First, my daughter. It seems that one of her friends from the neighborhood (a boy) has been giving her a hard time on the bus. My daughter was sitting on the bus with another friend, and she laughed. This boy, "Andre," who was several seats behind her, yelled, "Your laugh is so annoying." My daughter ignored him. A little while later, she laughed again, and Andre yelled, "Your laugh is so annoying." To the amusement of the whole bus.
Well, when my daughter told me this story, my first reaction was to drive down to the boy's house and pound the little fucker into oblivion. However, I gave myself some time to cool down. Last night, I told my daughter to have Andre come talk to me if she saw him. At about 6 p.m. last night, I finally had a little talk with him.
When he saw me come out of the house, Andre said, "What did I do?"
I smiled and said, "Come here for a second." He approached. I fought the urge to reach out and wrap my hands around his throat. "You know when you yelled at my daughter on the bus the other day?" I said. "You yelled that her laugh was annoying." He nodded, knew he was in trouble. "Well, you really hurt her feelings, Andre. You made her feel bad about herself." I paused, looked him in the eye. "That's what a bully does. And I know you don't want to be a bully, do you, Andre?" My hand was on his shoulder, and I was looking him in the eye.
"No," he said. "I don't"
"Okay, then before you open your mouth to say anything to my daughter next time, think about what you're going to say." I squeezed his shoulder a little bit. "If it's not nice, keep your mouth shut. You got me?" He nodded. "Good. I'm not going to mention this to your parents. This time." I took my hand off Andre's shoulder. "Thanks for talking with me." And I released him. Andre turned and walked slowly away.
I think I handled the situation well, considering I initially wanted to run him over with my car. I also told my daughter that if Andre kept teasing her, calling her names on the bus, to let me know. My next step will be talking to Andre's parents. If that doesn't do any good, I will be talking to the school principal. I'm going to test that zero tolerance policy the school has in place.
That's subject number one.
Second, there's only two more shopping days until Saint Marty's Day. If you're still floundering around for gift ideas, refer to the birthday list I posted on September 19. There are plenty of ideas. Plan your Saint Marty's Day dinner. Get together with friends, and go Saint Marty's Day caroling around your neighborhood. Don't be a Saint Marty's Day Scrooge.
Third, the Swedish Academy just released a statement saying it will announce the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature this Thursday, October 6. That's only one day after my birthday! I have a good feeling about my chances this year. It can't be just a coincidence that the winner is going to be revealed one day after Saint Marty's Day. The Swedes are smiling down on me this year. I know it. I can smell the fish on their breath already. It's going to be a really good week.
I'm feeling a lot better now that all that's off my chest. Time to throw myself into preparation for the day. Maybe I'll have a pre-Saint Marty's Day gin and tonic tonight. Just to get into the spirit.
Saint Marty is going to have a good week.
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| Sing with me: "Have yourself a merry little Saint Marty's Day..." |
