Thing was trying to
remember when it all changed between the Creek boys at the bottom of the hill
and himself. It was probably something to do with that snowball.
In the hot sultry
days of summer, Thing and his gang of kids played at the Creek almost every
day. In the winter they slid down the mountain snow in races of two or three.
Old boxes where used for sitting in and Thing remembers it was the fastest he
ever went in his life.
Then around about
the time that Jimmy Jones got a new dad the situation began to change. Thing
remembered Jimmy calling him ‘a freak’ under his breath. He was never really
sure at first but Thing later heard Jimmy telling the other guys the same word
and all of them stopped talking when Thing got up beside them.
Then there was a
snowball fight and he was sure it wasn’t Jimmy Jones, or Robert, or Pete who
threw it but whoever threw it, it hurt really bad. Thing felt a thud on the
side of his head, then he saw stars and when he looked down there was red blood
dripping on the snow. One of his friends had put a rock inside the snowball and
it had walloped him.
Thing was wondering
why someone would do that as he sadly walked back up home. Jimmy shouted to the
rest of the gang that who ever did that should own up, but no one ever did.
Thing’s mother asked
him what had happened and it was then he did a stupid thing. He lied. He told
her that he’d slipped during one of the races and she told him he had to be
more careful in future. But that lie was a biggie, because it was the first
time he had ever done it to his family and he’d done it to hide the shame of
what had happened – not that he fully understood it, himself.
Then life got cold
between them. Not between members of the gang, you understand; just between the
boys and Thing. They had spent their early years in and out of each others’
houses, having sleepovers, laughing and crying and hollering at life then all
this happened.
Thing was sitting by
the Creek one Saturday morning when the guys passed on the other side. Thing stood
and shouted but they didn’t seem to hear him. Then he noticed that they were
all off on a fishing trip with Jimmy Jones’ new dad. Jimmy saw Thing was about
to wave when Jimmy’s new dad got them all in a circle and whispered something
and they all laughed. Jimmy walked on without looking back at Thing.
Thing’s Grandma had
told him that it was true what they said about sticks and stones breaking bones
but words can never hurt. She said that when she was bullied in school she used
to take the names they called her and she would turn them into something
beautiful. So the next time that Thing was called a Freak – he took each letter
and made it into something good: Fantastic
Rock ‘n’ Roll Exciting
And Knowledgeable. Okay Thing admitted he wasn’t
Shakespeare and it didn’t kill the pain but it helped a little.
He still couldn’t
tell his mother about the name-calling as he knew it would hurt her. He thought
about telling the teacher but she always looked so busy, so every time a note
landed on his desk with the word ‘Freak’ written on it he would smile, think
about what FREAK meant and feel at peace.
Sometime in the
autumn the police took Jimmy Jones’ new dad away for beating up the Chinese man
next door. Jimmy never mentioned him again and things kind of went back to
normal. The boys started playing with Thing again and there were more races
down the mountainside but something deep inside Thing had changed. He saw that
it didn’t take people much to turn on one another and that stopped him smiling
sometimes.
No one ever put a
stone in a snowball again but somehow it was always there.
bobby stevenson 2013
thoughtcontrol ltd
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