The scars:
There are places on my body that will always remind me of my dear brother Todd. When he was hit he would immediately turn and look for something to throw at me, remember the broom? We were standing in the kitchen and were in a fight and I hit him. He turns to look for something to throw, and guess what was handy? A pot of boiling water. He grabbed the pot and flung the hot water at me. It is a good thing I had a shirt on. The water hit me right under the right armpit. I ripped off my shirt and watched as my skin peeled off my arm.
Scar two is not that visible, but equally funny. Todd and I were fighting, and the phone rang. The phone ringing is like a time out in Mark and Todd’s fight world. I had gotten the last punch in so I was happy and therefore not mad anymore. I run to answer the phone and as I picked it up, a dart, yes a dart as in dartboard flies past my head and directly into my wrist bone. The poor person on the other end of the phone heard things they did not expect to hear. It was probably someone from church.
Scar three is the one you will not believe. Todd and I would get off the bus run into the house and go to the bathroom. You did or do this also. It is against the law to go at school. After the bathroom stop it was off to the kitchen to see what we could eat. My mom always kept our freezer stocked full of Mexican TV dinners. This particular day Todd decided to stop off at the kitchen before he went to the bathroom. His TV dinner was already in the 10 microwave and almost ready. I saw his dinner and thought it was sure nice of him to cook this meal for me. I took the dinner and knew I would have to eat in secret. I made my way to another bathroom to enjoy his enchiladas. After a few minutes I heard the scream I was waiting for. Todd is mad. There are no more dinners in the freezer and I have just upset the hungry bear. I keep silent. He finally found me and beat on the door. I taunted him with how good they were and how hungry I was. This of course made him even angrier. I gave him a few minuets to cool down and then made my way to the kitchen to put up my empty plate. When I got to the living room Todd steps out from behind the door with a shotgun. I am thinking to myself, he must have been real hungry. I am protesting and telling him it is not even funny to point the gun at me. He has some goofy look on his face and is telling me I have five seconds to run. That is so nice of him to give me a chance to run. I know he is not really going to shoot me but just for the heck of it, I run! While I am trying to make my way out of the house I hear a blast. Something blows into my arm and I drop and roll. I look down at my arm and it is a bloody mess. I thinking the idiot shot me. He runs over surprised at the blood and says; “I promise I took the buckshot out.” Todd trying to be funny empties out a shotgun shell but forgot about the plastic wad that did five hundred miles an hour into my left arm. I am living with Einstein. Todd and I knew if my mom and dad ever found out about that little episode he would not only been beat, but he would spend the rest of his childhood in his closet. I could not let that happen because who would I fight with? We decided to rap my arm up in ace
bandages and try to hid it from them. This was very hard to do since the wad had pierced my vein. I used this incident for years. Any time I needed Todd to do something for me I threatened him
with telling our parents. My parents always wondered why Todd was so nice to me after that.
We all have scars from life. Some we can look back on and laugh about. Some are much deeper. First Priority is all about bringing HOPE to students all across America. We want to help them see their scars as a way to grow.
Keep Fishing,
Mark Roberts
