You make me mad!

Have you ever been so angry that you wanna scream? Or lash out at something?

Well, when I was about 6, there was this bully in the neighbourhood who thought he was Superman. He even called himself by this name. He was quite delusional. He was a small boy with a mean temper. He reminded me more of the "Incredible Hulk" because he was such a monster.

I had a pair of roller skates (the old school ones with the small wheels where you need to strap your foot onto the metal base) and I was pretty fast on them.

My cousins used to race me and word spread to "Superman" that I could beat a person on a bicycle simply on my roller skates.

I didn't want to race him because he was the rudest boy I knew. He started taunting me saying I was "scared" to race against someone like him.

I was getting really riled up. I could feel myself getting red in the face (look things have changed a bit. I was 6 ok;) so I agreed to race him.

He was on his bicycle and I was on my skates. There were quite a few kids that came out to watch this. I knew that "Superman" couldn't afford to lose to me. He would never live it down for the following reasons:

1) I was on tiny wheels compared to him

2) He was older than me (about 8)

3) I was a girl. He hated girls and it annoyed him that I had already beaten a few boys in the neighbourhood (he felt he needed to put me back in my place).

It was for these reasons he could not lose this race and it was for these same reasons I HAD to win. He needed to be taught a lesson (and I really wanted to be the girl who could embarrass him because he was so confident and stuck-up ALL the time)

So there we were at the starting line which was a straight road which we had agreed on between the houses.

The moment the race began, I was practically sprinting on my skates and he was almost neck and neck with me on his small bicycle but I didn't let up. I ran and skated (you know how they move their hands side to side on ice? well, same sort of movement minus the snow and professionalism:) My lungs were burning but I kept going.

Incredibly, I was actually leading. I managed to get ahead of him and widen the gap between us.

I was fully focussed but something unforeseen happened. My skate got caught on a piece of gravel from the road. The stone got trapped in the wheel immediately jamming it.

At brake neck pace, I fell down on the road. My left hand was extended out facing palm up to the sky.

Now, you'd think this stupid little sh*t would stop because I had fallen down. Not only did he NOT stop, he actually RAN OVER my wrist on his bicycle.

I still have the scar to this day because the skin came off. I was pretty scratched up. And I was really upset I tripped because I was about to win.

Odette (my older sister) came out when she heard all this commotion outside. When she saw my bleeding wrist, she was furious!

She threatened to call the police on him (she was just trying to scare him but he didn't show any signs of being worried) He beat his chest and said "Call the police! I dun care. I fly away. Me Superman, the quickest, the fastest...."
He was standing on the ledge delivering his speech as if we were all his subjects. Then, he lifted his hand in the air preparing for flight (what a nut)..... Minus the cape and underpants, he really thought he was Superman!

Can you imagine he said it was my fault for racing against him. What a little gangster....

Looking back, it really makes me laugh because it was so dramatic, so silly yet I had raced as if my life depended on it ;)

I shouldn't even have bothered trying to prove myself. In the end I got hurt and even if I had won, would he have changed? Maybe not. People change when the time is right. For "Superman", maybe never hehe

You see, we think we're trying to prove something to someone else but most of the time, we're trying to prove it to ourselves.

But seriously, what I learnt was that I shouldn't have needed to "win" to prove anything. And who was he anyway? What did it matter? Just some rude neighbourhood bully.

I let my anger get the better of me and he had the last laugh but everyone saw that I was ahead before I fell down okay so I was still the winner in my young head! :)
Nowadays, I fight my battles on a Scrabble board. My Mum's quite relieved about this. Much safer than the other games I used to play (or the skate boarding injuries I used to get) coz I don't come home black and blue :)