Karma is one mean ass bitch

This had been the Week of the Bully hear at the Manor. First Cassidy was exposed to a bribe sort of situation on Monday. She is smitten with a boy named Irving, I am sold on his name alone because, really, how awful can a boy named Irving be? But it appears that young Sebastian, a fellow student, saw the opportunity to exploit Cass in her throes of young love. He informed her that he would tell everybody who is anybody in the fifth grade about her love if she didn’t pay him three dollars. Yes, a young man with great expectations, that Sebastian, he was aiming for a whopping three bucks out of the Red Sister. But Cass isn’t a fool and the thought of parting with three of her dearest friends was enough to drive her to ask some advice from me. I told her she had a green light in the Irving area, what can I say? He has a fabulous name. But that Sebastian was an ass, I told her, and there would be no dollars, quarters or pennies leaving our home and going in to his pockets. I told her he would tell people regardless of whatever she paid him, and if he didn’t one of her best friends would squeal. After all, you can’t hide love, especially if his name is Irving. So I did what any mom would, I wrote a note to the teacher and counselor outlining the situation.
Now, a few years ago or a lifetime ago I would have said such a thing was overkill. It’s just a middle school crush. But I live in the Columbine State and the schools here take bullying very seriously and personally. Yesterday, promptly at 3:02, I got a call from the school counselor. Apparently Sebastian has a record of such behavior and this was his third strike. He is in in-school suspension and will be expelled if any thing more occurs. The counselor chatted on about her meeting with Cass and how she believed Cass felt safe and all that. I was a bit worried about the rumors that would surely circulate now, but it is what it is and I am trying to make peace with it all. As long as Cassidy is happy then I am fine.
Today I went to pick up Devon from his preschool and found myself walking in behind Jack O’s mom. I never know how to act around her because her son occasionally mauls my son’s face. I am not sure if she knows I am Devon’s mom so I just smile and pretend to be preoccupied so we don’t have to engage in awkward conversation. But today as I entered the yard where the kids play in the afternoon I saw the teacher confront Jack’s mom with a look of panic on her face and then I saw her make raking motions across her face. And I knew I would find Devon with scratches under his eyes. I did and after the teacher was done talking with the perp’s mom I had a talk with the her. While I feel for the mom and the little boy, I am fed up with finding my son with scabs precariously close to his eyes. Jack has impulse issues, much like Sebastian, and I don’t believe my three year-old needs to be the target of his aggression whims. I told the teacher that either Jack needed to transfer to a different class or Devon did. She made a mumbling about the other class being so settled and I told her I wanted my son to have a life with settled eye sight and not gouged out eyes. She gulped and said she would see what she could do.
There are no Columbine’s in preschools, and a good thing that is. But it does mean that things move more slowly. What does it take to get Jack’s mom to pull this kid? Or his teacher to say he needs to go? Does my odd, heart damaged child, who doesn’t eat solid foods need to wear an eye patch to get things changed? Really, he is going to have a hard enough time as it is with all the time he will need to devote to routines, does he really need to sport just one working eye as well? Needless to say I am getting more worked up and dramatic over the whole thing. Loren was clever enough to avoid the bully thing this week, maybe I’ll just get rid of the weaker two and keep him.