It started in high school and although I didn't know it at the time it would have far reaching consequences. Looking back on it I could see that it was just juvenile young teen bullshit; the kind of thing most teens go through and usually forget as they grow older.
Except in my case it didn't happen.
It was the ninth grade and I was more or less going steady with Mandy Light and had been since the eighth grade, at least I thought that I was. I'd given her a friendship ring and we did some hot necking whenever we could.
On Friday night I showed up at her house to pick her up for our date to go to the movies only to be told by her mother that she had already left for the movies with Donny Haight. I was confused for a couple of seconds thinking that I'd forgotten something, but then I remembered talking to Mandy during lunch at the school cafeteria about the movie we were going to see. Mandy knew I would be there to pick her up at six and she had taken off with Haight?
I didn't know what to think, but I did know I was pissed. I headed for the movie and when I saw Mandy and Haight standing in line at the ticket booth I walked up to them, grabbed Mandy's hand and pulled the ring I had given her off of her finger. I guess I wasn't to gentle about it because Mandy cried out in pain. Donny said:
"Hey! Leave my girl alone!"
"Shut your mouth Haight; this is between Mandy and me."
He went to push me away and it pissed me off and I punched him in the face and gave him a bloody nose. He started to come at me and I set myself to take him on, but some of the adults who were in the line grabbed us and kept us apart. One of them told us to take our beef someplace else. I turned and left.
I went on home and spent my time thinking of evil ways to make Mandy and Donny suffer. I finally fell asleep and when I got up in the morning I was over it. The only thoughts I had of Mandy were along the lines of "To hell with her!"
Around one that afternoon I was in the garage working on the 1971 Ford Torino that my dad and I were rebuilding hoping to have it ready by the time I got my driver's license when mom yelled out to me that I had a phone call. It was Mandy and as soon as I heard her voice I hung up on her.
I told mom that Mandy and I had broken up the night before and that I had no interest in talking to her so if she called again just tell her I was busy helping dad and unable to take calls.
I thought about things over the weekend and planned my coming week so I could avoid Mandy as much as possible. It would be hard because we were mostly both in the same classes, but it could be done. The only place I couldn't avoid her would be during lunch in the cafeteria. I could skip lunch, but decided not to. I could just ignore the stupid bitch.
Mandy did call twice more that weekend and both times my mom told her that I was not available to take calls.
When I got to school Monday Mandy was standing by the door waiting for me. She stepped forward to talk to me and I walked right by her without a word and headed for my locker with Mandy trailing along behind me telling me that we had to talk. I ignored her, got what I needed for my first class out of my locker and then headed for the classroom.
Avoiding her in class was easy because Mr. Wilcox used assigned seating and he went by the alphabet. Light was close to the front of the room and Zieger was at the very back so we weren't even close to each other. Also, when class was over I was closest to the door and was able to leave the room before she was even halfway to the door.
I managed to avoid Mandy until lunch and even then I waited for her to go through the line and take a seat before I grabbed a tray and went through the line. I picked a table on the other side of the room and sat down. I was two-thirds through my lunch when Mandy got up from where she was sitting and came over and sat down at my table. I looked up from my salad and when she said, "Why are you being such an asshole Danny?" I got up and walked away from the table. Mandy got up to chase me, but ran into Nancy Wilde causing both of them to drop their trays on the floor. By the time they got straightened out I was gone.
There was more drama that afternoon. After gym I was in the locker room when Haight came up to me, said "I owe you cocksucker" and threw a punch at me. I caught his wrist, pulled him off balance and then shoved him head first into the shower room wall. It dazed him and I must have gotten his nose again because blood was running down his face. I didn't say a word, but I wanted to get dressed and out of there before Mr. Williams came in to see what the disturbance was so I kneed Haight in the crotch and that took him out of play long enough for me to do what was needed to get me out of there.
Mandy was waiting for me by the door when school let out, but I walked right by her. She started to follow me all the while telling me to stop and talk to her. I started running and so did she, but she gave it up after a block.
About five that afternoon I got a call from Billy Neubert asking me if I wanted to go to the Arcade and maybe Harry's Malt Shop and I said I'd meet him at the Arcade at six-thirty. He was already at the Arcade and playing a pinball machine when I got there. There were some other kids there that we knew and we bummed around and played games for a couple of hours and then we headed over to Harry's Malt Shop.
Over a burger and fries Bill asked me what was the deal between me and Donny Haight and why the dust up in the locker room earlier in the day. I told him the story and he told me to watch out for Haight.
"I heard him tell a couple of other guys that he was going to get you."
"He won't try if he knows what's good for him."
"Shit! Speak of the devil."
"What?"
"He just walked in."
"So? He won't start anything in here. If he does Harry will bar him for life."
We sat and talked about a half a dozen different things and then it was time for us to go. I was maybe ten feet out the door when I heard:
"Hold up there shit for brains" and I turned to see Donny Haight coming out the door. "We have some unfinished business to take care of."
"Fuck you Haight" I said and turned my back on him and started walking away.
"What's the matter Zieger? Afraid of a fair fight?"
I kept walking.
"I knew you were a coward" he said and then he laughed as he said to the others who had come out with him "Look at the wimp run."
I turned and walked up to him and I guess he expected me to stop and then trade insults with him before we got into it because he just stood there smirking at me. I walked up to him and without saying a word I punched him in the face. Blood started running from his nose and he instinctively raised his hands to his face and I buried my fist in his belly. He gasped and bent at the waist which brought his head down to where I could bring my knee up into his face, but at the last second I decided to just hit him on the right side of his head with my fist. He went down to the ground and I considered kicking him a couple of times for good measure, but figured that would be overkill.
While he was down on the ground I bent down, grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his face up close to mine and said: