Ben Austen

It was sometimes said to me.

When we got to high school, I tried to avoid fights as much as possible.

The stakes were too high.

I saw kids at my school swing bats, golf clubs, once a hatchet.

Our junior year, two guys jumped me for a gold chain.

My wife says when I showed up at school that week with a broken nose and two black eyes...

It was the first time she noticed me.

Like, noticed me as a potential mate.

Not sure what that says about either of us.

I remember these moments, but I don't feel plagued by them.

Not in the way Eddie was by me.

But I realize in saying all that, part of me is defending myself.

Little kid Ben.

I'm trying to prove I wasn't a bully.

Later, I even talked with an elementary school principal in Chicago to see whether my actions back then checked their four boxes of bullying.

I did check at least two.

Eddie has one more memory on his notepad that he wants me to hear.

He repeats the same story I shared with him in our Facebook exchange.

It starts just as I remember, but with a different conclusion.

It's that story of how when we were seven or eight and our class went to the park, a dog was off leash.