I Am Usually Quite Peaceful, But....

We were at a small local amusement park one hot summer day, me and my son and daughter who were 10 and 8 at the time. We had just finished cooling off in the lazy river , drifting on inner tubes and feeling peaceful.  The kids decided to ride more rides and got in line for the paratroopers.I decided to sit this one out and found a bench directly in front of the ride. It was a long wait, but finally my kids were the next to get on. They had each just picked out their plane and got in when the biker dude appeared.

He was tall and dressed in leathers, biker symbol on the back of his jacket, black biker boots, chain drive wallet.He came down the midway and swaggered up to the ride.The ride was full and the tall skinny teen-aged attendant was putting up the chain to block off the entrance. The dude pointed to my son and began telling the attendant that this kid cut right in front of him. The attendant told him that he would be first on for the next ride. This wasn't good enough for the dude. He began yelling loudly at the teen, pointing his finger in the poor kid's face,and demanding that he get on this time. The kid was clearly intimidated. He walked over to my son and said something to him.My son ,with a stunned look on his face, got off the ride and the dude took his place.

My son came to the bench and sat down. He had tears in his eyes as he told me the worker had told him he had to get off. My blood was boiling! I looked up at the ride attendant and he gave me a look that said, I'm sorry...I didn't know what else to do. I told my boy that I would take care of it. He said," No mommy, please don't say anything.That man is mean."

When the ride was over, I positioned myself just in front of the exit and waited for the dude, hand on hips, and mouth loaded and cocked.As he approached me , I said " I hope you are proud of yourself, lying and getting an 8 year old kid put off a ride so you don't have to wait your turn". It was just about now that I really noticed just how big the guy was. He started yelling me and saying he didn't know what  the hell I was talking about... with a few other phrases unsuitable for children's ears thrown in.It was becoming obvious that he was somewhat impaired from some substance or another. My son and daughter were both pulling on me ,trying to get me to shut up and leave. I continued, "You really are a big man, aren't you ?"

I took the kids' hands and turned to walk away. I was a bit concerned about the possible repercussions for what I had said to him. I was thinking perhaps we'd better leave the park NOW. I had taken a few steps away when I was approached by two security guards. They asked me if the dude was giving me trouble. I described what had happened. One guard told me that this was the fourth reported incident with the guy. They went to the dude, took hold of him and escorted him out of the park with the dude yelling and cursing the whole way.

My kids ( and I) were greatly relieved to see him gone. Both of my children kept saying that they couldn't believe I said that to such a big mean man. I was a bit amazed myself, but at the moment I did it, all I could think about was how angry I was for what he had done to my son.He was a bully, and I don't tolerate bullies.

The story has been told many times by my kids, with a certain amount of pride that their mom would stand up to the biker dude.