Where I grew up there was one kid who was known as the bad boy. He was a little crazy, reckless, got into trouble. Things like setting small fires or going around with “weapons” like throwing stars and nunchucks.
He was a little scary and made me uneasy at times, but I also found him interesting and we were friends. I was always afraid of getting in trouble, but he was the only person who could invariably get me to go along with his risky behaviors. More than once I thought we were going to get in big trouble with our parents or even the police.
I always sensed something strange at his house. Although his parents did well and were active in the community (his mother was president of the PTA for years), there was this sort of Addams family vibe. Again, this added to the intrigue.
After high school I only ran into him twice - both times at bars and he was falling down drunk. Not long ago I found out he committed suicide in his early 20’s.
So I’m wondering if other people had a person like this in their neighborhood growing up, and what happened to them later on.
The closest thing was Cuco, who had a “tough boy” reputation in school (he played defense in footie and was/is built like a truck), but not among his neighbors. His BFFs (one of whom was my youngest brother) used to kid him about “dude, if all those people who are scared of you ever find out you love to read and build puzzles…” “bastards, you won’t!”
Oh, yes. Corey - my neighbor, maybe a couple years older. I went.over to his house once with another boy to invite him for flashlight tag; dude ended up chasing me around his basement with a lighter. Scarey kid; it’s been at least fifteen years, and I still hate him a bit for that.
Jimmy next door stabbed my brother in the head with a nutpick. He used to pee in the back yard and tear heads off baby dolls.
His family moved away, and 10 or 12 years later, they were back in the area for a visit. Jimmy had grown into an amazingly polite and good looking guy. So I guess he just had a “bad kid” phase.
There was one guy, he wasn’t bad, he was just a little, well, off. There were a few families on the block that I grew up on that all had similar aged kids. About 5-12 in our ‘hey day’ so to speak. We spent all day running up and down the block, playing in each others back yards, riding our bikes, eating dinner together. All the parents were best friends (and still are to this day) etc. Then there was one older kid. He was probably about 18 or so that just sort of showed up from time to time. One of the brothers in this group strayed a bit older so those two usually stayed closer. If this guy wasn’t hanging out with us, he was usually just hanging out on his front porch across the street from us. We never really thought anything of him. He was a bit strange, but he was quiet and seemed nice enough.
Fast forward to a few years ago. We’ve all since moved off the block (only a few blocks away) but he still lives there with his parents and my mom gets a call out of the blue from someone looking to move onto the block asking about the area. She can’t speak highly enough about it and how happy she was to raise four kids on it. Even though the other kids are gone, a lot of the same people do still live there. “But what about the pedophile, were you okay raising kids around the pedophile?”
Turns out at some point after we left, he get arrested for having child porn on his computer. He had his computer confiscated and he’s no longer allowed to leave his house…that includes hanging out on his front porch. IIRC, she did tell the person that (at least at the time we were there) he seemed nice enough and didn’t seem to pose a threat.
Other then that, our neighborhood didn’t really have a bad guy. My high school had a couple, no one I knew outside of school.
Oh, yes. I can’t remember his name, but he lived a couple of houses down the street. He made all of us nervous. One day my mom gave their family our pet parakeet. We all hated that damn bird and I have no idea why we got one (we probably begged her for it then conveniently forgot when we realized how annoying it was). Anyway, one day his mom called to tell mine that he had apparently stabbed it through the chest with a flag pole and killed it. He was the type of kid who tortured small animals. I hated him. He creeped me out to no end.
There was one other kid in second or third grade who showed up at the ditch where we used to collect snails with a small hunting knife because I wouldn’t kiss him on the play ground. When I still refused to kiss him, he gave me a black eye. When we told my friend’s brother, he went back to the ditch with a shotgun, but Antoine was gone. He was from the neighborhood, but wasn’t a repeat offender like the other kid.
oh yeah, won’t name names, allen, donny, lester.
some kids had seriously shitty situations at home, a lot of badness was hidden but came out on the streets
Eugene. He wasn’t that bad. Not as bad as his two (or was it three) older brothers who went to prison but he was the one that was my age, so I hung around with him all the time. Trashy mouth, lips always chapped and snot constantly running down his lip, he was strangely compeled to do the opposite of what any adult told him to do. I learned a lot from Eugene, a lot of stuff my parents didn’t like. I think he was a major reason we moved away when I was 15.
Absolutely! In each neighborhood I lived in as a kid and even in this one now (although the kid is an adult with some serious issues).
