ryan r roth and his photographs

High School Bullies Are Suckers

So I just drove home from buying some honey, coffee, and red peppers from whole foods (circa 8:00 pm, read: dark). I turned onto my street to see three teenage boys turn and stare at me from the sidewalk as my headlights shined on them. They were walking a dog and looked pretty scared of me. I just kept driving but was certainly intrigued by their odd reaction to my presence.

I live on a relatively short street in a very quiet neighborhood. Our house doesn’t have A/C so most of the year you’ll find our windows open - just as they were tonight. Two minutes after arriving home - I was in the kitchen when I heard the tranquility of my neighborhood give way to some serious bass tied to some equally ridiculous gangster rap. I looked out my windows to see those three boys being stalked by a sporty red sedan. The car kept on pulling up to them as they were walking along the sidewalk. The headlights were continuously accelerating towards these boys and they were clearly scared; They had no idea what to do. They walked faster, the car had no trouble keeping up.

Sure enough, I found myself sprinting out the front door, across the street, to the passenger window of the creeper car. I arrived just as the three boys found temporary sanctuary behind a huge conversion van parked on my street. The kid in the passenger seat was no older that seventeen. I directed them to turn their music off. Off it went. Their faces turned a ghostly white.

It’s amazing what happens when you assert yourself. Now I had two kids in a car so scared for their lives that they forgot they could have just pulled away (they were in a car after all). They claimed that three guys were their friends. I called bull shit as I watched the trio sprint down my street out of the corner of my eye. I hope the “discussion” was long enough for my new buddies to get away.

The whole situation was diffused by the time my 80 year old neighbor Hank made it the door… his wife was calling the cops.

Filed by ryanroth at September 27th, 2008 under Life, Our World