Small girls Can Fight Too
by DJ
Donnie learns that it's sometimes better to back off, even when the girl is smaller.


It happened many years ago but I remember it as though it were yesterday. I
was ten years old at the time. We used to cross the fields to get home from
school and I often walked with my friend Bill and a neighbour of his, a girl
named Mary. Bill and I were quite small for our age. Mary on the other hand
was fairly hefty. We both liked her but she was quick tempered and would get
violent at times. I remember her knocking Bill around more than once. Bill and
I were a little afraid of her and always deferred to her. Two of Mary's
friends were Jean and Leah, sisters who lived on the same street as her. Jean
was nine years old and Leah a year younger. They were both little brats but
got away with it because Mary was their friend and protector.

Anyway, one day walking home Jean kept bothering me. She'd run up behind me
and give me a push. Leah thought it was funny and kept encouraging her.
Eventually I got mad and turned to chase her but she stood her ground and I
didn't know what to do so I just called her a couple of names. When I turned
away she threw a handful of earth at me. It hit me on the back of the head and
some went down my shirt. I had to undo my shirt to get it out. I yelled at her
again and she came towards me and suddenly pushed me. Taken by surprise I fell
down. Everyone laughed, Mary, Jean, Leah and even Bill. I jumped up
embarrassed and raised my fists. To my surprise Jean raised hers too. Now Mary
started to stir things up, saying, "Come on, Jeanie, you can take him."

Bill took my part. "Let her have it, Donnie," he said, "even if she is a
girl."

I thought maybe I could scare her so I made a big show of drawing my clenched
fist back slowly as if to hit her. Big mistake! before I knew what was
happening she hit me two or three quick punches square in the face. My head
was spinning and I could feel blood trickling from my nose.

Now I wasn't very big but Jean was even smaller. Not only that she was younger
... and a girl! So getting hit by her was very humiliating. I ran at her
punching but nothing landed and I got hit by another flurry of punches. Jean
was dancing around with her fists raised, smiling. "This is fun!" she yelled
and came at me again throwing rights and lefts. I was getting hit from all
sides. One punch connected with my eye, another crashed into my belly taking
my breath away. I turned away indicating by waving my hands that I had had
enough. This didn't work. Jean put a choke hold on my from behind and threw me
over her leg. A classic trip! I fell heavily on my back.

Bill was totally silent. I wondered why. Looking to one side I saw that Leah
had him in a headlock and was flipping him over her hip and landing on top of
him. Mary was cheering her on. Looking up at Jean I saw that she was not
finished. Experiencing the thrill of victory she was determined to continue
the fight. She straddled me and sat on my chest. She was wearing a school
skirt and blouse so she tucked in the skirt so that I couldn't see her
panties, I suppose, though that was the last thing on my mind.

Now, battered and bloody I had this little nine year old sitting on my chest.
I had my hands over her face so she couldn't hit me again, but she simply
grabbed my wrists and pinned them to the ground. Her knees were on my
shoulders. I could hear Bill pleading with Leah off to the side so I guessed
he was in the same position.. Jean started taunting me. "I told my mum you
were picking on me," she said, "and she said I should give you a beating, so
have you had enough or do you want more?"

I had to tell her I had had enough and tell her I was sorry, but I don't know
for what. She let me up. Leah was letting Bill up and slapping him on the back
of the head. Jean told me to run home and I did. I assume I ran one way and
Bill ran the other. He and I never discussed what happened that day but I know
word got around through the girls. I also heard that Jean's mum had given them
fighting tips so they wouldn't be bullied by boys. I often wondered if she'd
heard about the fight. I suspect she had because often if she'd meet me in
town she'd give me a sly smile and ask, "Well, Donnie, are you behaving
yourself these days?"

We moved to another part of the province shortly after that so I didn't go
through my teen years with Mary, Jean, and Leah. However, I did meet Jean
years later. I was a member of a social group and Jean and her husband Bob
joined it as new members. They too had moved to Toronto. So we renewed our
acquaintanceship and have talked many times about our common hometown but
neither of us has ever meantioned our "fight", although I am sure Jean
remembers if as well as I do.

I have often wondered if she ever told her husband Bob what happened that day.