It was the late 60s. I lived in a fairly tough Toronto neighborhood, not exactly what one would call inner city using an American analogy, but definitely not the genteel suburbs. I had recently turned 17 and found myself increasingly responsible to take care of my 10 year old brother, Robbie. My parents werent neglectful but they were very busy. They worked long hours to pay the mortgage and ensure that their boys could participate in organized sports and other activities.
Robbie wasnt a loner, but he was a bit shy and just a sensitive kid by nature. Id always looked out for him, often not overtly, but sometimes stayed in the background and made sure he was alright. He was always active. He took acting lessons, participated in a junior bowling league, loved road hockey, tennis and was a chess whiz. I was pretty good at chess and lately hed been beating me. One thing that I was careful to look out for with Robbie was to ensure that I was alert for signs that other kids may be picking on him. I remembered distinctly the problems that I had with kids at school, when I was his age, and how that made me feel. Anyway, Id never seen any indication of a problem. He was a little less rambunctious than a lot of other boys, but he was happy.
One fall, things seemed to change. I didnt notice anything at first. Robbie seemed quieter. He just wanted to go to his room after school. I asked him what was wrong. He always said there was nothing wrong. But something had to be. His personality wouldnt just change like that. I couldnt seem to arrange to follow him after school. Our schedules just werent compatible. But he simply wasnt telling me anything. After a few weeks of this, one day Robbie came home with a bloody nose and missing buttons on his shirt. He was walking awkwardly and crying as he went into the bathroom. I told him he had to let me in. He had his pants down and was looking at his bottom in the mirror and sobbing. I couldnt believe what I saw. He had what looked like fresh welts on his bottom.
Ok. I said, "Now you have to tell me whats going on". He insisted that Id only make it worse. "Look, its time you trusted me on this", I said. "If you dont, Im going to follow you to school and sit in your classroom until they throw me out".
"All right", he sobbed as I rubbed some ointment on his bottom. He told me how this boy in junior high, named Brad had been threatening him, chasing him and generally pushing him around after school. He hadnt been eating lunch as this kid had been demanding his lunch money. He had decided that he wasnt going to give him any money any more and after school that day, Brad and a couple of his friends had caught him near the tennis club after school. Brad knocked him down and roughed him up. He asked his friends to hold Robbie while he grabbed a hold of his underwear lifted them up and gave him a wedgie. Brad proceeded to take his pants down and whacked him several times on the bare bottom with a thin stick hed been carrying. Brad told Robbie to show up in the park tomorrow, next to the tennis clubhouse, with his lunch money.
As I hugged Robbie, I explained to him that although I had told him that he needed to fight his own battles as I wouldnt always be around to protect him, that this was different. This boy was 3 years older than he was and also decided that he had to use gang tactics. I hugged Robbie tighter and told him not to worry, that I was going to look after this. I gave Robbie a warm bath and put him to bed. I told our parents that he wasnt feeling very well.
I had to think about what I was going to do about this. Certainly, I was angry enough to beat this Brad kid bloody and I was afraid that I could end up doing serious damage. On the other hand, I felt that I had to do something to get him to leave Robbie alone and maybe understand what it was like to be humiliated the way he humiliated Robbie. As I thought about it, I came up with a plan. I had occasion in the prior year to discipline 10 year olds while baby sitting and had also spanked another 10 year old thief in a park. I worked at the tennis club in the summer and had a key to the clubhouse as well as a large indoor storage shed there. That seemed like the ideal place to have a "discussion" with Brad since he said he was going to be there the next day, to collect the lunch money.
When Robbie woke up the next morning, I told him to go ahead and meet Brad in the park, and to trust me, that Id look after things. He said, OK, and didnt ask any questions. I skipped the last period of school that day and headed over to the tennis club with my baseball bat. The reason for that bat was to use it to drive away any of Brads friends who showed up, as I decided that I was dealing with Brad only that day. I stayed inside the clubhouse and waited for Robbie or Brad to appear. Robbie had told me that Brad had red hair which was a bit greasy. He always wore tight jeans and a short leather jacket, even when it was hot. As I was looking through the window, I saw Robbie walking nervously. After a few minutes, I saw a boy approaching him alone, who matched Brads description.
At that point, I walked out of the clubhouse, went up to the boy and against his protestations, grabbed him by the collar and asked Robbie, "Is this Brad?" He nodded. I just said that Im Robbies brother and tugged him as hard as I could toward the clubhouse. He was screaming obscenities and flailing his arms, but I managed to drag him into the clubhouse. I told Robbie to lock the door. As I pulled Brads jacket off him, I again dragged him into the store room. After Robbie came in, I locked the store room door behind us. "You humiliated and tortured my little brother", I said, and youre going to learn how humiliation feels. I then ordered him to take off all his clothes.
Brad started turning a little white, but he screamed that his dad would kill me. I said, "Well, well see about that, but hes not here right now. Strip right now, because if I have to do it, things are going to be a lot worse". At this point his yelling and protesting became little more than a whimper and he started taking his clothes off. Within a minute or so, he was standing in front of me totally naked. Very smooth, boyish and practically hairless, he didnt look too much like a tough bully anymore. I just looked at him and pointed to my lap. He slowly walked toward me as Robbie stood behind me wide-eyed. Brad hesitated but leaned across my lap. I stared down at his white bottom and moved him into position so that his feet were well off the ground. I lifted my hand and brought it down as hard as I could. I continued to do this slowly and rhythmically. The storeroom echoed with the sound of my hand going crack against his small defenseless bottom, while this 13 year old bully balled like a baby. I had whacked him about 20 times or so and his behind started resembling his hair colour. At this point, I said OK, I guess thats enough for your warm up, at which point Brad let out a "noooooooooooooooo". I told Robbie to open the store room door and grab a ping pong paddle off the table tennis table.
Robbie grinned like a Cheshire cat and bolted out to get the paddle. He brought it back to me in an instant. I raised it and gave Brad 3 hard whacks on his tender throbbing bottom. I said he should start apologizing to Robbie for what hed done and I was going to keep paddling him until I was satisfied that his apology was appropriate and sincere. I turned him around toward Robbie and Brad started apologizing. Ive never heard so many sorries uttered in a 5 minute period, as the paddle continued raining down. Eventually, I looked up at Robbie and he looked back as if to say ok thats enough.
I let Brad up and told him that if he or any of his friends came anywhere near Robbie again, theyd get a half hour session with a switch on their bare bottom. Brad quickly got dressed and bolted away as best he could. I suspect he had one hell of a sore bottom for some time.
Robbie seemed to be back to his old self the next day and grew up without any more bully problems.