Tales from bygone days.

Richie was the red-headed kid who lived down the street. he was feisty and arrogant and was born not with a chip on his shoulder, but rather a chunk of granite. He slipped from his mother's womb mad at the world and his anger on increased during each of his years.

Richie liked to hide in the ally and hurl insults at the older kids as they came home from school. Soon the insults became oaths and one day he graduated to throwing eggs, then snowballs, and finally he used rocks to gain attention.

The older kids ignored his feeble taunts. They even overlooked the handfuls of gravel. But as Richie got older and stronger his aim improved and the day he hit Jerry with a walnut sized rock changed everything. The older boys turned in rapid pursuit and beat the crap out of little Richie.

The neighborhood mothers were aghast. How could those older boys bully little Richie like that? When Jerry pointed to the cut on his head and the blood on his face, he was accused of over-reacting.

The next week Richie was back, throwing rocks at the older boys. They chose a new. longer path home, but Richie found a new spot to make his attacks. Once again the older boys caught Richie and this time they beat him mercilessly. Jerry and his friends emphasized they just wanted to be left in peace. The neighborhood called the boys bullies for their rough treatment of poor little Richie. The boys protested they had walked out of their way to avoid confrontation, neighborhood wags said just walking where they had no "right" provoked Richie into his attack.

Richie blamed Jerry for the rest of his life for the beatings he received.  Never once, did the rock-throwing that precipitated the events enter into his narrative. Richie Hamas grew up to be a very bitter man, blaming everyone else for his problems.