Rocks

Hello. This is Francis. I've changed my name to ScotchTape to remain anonymous on my friends blog at his request.


My friend threw rocks at a sleeping homeless man once. It was a handful of gravel really. It didn't hurt the man, not physically. He got up and chased us all away. We all ran excitedly but I didn't feel the usual sense of glee which accompanies excitement. The man was rather old and mustn’t have been it quite good shape because he didn't chase us far and he held his hip as he walked back to the bench he had been laying on, muttering as he went. My friend never showed any sign of remorse and this hurt me a little because I felt both guilty and remorseful.

Phillip was my friend's name. He was a couple of months older than I was and so back then, while there was no explicit power in our friendship, I always had felt I needed to follow his lead. The time he threw rocks at a homeless man, we had been walking home from school together. We lived close by so we could walk together most of the way home. I only had one more block to walk than he did. When we split that day, I felt quite glad that I was no longer with him because I wanted time alone to think. I didn't think that telling my parents about the incident was a viable option because then Phillip would probably get into trouble with his parents and get grounded. Also, he would know that I had told on him. So I kept it to myself. I thought about it that afternoon, but I never came to a conclusion about how I felt. I simply moved on and thought about other things. The homework I had to do for the next day and watching the Canadiens game.

The next day, Phillip acted the same way he always did. He was polite to Mme. Isabelle and Mr. Paulson, our teachers, and he was dominant in the classroom. He wasn't mean or controlling. He was simply the smartest person in our class, the most eloquent and the most courageous in the eyes of his peers. He would raise his hand to answer every question and he was rarely wrong. On the dodgeball court, he had the hardest shot and it was quite a feat to eliminate him. The team he played for usually was the won to win. I was glad that he always picked me on his team. Naturally, he was a captain nearly every time.

By the end of classes the day after the incident, I had forgotten about the whole thing and hadn't a care in the world again. Phillip had a doctor's appointment that afternoon so his mother had come to collect him from school early meaning I would have to walk home alone. I was a bit frightened to run into the homeless man again. I did. This time, the man was not asleep. He was sitting upright and I imagined he was expecting us. I imagined the would grab and handful of gravel and throw it at me. I imagined that he would get up and shove it down my throat and yell, "How do you like it?"

But he didn't. I walked by him quickly and I think the man understood that I wasn't the culprit behind his assault. After I'd gotten by him, I stopped. I turned and said to him, with difficulty, "I'm sorry my friend threw rocks at you." I then scurried off and didn't look back. In fact, I ran all the way home. Once home, I realized it had been silly of me to run away. I hadn't done anything wrong. When my mother arrived from work, I told her all about the incident and what I'd done and she told that I'd been very brave and that Phillip had been very silly to throw rocks at the man. I didn't think silly was the right word. I would have said stupid or mean. Later I would learn that the adult words were idiotic and asshole. I was also told by my mother to walk home a different way. And she showed me on a map and wrote down the directions on a piece of paper in case I forgot.

The next day went by quickly and was just like any other. Mme. Isabelle taught us French and Arts and Mr. Paulson taught us English and Social Studies. During recess, we played dodgeball and I was on Phillips team and we won by a landslide. At lunchtime, someone tried to through a banana peal into the garbage from his seat and missed and Mrs. Dawson, one of the lunch ladies slipped on it and fell on her back which was quite funny. It was okay to laugh because she sprang right back up as soon as she'd fallen and her cheeks became tomato red. Then it was funny because she yelled at the student who had thrown the banana peal in front of everybody and made him go pick it up and he had his deserved share of laughs.

When the bell rang, we all ran outside, and set off to go home. I told Phillip that my mom wanted me to walk a different way home and he laughed. He told me, "Don't be a Mamma's Boy." I wasn't quite sure what he meant. He then added. "Look you can go you're Mamma's Boy way if you want, but I'm going the normal way."

I didn't feel like walking alone and I didn't want to be a Mamma's Boy whatever it was. So I went the normal way too. While we walked, I reasoned that there was no good reason for going a different way anyways. I was ten years old, I could do what I want, I thought.

We walked along and when we came around the corner, I saw the homeless man again. He was lying down but when he caught sight of us, he sat up. Phillip told me he needed to tie his shoe and bent down. I snuck in a quick smile and wave to the man who smiled back. We started walking again and as we went by the man, Phillip stopped for a moment and then whipped a handful of gravel at the homeless man. I was horrified. The man became angry with Phillip and with quickness he hadn't shown the other day; he got up and grabbed Phillip by the shirt collar before either Phillip or I had registered what happened. The man yelled at Phillip quite loudly, "Don't be a fucking brat. Rocks hurt! How would you like it?" Now Phillip was the one who was horrified.

Then I heard the wail of a siren and noticed a police car that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. The homeless man immediately let go of Phillip but it was too late. The officers were stepping out of the car and in seconds, one officer had the man pinned to the ground and was cuffing him and the other had a hand on Phillips shoulder and was asking him if he was hurt. Phillip said yes and the policemen faces took on a look of disgust and they violently shoved the homeless man into the back of their squad car. I tried to tell them that Phillip had thrown a rock at the man but they wouldn't listen. Then, then, one of the officers walked us home and the other drove off with the homeless man.

That was the last time I ever saw the man, and when I got home, I told my mother all about it and she became angry that I had disobeyed her. I tried explaining to her that Phillip had thrown rocks at the man but all she could say was, "Well of course, if the bum was attacking him." She sent me to my room and then began talking with my father about whether I should walk home alone.

Phillip became an even bigger celebrity at school and all the teachers and lunch ladies were especially nice to him. I never saw him throw rocks again though.