The Bully
I cannot believe the teacher in this story. What a wimp. Just because the bully’s dad caters at the annual teacher appreciation lunch, not even for free but at a so-called discount. And last year the shellfish was bad. Pair this one with Heil Myself by Mel Brooks from the Producers and stand up for what is right.
The bully keeps whipping the ear of the girl in front of him in class with his belt. Soon, her ear is swollen and red. He then turns the belt around so it is the belt buckle that rips her ear to shreds. The kids around him protest and call upon the teacher, who up until now has tried to ignore the commotion.
“Hey, Bully,” the teacher says. “Could you please stop that?”
“Well, it’s not my fault.” The bully says. “They gave me the belt for my birthday last week. Now they have to give me candy and do my homework for a month. It’s up to them to stop this.”
“Oh, okay.” Says the teacher and looks around the classroom. “Who is up for bringing candy tomorrow and doing the bully’s homework after school?”
No one raises their hand.
The girl is lying across her desk, crying in pain, but the bully keeps hitting her with the belt buckle.
A little boy with thick glasses yells over the crying and swirping:
“We don’t have to bring him candy or do his homework. He can just stop right now!”
The teacher pretends to not hear him, but a rose hue on his cheeks gives him away.
“I will suggest a rule to the school board that belts with buckles larger than three inches on the diagonal should not be allowed as birthday presents.” The teacher says. “The board meets on Tuesday after next. That should take care of the problem.”
“We can’t wait that long.” A girl with braces says.”She will be dead before then. Why can’t he just stop?”
“Well…” Says the teacher a little flustered. “The process has to run its course. We can’t just call an emergency board meeting.”
“But he can just stop” shouts the boy with the glasses and the girl with the braces in unison.
“That’s not how we do things!” The teacher insists. “It would be best if we could find a permanent solution for giving belts as birthday presents once and for all.”
The girl is now barely conscious.
The bully is still whipping the girl, harder and harder.
For a while the only sound is the jingle of the buckle upon contact with her skin and a low whimper from the girl. Then the bully says:
“I have decided that I might stop hitting this girl so hard in about 20 minutes or so, we’ll see. You can start making me a paper crown to celebrate how great I am.”
Regitze Ladekarl has re-emerged as a raconteur after a long, successful career in finance. She crafts universal tales from everyday lives with an honest, sharp and witty pen. Besides working on a forthcoming novel, she flexes her voice with personal essays, flash fiction, and method writing here on Medium.
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