WHAT HAPPENED TO TEDDY PHILLIPS?

Alan Meyer went to public school with a tough hombre named Teddy Phillips. Teddy’s dad had deserted his family when Teddy was five and he was brought up by his Mom, Lois and his older sister Joanne.

Teddy showed anti-social behaviour on a regular basis as he was constantly trying to beat up kids during recess. Alan once overheard a teacher saying to another teacher that Willy was ‘’a poor maladjusted.’’ Alan had no clue what that meant.

All the kids were somewhat terrified of Teddy and did everything they could to avoid him, Alan included. In Grade five, Alan was friends with a girl named Janice Hankins. Teddy came over during a conversation Alan was having with Janice and grabbed him from behind, putting his hands around Alan’s neck. Alan reacted by using a move he had seen that previous Saturday afternoon on television while watching wrestling. He lowered his shoulder and flipped Teddy over him. Teddy hit the floor hard. The teacher saw everything and yelled at Teddy for starting trouble. As Teddy was being sent to the principal’s office he looked over at Alan. ‘’I’m going to be waiting for you after school and we’re going to have a fight.’’

Fighting after school was dangerous, who would be around to break things up? When the bell rang to end the school day Alan ran through a sliding door, through woods to a side street and home. This…