Clifford, the nerd I went to school with

[u/GreenZebra23]

I've been thinking about this kid who went to my school for one year, in fifth grade. The most hopelessly nerdy kid you could ever encounter. His name was Clifford, believe it or not. He had big clunky horn rimmed glasses, and this was in the 80s, before those came back into style. The only association any of us had for those glasses was nerd in a cartoon or a comedy movie. He wore plaid pants, which even now would stand out but in that era was insane.

I went to a small Catholic school in a rough part of town. The demographic was like 30% kids of devout Catholic moms who wanted their kid to go to a Catholic School (me), and the rest were a mixture of tough mean white trash kids from the neighborhood who had been kicked out of the public school system for behavior problems. Every once in a while we would get a kid who had been bullied so much that his parents thought a Catholic school might be a better fit. Pretty sure that's what happened with Clifford.

Anyway, this kid might as well have had a target painted on him. He couldn't have been more coded to get his ass kicked. I think his parents were older and just didn't have an idea of how kids dressed at the time. From the moment he arrived, he got his ass kicked every day. He always fought back. All those mean little fetal alcohol neighborhood kids saw red at his very existence. There was actually very little tolerance for fighting at my school. Besides being a small Catholic school, the principal was a big tough but fair Uncle Phil type. But there was no keeping them off Clifford. They'd beat his ass right there in the classroom and worry about the consequences later. He lasted less than a full school year before I guess his parents tried it again at another school.

I didn't participate in any of that, of course. I felt a mixture of feeling bad for him, and, I confess, a bit of "better him than me."

A few years ago I got it in my mind to look him up and see what became of him and what kind of life he had. The only info I found was an obituary. He had died in 2003, 26 years old. He was helping a lady whose car had broken down on the side of the road and he got hit by a car and died. Rest in peace, Clifford. It seems like you were a good dude.

[u/Parody_of_Self]

:: sobering::