From a Jack to the "King"

When I grew up my neighborhood consisted mostly of girls, there was only one boy on our block, Jack. He was not a nice boy by any means. Unfortunately, he lived next door to me so sometimes us girls were sort of forced to let him play with us or he would cry to his mother - he was mommy's boy and in her eyes he did nothing wrong - he was her "King", King of Maple Avenue.

None of us liked him much. He was a tease and a little pain in the neck who was trying to be the bully of the block. He let us play on his swing set and he declared himself "King". He would stand at the top of the sliding board and yell "I'm King of Maple Avenue." His mother doted on him and whatever he did was fine with her - as long as he stayed off of her clean kitchen floor. Out of sight out of mind was her motto.

He always did mean things to us, like pulling the jump rope so we would trip, or pushing over the bikes so they would get scratched, or he would pick the neighbor's flowers and say the girls did it - just basically being a mean little 'you know what'. Although he made us call him "King" when we spoke to him, behind his back we had a lot of other names for him. If my mother heard what we called him she would have washed my mouth out with soap.

Being the oldest of the kids I learned and watched and it didn't take long to figure out not to tattle on him to his mother. The trick was to wait until his father got home and tell him what the "King" had done that day. His father did not let the little guy get away with much. Usually the dad would drag the little "King" off the swing set and take him inside where we would hear a few smacks on his behind followed by "I promise I won't do it again daddy!" through tears and sobs.

He always said that, no matter what it was he got punished for his reply was "I promise I won't do it again." Well, he never did learn to tell the truth, even military school didn't change him. He got married and went into - what else, politics - in the same town where I lived as an adult.

Turned out he was still the "King" but over a much larger audience. He still lied quite a bit in that role so I guess he was born to be a politician. The most fun I had was at our Community Unity Day event each year when the Mayor, aka the "King", sat atop the dunking booth and I was in line to throw the first pitch. Strike - the King got dunked - well worth the dollar to play!

Eventually his term as Mayor ended and he moved on to other things. I don't have a clue what he is doing now, nor do I care. I still think life could have been different for him if he had not gone from a Jack to the "King". Now when I think back to my childhood I vividly remember playing with my friends and listening to the "King" get his spanking and it still makes me smile.

Sources:

My neighborhood

Personal Experience mixed with a vivid imagination