Chapter 1 of 5 - Sam was overwhelmed. Due to his Dad’s drinking and rage, Mr. Duncan lost his job and his wife. Then, he moved his son to a new town. Adding to all the other losses, Sam’s new best friend, Drew, deserted him to join Shawn’s gang. What will Sam do now that Shawn and his gang are starting to play their psychological warfare games on him?
Chapter 1: Sam moves to a new town
It was Sam’s first day of seventh grade. He was new to the school. He was new to the town. He was new to the state. He and his Dad had just moved to this town over the summer. Sam had met a few guys in his neighborhood; but mostly, he just kept to himself.
Some kids might accuse Sam of being shy; however, Sam didn’t look at it that way. If you asked him, he would tell you, “I’m not shy; I’m just cautious.”
Sam had good reason to be cautious as he was often picked on when he was in the sixth grade.
Sam was determined that it was NOT going to happen to him this year. Sam decided, “I’m not gonna bring all that past history with me to this school. I’m in a new school in a different state. Unless someone moves here from my old town and tells, no one is ever gonna know that I used to be such a wimp. Not this year! Not at this school! Just like my Mom used to say, I’m gonna start out with a clean slate.”
During second period, he walked into Mrs. Clarkson’s class. When she got to his name on the roll sheet, she said, “Samuel Duncan. Do you want to go by Samuel, Sammy, or Sam?"
Without any hesitation or pause, Sam quickly said, “Sam! I want to be called Sam.”
Mrs. Clarkson responded, “All right, Sam. It’s nice to have you in my class!”
As Mrs. Clarkson continued to take roll and then go over the classroom rules, Sam launched into a strange sort of daydream. In his daydream, Sam mused, “I used to be Sammy, but Sammy was the kid who got picked on all the time at my old school. Now I’m Sam.”
All through elementary school, all the kids called him Sammy. He was short and wiry, so the name Sammy seemed to really fit his compact size and personality. But thankfully, he had grown some over the summer. He still wasn’t tall, but at least he was taller than he was by a couple of inches.
Sam continued his daydream. Sam thought, “Yeah, I used to be Sammy, but Sammy was the kid who had a Mom to love him and give him hugs. But Mom’s gone now. She left Sammy behind. Man! She didn’t even have the decency to take Sammy with her. She knew what Dad was like, but she just left without me. So I can’t be that Sammy anymore. I gotta be just Sam. Or as my Dad says, ‘Be a man! No tears! No whining! Just be a man!’”
Sam’s Dad was an ex-military man. He was thrown out of the army for drinking too much and also for occasionally using his wife as a punching bag. His Dad had been court-ordered to go through two programs: the anger management program and the alcohol counseling program. Both programs were sponsored by the military base, but it seems like he must have failed both classes. For just a few weeks after both ten-week programs were over, he had hauled off and hit his wife again.
Sam recalled that night all too well. His Dad came home late one night. He was drunk. Sam thought bitterly, “He was drunk as a skunk! So Mom yelled at him. That didn’t give him the right to hit her. But he did.”
Sam could still remember his father’s fist smashing into his mother’s right eye. Sam was so scared, he hid behind the living room chair. He was terrified that his father would discover him there and hit him too.
He knew that his father was one of those guys who can dish out criticism; however, he would not tolerate anybody criticizing him. Sam knew better than to ever raise his voice to his Dad.
He remembered that his Mom sat at the kitchen table and cried. His father stumbled into their bedroom and was soon snoring. Sam was torn. He wanted to go to his Mom and comfort her; however, he was afraid of waking his Dad. He finally crept off to his bedroom and tried to sleep.
When he did finally manage to fall sleep at about 3:00 in the morning, he didn’t wake up in time to catch the bus to school. Normally, his Mom woke him up. Very quietly, he got up. He looked into his parent’s bedroom. He was relieved to see that the bed was empty. His Dad had gone off to work. He walked into the kitchen, expecting to see his Mom. She wasn’t there.
Sam did his best to not show any emotion as he recalled, “Mom left. She was gone. She left my Dad without a word, and she left me without even saying good-bye. Yup! Sammy is no more! I’m Sam now, and I’m gonna try my best to be a man. I better be. I sure don’t want Dad to take his frustrations out on me, like he did her.”
The months went by at a snail’s pace. Sam’s Dad was doing okay at his new job. He didn’t get angry too often, as Sam made sure that he never did anything to provoke him. On the days that his Dad had a tough day at work, Sam stayed as far away from him as he could. So he was SURVIVING better than he thought he would at home.
As for school, well, …, it was going okay. Sam was an average student. He generally made mostly B’s and the occasional A or C.
Click here to read Chapter 2 of 5 - Sam Self-Mentors versus Psychological Warfare
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