The Bully(Jack Matheson) John V. Matheson The Bully: about 3164 words



The Bully

I had known Robert Boggs since we were kids in grade school. He was an imposing fellow even then. He was stocky, strong with wild black hair. His hands were huge. You could say we were friends but Robert had an attribute I didn't admire. He was cruel. He would pick fights on the playground with smaller and weaker kids and beat them and then would just laugh it off. “I can’t stand weakness,” he would say.

Occasionally, I would be unlucky enough to be the recipient of his sharp tongue but mostly we got along. As time went by he began to attract likeminded friends, followers, you could say. As our friendship faded, I observed Robert from afar.

As He struggled through his school years, Robert seemed to get worse. In high school, He and his gang of trouble makers established their territory in the main hallway of the school. The old fashioned water heated radiators that everyone like to sit on in the winter to get warm, were now off limits to anyone but the Bully and his chosen few.
The hallway became a gauntlet for the rest of the students who had to walk by the "radiators" to get to class. Robert and his unsavory crew would spew insults, degrading names and wolf calls. It didn't matter to them if it were a boy or a girl. No one was spared. Most everyone was afraid of Mr. Boggs and his “crew.” I usually got a pass because of Robert and my previous friendship and our parents were chummy socially.
I felt sorry for anyone who had to endure the attacks, particularly one student. Vern Butts was small in stature, pigeon toed and wasn't blessed with either good looks or a large IQ. He was perfect prey for the crew to pick on and pick on they did. No mercy. Robert would trip him, knock his books on the floor, spit on him and call him stupid, ugly, dummy, Vern the turd. Whatever disgusting display Robert could think up, he used on him. The crew would laugh loudly, only to encourage him to escalate his attacks. This went on for the whole junior year in high school. Vern did not return for senior year. The rumor was that he transferred to a nearby school out of the reach of the “bully crew”. No one would hear anything about him until years later.

It was 1966, our senior year, and everyone was looking forward to graduation. For Robert, it was his last opportunity to be the “king of the hallways,” but he looked forward to getting out of school. He wasted no time in reclaiming the "radiators" and taunting the students. People were not the only victims’ of Robert Boggs, unfortunately so were innocent animals.

He would capture dogs and cats and hang them by the neck and leave them shrieking and dangling on some poor homeowner’s front porch and knock on the door and run, laughing hysterically, imagining the reaction of the people as they opened their door. That was the start of the exodus of the “crew.” Taunting students was one thing but killing innocent animals was too much to stomach for Robert’s gang.

Graduation was finally upon us and we were all going our separate ways. Some of us were going on to college, some to the military and on to Vietnam and some staying in town to work. I went off to college while Robert, with his military deferment, went to work at the local butcher shop where he was hauling carcasses and eventually cutting meat. It seemed to be a fitting job for him. He became interested in Mary Meyers who was a short slender blonde with piercing blue eyes and had a penchant for bad boys. Mary wasn’t particularly good looking but she wasn’t lacking in the figure department. She was right up Robert’s alley. She was working as a receptionist at the butcher shop and it didn't take long for them to start dating. They were in love and lust at the same time. It was hard for both of them to keep their minds on work. A year later they moved in together. Whenever you saw Robert, Mary was always with him except on Saturdays when he would go hunting with a couple of friends he had met through the butcher shop.

Hunting had become Robert's new passion, but true to form, he was inhumane in his approach. While deer hunting, he would kill anything that moved just for the hell of it, until he found a deer. It pissed off his friends but they went along because they feared Robert, especially with a rifle in his hands and a gut full of beer.

The following year Robert was promoted to manager at the butcher shop when the previous manager was arrested for fronting stolen goods through the shop. It was a local scandal because everyone knew the manager, Jerry Richard. He had twin sons who went to the local high school. It was rumored that Jerry went to prison. I remember the embarrassment that the sons endured. Their mother left town. The extra money allowed Robert and Mary to purchase the log cabin in the woods they had their eye on for some time. It was a great cabin. It was very rustic and a perfect nest for the couple. The regular weekend hunting trip was cancelled so that they could move in to their new home. With the help of his hunting buddies, a case of beer and a lot of lifting and grunting, they got moved in. While moving, the hunting cronies planned a trip to the California Mountains to hunt cougar, something Robert had wanted to do for years. The trip was planned ahead for six months.

Robert and Mary settled nicely in their new place. They lit a crackling fire in the rustic stone fireplace, opened a bottle of cheap champagne and celebrated their new home. The property was quiet and serene. The air had a fragrance of pine trees. A creek was just a short walk from the property, which eventually became the site of their marriage. Mary wanted to have children but every time the topic came up, Robert would have none of it. He was content to have his home, his hunting trips and his wife waiting for him when he came home.

