Chapter 12

The weekend was rather quiet, other than a slight discussion with Randy. We’d moved the old desk out of my room and into the rec room upstairs before the delivery guys showed up and dropped off my new desk and chair.

The new desk was awesome. It was made out of real maple and oak, none of that particle board crap. It had four pieces, the top which was like 60lbs, and a kind of lattice design of oak and maple. Then there were two kind of drawer towers that were the supports. There was also a decorative piece that tied all three together and covered up the space, it had some sort of roman column type theme. My goal was for it to last a lifetime, or at least until I ruined it. Stosh and I were getting everything unpackaged and ready to go upstairs, when I caught Randy watching us out of the corner of my eye. He was walking towards us and not looking happy at all.

“And just where the hell is this monstrosity going?”

“In my room. I wanted a bigger desk, and here we are.”

“Who the hell told you that you could do this?”

“Well, I wasn’t aware that I had to get approval to get a new desk, but mom was aware that I was getting it. It’s not going in a common area, so there you go.”

I turned around and continued getting it ready with Stosh. I guess not paying him any attention pissed of Randy even more. I could hear him huffing and mumbling as he went back inside. As we were carrying everything upstairs, we could hear him in their room complaining to mom. We couldn’t contain our chuckling.

Luckily there were no tools needed, save a rubber mallet, as it went together with a mortise and tenon set up. I had forgotten that I ordered a hardwood chair mat. I mean can’t have a big comfy executive chair and not be able to roll around.

The desk fit OK, it was awesome, and the chair was comfy as hell. We had a big family dinner that evening as Stosh was heading to Fort Eustis the next day. Randy even joined us for dinner and was fairly decent the whole time. There wasn’t much fanfare the whole evening.

We got up on Sunday and went to the first mass then afterwards I drove Stosh out to Hartsfield airport. Pulling up, I got out to help him with his bags.

He turned to me before heading in and said, “Barnim, I love you brother. There aren’t any more words I can come up with.”

“Well, stop your blubbering. Here’s my lawyer’s card, call him soon. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to call but not Tuesday or Thursday as I’m not home.”

I gave him the card and a hug, with that I drove off as he walked in. I’d miss him, even though he always got me involved in his drama. I still had a nagging concern that the cops were going to show up at the house.

When I got home, I just relaxed for the day. I realized I needed to apologize to Master Boripat on Tuesday for not calling when I had to go clean up Stosh’s mess.

I was in a routine now, so getting up at 6:15am in the morning was just kind of par for the course now.

Things went smoothly at the beginning of the week. I had apologized to Master Boripat when I went to kickboxing. He decided my punishment was a repeat of Stosh’s medicine ball workout. I was sore the rest of the week.

Things changed at lunch on Thursday when one of my goals for this second turn at life kind of jumped into my lap.

I was surprised when a kid walked up to the table where I was sitting by myself and asked, “Excuse me, do you mind if I sit at this table?”

Looking up, I saw your quintessential nerd, a skinny, dressed haphazardly kid. I mean in both lives I could be considered kind of a geek or nerd for a lot of the things I liked. I just didn’t associate with either of those groups. I wasn’t really looking for friends or a social life as I had my plan and that was what was important.

I knew I needed social interaction for my plan to work, but also knew I had to overcome the person I’d become in the previous lifetime. I had been basically a loner and a shut in. I went to work, family functions when absolutely necessary, and my weekly bar night although those evenings were spent by myself. Although I knew I needed to change, it was hard breaking old habits. Here was my first opportunity to change.

“Sure, My names Barnim. And you are?”

“Well, I’m Francis, but everyone calls me Frank.”

“Well, take any seat you like.”

With that I went back to eating and doing my homework for that evening. I tried to get it done at lunch when I had kickboxing. We didn’t really speak much.

The next week went by with much of the same, though somehow, a couple of Frank’s friends ended up joining the table’s occupants. Earl Hayes was a skinny black kid, who never really looked at me. Then there was Beth McNeil, a pudgy female nerd.

