SCHOOLYARD TERROR, Part I by Mardee Louise Prynne In which we meet a lithe, young amazon who immediately establishes herself as a force to be, not reckoned with but simply to be obeyed. Anne wasn’t sure if she was going to fit in with the crowd in her new neighborhood. She had come to Brooklyn to live with her late mother’s school chum. Anne had spent her entire life in a small town in Pennsylvania. She didn’t fit in there but her mother had accepted a promotion that would have taken them to the suburbs of Philadelphia. An automobile accident had ended that dream. The slender blond twelve year old found herself living in a comfortable middle-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. Her lithe, athletic body along with her fair skin immediately set her part from the Italian and Jewish kids who populated the tree lined streets. Annie made her way to the schoolyard where she watched some boys play stickball, a game she had never seen before. It looked easy enough. The pitcher aimed a tennis ball at a strike box painted on the school wall. The batter used a sawed off broomstick to hit for distance, height, or both depending on the court. It might take awhile for Anne to get the timing for hitting but she was sure she could successfully pitch with ease. "Can I play?" she asked naively of the sixteen year old boys who were choosing upa new game. "Ya kidding, right?" asked one of the boys. "No. Why would I want to kid?" "Get serious, kid. You’re just a little girl so fuck off." Anne reddened, took a deep breath and put her hands on her hips. "Don’t you ever use such vile words with me..." You don’t like it, then do me something!" Anne stepped closer to the boy, distracted him by bring her fists up and drove her knee into his balls. The boy clutched his injured genitals and doubled over as his bravado, along with his breath, left his aching body. Clasping her hands together she hammered them down against his lower back dropping him to his knees. The boy struggled to regain his feet, to do something to save his male pride so violently and so quickly taken from him by this skinny little girl. As if to mock him, Anne turned her back to him and tugged the hem of her short shorts high enough to expose a fleeting glimpse of her pink cotton panties before she adjusted the shorts to a more modest position. Vinnie grabbed wildly at Anne’s legs just as she turned back to him. She caught his wrist in her hand. Vinnie was unable to shake free of the girl’s grip as she forced his arm behind his back ina hammer lock. The triumphant girl stood behind the boy she had literally brought to his knees as she applied pressure. His friends stared in disbelief as tears of pain and humiliation ran down their companion’s cheeks. "I swear to God, come near me and I’ll break his arm." "You can play on our side." "You mean I can take his place?" gloated Annie. "I guess his arm’s too sore to play."