—Another Bus Stop Story—
The year was ’87.
I was twelve years old.
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out was one of the more popular Nintendo Games, and all the kids played it.
We would walk a quarter of a mile to the Bus Stop each day.
We had to be there before 7:15 am. That’s when the bus would run.
We shared the Bus Stop with Several other kids.
At the Bus Stop, you either become friends or enemies with the other kids. There were no in-betweens.
I became friends with all but one guy.
Each day, this one kid would bother the stew out of me.
We were just twelve, so it probably wasn’t a big deal.
My brothers made it into something bigger, though. And I think they did it to see me and him fight. That’s how brothers work.
The doctors had told my family to treat me normal, and my brothers took that to heart.
Each day after we got home, they’d tell me to hit that kid in the nose.
They even got the boxing gloves out to teach me how to hit correctly.
And each day, they’d fill my head with suggestions.
Finally, one day the bus dropped us all off at the Bus Stop, and the kid started bothering me as usual.
My brothers looked at me and gave me the signal—It was go time.
And I threw a punch right to his nose.
—He was a bleeder.
Blood just began pouring out of his nose, which scared him.
Remember, he and I were twelve. He thought he was dying.
I even thought I had killed him.
He began crying and went running home.
My good friend “Donny” began laughing.
To this day, Donny laughs when he thinks about that “fight.”
Why does he laugh?
Donny said it was the weakest punch he’d ever seen.
“It was a little ‘boop.'” He said as he giggled.
“Remember the first boxer you fight on ‘Mike Tysons Punch-Out?'” Donny asked. “It was like seeing that guy throw a punch!”
And to tell you the truth, If that kid hadn’t started bleeding like that, he might have fought back. He might have even kicked my butt.
A win is a win, though, even if it’s with a weak punch.
We were twelve, and boys will be boys.
