A lot of years have passed since this incident took place, but it has resurfaced from my memory many times through my life and it makes me sad each time it does!

My family moved back to the Crosby area in the summer of ‘69. I was going to be a junior in high school that fall. I had left all the friends I had near Babbitt, MN and I wasn’t especially happy about that! New friends are difficult to make at that age and new students are kind of outsiders for a while.

I didn’t have my own car yet or even a job so being we lived out in the country quite a way from town on a farm, I rode the bus which was close to an hour ride by the time we got to school. I did remember a few kids from younger years, having started grade school here, but when about 8 years go by you have to do a lot of reconnecting and sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t!

Well, the first day of school came and I made it without much trouble. I found all my classes and went to the new kid orientation meeting as there were about a dozen of us this year. 

Like I was saying my day went good and as I was heading out the side door to where the buses line up, I saw this younger fellow ahead of me who walked with a very different gait. He was very heavy in the mid-section and had extremely thick glasses and I noticed small feet for his size and he was a little short also! 

There was a younger girl standing near me that I asked if she knew this fellow ahead of us, and she said, “Yes, he’s in some of my classes!”

I then asked her if there was something wrong with him as I saw he walked a little funny! 

This girl looked at me again and said, “Yes, he had polio when he was little! His name is Roy!”

I didn’t get in line for our bus as the buses weren’t here yet, but Roy had and the girl I had talked to did also!

I was talking to someone that was in some of my classes when I heard a commotion behind me so I turned to see what had happened, and Roy was on his knees with tears in his eyes trying to pick up his school books. The girl I had talked to was helping him then I noticed three fellows walking away looking and grinning at Roy on the ground. They appeared to be the same age!

I asked someone who was in line waiting for the bus what had happened, and they said that the kid that was walking away was in Roy’s grade and he picked on him every chance he got and they said that this has happened in years past also. 

That boy that had walked away would sneak up behind Roy and would hit him as hard as he could in the side of his stomach causing him to drop his books! When I got on the bus I sat near the front and I noticed that Roy sat about half way back.

When I got home, I told my mom about what I had seen and what this boy’s name was and where he lived.

She said she was pretty sure she knew the family! 

The next day I wanted to get to the bus line as quick as I could after school. When my last class was over, I hurried down the hall and out the doors, but I was too late. Roy was in line with that girl again and he was crying!!! He was wiping his eyes with a hanky that the girl had given him and I felt worse than sad. The mean kid was long gone by the time I arrived! I watched Roy get off the bus that night and watched him as he walked up his driveway wiping his eyes till the bus drove out of sight! 

The third day as school ended, out the door I went and Roy and the girl were in line waiting for the bus. I got in line behind them and had my eyes looking for the mean kid! A group of kids came out the doors and I spotted this bully kind of hunkering down behind that group. When he got behind our line he snuck through the group with his two friends and came up by me.

I grabbed that little shit (student) and walked him back to a retaining wall, held him there and politely told him to never touch Roy again! And I politely told him from now on what ever you do to him I’m going to do to you!

He asked me what Roy meant to me?

I replied, “Nothing! I don’t even know him!” 

Then the kid said, “Let me go!”

And all I said in return was, “Remember what I told you!!!”

When I got back in line Roy and that little girl were looking at me and the little girl had a smile on her face. We got on the bus and when I sat down in the front. I saw Roy looking at me and then the bus took off. About a minute passed and I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

I thought someone in the seat behind me had touched me by mistake, but then I felt a tap again, and a voice saying, “Excuse me!”

I turned and Roy was standing in the isle behind me and he asked if it would be ok to sit with me? 

I told him, “I guess so!” 

When I had grabbed that kid, the little girl told him and he thanked me for saving him from getting hit! 

I told him, “That kid won’t do it again!”

The next day after school I almost got to the school doors and standing just inside of them was Roy. He was waiting for me, he stuck on me like glue and he could talk a lot!!! He was my new seat partner on the bus.

I rode the bus the rest of the year and Roy learned what it was like to get picked on by someone that did it with kindness instead of hate!! I’d do my best to agitate him every day with a smile while doing it, and he would look at me and say, “BOY NOVOTNY YOU JUST NEVER QUIT DO YOU!” And then he’d get a big smile on his face!

The next year I got a car and Roy and I kind of went our own ways but we always talked in the hallways. Then school was over for me. 

Through the years after I was married, I would run into Roy mostly in the Brainerd area. I would put on a big smile and try my best to get him going!!! He would always shake my hand and tell me to behave even though he knew that was unlikely!!!! 

My old buddy Roy passed away a few years ago, and I still think of him often with a smile. If you know someone like Roy in your life try to share a little kindness because I’m sure they get their fare share of pain going through life!