I?m reading the morning news about how some crazy guy got out of Renous and threatened to jump off the 12th floor of the Assomption building here in Moncton and I notice one of the names in the article. Steven Rooney. Now, I have no idea whether or not this is the same Steven Rooney I had a run in with as a kid, but none the less, it brought back a few memories of which I?ll share in today?s episode of Flashback.
I was in junior high school. I think it was probably grade 8 but it might have been grade 7. I?m relatively sure it was grade 8 because of one of the guys that was involved but none the less, it doesn?t really matter. For all intents and purposes, we?ll say it was 1987.
Being the short kid, I got picked on a lot, and occasionally I might get beat up or bullied, but Steven Rooney was the king of all in my history. It all started one afternoon when a friend of mine was over showing me his BB gun. He was shooting it on the ground and such and Steven came over on his bike demanding to try it out. Being a bully, he grabbed the gun from my friend and just started shooting it. He shot over at the Irving station (across from my house) then dropped the gun, and took off.
What we learned shortly thereafter was that when he had shot the gun towards the Irving, he hit someone in the shoulder or back or something. That person came over to the house and demanded to know what the hell was going on. My mom came out and talked to the guy and we told her and him what happened. The guy was pretty pissed and although I?m not sure how it went down, we told them about Steven shooting the gun and that he was the one responsible.
Somehow, Steven got in trouble for it and blamed me because it happened at my house. Now, I don?t remember exactly how it happened, when or the specific circumstances but every time I ran into Steven, I got beat up. School, walking home, even going to the pool. I was scared to go to swimming because I knew Steven hung out there and would beat me up. After having been beaten up several times, I found a steel chain and started carrying it with me because I was scared. I have a good understanding of why kids who get bullied carry knives or guns to protect themselves. I don?t condone it, but I do understand, very well.
I remember going to the pool, with my chain, going for a swim, and then getting back on my bike and heading home. As I biked up Emmerson street, I noticed Steven and his group of friends. I quickly turned and tried to bike away, but a guy from school noticed me and ran towards me, grabbed me and brought me to Steven. Then it started.
Now, the specifics of how I got the shit kicked out of me are vague, but I do remember a couple of specifics. At some point, I had been punched or whatever, I took out the steel chain and whipped it as hard as I could at Steven. I of course didn?t hit him anywhere good but did get him on the leg which pissed him off even more. I proceeded to have my head smashed repeatedly against the side of the curb until I had a mass of blood and hair on top of my head. I then proceeded to scream my ass off as I ran home, in serious pain.
My mom heard the screaming, and took one look at me and asked me what happened. I told her about Steven and she was pissed.
Anyone who knows my mom knows that she?s a great woman and loves everyone. What you may not know is that my mom has a very colorful history and in her day, was in gangs and didn?t hesitate to do some bullying of her own. She chose to exercise this part of herself on Steven.
She ran out of the house, down the street, and grabbed a hold of Steven by the collar and had a few choice words with the young man. Whatever she said scared him enough that he ran off. My mom, then went back to the house, grabbed me, and took me to see his parents.
We showed up, and in a rather loud and pissed off mother-type tone, my mom proceeded to show Steven?s mom what her son had done to me and that if Steven ever laid another hand on me, mom would press charges and since Steven was too young to go to jail, she?d be the one facing jail time. She assured us it would never happen again. Ironically enough, it never did.
I saw Steven the next day or day after, and he was all super nice to me. Never bullied me or threatened me again. In fact, I had a sane conversation with him sometime after that.
Kinda funny. I?m sure any of you who have kids of your own can relate to how mom would have felt seeing her son in that kind of shape. Kelly, I can see you doing something like this 😉
Fact is, when I was a kid, parents, teachers, and others are thought bullying was just a part of growing up. Now I turn on the TV or read the paper and hear all about how bullying is no longer tolerated, and that kids get suspended for it. There are kids who have had mental issues because of bullying. I could have told you that.
Anyways folks, I just thought it was kind of funny to see his name in the paper and thought I?d share another tale.
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