Bullies are never appeased. Bullies only get stronger and more bold the longer you don’t stand up to them. The only way to stop a bully is to confront him.
Bea was a bully. So Bill knew that his question of how long she might be appeased was a hypothetical, that the only answer was she would be quiet for a bit, maybe, but never appeased. She’d be quiet until the next moment something occurred where she felt diminished or passed over or excluded. She’d be quiet until he paid more attention to Mary than to her, which was inevitable because he cared about Mary, deeply so, and Mary cared about him.
Bea knew that. She knew Bill and Mary loved each other. It was messed up—the whole thing was messed up—but it was and there was no stopping it now. Bea also knew that it could never end happily or even end well. From her perspective, graduation and Bill’s moving on could not happen quickly enough.
Bill remembered the tough from his dorm in the workhouse. He came for Bill on Bill’s second day and only by the grace of God was he able to escape the tough. “No, a cop.” God put those words in Bill’s mouth.
He would never forget what happened, would never forget how, immediately after the confrontation he was conscious of the fact that God had put the words into his mouth. The tough had only asked one question: “who’d you beat up, your wife?”
Bill had not had time to think, had not had time to formulate a response. But those words came out from his lips before he ever knew where they came from. And from then on, for the most part, he was golden, untouchable. He went untouched.
But he went with God, suddenly, wholly sure that God existed, that God was up there watching over him and everyone else too, whether they knew it or not, whether they wanted it or not, whether they accepted it or not.
The tough went on to his next victim, and on, and on, until he was stopped. Bill saw him get stopped, even helped it on a little bit, but he never saw what happened after the tough was stopped because he got out that same day.
The kid who stopped him was a smallish kid whose cigarettes the tough had stolen. You would have never thought a small kid could take the tough, but he sure did.
So Bill learned a few things. First, most important, God is up there watching over us. Second, appearances are deceiving. And third, you can’t appease a bully. No, you have to step up.
After Bea took care of him, he carried her things up for her. She did not want to take care of him, but she did so because she didn’t want to leave it to Mary. So she did what she did out of spite more than anything else.
Mary was waiting upstairs, quiet, pensive, maybe sulking. Bill had to make two trips to carry everything. He did it quickly and efficiently, Bea helping a little, just enough so he didn’t have to make a third trip.
“Well?” Mary leaned against her counter and looked at Bill.
“Well nothing. I’m gonna go wash the potatoes for baking.”
“She rock your world?”
“Only you rock my world.”
“Yeah, right. What about your fiancé?”
“I can’t help it if I love you.”
“Well you love her, don’t you?”
“Course I do. Not even a question. I didn’t ask for you to come along. I didn’t ask to be here. I never wanted to be a cook, never dreamed I’d be working in kitchens. Maybe it’s messed up, but it is what it is.”