This latest one has had cops at his place at least half a dozen times this past week or so. They get out, go inside, scout out the yard, cruise the street for several hours. No telling what line the guy is feeding them.
Those neighborhood “bad seed” types from childhood were tame next to this guy.
ETA: BTW: the thread I started lately about “murdered friends, etc.” included the worst of the lot from my choldhood. Got hisself kilt!
There was a kid and his brother down the block who was a few years older than me and their family was the sort who always had cars in various states of disrepair in the driveway, playing loud music, etc. Not that working on cars is bad, just that there was a definite dissonance between them and the rest of the neighborhood. They built plywood forts in the woods behind our houses and decorated them with Playboy pictures and flattened beer cans, spray painted “DISCO SUCKS” on things, etc. They also had the prerequisite collection of ninja stars and nunchucks.
I will say that I never remember them threatening me or making me uncomfortable aside from knowing people disapproved of them. I think they shifted back and forth between thinking it was cool to impress us with their weapons and nudie pics and thinking we weren’t worth the time to talk to.
One turned into a human, particularly after losing his arm. He was high as a kite in a car with a friend, had his arm sticking out the window, a semi drove past and boom - no more arm.
The other one (who was the younger brother) is still a shit, in and out of jail a lot. Last I heard, anyway.
Greg lived across the alley from me with his parents and two brothers. The family was of Italian descent, with all the best genes of that ethnic group: classic handsomeness and naturally athletic physique. Unfortunately, the boys all had a propensity towards being hoodlums. The oldest rescued himself by joining the Coast Guard at a young age, and the next one went on to parts unknown after developing a high school reputation as a bad-ass and a ladies man.
Greg, being the youngest, emulated his brothers. Naturally big and muscular, and extremely handsome, he began having sex as early as the 6th grade, and began brawling not long after that. By high school, he had a well-earned and fearsome reputation as nobody to fuck with, and every physical encounter with him ended with the other guy being beaten to a pulp. I never had a run-in with him, since our parents were friends, but he always had a wild look about him, so I stayed clear.
Then, when he was sixteen, he and some others tried to crash a booze party being held for underage teens by a guy in his 20s. The guy refused to let Greg in and held a gun up to the window. This enraged Greg, who smashed the door open. He was shot dead on the spot. It was a shocking incident in our town, and a tragedy for his family.
I’m halfway tempted to start yet another spinoff thread about “young kids smoking” but since I have started a bunch of threads lately I’ll just add it on here and hope somebody else will decide to start another thread on the subject.
A small-time grocery near where I used to live was operated (probably owned, too) by a family that were, to put it mildly, not overly concerned with their health. They not just allowed, but encouraged a young child, 4 or 5, to smoke regularly for the “amusement” of their customers.
Put me off my food!
Not so much a “bad kid” as some “bad parents” if you ask me.
There was a kid in high school who was a real little shit. Obnoxious as heck in school, and outside of school he’d steal shit, and rip hood ornaments off of expensive cars; one time he brought in a bagful to show off. A few years after graduation I heard he and some buddies got arrested for felony-level burglary and larceny; apparently they were all trying to point fingers at each other, IIRC they all got busted. He may still be in prison. Not that I give him much day-to-day thought.
Yeah. There was a pyromanic animal torturer in my neighborhood growing up. He was a couple years younger than me. He got into worse and worse trouble the older he got, and ended up committing suicide at age 18 after joining the military. I think it was during Basic or immediately after. As far as I’m concerned, it was one of the best possible outcomes, at least for the people around him. I always figured he’d end up a violent thief and/or murderer before age 30.
It was pretty messed up because his brother (my age) was a really nice, cool guy. We played outside together as little kids and had some classes together in high school. We weren’t best friends or anything, but we got along. His little brother seemed like a total genetic aberration.
The first kid my mind went to is Kevin. I always hated him. He wasn’t a Sid, but he was a bit of a bully and a brat. The rest of his family is great.
After all of these years I saw him just a few years ago. We share a couple of nieces, and one of them was getting married. I guess I’ll see him again in October, as our other niece is getting married.
My cousin Dave. He was the instigator in our crowd. If we were doing something stupid and vaguely criminal, it was Dave’s idea. (I’m not excusing our behavior. We were willingly following Dave.)
The irony was that my aunt and uncle finally pulled Dave out of school and sent him to a private school because they wanted to separate their son from the bad crowd he was hanging out with. And once Dave was gone, we stopped being a bad crowd.