I was a sometime participant in the conversations at the table, though most of the time I was reading or doing homework. They were nice and tried to include me in the conversations, it was I just think I wasn’t ready to come out of my shell just yet. That all changed on the 16th of Sept.

Sitting at lunch I was eating some horrible spaghetti and trying to keep the sauce off of my clothes. Some kid I didn’t know walked up behind Frank. Beth and Earl sitting opposite Frank saw him and kind of scooted their seats together. It seemed like they were cowering. This new kid put his hands-on Frank’s shoulders to seemingly keep him in the seat.

“So Frank, I didn’t see you this morning. You have my money?”

“Uh, sorry. My bus was late this morning. I’ll get it, just hold on a second.”

This just didn’t seem right. Now I wasn’t going to go out and be some sort of vigilante, going out and stopping all the school’s wrongs. At the same time, I wasn’t going to leave my own little corner defenseless and at the mercy of jackasses. The lunch table was my little corner of the high school kingdom, and it was being raided. That just didn’t fly with me.

“So, who’s your friend Frank?”

“I don’t need some nerd answering for me. I don’t know you, so keep your nose out of my business.”

“Well jackass, seeing as you won’t tell me your name let me introduce myself. I’m Barnim and seeing as you are occupying space near my table, I believe you need to pay the tax. So, cough it up.”

He looked at me incredulously. “And who the hell do you think you are?”

Standing up to my full height, I realized just how much of a height difference there was between us. This new kid was only about 5’8”. I didn’t think he was the brains of this operation, but he was who I had to deal with at the moment.

“Like I said, my name is Barnim. Now I’d kindly appreciate it if you’d leave. You’re interrupting me and my friends’ lunch.”

He took a step to walk around the table to where I was standing. I beat him to the punch and met him at the head of the table. It was at that moment, he realized the height difference. I made sure that I was only an inch or two from him so that way he was forced to lift his head up to look at me.

“As I said there is a tax to occupy space at this table. So, either pay up or get moving. I’m not going to wait all day.”

He took a minute, and finally walked off. While I really didn’t want to start a fight in the middle of the cafeteria, I wasn’t going to let my table mates be bullied. As I sat back down, I noticed that the rest of the cafeteria was dead silent.

Looking at Frank, I had to ask. “What the hell was that about?”

“That was Earnest Viscar. He’s a buddy of Kenneth Hicks, who’s kind of the leader of their group. Danny Kidd is the third member. They force a bunch of us to give them our lunch money.”

“WHAT! That sounds like something out of a movie.”

“Yep, but that’s what they do. We get hit up at least once a week. They expect Earl, Beth, me and some others to give them $10 each.”

“You guys need to stand up for yourselves. It may be tough for a while, but they’ll give up eventually.”

Earl decided to chime in. “They’ll beat us up.”

“Look, y’all are safe here at the table while I’m around but you don’t stand up for yourself, it will follow you through life. You’ll get bullied for the rest of your life.”

I finished my lunch and continued my day. NJROTC was interesting and 1stSgt Gibbs had my rapt attention. as we started talking about boot camp for the Navy and Marine Corps. I was taking notes so I could reread them and figure things out.

Walking out to my truck after World History, I heard somebody yelling behind me.

“Is that him?”

“Yeah.”

I turned and saw three people walking towards me. The kid from the lunchroom, and two other kids. One was about 6ft tall, the other was maybe 5’6”. I waited until they were about 10ft from me. I looked at the tall kid.

“I guess you’re Kenneth Hicks, and the little guy must be Danny Kidd.”

He had a look of surprise on his face. “Yeah, and who the hell are you?”

“Well, I’m Barnim Badzinski. Well, it was nice to meet you, have a nice day.”

I turned so I could get in the truck and had just opened the door when he decided to speak again.

“Hey, asshole! I’m not done talking to you. Get your ass back over here.”

I climbed into the truck. “That’s nice.”

