My Friend Bobby | Page 2

when I
try specially to be good. Sometimes right after daddy goes away in the
morning I know that mommy is angry and is going to spank me sooner
or later that day because she is already thinking how she will spank me,
but she never says so out loud. Sometimes she pretends that she's not
angry and takes me up on her lap and says I'm her nice little boy but all
the time I can hear her thinking that she doesn't really like me even
when she tries and she doesn't even want to touch me if she can help it.
I can hear her wondering why my hair doesn't grow nice like the
Bennet twins that live up the road. I don't see how mommy can be
saying one thing out loud and something else inside her head at the
same time but when I look at her she puts me down and says she's busy
and will I get out from underfoot, and then pretty soon I do something
that makes her angry and she makes me go to my room or she spanks
me. Bobby doesn't like this. Once when she spanked me he growled at
mommy, and mommy chased him outdoors with a broom before she
sent me to bed. I cried all day that day because it was cold outdoors and
I wanted to have Bobby with me.

I wonder why mommy doesn't like me?
* * * * *
One day I was a bad boy and let Bobby come into the house before
mommy told me I could. Bobby hadn't done anything bad but mommy
hit him on the back with the broom and hurt him and chased him back
outdoors and then she told me I was a very bad boy. I could tell that she
was going to spank me and I knew she would hurt me because she was
so big, and I ran upstairs and hid in my room. Then mommy stamped
her foot hard and said Jimmy you come down here this minute. I didn't
answer and then she said if I have to come upstairs and get you I'll
whip you until you can't sit down, and I still didn't answer because
mommy hurts me when she gets angry like that. Then I heard her
coming up the stairs and into my room and she opened the closet door
and found me. I said please don't hurt me mommy but she reached
down and caught my ear and dragged me out of the closet. I was so
scared I bit her hand and she screamed and let go and I ran and locked
myself in the bathroom because I knew she would hurt me bad if I
didn't. I stayed there all day long and I could hear mommy running the
sweeper downstairs and I couldn't see why she wanted to hurt me so
much just because I let Bobby come in before she told me I could. But
somehow it seemed that mommy was afraid of me even though she was
so big and strong. I don't see why anybody as big as mommy should be
afraid of me but she was.
When daddy came home that night I heard him talking to mommy, and
then he came up to the bathroom and said open the door Jimmy I want
to talk to you. I said I want Bobby first so he went down and called
Bobby and then I opened the door and came out of the bathroom.
Daddy reached down and lifted me high up on his shoulder and took
me into my bedroom and just sat there for a long time patting Bobby's
head and I couldn't hear what he was thinking very well. Finally he said
out loud Jimmy you've got to be good to your mommy and do what she
says and not lock yourself up in rooms any more. I said but mommy
was going to hurt me and daddy said when you're a bad boy your
mommy has to punish you so you'll remember to be good, but she

doesn't like to spank you. She only does it because she loves you.
I knew that wasn't true because mommy likes to punish me but I didn't
dare say that to daddy. Daddy isn't afraid of me the way mommy is and
he is nice to me most times, so I said all right if you say so. Daddy said
fine, will you promise to be nice to mommy from now on? I said yes if
mommy won't hit Bobby any more with the broom. And daddy said
well after all Bobby can be a bad dog just the way you can be a bad boy,
can't he? I knew