Mary's desire for a child was not hindered. Her biological clock was ticking.

The cougar hunting trip was coming up soon and the boys were busy planning their trek. They would use a camper owned by Robert's hunting buddy, Marshall. Marshall was a short pudgy guy with chin stubble and bad clothing but a crack shot with a 30-30 rifle. The hunting weekend finally arrived. Robert was packed and ready to go. As he was about to walk out the front door of the cabin, Mary stopped him. She abruptly told Robert that she was pregnant. He quietly closed the door and then flew into a rage. Yelling and screaming. He hit Mary, knocking her to the floor.
Robert turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him, climbed into the truck with his friends and they drove away.

Stunned, Mary picked herself up from the floor. What just happened, she thought? Now scared and worried, she looked into the mirror. Her cheek was cut and bleeding and her eye was beginning to turn black. Who was this man that was supposed to love me, she pondered. What will I do? Will Robert come back? This was the first time she experienced what so many others had.

As the cougar hunters were driving down the freeway, Marshall could not help but notice Robert's anxiety. When asked, he refused to discuss it. The hunters popped some beers and the trip began to focus on the goal. Kill a cougar. After a few beers, the mood lightened up and the boys began to talk of the “big kill” and joking and laughing about being big game hunters.

After several hours of driving the cougar hunters finally arrived at their camp area. Tired and a little drunk, they bedded down for the night.

At home Mary was also settling down for the night. She did not sleep well, wondering what the future had in store for her and the baby to come.

She had fleeting thoughts about leaving Robert but she thought maybe the incident was a fluke, a onetime issue. Maybe he just blew because of the stress of the trip and her admittedly sudden announcement of the pregnancy. She decided to wait until he returned from his hunting trip and hopefully the whole problem would disappear.

Morning came at 5am for the hunters. The sun was just peaking over the mountains and the air was crisp and it was slightly foggy. Larry, a tall skinny man with a protruding Adams apple and dirty finger nails, Robert’s other hunting buddy and Marshall had breakfast cooking, the aroma of sizzling bacon and coffee brewing filled the camper. The excitement was mounting. This was the first day of the cougar hunt. The men were eager to get started!

Mary arose from a restless night with a slightly more positive view, not wanting to dwell on the day before. She strolled down to the creek and reflected on the day that she and Robert got married in the very spot she stood. The rumbling sound of the water rolling over the rocks in the creek, the smell of the wildflowers and the birds singing somehow calmed her. She was anxious for Robert to return so she could resume her life, one way or another.

After pancakes, bacon and eggs and copious cups of coffee, the big game hunters began climbing through the dense trees and brush. The crackling of the twigs under their feet echoed off the rocks and drifted through the air. They could see their breath as they trudged upward where the big cats hid. They were exhilarated by the power of the nature around them.

The men decided to take a break and have some lunch which consisted of some beef jerky and a half case of beer. This was not a good combination for Robert. His demeanor changed to mean and aloof. This was the bully that his buddies had seen before and did not like. Despite their worries, everything seemed okay, so far.

As the threesome resumed their hike, Robert stumbled on some rocks and nearly fell when he discovered three cougar cubs hiding in a den. The mother cougar was out hunting for food.

Robert, still half drunk, unslung his rifle and began to bludgeon the helpless cubs until they were a bloody mess. He was chuckling to himself. It was as though he was crazed.

Marshall and Larry watched with disbelief. They were sick inside. They had enough of Robert Boggs and announced that they were leaving and that Robert could stay but it was Marshall's camper and they were done. Robert threw a tantrum but reluctantly went along, all the while trying to convince them that they should stay and kill the mother cougar for a trophy. The angry friends were not swayed.

No one spoke on the trip back home.

Later the mother cougar returned to her den to find her cubs dead. The scream of a mother cougar in agony is undeniable. She picked up the human scent and began to hunt. Robert’s smell was in her nose.

Hours later Robert was dropped off at his cabin and Mary was waiting at the door. Feeling abandoned by his friends, He hung his head and apologized to her for his behavior, still thinking of the day’s events and wishing he had brought home the trophy cougar.

Mary was glad that things were back to normal, in her mind.

Eventually Robert began to accept that there was going to be a new baby in his life. He actually was warming up to the idea, which pleased Mary.
The hunting trips ceased to exist because Larry and Marshall refused to hunt with Robert. It seemed that he had lost his last friends. He began to drink more and more. His ritual was work in the morning, beer and TV at night and he would eventually pass out, snoring loudly in his recliner.
Mary was due to deliver in a couple of months and Robert's belly was getting as big as Mary's from the constant consumption of beer. She was unhappy and threatened to leave if he didn't quit drinking. Robert wasn’t moved.