Closing the door, I started the truck. I had the habit of always locking the door, which followed me from my first life. It was a good thing it did. The moron tried getting the door open.

I quickly checked the rear, then put the truck in gear and backed out. Kenneth was yelling something, though I couldn’t make it out. I was about halfway home when I noticed the driver’s side mirror was askew. Guess I clipped Kenneth and that’s what he was yelling about. His fault for standing too close. I had an inkling that this wasn’t going to end with this episode.

I got home and noticed mom was home already. I went in the kitchen and sat at the table, mom was trying to figure out what to make for dinner.

She saw me sit down. “So, what do you want or what did you do?”

“What makes you think there is some ulterior motive behind me sitting in the kitchen and spending time with my lovely mother?”

“Well, if that wasn’t you trying to butter me up, I’m going to need a shovel to clean up all that crap you are slinging around.”

I surprised myself by telling her the whole thing and explaining what had happened at school. Even the stuff that might make me look other than a good guy. This was a new occurrence for me as in my other life I was kind of self-serving.

My main goal during the whole conversation was so that if anything else happened, she wouldn’t be caught off guard.

For the first nine years, mom was raising three boys by herself as the actual parent. We lived with my grandparents, They helped her immensely, but they left her to make the actual parental decisions.

We were always taught, you don’t start fights. It’s better to try and not get into one if possible. Though she always did agree with my grandfather’s sage wisdom, “you don’t start a fight, but you make sure you’re the one to finish it.” Now to my unique experience at this point, that was well and good. Though there were times you needed to break the rule and strike first.

I finished the story and she looked at me. “You’re telling me this why?”

“Well mom, I have a feeling that for the other three idiots this isn’t over. I just wanted you to be aware in case something happens. I’m heading to kickboxing. Love you.”

“Love you sweetheart.”

Kickboxing was the same, though my stomach felt better after this class. Mom was waiting for me in the kitchen. I had figured our conversation was over, I guess not.

“Sit down. I think it’s nice that you’re sticking up for your friends. Just remember, no starting fights. It’s good to see that you’ve got some friends. You need to get out and have some social interactions. You sit here at the house way too much.”

“They’re not my friends. More like acquaintances.”

“Well, it’s a start. You need to do more of that. Maybe find a girl you like and ask her out.”

“Alright, on that note, I think we’re done. I’m going to take a shower and go to sleep. Let’s forget the end of this conversation ever happened.”

I walked upstairs and got ready for bed. That conversation was really weird. Mom had never been one to have any conversations about relationships or sex growing up the first go-round. I had gotten taught by my brothers.

This was a significant change in this go-round.

I woke up and headed out to get my run in. The run helped clear my head and to come up with a plan of action to deal with the idiot gang at school.

Like my talk with mom yesterday, I needed to let the people in the school administration know what had happened, that way I was covering all bases. I had a feeling this was going to go in a bad direction, and I needed to document it all from the beginning.

After finishing my run, I sat down and wrote a statement as to what happened at lunch, what Frank and Earl told me, plus what happened after school. I gave it to mom to look over. I would call Mr. Carrigan to get his input.

I headed into school, figuring they would either pull something today or would wait until I let my guard down. Hopefully something later so I could be on surer ground.

I knew I would have to keep an eye out for the three stooges all day, however I didn’t have any classes with them. Morning classes went OK.

Sitting down at the table for lunch, it was crappy pizza again, it was only made better by ranch sauce. Frank and Beth showed up together, and sitting down tentatively, they looked me over.

“Well, you don’t look like you’ve been beat up Barnim.”

“Frank, that’s because I wasn’t. So, I have something to tell you and Earl. Though I’ll wait till he’s here, so I don’t have to go over it twice.”

“OK.”

Earl came to the table with another two geeks/nerds in tow. This was starting to get out of hand. I had nothing against geeks or nerds. Jesus Christ though, a table full of them would drive me crazy. I wasn’t looking to have hundreds of friends. It was more about the person than being seen with lots of people. I knew I needed social interaction, but the way things were going, I’d be drowning in it. It was a little more than I could handle at the moment.

