Pretty much everyone that I knew growing up had a nickname. It was just standard practice. There was, however, one exception: Bruce Fish. No one every called hime "Bruce" or "Fish". It was always the full "Bruce Fish". I guess people just like the ring of it.
Bruce Fish was weird. In today's education system he would have been labelled as Aspergers, ADHD, ADD...Fetal Alcohol...or something. But back in the eighties he was just "weird": Weird Bruce Fish.
French really liked Bruce Fish, so no one made fun of him...a second time. French would see someone making this mistake: teasing and mocking him; and that bully would get a good thumping. Often French would just sit with Bruce Fish during lunch so that nobody had the chance to harass the easy target. French kept a solid buffer zone in effect.
Bruce Fish would say odd things to draw attention to himself like: "I'm impervious to the cold" or "I seen an spirit in the forest". Kids would then egg him on to explain. French would just listen to his stories and tell everyone else to piss off. Bruce Fish also liked to show people the leather craft work that he would be doing. He always had deer leather with him and he would be sewing up something. He made purses, wallets, little draw-string bags, he made a briefcase that he always took with him,and he made a fringed jacket for himself and one for French too. Pretty sweet skills, but just too different to be appreciated by teens. The other teenagers would ask him what he was working on, or had he shot any deer lately? It never ended. If French wasn't around kids would crowd around and mock his every action and every comment.
Luckily, French and him lived up the same county line, so Bruce Fish was safe from the moment he got on the school bus, til he got dropped off at night. The times French was suspended from school were really rough on Bruce Fish. I sure was a poor substitute for French, but I did my best to keep the wolves at bay.
I teach high school now and I wish every "weird kid" like Bruce Fish had a ally like French at their side.
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13 comments:
We need guys like French because we need guys like Fish. Guys like him are all we got left.
Keep these stories rolling out Olie.
HP
This is a wonderful and heartfelt story Ollie...you do have a beautiful and strong heart that reflects from your words! :-)
I wish they all had a French, too. My son was tortured all through school. He did not meet his French until he was a senior in HS. I fear the damage was too great.
kids can be tough man...i am glad he had someone to be his friend...i was a late bloomer so i know the wolves well..
I'm glad Bruce Fish had French, too. I feel like I spent most of my school years looking for a French of my own. But I gotta say, the search landed me in as much turmoil as the needs motivating me.
Some dish it out and some have to take it. Wish I could go back and stick up for the Bruce Fish in my class, I was a weak bystander.
This brings back junior high memories. I was slapped around simply for being the new girl. Until this guy stood up for me. Everyone listened to him and I was never bothered again. He himself never spoke to me, but he never let anyone bully me, either. His name was Blair. He would sit in class and rip up dollar bills and eat them. He was a hero to me.
I work with lots of Bruce Fishes. Wishing they could all have French's to stick up for them. Thanks for this story. Touched my heart.
This is such a beautiful story. I was one of those kids who tried to stick up for the "outsiders"...not so much by pissing the other kids off, but by being genuinely kind and friendly to the Bruce Fish's. My husband was this way, and out daughters have done the same (they are teens now)... kind of puts us all on the "outside" too, but at least we stand there with good people like you.
Your stories draw me in, causing me to lose track of time wanting to know more of these characters of which you speak.
i love your stories, your way of seeing, and capturing, these people. my husband is like french, always standing up for the picked-on's, and he's a high-school teacher now too. thanks for sharing this!
This seems like a real-life version of Sue Sylvester and Becky in Glee. (Have you seen Glee? Mock it all you want, it has some very interesting life morals.) Sue is the cheerleading coach AND the school bully, but she takes a liking to a girl with Downs Syndrome named Becky and invites her to join the cheerleading squad. So unlike her. But we learn that she actually has a huge tender side and her own sister suffers from Downs. I know little to nothing about French, but he sounds a bit like Sue - multifaceted...
Thank you for sharing this story. I once knew a Bruce Fish who didn't really have a French and it makes me kinda sad...
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