I drank beer with my friend, who complained to me about his daughter's problems at school. They have some kind of social problems, such as bullying, and his daughter said that she no longer wants to go to this school.
Doesn't want? She has a choice? Is it possible? These were the first questions that popped into my head, maybe on my drunken face too. My friend clearly noticed my furrowed forehead and bulging lips…
So that our friendship wouldn’t burn up in the flames of misunderstanding and the difference in mentality, I decided to tell him one case from my school life.
Of course, these were completely different times with different laws. We studied with dinosaurs in caves, and didn’t immediately notice the loss of one of our classmates, because no one could count beyond 9. Something like that.
If I told my mom that I didn’t want to go to a particular school, then I would have only 3 choices:
You see, it was quite a difficult time for the whole country. The regime has fallen, jobs are disappearing, the family is collapsing, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Psychological problems, especially children's problems, didn’t receive any priority points.
Not to say that we belonged to the poor, and ate snow on breakfast. But if there was an extra orange in our house that year, then I had two ways to get it: Engaged in an unequal battle with older sister. She was a titan, and I wasn't Kratos (after all, girls grow a little faster). Or, I could win at the expense of speed. What means: running away from her clumsy torso and chewing an orange along with the peel on the go, shitting myself as quickly as possible.
Survival mode was ON even within the family, not to mention external societies, such as schools.
And so, I got to a new school in 3rd grade. It was like Neverland, its reverse side. The task of adults was to survive and find food, the children were left to themselves, with all their problems. And not everyone was caring and courteous. In the future, 3 of my classmates at the age of 14 didn’t go to study further, but went to prison...well, also a business plan, probably.
There was a guy from a parallel class, let's call him Alex. He behaved quite rudely and confidently even with high school students. I quickly found out the reason for this behavior from the aborigines.
It turned out that his older brother was in prison. And Alex used this fact to the maximum. In any conflict situation (which he generated himself), he immediately started from trumps with the phrase:
-Do you know who is my brother? He'll tell you when he gets out of prison, soon.
This argument worked anytime, anywhere. Everyone around had enough problems already to get a hypothetical brother from the colony from that dude as an enemy.
Alex climbed into the wardrobe skip the line- OK, he's probably in a hurry to meet his brother from prison
Alex wants to taste your breakfast - Bon appetite. how's your brother doing?
Alex wants to see a new toy of a youngster- Well, you understand.
Alex appreciated the effectiveness of "Big Brother in Prison" (c) on students so much that he began to develop this topic to new levels. He was able to "explain" to the teachers that they should also remember about his mythical brother. Seriously, it worked even for adults. Needless to say, how much his authority has grown, after a couple of stories where on the teacher's question “2+2?” Alex answered: “ffokc uf” (swears at cockney). In fact, he turned into a legendary immortal being.
The years passed. I was able to observe the birth of a certain religious cult in the local swamp. In the corridors of our school, you could meet a slightly strange procession, led by a proud and confident Alex. Next to him there was always a retinue of 4-5 people of different ages, sizes, and degrees of marginality. It was the cult of the "Big Brother in Prison" (c).
I'll assume that all these dysfunctional guys at some point thought: "If we are friends with Alex, then when his mythical brother leaves the colony, he will reward us for our faithful service." I don't know what gifts they were counting on… hepatitis B, free tattoos with a dirty needle, animal figures made of crumb.
In short, all they lacked was to draw a couple of banners and preach loudly about the imminent arrival of BROTHER.
But everything changed in one day…
A new guy came to our class, an ordinary guy, calm, friendly- Newbie. And on that fateful day, on his first day at our school, a terrible thing happened. No one had told him about the Big Brother cult.
It was a lunch break at recess, the queue for hot (very hot). Newbie calmly chose what to take for the main dish, boiled sausages or nothing, when a voice came from behind:
Move away. - Of course it was Alex, with his crusaders
It is worth noting that Alex has not grown much in recent years, and was about 2 times smaller than Newbie. So it’s logical that Newbie didn’t see the reason why he had to move away, so he silently continued to choose a side dish for his sausage… potatoes or pasta, a difficult choice that requires concentration.
You don't fucking understand, freak? move away!
Why should I move away if came here firs? -sincerely surprised asked Newbie.
The cultists took a couple of steps back, someone sobbed. The cook was putting potatoes in a bowl mixed with pasta, and a couple of extra sausages, her eyes lit up with anticipation mixed with panic. In the music room, two floors above, the teacher sat down at the piano and prepared to play salon music for the fight.
Do you fucking know who am I? Looking for problems? My brother from prison will help you find them!
It seems to me that Alex could pronounce this sentence in all the languages of the world, so often he repeated it all these years.
In prison? Are not you lying? And in which prison exactly and what is your surname?
The dialogue was getting a little longer than Alex was used to. The case failed. In confusion, he gave both the prison and his surname. Newbie just smiled and went to pay for his order with beautiful shells that he found on the shore (don't forget that these were difficult times).
Stop, you bastard! You didn't understand what you got. Get ready to... SLAP!
It seems even a couple of snot flew out of Alex's nose when he fell on ass, clutching his burning cheek. Maybe something flew out of the ass too, or it was someone from the crowd.
The birds fell silent. Wind died down. Earth stopped. Heavens have fallen. And even the sun seemed to reduce its brightness, so as not to be involved in what could happen next. The Crusaders under the banner of the Big Brother didn't move.
The guys with big ears were able to hear the words, after which Alex disappeared from our school forever. The words spoken by Newbie that ruined what we thought would be forever.
I heard what you said. This weekend, when I will visit my father in the same prison, I'll ask him and his friends to say hello to your brother. Answered Newbie and went to lunch
This lesson was entrenched in the minds of every student of that time. It doesn't matter who your brother is, it matters who your father is.
And I, having finished telling this story to my friend in a bar, thought a little and said that he should definitely listen to his daughter. Since we live in such a wonderful time, when they have the opportunity to change schools, it's worth doing it.I wonder if Alex met his brother in prison in the end
