Childhood Fight
I remember the fights in my rural blue-collar grammar school were MUCH sought after events rather than things that needed to be resolved. One person would egg his friend on "Hit him! Hit him!" for whatever small infraction that might have occurred and before you knew it two children would be wrestling on the floor. Someone would call in the crowds "Fight! Fight!" and we would scurry from every nook and cranny of the school to watch. I'd come running from wherever I was, the bathroom stall, the library or bus line, as fast as my feet would carry me. We would become the Romans watching the Christian get eaten by a lion, or two equal lions...whatever, not a good analogy. The playground was our Coliseum.
Despite being the weird Hispanic/no extended family/spoke too many languages weirdo in a town where everyone had to be clones of each other, I only got in one fight during my tenure at Southside Elementary (Yes, Southside, the school on the wrong side of the tracks). JonEric was a boy with carrot-colored hair and freckles. He wore colored striped T-shirts everyday and jeans that were twisted around sideways. Even in my loneliest hour I had no need for JonEric. I don't think I ever said one word to him. Yet for some reason one day decided to call me a "bitch". Out-of-the-blue, no provocation, I was merely walking past him.
So I pushed him. Hard.
I must have caught him completely off guard because he fell back and flipped over the desk behind him. I remember seeing his feet fly up where his head should be. He was down. I had beat him with just one push. He never was able to retaliate and no one had a chance to yell "Fight! Fight!" because at that moment our Math teacher spotted us and sent us to the principals office.
Years later, after college, I ran into JonEric at a local Kinko's. He had grown to be a tall, nice, "born again" Christian. After our hellos, how are yous and have you heard from so and so, he asked me if I remembered the time I "beat him up" in sixth grade. We laughed a bit over it. He actually apologized for calling me a "bitch" after all these years. He then asked me if I have found Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior and said something about hell and stuff.
I felt that old urge to push him again, but instead said "No, see ya around Jon" and left him and his copies at Kinko's. I'm an adult now, able to resolve conflicts by just walking away. ;)
Despite being the weird Hispanic/no extended family/spoke too many languages weirdo in a town where everyone had to be clones of each other, I only got in one fight during my tenure at Southside Elementary (Yes, Southside, the school on the wrong side of the tracks). JonEric was a boy with carrot-colored hair and freckles. He wore colored striped T-shirts everyday and jeans that were twisted around sideways. Even in my loneliest hour I had no need for JonEric. I don't think I ever said one word to him. Yet for some reason one day decided to call me a "bitch". Out-of-the-blue, no provocation, I was merely walking past him.
So I pushed him. Hard.
I must have caught him completely off guard because he fell back and flipped over the desk behind him. I remember seeing his feet fly up where his head should be. He was down. I had beat him with just one push. He never was able to retaliate and no one had a chance to yell "Fight! Fight!" because at that moment our Math teacher spotted us and sent us to the principals office.
Years later, after college, I ran into JonEric at a local Kinko's. He had grown to be a tall, nice, "born again" Christian. After our hellos, how are yous and have you heard from so and so, he asked me if I remembered the time I "beat him up" in sixth grade. We laughed a bit over it. He actually apologized for calling me a "bitch" after all these years. He then asked me if I have found Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior and said something about hell and stuff.
I felt that old urge to push him again, but instead said "No, see ya around Jon" and left him and his copies at Kinko's. I'm an adult now, able to resolve conflicts by just walking away. ;)
<< Home