Storytelling Sunday---The Neighborhood Bully

When we were kids, we had a neighborhood bully. I guess everyone did. Our bully was named Roger. I'm not saying his last name so as not to slander his family. But this kid was mean. He put rocks in the middle of mud clods and kept us from getting to our house by bombarding us with them when we were called home. In those days, mom and dad would stand in the backyard and yell all of our names. We were supposed to be within shouting distance. When you heard them call, you better have high-tailed it home. In our house, late for dinner could mean no dinner at all as the food would be gone. With 7 kids, we rarely had leftovers.

Anyway, back to Roger. He was always picking on us girls and beating up the boys. He chased us with sticks and threw our shoes in the weeds. Back then we only had 3 pairs of shoes, play shoes, school shoes and church shoes, so losing a pair would get you in big trouble. Finding those shoes in the weeds was really hard. The worse thing Roger ever did to me was to shoot his bb gun at  me while I was looking out of my 2nd story bedroom window. It made a hole in the screen and hit me right below the eye. I was more concerned about the hole in the screen than the mark near my eye. It hurt, but not that bad.

Most of the boys just became his friends to avoid his wrath. Mom told all of us girls to gang up on him and beat the crap out of him. She says we did it, but I don't ever recall doing it. We were too darn scared of him.

No one was on the receiving end of Roger's wrath worse than his brother, Danny. Literally, Danny was his slave. He had to do anything Roger said---fetch things, give him money, take any dares---you name it, Danny had to do it. I often wondered how his family could NOT know how badly Danny was treated. Roger was constantly hitting and beating on him.

One summer, all of us kids decided to dig ourselves a swimming pool in the empty lot between and behind our houses. It got to be pretty big---maybe 10 feet wide and about 3 feet deep. We were so excited after the first rain that filled it up about half way. Of course, Roger made Danny go in first---pushed him, actually. Danny got up, and was completely covered with mud. We all laughed and so did Danny. But there was no way the rest of us were going to get in---we knew we'd get in trouble if we came home covered in mud. But those Schultz kids NEVER got in trouble for anything (ooops, looks like I let loose of the name)! After that, we abandoned the pool idea and dug ourselves an underground fort.

When there was trouble, you could pretty much bet that Roger was behind it. We got caught playing doctor by our babysitter under the steps in the basement---his idea. We were all quizzed by mom and dad. We were giving each other shots with those clamp clothespins in the butt like at the doctor's. I was the only one marched up to confession on Saturday afternoon, because, after all, "I was the oldest and I was supposed to be setting a good example for my younger brothers and sisters and what was I thinking, committing that sin of impurity." Lesson well learned.

We were constantly trespassing on Mr. Thiel's property---he had horses. We spent countless hours down at Thiel's lake. One time, we discovered millions of tadpoles in the lake. Roger convinced all of us that we would be doing old man Thiel a favor by killing the tadpoles with bb guns---all the boys had bb guns and they usually let us girls shoot too. Actually, our gang consisted of Roger, Danny, Ronnie, me and Reenie. Sometimes we included the twins, Janice and Jennifer, Karen and Denise, but not often. Anyway, we shot the heck out of those tadpoles. I have no idea how many we killed, but it was a lot. Mr. Thiel came to our house one night complaining to dad about what we'd done. Turns out, he had stocked his lake with the tadpoles so his friends could go frog gigging. Of course, we got in big trouble---Schultz's, nada! We stopped shooting the tadpoles and eventually trespassed some more to go frog gigging. I never did it, that was too gross for me.

I think it was about 5th or 6th grade, when Gene Schuermann moved in and joined our gang. Finally, a kid tougher than Roger. Suddenly, Roger calmed down and wasn't quite the bully he had once been with Gene keeping him in check. Gene grew up in the "city" and had street smarts. He was not a bully and didn't pick on anybody. He was just tough and wouldn't take any bull from anyone. His parents were as strict as ours were.

Roger finally got his comeuppance in the 8th grade. Ronnie, Roger and Danny (and I don't know who else, but we girls were not there) were out in the woods with their bb guns. They found an unused shot gun shell and propped it up on a fence post. They took turns shooting at it. Roger finally hit it. It exploded causing Roger to lose an eye. Still, that was a sad time for all of us. Roger was an excellent pitcher and it looked like he just might have a future in baseball. Although he played through high school, his career aspirations were ended with that one shot.

I'm not sure when it started, but those teen age hormones took over. Suddenly, Roger didn't look so bad to me anymore. He really was cute. We grew up together and now he could barely talk to me. We were actually boyfriend and girlfriend through freshman year. He was a changed man---got really shy. In fact, we "went together" for about a year. Not once did he ever attempt to kiss me. About a week before we broke up, he had just started holding my hand. What a naive time it was back then.

I'd like to take credit for taming that "bad boy" but I don't think I had anything to do with it.

A few years later, I found another "bad boy" and tame him I did!!