The Battle of Miller's Field

A Brief Tale of Revenge, War, and Resilience

Photo by Hide Obara on Unsplash

Ron’s hands were numb from the cold, but that didn’t matter.  This was war, and he was going to win. He had gathered enough snowballs and crouched behind the wall of the snow fort he had meticulously crafted with his older brother, Jack, and his friend, Freddy. Everything was in place. Victory was within reach.

The enemy was Tad Johnson and his gang of bullies, who had been picking on Ron whenever they found him alone since middle school started in September. They had taken Ron’s lunch money, thrown his book bag high into a tree, and done all manner of demeaning things to make him feel small and weak. And it didn’t help that the boy was physically small for his age.

Today, Ron was ready to fight back. He huddled behind the snow fort wall with fear and determination.

It was a Presidents’ Day and a school holiday. The boys had been planning their attack for weeks, knowing Tad and his gang routinely passed through Miller’s Field on their way to the town cente…