“Barnim, Frank says you have something to tell us.”

“Well, I’m going to let the school know what’s going on with the three morons harassing you guys and coming after me. I need to cover myself in case something happens.”

“WHAT? No, you can’t do that, they’ll beat us up. You can’t do that to us.”

“Look Earl. You have to stand up for yourself. If you don’t, they’ll never leave you alone. This will get them off your back for a while.”

“Barnim, you can’t do this. It’s not your choice. I won’t let this happen.”

“Look Frank, this is going to happen whether you like it or not. You two need to decide whether you’re going to take a stand or cower in the corner. I’m just giving you the courtesy of letting you know what’s going to happen Monday.”

They both started to say something at the same time. I cut them off.

“My actions are not open for discussion. You both need to make your choice.”

I went back to eating my lunch. I was going to do what I needed to do regardless of how they felt. I know they were scared, but at some point, you need to just sack up.

The rest of my day was fairly benign and I was looking forward to not worrying about looking over my shoulder during the weekend.

I made it home without any more altercations and gave Mr. Carrigan a call, asking if I could have a conversation with him about an issue. He told me to come by as he wasn’t busy.

I left mom a note saying where I was going, then jumped in the car and headed out. Walking into the office I noticed it was about 5:30pm.

“So Barnim. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now?”

“None as of yet. Though there are a couple of situations that could change that.”

“OK, so this will be a conversation between adults, where one happens to be your lawyer.”

I then proceeded to explain everything that had happened over the last week or so, the ordeal that went on with Stosh and what was going on at school. Bob just sat there until I finished. He sat for a couple of minutes collecting his thoughts, I figured that I was going to get read the riot act.

“So, as far as the incident with your brother and your truck. Not the smartest manner in which to rectify the situation. It could come back to bite you in the ass although I get protecting your family. IF the cops do show up, make sure I’m your first call. Not late at night if possible. I do appreciate you sending business my way though. If or when your brother calls me, I’ll take care of him.”

He quickly took a look at the letter. He made a couple of corrections on it. Handing it back to me, Bob smiled at me.

“I do like how you said that they are allowing the three students to commit strong arm robbery and extortion on campus. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it will get their attention. I made a couple of notes on it, but all in all, it’s very good. Take an extra copy, have them sign and date it. Give one to the school resource officer as well. If anything comes up, give me a call.”

I collected the paper and we headed towards the door. I really liked Bob. He was kind of like a second father figure that popped into my second life.

“Barnim, go home. Your mother would kill me if I kept you out late. Between you and me, your mother scares me.”

“Well Bob, that makes two of us. Have a good evening.”

I got headed towards the house thinking about the school situation. During the drive I came to the conclusion that what I was doing wasn’t going to endear me to the nerds or the school faculty.

I’d always believed in the Edmund Burke quote that “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Now was I a good man? Not completely, but I had made the decision that I was going to do what I could.

Mom was sitting at the table when I walked in the kitchen. We had a conversation about my time at Bob’s office. I grabbed a plate of beef Stroganoff and sat down. I always loved mom’s beef Stroganoff. Mom agreed with Bob about getting them to sign for the letter. She also had a couple of grammatical changes.

The weekend was enjoyable as I worked out some, got chores done and also received a call from my grandfather on Saturday. He was looking forward to me coming up at Christmas time. Though that was ultimately up to my mother. I told him about the problem at school and he approved of what I was doing with the bullies.

I was buoyed by that; his approval was something that meant the world to me. With my spirits uplifted, I sat down at the desk and started working on the letter. When it was finished, I let mom take a look at it. She gave it a good to go. I made two more copies of it, and was all ready for school.

I got my morning stuff done a little earlier Monday morning and left for school about a half hour early. Heading into the office, it was my favorite person from getting a schedule done.