Age 12
Tim Defends His Brother

Tim told this story and we wrote it together in first person even though Tim didn't really exactly write it. Tim's brother watched it and he had some things to add. Some of the rest is from his memory and the writing is definitely a product of a joint project between Tim and family. Anyway, here is that story:

One day after school I was walking home with some friends. I was 12. Our house is close to school and we don't need to ride a bus. That's great. I hate buses.

We were walking up the bike path when I saw my little brother. A bigger kid from my grade had hold of his shirt collar and was yelling at him. I don't know what he was saying but it didn't look too cool. It looked like he was going to punch my brother in the stomach.

I dropped my books and sprinted toward them. I don't think they saw me coming and I didn't yell or anything to warn them.

When I was about 3 feet way the kid looked around and saw me but it was too late for him. I jumped up and did a scissors tackle on him. That's a soccer tackle and it's not legal in a game because it can hurt people. That's what I wanted. I wrapped my legs around him and hooked my ankles. I twisted and threw him to the ground backwards. That's part of a scissors. We ended up on the ground with my legs around his chest just under his arms. I was on my side and he was face up. My left leg was on top and my right leg was on the bottom. He was pretty far between my legs and my medialis muscles were pressing against his breastbone and his back. I learned the names of my muscles in my project. You can look at that page and see which ones are which. My brother stood back and watched.

I guess I should tell the kid's name. It was John.

Anyway, John was pounding on my legs with his fists. It didn't hurt at all. I started to tighten my grip on him. I had my soccer shorts on like I almost always do. When I tackled him I almost gave myself a wedgie because it pushed my shorts way up. My thighs were all uncovered.

I looked at my legs as they started to flex. It's almost like they do it by themselves and I hardly have to try to make them work. As I watched my quads jumped up into ridges like in my pictures. They stuck up from my legs. My medialis muscle on my left leg started to bulge and press John's breastbone down. John stuck his hand against my shin and tried to push my legs apart. His hand was under my other calf. I just flexed my other calf and trapped his hand against my shin. I could feel my calf muscle bending his fingers against my shin bone.

I flexed my quads harder and my knees started to get straight. That's when I started to feel that tingling I get when I flex hard against something. I put my hand on my thigh as the muscles contracted and felt them. They were getting hot and they were really hard. John made gagging noises. I couldn't really hear him but that's what my brother said. I closed my eyes and my legs just continued to flex on their own. Something gave all of a sudden. I could feel it. I heard a cracking noise, kind of muffled. I felt someone pulling on my arm and opened my eyes. It was my brother. I looked down and saw my legs flexed so hard that John's chest had a dish in it where my left medialis muscle was pressing it down. I could see every muscle in my leg and each one showed by itself. There were veins on my quads. My left calf was flexed so hard it almost cramped up. John's fingers were all white where they stuck out from under it. Even while he was being crushed by my legs John was staring at my thighs. I could see him. His eyes were really wide open and he was staring.

"Don't mess with my brother, " I told him. "I won't stop so soon if you do it any more"

I let him go. My brother and I helped him get up and waited until he could breathe again. "Go home and don't come around us again," I told him.

John always walked a different way after that and never, ever messed with my little brother again. I heard from a friend that he went to the hospital and got x-rays. He had a broken rib. I believe him because I think I felt it break. We never heard from his mom so I guess John didn't tell her the truth about what happened. I told my parents and they said not to ever crush anybody like that again. I haven't ever done it. I didn't get grounded or anything because they said I was defending my brother and I had the right idea but just didn't do it the right way. John would have probably gone away if I had just told him to. I never gave him a chance to let go of my brother before I tackled him.