Terry lived alone with his dad. They'd never really bonded. What that meant was that his dad felt cheated. He'd fought long and hard with his ex-wife over custody of their only issue.
He'd lost.
Terry was happy he didn't see much of his father anyway. He always landed up either bruised or humiliated.
"Dad?" Terry said late the night of that first day.
"Night son..." His dad didn't even bother to look up from the sports section he was reading in his lazy-boy.
"I've got a little problem at school."
"Again?" His dad dropped the paper in his lap and steepled his callused hands atop his manly gut. Lastly, he donned his patented parental understanding look–the one that said so much about caring so little.
"Seniors."
"Look, Terry. You're in high school now. You're almost a man. You've got to learn to stick up for yourself. Fight back."
"But dad, these guys are natural-born-killers!"
"Look son, I know you're a shrimp. I mean petite... Whatever..."
Terry waited silently for his facile Sermon on the Mount.
"I went to high school too, you know. Bullies is bullies. They're all bluster. They're just razing you is all. In short order they'll forget all about you."
"Really?"
"Mark my word," his father said, grateful that the whole thing was behind him, and he could get back to his paper.
"Thanks Dad. You're the best."
"I know," he nodded, already far away in this fantasy football lineup.
YOU ARE READING
Bambi and Thumper
Teen FictionOur story unfolds in the dark ages before LBGTQ+. Terry and Alan were never friends. What they were was a pair of fun-sized and terror-stricken high school freshmen. The boys were under the thumb of senior ogres: Butch and his wingman Spike. Under t...
