by Richard Ellis

Created on: May 08, 2009

His name was Henry. I do not recall his last name, but Henry will do for this story. He was the 'tough-guy" in our Junior High School (What I guess they call middle school today.) Most of the kids were somewhat afraid of Henry and avoided him as much as possible. They said he was a bully, and I suppose he did push his weight around a bit. Henry did not have a "gang". He was pretty much a "loner", but that was alright because he could look out for himself very well, thank you; and his friends, too, if he should have any. Well, he did have friends, of which I was one. There were other wannabe bullies in school, but if Henry befriended you, you were always safe from them. Henry liked who he liked and had little time for those he didn't. I never saw Henry go looking for trouble, but if trouble came looking for him, then trouble was in for a rousing good time. Perhaps I should say a bad time, because I never knew Henry to loose a fight if he was forced into one.

Maybe it was his physical appearance and bearing that made the other kids want to give Henry plenty of personal space. He was short and stocky in stature with powerful arms and legs, broad shoulders, deep chest, and thick neck. He had close-set blue eyes in deep sockets under heavy brows which had no break between them; just one long brow of coarse blond hair all the way across his forehead. His nose was "pugged"; flat and wide. His countenance was usually stern, but not mean. His blond hair was kept very closely cut. (So as not to give the other guy an advantage in a fight, I suppose). If ever there was a stereotypical model for the name "Butch", as applied to tough guys in those days, Henry was it.

As was mentioned earlier, Henry became my friend, my protector if need be, and to this day I do not know why. We did have something in common in that we were both "loners" in school, associating with only a few acquaintances. Shortly after I arrived at that school, Henry took me in tow and showed me around; how to get from class to class in a hurry or, how to not get to class at all without getting caught; where to stash our books and personal things so that they would be safe because there were no lockers. He showed me many other things, too, but we won't get into that. Suffice it to say that we enjoyed one another's society and tried our best to stay out of trouble. Some might say that Henry was a bad influence, but he never influenced me to do anything that I didn't want to do.

His name was Henry. He was a bully to some, but bully or not, he could calm a bad situation by just showing up. He seldom had to fight. Now, that's the kind of bully that you want to be around, if he liked you. He liked who he liked and I'm glad he liked me.

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