Neighborhood Bully

Bobby and I have come upon a rude discovery about one of our neighbor's kids. He is bound to grow up to be a big bully. We first suspected this about a year ago, when he would have occasional run-ins with Connor who has got to be one of the biggest, sweetest chickens on the planet. At this point, Connor who loves calling on all sorts of kids in the neighborhood to play, specifically avoids seeking out the Kid (names have been radically altered to protect my kids) because "he's mean", although Connor happens to be great friends with the Kid's little brother.

We have witnessed the Kid taking Connor's toys and calling them his own, chasing and threatening little Benji with a baseball bat when he thought no adult was watching, and yesterday, the Kid and another monster grabbed Benji by all four of his little arms and legs in an attempt to throw him into their basement. The Kid is all of 7 years old. Luckily, Benji took it all in stride and was shrieking in laughter the whole time, while Connor stuck up for his little bro in protest.

That same evening, the Kid's mom shared with me how 'scary smart' he is. Scary, yes. Smart, I'm not so sure. But clearly he has a wicked streak in him, and an evil genius doesn't make a good combination in my book. We'll just have to keep our cubs closer to the den with that kind of kid around. It just so happens that Pearls is running a series of strips about scary neighbors, how a propos...