THE BAD MAN

Aged 12, I used to walk along to Clare Watson's house, and ask if she wanted to come out to play. It was a 40-minute walk, she lived on Church Road.

On this particular night, I was walking back, after being rejected by Clare for what seemed like, the hundredth time. A man approached me and asked if I wanted to earn some money.

"How much", I asked?

"About £12", he replied

Great I thought, for it was just enough to pay for the 'chemistry set', which I had set my heart upon.

"What do you want me to do, Mister?" I asked

"Just post some letters for me" he replied

A bit particular I thought, why couldn't he do it himself? Hey but who cares, £12 is £12, £12 is my chemistry set.

"Yeah ok Mister, sure, I'll post your letters for you"

"Well just follow me, and I'll show you where I want them posted"

So off I went, following this guy, quite a youngish guy, early 20's maybe, but rather brutish looking, a bit like a rugby player, just a normal looking guy.

We walked up the road and stopped out side a church; it was here that he said that it's behind the back.

So we walked behind the church, nice and quite, a place where we wouldn't be disturbed. He sat down on a step, in front of a gate that lead into a back garden. I stood about 4 meters away, the way we came in, behind me.

"So where do you want me to post the letters Mister?" I asked

"Yeah sure kid, but before hand why don't you go through this gate and wait for me."

"Why?"

"You'll find out in a minute kid"

"No tell me now, why?"

"I just want to play with myself ok"

This was not normal, I didn't know what this guy was on about, but this didn't feel right, it felt exceptionally wrong.

"Just play with my self, you understand don't you kid?" he continued
"You know kid-" he did something then that sent me running. With his hand he did a jerk off motion, above his groin.

I still didn't fully understand what he meant, but I understood that it had something to do with his, you know what! I wasn't sticking around to find out.

I ran.

Ran straight to the nearest phone box, phoned the Police and waited. After 10 minutes, I got fed up of waiting and walked home.

Though here's a little story, of what happened while I waited. 

I must have looked pretty distressed because an old man came up to me and asked what had happened.

I told him everything, he told me to sit tight, and that'll he'll go and investigate. The old man began walking and never stopped. He was out of there, gone, never to be seen again. Bless his old cotton socks.

When I got home I told Mum, in fact if I remember correctly, the Police were already they're waiting for me.

Mum was horrified, terrified, angry, and livid, the list could go on forever. She was screaming at the Police to do something, their reply was that they couldn't, because he never touched me, never laid a hand upon me.

They even knew who he was. I went for a drive with them, showed them where it all happened. They knew the guy, they even pointed out where he lived. It was the house over the road from where I made the phone call. He would have sat there waiting for lone boys to walk by before pouncing.

My Mum knocked up such a fuss, she wrote to Margaret Thatcher and The Queen, demanding something to happen. The Police put her mind to rest a bit, they told her that he wouldn't be walking anywhere for the next couple of months. This particular policeman and his friends had cornered him at night, kicked the living day lights out of him.

And yes, I suffered nightmares, horrible nightmares.

When I recounted this story to my friends, I said that the man came to grab me, but I punched him square in the stomach, brought him to his knees, that was when I ran away.

Though I believe they all knew the truth.

© Copyright 2007 Matthew Taylor