I tried to make friends as a preschooler when there was never such a thing back then and my first encounter was Terry M. Second oldest of the M clan of 11. A year older than me at about 5. We met at the open-wired fence that separated our two yards. He’d try to hit me or throw something at me daily. One time, through the fence, he stuffed a hand-sized dirt clod in my mouth. It’s hard to go in screaming to your mother with a bunch of dirt blasting out of your nose and mouth between sobs.
My mother told me to stand up for myself. So, I took a toy with me to calm the savage beast in Terry. He was about to reach through the fence and I hoisted my steel, Tonka dump truck over the fence and dropped it on his head. We became friends from that day… at arm’s length of course. Later he would become my bodyguard in the neighborhood.
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