Dealing with The Bully

[This isn't a sex story. There is a little sex in the story. This is a story about a Bully and how a family handled the threat. It could happen this way. If you think there was/is a better way to handle the Bully, write the story. I'd like to read it.]

"Did Jackie talk to you about the Bully?" Xia asked her husband.

"What Bully?" Matt looked up from his issue of Sports Illustrated. He smiled at what he saw. He and Xia had been together for twenty-one years and she was still the most beautiful, sexy woman he had ever known. She had auburn hair, cut short and curly, and eyes that locked on and could stop his heart. She was tall, long legged and slender. She loved wearing shorts that showed off her long legs and tops that made sure men noticed her perfect breasts. Not too big, not droopy, not too small... perfect breasts, topped by nipples that stood out over half an inch. When he looked up from SI he noticed she wasn't wearing a bra under the thin cami and her nipples were poking hard at the thin fabric.

"Jackie has been being harassed by a senior. He knocks books on the ground, takes Jackie's lunch, and makes fun of him." Xia sounded really concerned. He put the magazine down and paid more attention.

"Why is the guy bothering Jackie?"

"Because he can! Jackie is smart but this guy is a football jock. Jackie says he's about six feet tall and plays running back. He also said the guy harasses anyone smaller than him."

Matt thought about how someone would describe his son. Skinny. Nice looking but skinny. Jackie was probably five foot three and weighed about one-oh-five. He was blessed with his mother's curly red hair, auburn, not carrot red. An easy target for a big athlete.

"What do you think we should do about it?" Matt asked.

"I think you should go talk to him. Convince him to leave Jackie alone."

"Talk? I don't think talk will do the job. He's a boy of action. Probably hasn't had a thought this month."

"You have a better idea?"

Matt was having trouble having any ideas. Xia's chest and body were distracting his thought processes. It had been three days since they danced the horizontal mambo and his testosterone level was surging.

"I could go and threaten the boy. I'm bigger, stronger and hopefully smarter than a seventeen year old kid."

"You think you can scare him off?" Her tone said she wasn't so sure.

"I don't have to do anything to him, just talk. He'll understand that I could put a big hurt on him if he doesn't straighten up."

"Ok, but I'm not convinced threats will work. I'd rather talk to him and appeal to his humanity. They could become friends."

Matt laughed out loud. "Not likely! Jocks hang with jocks and girls. No skinny boys allowed!"

Xia looked at Matt like she was wondering what happened to his brain in the last ten minutes. She thought Matt was smart and now he was talking like brute force was all that made any difference. She said, "Ok. Go threaten him. Let me know how it goes."

When the school day was almost over Matt drove to the school and honked when he saw Jackie. The boy hurried to the car, carrying five books and a binder. He sat down and said, "Thanks for the ride!"

"Mom tells me you've had some trouble with a Bully."

"It's Ok. He's a pain, but nothing I can't handle. Mostly he jokes with his friends about how skinny I am. He picks on any guy who doesn't have a letterman's jacket."

"Who is he?"

Jackie looked at the mob of students pouring out of the school and said, "See the three guys in letterman jackets? He's the one in the middle. Bill Bogner."

Matt watched the three boys as they walked away from the school. Body language told him they believed they were pretty important. The way other students got out of their way said a lot about how the other students felt about the three as well.

They stopped on the way home and got a hamburger. Jackie ate like he hadn't eaten in a week. "What did you have for lunch?" Matt asked.

"I had a burrito. They aren't very big." Matt remembered that Xia had said the Bully took Matt's lunch sometimes.

At home Jackie went in and started his homework. Matt told Xia he needed to go to the store. He drove around and after twenty minutes he spotted the three letterman's jackets. After two blocks of following them, two of them turned right onto Elm Avenue and Bill Bogner continued along Persimmon Street. When he turned into the alley that ran behind Smith's Grocery Matt followed. He stopped his car near the boy and got out.

"Bill!"

The boy stopped and turned. "Do I know you?" He asked.

"No, and really, you don't want to know me. You are causing trouble for my son, Jackie, and I want it to stop."

"Skinny Jackie? He's your kid? And, you admit it?" Bill was smiling.

"He is my son. He doesn't need you bullying him around. I want you to stop it."

