Tuesday 12/12/23
A friend of mine told me this story about when he lived on Cape Cod in his early twenties. He worked as a whale-spotter on a boat during the day, and then went around to the bars at night with the guys that passed for his buddies at the time.
They were out late one evening and one of these guys was all drunk and belligerent, looking to start something because he thought he had a right to. Full of himself, had the false courage going.
There was this other guy on his own coming down the street. No group. And basically because this guy was alone, and because the belligerent guy wanted to screw with him, the latter called him whatever, got up in his face.
The person who was by himself said that he didn't want any trouble, was just trying to go home. But the other guy wanted to escalate the situation. He wanted to fight. My friend told me that he put the palm of his hand into the guy's shoulder. He wanted to fuck with this guy.
This goes on for a bit more, and then the man on his own, having been pushed, and pushed, and pushed, says, "You don't want to do this. Trust me. Please."
My friend told me that he was practically imploring this asshole not to take him on.
"He wasn't scared. It was something else," my friend said.
Then the dick shoves him, and the guy who was on his own just says, "Okay."
That's when it happened.
First, he took off his jacket. And then, he began to stretch.
My friend said it was at this point that he, and everyone else, took a step back.
The guy didn't rush his stretches either. He made sure he did them right. Once he was done with the stretching, he stepped back up to the asshole, and he knocked him out with a single punch. Guy was on the ground. Blood. Didn't know where the hell he was.
The guy who did the stretching picked up his jacket, put it back on, said goodnight to the guys who'd been watching, and went on his way.
I think about that story a lot. It's a good story.
It's also a good reminder--or a lesson--that you always want to be mindful of whom you're dealing with, especially if you're attempting to fuck with them, do something to them that you shouldn't be doing to them. Whatever it may be.
Otherwise, things can go in a direction you really don't want them to go.
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