As I headed up the hill, I noticed one of the kids took off running to a nearby parking lot. When he started to hide behind cars, I knew exactly what I was up against. Make like a tough guy, yell at someone when they are well past you, and then run off when they try and chase you down. What would you call this type of person? Sounds like a coward to me. I suppose it is much better than someone that might try to fight their way out of the situation. In all honesty the thought did go through my head, What if this kid tries to throw a punch at me? This circumstance is a little different than at school where kids wouldn't pull this kind of behavior on a school administrator. My next thought was, Are you sure you want to do this?
By now I was halfway up the hill and there was no turning back. As I passed the other boy that was with this kid, I asked what this boy's name was. “I don't know,” was his response. I replied, “Sure you don’t” and kept moving toward the parking lot. When I turned in the lot I could see the perpetrator moving from one car to the next. After a few moves past several cars, he decided it was all in vain and walked out to face the man he thought "sucked".
As I pulled up on my bike, I could tell he was bowing up his chest and ready for anything. At least he is facing the facts, I thought to myself. I came up on him at a fairly high rate of speed mainly from going into a sprint up the hill and then the downhill acceleration into the parking lot. I came to a stop a couple of feet from him. He was facing me with arms down and fists clenched. I knew from other experiences in my profession and personal life that this was a position for two things. Defend or attack. His back wasn't to me in order to run off. He was ready to defend, but my approach wasn't going to be physical. I was going to work on his conscious more than anything else.
When my bike came to a stop, the first thing I did was ask his name. He paused for a few seconds, which I thought was strange, then he told me his name. I asked him, “Who are your parents?” He replied, “Why do you want to know my parents name?” I said, “I'm sure they would like to know how you are behaving.” He said, “I don't know my parents’ names.” My response: “You don't know your parents’ names? Everyone has parents!” He could see that the conversation wasn't going anywhere and starting to walk away. As he walked away I told him that I would find out who is parents were and where he lived. As I got back on my bike. I noticed his body language. He was slumped in defeat. He wasn't in the cocky aggressive position he was in before. Was it because he had been held accountable for his actions? As I made my way back to the pool, I couldn't help thinking, What if he doesn't have parents?
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