"Or else?"

"Yes, or else."

"Or else what? Am I supposed to be afraid of an old guy like you? Not likely. You can't get me in trouble at school. They have to see me do something to Jackie to do anything and I never get caught. So, or else what?"

"Or else you'll find out what an old guy knows about whipping a young buck!"

"Go home and watch "Married with Children" old man. I promise not to be too hard on Jackie tomorrow." He laughed and walked away.

Matt felt foolish. He also wondered what would happen if the confrontation got physical. Bill was a lot bigger than Matt first thought and looked like he was in excellent shape.

When he got home he said nothing. Xia put dinner on the table and the three of them ate together. Dinner conversation was about social activities at school and at church. Jackie finished his dinner and asked to be excused. He was and went to the computer to play. When he was gone Xia looked at Matt and asked, "So, was he intimidated?"

"No. As a matter of fact he was a little arrogant. He told me to go home and watch TV old man."

Xia grinned and turned away. Matt noticed the grin. It hurt about as much as having The Bully tell him to go watch TV. He shared the dishes duty with Xia and she was nice enough to give him a glimpse or two down inside her cami. Looking at her firm, tanned breasts was one of Matt's favorite sights. That helped.

The interaction with The Bully bothered Matt all evening and disrupted his sleep with a dream where Matt got his ass whipped by Bill.

At work the next day he got busy and didn't think about the incident until almost one in the afternoon when he got a phone call from the school.

"Mr. Watkins, we need you to come get Jack. He needs to go to the doctor. A gym teacher found him stuffed in a trashcan inside the girl's gym. The nurse thinks his nose may be broken and possibly a finger as well."

"What happened?"

"Jack refuses to tell us. He says if he tells, things will just get worse. If he won't talk there is nothing we can do. How soon can you come get him?"

"I'll leave now and I should be there in thirty minutes. Better idea. I'll call his mother and she can be there in ten minutes."

"Thank you. Have her come to the nurse's office. It's next to the main office."

Matt dreaded the call to Xia. He knew the trashcan was payback for him invading his son's life. He was also pissed at Bill Bogner, The Bully.

Xia called him from the doctor's office. "He has a broken nose and his baby finger on his left hand is broken. His face looks like he's a raccoon. He's black and blue from his forehead to his upper lip and they put an aluminum splint and white tape on his face."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't tell me. Jackie says he's not going back to school looking like this. I don't blame him."

"I'll call the school and have them gather his assignments for two weeks. He can stay home, but he can't fall behind."

"You can go to the school and get his books and things."

"To get his books I'll need the combination to his locker."

Xia came back on the phone laughing. "He is your son!"

"Why?"

"His combination is 38-24-36. How he got my measurements he won't say, but he blushed when he gave me the combination. He knew they were my numbers!"

"I like those numbers. I'll be able to remember them."

"See you at home, horney man."

Matt called the school and they said they would have his assignments for two weeks waiting for him after three-thirty, in the office."

Walking back to his car with books and assignments Matt understood why so many kids drag those rolling suitcases to school. Jackie's stuff was heavy!

When Matt got everything inside the house Xia gave him a Diet Coke and he plopped into his chair. A few minutes later the raccoon walked in and said, "Gee thanks, Dad, for handling The Bully for me."

"I didn't think it through. I should have known he'd take it out on you."

"Every jock in the school is laughing. They're laughing at me!"

"I'm sorry, Ok."

He looked around and said, "One good thing did happen. While I was in the trash can a class of junior girls was playing volleyball and Cathy Jenkins ripped her shirt and I got to see her chest."

Matt smiled and asked, "Pretty nice?"

"First ones I've seen live. I like them. I think I like her, too."

"Does she know she was seen?"

"Nope. I stayed quiet until the class left the gym. When Miss Clarke, one of the girl's gym teachers, came in by herself I moaned loud enough she found me. I was covered in blood from my nose but it had stopped hurting by then. She got four boys to help me to the nurse's office. They didn't ask who did it. I think they knew."

"I knew too. I'll stay out of it from now on, if that's what you want."

"That is what I want." They stayed quiet until Xia called them for dinner. She made Jackie's favorite dinner, chicken enchiladas with black beans and fresh guacamole. They talked about how Jackie was going to budget his time to get everything done. He agreed to work just like he was in school, with the gym class time used as a break.

