The photo above is of the classic LEGO set King’s Castle. It plays a pivotal role in this tale as it captures the essence of what I went through dealing with a bully when I was young.
My bully wasn’t the typical schoolyard type. You know, the ones who would pick on you on the playground. No, my bully was family, and he tried yo make my life miserable at my grandparent’s house.
His name was Stevie, and he was my cousin. You may remember him from the audio presentation “An Appalachian Christmas Carol” that we ran in this publication just before Christmas.
Stevie was three years older than me and quite a bit taller. He liked to use that seniority in age to bully me when we would both be staying at our grandparents. Stevie was always looked at as the favorite around there by the rest of us grandkids. Both of his parents worked, and Stevie would get dropped off at Granny’s house every morning to eat breakfast and catch the bus, and then would be dropped off there after school to wait for his mom to come pick him up.
When you spend that much time at the grandparent’s house, I guess it’s only natural for them to take more of a shine to you. I was sort of the opposite to Stevie in that regard, as my mom didn’t work, and I caught the bus to school from home. But on occasion, I would get dropped off at granny’s to just hang out for a while, and before I would get there, I was always hoping that Stevie wasn’t there that day.
Stevie just seemed to get the most attention. As an example, when we would get something to drink, he always got first pick of the glass, and would then proceed to tease me constantly by parading the fact that he had picked the glass I wanted.
Or in another example, when we would play with Hot Wheels, he always insisted that we do a parade, and also insisted that he get to control the vehicles in front.
In yet another example, if we were eating breakfast, he would get to eat Fruity Pebbles, while any of us other cousins had to eat oatmeal. This one is a little more acceptable since his mom bought the Fruity Pebbles to leave there for him, but he would always run it in that he had them and we didn’t. And as a side note, he sometimes would put Mtn. Dew on them instead of milk. How would you like to have been his teacher at school after a breakfast like that?
But the rudest example I have of his behavior towards us revolves around that LEGO King’s Castle set. All of us grandkids loved LEGO, and this set resided at Granny’s house. When we wanted to get it out and play with it, he INSISTED that he be the one to assemble it. There was no working on it together. He, and he alone, would be the one to put it together. And to make matters worse, he wouldn’t even let us watch. He insisted that we take one of the minifigures into another room and pretend to hunt for food the entire time he was building the castle. When he was done, he would usually declare that he didn’t want to play anymore, break it apart, and put all of the pieces back into the box. He was just too much.
While my bully wasn’t typical, as he rarely would punch me in the arm or employ any of the other usual bully tactics, he could mess with your mind. And that’s what made him such a despicable bully.
Some of the best lessons I learned in life came from him though. I learned at a very early age not to treat people badly like that. Not to be a total d*ck, and don’t try to put yourself above others like that.
I’ve told this story on the old Retro Network Podcast, but a few years ago he applied for a job where I work, and I was part of the team that interviewed with him. While I hear he is great at what he does, he didn’t interview well, so he wasn’t going to get the job. When the interview was over, I was the one to walk him back out to the lobby and the front door. I told him that we didn’t think he would be a good fit for the job. He understood. And in a moment of weakness, as he was leaving and the door was closing, I turned around and said, “Go build your f*cking castle!” The look of confusion and disdain on his face was priceless. He knew exactly what I was referring to.
It’s probably very lonely being King of the Castle when you’re the only one there.
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