A Victim

Sunday at 11.30am Mark and his friend from two doors down Daniel decided that they wanted a hamburger for lunch. They asked if they could scooter up to the fish and chip shop and buy it themselves. They travel all over together, so going up the street to the chippie shop wasn't a big deal. On their way home near the pipeline (those familiar with my house understand the significance of the *pipeline* its the local hangout), a group of boys, about 8 of them on bikes all around 10-12 years old started to circle Mark and Daniel saying they were gonna bash them up.
My boys replied that "no they weren't" and I think Daniel said "Why would I fight you pussy's" (not too helpful Daniel). The gang also made a cutthroat signal. There were more words about wanting to fight and the boys ran home, Mark to our place and Dan to his place.

Mark came inside and said he had a lovely hamburger and.... "Mum, can you come here please??" This is the bane of my life, he always wants me to come to him, but I reckon he should come to me if he wants to say something, but I digress.
When I finally relented, he told me the whole story.

We went to Jamie and told him... in Jamie's usual style he said "What did you do Mark? The kids wouldn't want to fight you if you did nothing" Sometimes Jamie is so naive, there are generally bad people in the world, people who succumb to the gang mentality.

I worried about him, went to work, talked to my friend Brad who has two kids of a similar age to Mark, just to gauge his opinion of him as a parent and a man.

This morning I talked to mum (again) and she suggested I call the school, the police and talk to Daniel's mum as well. Two out of three ain't bad. Mrs Skillen was very helpful and she talked to Mark today in a discreet way.

The police station, I must admit, was fun. The police women were so beautiful I really felt like I was in an episode of "The Bill". I was invited into an interview room and she took my statement. Mark now has his name on the NSW police computer as a Victim of Crime. My little baby not yet 10.

When I collected Mark today from OOSH, he said to me "Mum, you remember what happened yesterday, it was actually VERY serious, Mrs Skillen talked to me and said it was really serious". She talked to the boy who goes to his school who was part of the gang and Mark thought that Jarrod had confessed to Mrs Skillen (as if). He wasn't mad at me for calling the school or the police.

Well all in all, it was an interesting day. The boys went for a scooter ride this arvo, and didn't run into any trouble.

If you got to the end of this post - I congratulate you.