He went to bed early. The doctor had given him something for the pain and it made him sleepy. He iced his face for fifteen minutes, to help get the swelling down and get the bruise to go away faster.

Late that night Matt and Xia were getting into bed. They could hear Jackie breathing. Xia said, "You are going to leave this alone, aren't you?"

"Ever since they called me I've been thinking about that. What kind of a man am I if a kid can hurt my son and nothing happens to him?"

"Wise. Humble. Smart."

"I need to protect my family! I need to do something!"

"I'm going to give you something to do. I'm going to give you a great reward if you do it."

"What do I do?" Matt was naked, sitting on the side of their bed.

Xia pulled her cami over her head and stood in front of Matt. His hands went around her waist and he moved to kiss her breasts. She backed up.

"No. No. That is your reward. If you have left The Bully alone until the end of the month we'll go to my brother's cabin and I'm yours for the weekend. Jackie will be going camping with my brother and his two boys."

"Ok! I like the reward."

"You only get it if you leave The Bully alone. And the incentive is that I'm off limits until that weekend."

"That's three weeks! We've never gone three weeks!"

"Man up! You can do it!"

She walked around the bed and got in. Matt watched and went into mourning for what he would miss for three weeks.

Jackie kept up with his school work and his phone calls to friends. Matt stayed away from the school and made no effort to contact or even see Bill Bogner. At the end of the second week the bruises were almost completely gone and the brace was removed. Jackie looked like Jackie again.

His phone calls to friends kept Jackie up to date on things at school. Bill Bogner had not mourned the loss of Jackie as one of his targets. He had trash canned two other boys and had tossed Mike Svensen, the biggest overweight kid in the school, into the school pool while he was fully clothed.

Xia and Matt worried about his first day back. Xia stayed pretty close to the phone. She didn't say she was staying by the phone, but she was. Matt stayed close to his office phone as well. Nothing happened worthy of note.

Jackie saw Bill in the hallway and Bill said, "Welcome back Squirt! No one missed you."

Jackie didn't point out that Bill had noticed he was gone and noticed when he came back. He just smiled and kept moving. He heard through the grapevine that Bill and his two football brothers had decided on a new prime victim while Jackie was gone. An even smaller kid than Jackie and one that was also Jewish.

All Jackie's first week back was calm and without incident. His parents asked every day. On Wednesday Jackie reported that Abe, the Jewish kid, had been trash canned. Whoever it was took his yalmulka and threw it into the school swimming pool. They put him in the same trash can that Jackie had once inhabited.

On Thursday Jackie reported that the three had forced Abe to eat a ham sandwich. Abe spent part of the afternoon in the boy's bathroom making himself throw up.

Matt heard the stories and said, "I promised to stay out of it. He needs an ass whipping, but I'm not the one to do it." Xia showed him glimpses of the reward each night at bedtime.

At Costco on Friday afternoon after school Xia and Jackie ran into Abe and his mother. Abe looked worse than Jackie had when he was trash canned. His face was bruised, his glasses bent, he had a bandage on his ear and bruises on his arms.

As they talked the boys solidified their new friendship and Xia got to know Mrs. Levine a little. The Levine's had been in America three years, having come from Germany. Mrs. Levine shared that they came because the anti-semitic influences in Germany were getting worse. Now Mrs. Levine wasn't so sure America was better.

Xia was quiet the rest of the day. She talked, but Jackie could tell she was really thinking about something else.

She drove to the school the next day and picked both boys up when school let out. She noticed their reaction when Bill Bogner came out of the main school building. She memorized his face and look. She took the boys home and then "went to the store."

She went to the store where Matt had spoken to Bill. She was inside the store when Bill came in. He walked passed the manager and showed him a five dollar bill. That seen, the manager allowed him in the store.

She watched. He knew what he wanted and went right to it. He got a quart of orange juice and a brownie from the deli.

She came back the next school day and watched Bill buy the same things. Over a two week span she went to the store five more times and watched. She bought some things as well. She dressed pretty conservatively and Bill never paid any attention to her.

