Sam vs the bully

I guess the library is where all the bullies hang out. We were at the library, in the kids section, minding our own business and alternately climbing things and eating books, when all of a sudden a low growl from the entrance to the kid's section rang out. Sam's friend Jake, who we ran into (with his parents, obviously) was standing at the gate to the kids' area. On the other side of the gate was a kid who looked like a combination of Scott Farkus and the Master Blaster, with the personality of a young Charlie Manson. He growled through the gate something about people touching his stuff and then proceeded to open the gate on young Jacob.

At which point, Mrs. Bully calls out "Ethan, honey, wait until the little boy moves." Now Jake's Dad is there and has things well in hand, but I think all four of us (and probably Jake and Sam) are thinking: "hey lady, how about not allowing your crazy toddler to run over other kids?!"

It was pretty much downhill from there as Ethan/Manson came in, sized up the competition, and knew he could run the place. A total mismatch, like the bounty hunter from Raising Arizona meets the Lollipop Guild.

Samson, because he's not yet one (three more days) and a trusting little soul, gave the kid this huge "hi, I'm Sam, want my lunch money?" smile and promptly got his hand stepped on. Jake, to his credit, stayed a little farther afield. In any event, for the next five minutes or so, we essentially hovered over our kids as E/M cut a swathe through the play area, declaring (and I'm not exaggerating when I say his voice rang out like Regan's) what was his and, as such, off-limits.

Figuring discretion was the better part of valor in this instance, we opted to go elsewhere and let the boys play in blissful ignorance of the cruel, cruel world, where bullies command libraries and smiles go unreturned. They'll know soon enough.

I think if we had stuck around, things would have gotten ugly. I'm not kidding. I've never met a child before and thought "hey, I wonder if his head turns completely around." Spooky.