There were two girls who followed me around when I was in Public School.
They weren’t my friends.
At least once a week they beat me up. They’d drag me off to a corner at recess and treat my face and body to some fists.
They tormented me by following me around like a cat stalking its prey. I was a shy little kid and defenseless.
Those two girls would escort me home from school nearly every afternoon. It was terrifying.
My Mom wanted me to invite them for supper. She insisted they were my friends. And she actually came out of the house one day and invited them in for dinner! And they ate with us!
She never believed me when I told her they were most definitely not my friends, and she didn’t hear me when I said they liked to rough me up. She thought I was making it up.
Until.
One day I came home with a black eye.
“I fed those two girls!” Was my Mothers angry response to my beating.
My Mother trusted everyone. Complete trust. She always thought the best of people.
Unfortunately, this was not the only time my Mother put me in danger. There were many times I learned some shocking truths and endured abuse because my Mother either put me in harms way, or did not defend me.
Mom never believed people would do terrible things, even though some people did terrible things to her. A paradox I could never understand.
My brother also was bullied but solved his woes by brandishing a two by four. In the 1950’s and 60’s you were on your own, kiddo.