decision and unbuckled his thick belt, snarling he was going to teach this little queer not to attack his son. Both cops put a harsh, loud end to that. The principal mollified the man by agreeing to suspend Simon for another two weeks. That was the most they could do.
Again, that was not a punishment. Simon had already elected to attend an inner city school, next year, where he knew no one. So let them do their worst.
What was even better? While he was gone, Kenneth came back with his arm bandaged like a war wound. Still king of his beasts. And he led them into taking their frustrations out on little Charles. Right under the noses of the monitors, who continued on with their boys will be boys nonsense.
Until the kid was driven into hysterics and ran off the school grounds, headed for a nearby junkyard.
The monitors tried to catch him but couldn’t. Nor could they find him. They had to call in the police and his parents. Everyone searched for hours. It was only his mother’s voice that made Charles come out of hiding, then he was taken home by her.
His father stayed behind, tall, cool and well-contained as he took the principal aside. He was a lawyer and knew exactly what legal threats to make...and all very quietly.
Kenneth and his pack were shifted to a school for juvenile offenders. Problem kids. Where the teachers kept a sharp eye on them and did not hesitate to whip out a nice thick paddle to emphasize their orders.
Including on Lorraine.
So Simon received his first real lesson in life –- that no matter how big and strong and mean they think they are, if you sit quietly and let them yammer on they will give you a way to stop them.
As had happened with Dillon. He thought he was the big boy. Cajoling with his pathetic deal offers and backing up his demands with threats of imprisonment. Simon remaining calm and cool and gentle with his words, refusing to let himself lose control, drove the man crazy. And gave him his counter-attack.
That Dillon had managed to talk the judge into a continuance to give him time to review the situation only proved him to be weak. And gave Simon another avenue to attack them both.
Let them spin and hiss and spit all they wanted. Simon was not willing to be bullied.
Question was, how long would they keep going before they realized he would never back down? And to what degree would it escalate?
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