A plan was formulating in Xia's mind. Because Jackie and Abe had become friends Bill began taking lunch from both boys and verbally harassing them whenever they saw him. Most of the physical intimidation went to other boys. Xia heard from Jackie and Abe about how Bill and his buddies had stripped one of the kids from special education class, a boy with Down's Syndrome, and left him inside the girl's locker room. A few days later Bill had pushed a boy in the school parking lot and he was struck by a car, breaking his leg.

Matt called Xia one afternoon and said he had to drive to a city a hundred miles away to bid on a contract. He said he would be late getting back. Xia asked when he would be back. He said about ten. Then Xia called Mrs. Levine and arranged for Jackie to spend the evening with Abe's family. She told Mrs. Levine she wanted to do some shopping.

She dropped the boys at Abe's house after school. She wore loose leg shorts and a camisole with a thin over shirt unbuttoned over the cami. Both boys looked but her outfit wasn't any more outrageous than she normally wore. After she dropped the boys she removed her bra.

At the proper time she went into Smith's Market and began shopping. Produce, eggs, bread, two cut up chickens and just as Bill got to the orange juice she rolled up as well. Bill picked up is usual quart and Xia spoke to him.

"Is that a good brand?" She asked.

He looked her over and said, "I like it. It has lots of pulp and I read pulp is the best part." He started to turn.

"Some OJ has a bitter aftertaste."

He pointed to another brand. "That one tastes like iron and bitter." He made a face.

Xia laughed, softly. "Ok, then. I'll get the kind you like. As my way of saying thanks, let me get yours, too."

"Not necessary. I'm going to get a brownie from the deli too."

"Go get it. I need to get something from the frozen aisle, so meet me there."

Bill smiled and went to the deli. Xia got a half gallon of ice cream and some frozen veggies. He walked up and put the items in her cart. She watched him do it, picked up the plastic wrapped deli item and said, "Maybe you should carry this to the check out. I wouldn't want it to get smashed."

He took the brownie and walked behind Xia. He watched her walk. She added a little bit of extra sway in the motion. When they got to the check stand she moved ahead of the cart and he put the brownie in the basket.

As she unloaded, he helped. He put his Oj and brownie near the end of the items on the conveyer belt. She said to the bag boy, "Can you get it all in one bag?"

"Sure. I'll double bag it for strength."

She paid by debit card and then tried to pick up the bag. "Damn, that's heavy." She said.

The checker offered to have the bagger carry the bag but Bill said he's carry it.

"Oh, thank you. That's nice." He easily picked up the bag and followed her to her car. She opened the trunk and he put the bag in. He pulled the OJ and the brownie out and she said, "Can I hire you?"

"For what?"

"When I get home that bag is still going to be too heavy for me. I live over by eleventh and Hope. Can I hire you to carry my groceries from my car to my kitchen table?"

"Sure! I don't need to be home anytime soon. Let's go!"

They got in her car and she drove home. Just after Matt had called she had put away all the family pictures. He wouldn't know she was Jackie's Mom or Matt's wife from being in her house.

"Are you a senior?" She asked.

"Yes. Graduate in two months."

"And then?"

"Well, when I turned eighteen in November my Dad promised me I could go to Las Vegas for the National Rodeo Championships. That's my graduation present."

"So when do you turn eighteen?"

"Last November."

"What about college?"

"I've been scouted by a couple'a schools but no offers yet."

She pulled into the driveway and parked. The right front tire was on the grass and the car parked at a strange angle. She popped the trunk and Bill got the bag. He followed her into the house. He had left the OJ and half eaten brownie in the car.

She held the door for him and pointed to the kitchen table. He put the bag down and said, "There. Everything you bought is home safely."

She stood near him and said, "We didn't discuss payment. What do you think would be fair?"

"It wasn't much of a job. I hate to charge you anything."

Xia took off the thin over shirt and handed it to Bill. "Toss that onto that chair, would you?"

He did. She grasped the bottom of her cami and pulled it out away from her belly.
"Do you see a stain on this? It's almost new. I hope it's not stained."

She put his hands on the cami and he looked for a stain. He also really looked at Xia's breasts and nipple bumps on the surface of the cami.

"I don't see a stain." He said.

She made her voice throaty and soft. "Lift it up, please."