Two months to the day, the baby arrived.

The birth seemed to have changed Robert's life. He was so proud to be the father of his new baby boy. They named him Robert Jr.

Robert seemed to have turned his life around. He was in awe of his new son. He fixed up a room for Bobby and barely left his side. It seemed that finally Robert Boggs was a changed man. He seemed gentler, kinder somehow. Mary was ecstatic. Her dreams had come true. Robert stopped drinking and when he wasn't working, devoted all of his time to his son. Each night he would bed Bobby down in his crib as the moonlight shined on his son’s face through the panes of the bedroom window. The stars were bright in the sky and the music of the crickets echoed into the night.
Robert and Mary went to bed that night holding each other and saying that life had finally reached a pinnacle for them and how thankful they were for their new son. Life seemed perfect.

It was Sunday morning. Mary headed out for her sister Kate's house for a visit. They hadn't seen each other for 5 years. They had a falling out many years before and this was an attempt to repair their relationship. The couple kissed each other goodbye. Mary felt relieved. This was a long earned break and an opportunity to get her sister back in her life.
The day went great for father and son. They played all day. Bobby giggled as Robert tickled his little tummy and Robert laughed as he never had before. The day passed and Robert put his Son in his crib and retired to his easy chair to watch TV.

It seemed unusually calm that night, maybe because Mary wasn't there or Robert was just feeling some peace in his life. He was reclined in his chair about to drop off to sleep when he was startled by a chilling scream that rattled his inner soul. He bolted from his chair to Bobby's room and all the air from his lungs escaped and he fell to his knees as he saw the paws of a giant cougar placed on the window panes of Bobby's room. The cougar’s head was twisting back and forth as its breath fogged the glass. The screams seemed to be coming from the depths of Hell.

Robert’s mind flashed to the cubs that he had killed a few years back and knew that the cougar had come for his boy. He dragged his son's crib into the hallway, out of breath, ran to his gun cabinet and pulled out his rifle and loaded it. He ran outside to challenge his enemy and the sound of gunfire and the primal scream of a cougar rang into the night.

I happened to be in town to visit my parents the next day. It had been a long while since I had seen them. I kept in touch with my mom mostly and she kept me up to date on what was happening in the hometown. Later that day, I ran into an old friend who mentioned that Robert Boggs had been found dead by his wife upon returning from a visit to her sister’s. I asked my friend what had happened but he didn’t know except that the scene was a real mess and Boggs was barely recognizable. I felt a pit in my stomach. Robert was once a friend and I didn’t wish death on anyone.
On the evening news, the police announced they were investigating the demise of Robert Boggs. His rifle had been found at the scene and had been fired and there were cougar tracks nearby. That seemed odd to me because cougars were not usually found in this part of the state.

I left the following day after a great visit with my mom and dad.
I took the train back home. I loved the scenery as the big steel wheels clacked down the tracks and the pine trees whizzed by.

I picked up a newspaper before I left to read on the way home. I walked to the dining car to grab a cup of coffee. I sat in the chair next to the window and unfolded my newspaper and there on the front page was the headline “Local Butcher Shop Manager Murdered.”

The article went on to say that there was a suspect and that they expected an arrest soon. My mind was racing. Reading further, the police described evidence they discovered including a bloody baseball bat found in the woods nearby. It was stained with blood and strands of black hair. There were also footprints from a pair of Converse All-star tennis shoes.

I would find out later that the footprints and fingerprints on the bat were those of Vern Butts and the blood and hair of Robert Boggs. Vern confessed to the murder without remorse. To him, justice was done. He had harbored hate for Robert since high school. He never forgot the bullying he endured. To him the score was settled, even though he was destined for prison.

When the whole story came out, Vern had been stalking Robert for months, waiting for the right time to strike. He hid outside the cabin night after night. Then he finally got up the guts to kill the man that had tortured him in his youth.

He was crouched down behind the front porch of the cabin when Robert ran out his front door to kill the cougar. While Robert was firing at the cougar, Vern hit him in the head with a baseball bat. Robert’s head cracked like a watermelon and his bloody brains oozed from his skull.

He fell to the ground and Vern struck repeatedly. He smirked. His nemesis was dead. The police picked him up three days later in the local tavern, drunk and alone.

Roberts’s cruelty got him in the end. I often wonder what would have happened in those two men’s lives had Robert treated Vern with respect and lifted him up in life. No one will ever know.

Mary and Bobby are living with Mary's sister Kate.

The cougar vanished.
End

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