THE BETTY McCLOUD COLLECTION
BULLIES NEVER LEARN
‘Hey you, schoolmistress, we want a word…’
Betty McCloud didn’t look back; she recognised the deep frosty tones. There were two sets of footsteps pursuing her
and she knew who they belonged to. Tommy and Johnny Bamber, older brothers of Dolly, the school bully she’d had an
encounter with recently.
She sensed trouble, the precinct was busy but the likes of the two louts behind wouldn’t hesitate in creating a scene;
they were known troublemakers, just like their sister.
Betty increased her pace, broke into a trot, with the brothers’ shouts shafting her ears. The trot became a sprint as she
tore through the mall, heading for the dead end of town and a disused block of industrial units.
She crossed the junction with Eighth Street counting on traffic obscuring their sight, and ducked into an alleyway just
beyond the crossing, pressing her back against the wall. Tommy and Johnny ran right on by until a few seconds later
the footsteps ceased.
‘Where’d the bitch go?’ Johnny yelled, ‘She couldn’t just have vanished.’
‘I’m right here boys,’ Betty slipped out of the alley, sauntered towards them , hands on hips, ‘You want a word, why not
here where it’s nice and quiet…’
‘You upset our sister real bad,’ Tommy said, stalking towards her ahead of her brother, ‘we’re here to even the score.’
Betty tilted her head back, ‘Just like that eh? Just the two of you – you think it’ll be that easy?’
‘Oh we’ve heard you’re strong, schoolmistress bitch, but it’s men you’re up against now. You’ve bitten off too much and
running into this dead-end part of town wasn’t smart. Ain’t no-one gonna help you here.’
Betty tensed her arms, ‘I wasn’t figuring on needing any help boys, just didn’t want innocent people getting hurt. Figured
I’d deal with you here if I had to.’ She glanced from Tommy to Johnny, they were both hefty guys but Johnny seemed
more uncertain, constantly looking to his brother. Tommy called the shots in this set-up.
‘Run along Johnny, before I box your ears like I’m gonna do to your brother.
‘Huh? Did you here that?’ Tommy threw his brother a glance, box ‘em she couldn’t even reach ‘em; who does this bitch
think she is?’
‘A schoolmistress about to teach you a lesson; your sister deserved what she got boys and if you don’t butt out of my
hair you’ll get similar treatment.’
Something shimmered in Tommy’s hand; she heard the flick, saw the knife and ducked as he flashed it, landing a blow
to his midriff that sent him staggering back. As the knife fell from his grasp she moved at speed, seizing him, one hand
to a leg, the other to his shoulder, raising him first to her shoulders and then muscles unwavering in her big arms she
hoisted him above head height.
Betty stared at Johnny in a deliberate demonstration of her power, watching him gape in disbelief. Still with her eyes on
him she held Tommy for a couple of seconds longer as he struggled and screamed, then feigning boredom twisted
sideways, launching him a full five yards into the garbage container on the sidewalk.
She spotted the knife, picked it up before Johnny could reach it, tossed it aside, ‘Now it’s your turn, you want to play
too? Try me big boy if you dare.’ She flexed an arm, watched her bicep surge against her jacket sleeve and smiled at
Johnny’s reaction, ‘That’s no melon in there, now go for it.’
But Johnny was rooted to the spot, he held up the palm of a shaky hand, ‘No – look – we just meant to scare you.’
‘Well it didn’t work.’ Betty stepped forward, closed her muscular arms around his hips and raised him high, despatching
him into the container.
She smacked her hands, placed them on the container rim and stared down at the two writhing figures, ‘I don’t seek
trouble boys but let that be a warning. Don’t ever be stupid enough to try me again.
* *
Rudi Gater was reclined, legs on desk when Betty McCloud barged in. He’d been expecting her, he’d heard about the
rumpus in the town’s old industrial sector. The screaming Bamber brothers had to be hauled out of the container she’d
chucked them into.
He cursed the Bamber brothers for having the stupidity to tackle McCloud but if he came down on them they’d claim
back the one big favour he owed them.
Now McCloud was on the warpath, a literal ball of fire, tiny but solid muscle, immensely powerful; unsettling as he found
her, he’d dislike her more if it weren’t for her big tits, curly black hair and alluring face with those lively dark eyes.
Gater removed his legs from the desk, tried to look casual in the face of her stern gaze.
‘Yes, Miss McCloud?’
She thrust her hands on his desk, ‘Just when are you going to crack down on the Bamber family Rudi? They’ve just tried
to knife me, and after the trouble I’ve had with Dolly…’
Gater lowered his eyes, McCloud was wearing a dark suede jacket, but with her hands pressed on the desk her powerful
triceps swelled her sleeves. He found it incredible that a woman could look so attractive but positively awesome at the
same time.
‘You seem to have coped more than adequately with the situation, Miss McCloud, a little too adequately.’
‘Tommy attacked me dammit…’
‘You threw two men bodily into a trash container, they needed to be hauled out, there were minor injuries.. You recently
had a set-to with Dolly, one of your pupils no less; you threw her into a pit. There’s some kind of feud going on so don’t
push me Miss McCloud, I just might arrest you.’
Gater watched her eyes darken, placed his hands together, ‘You’ll need to make a written statement, and then I’ll speak
to them.’
She slapped a hand on his desk, ‘Not good enough Rudi – and you know it.’
Gater watched her scribble out a statement in a furious hand, push it in his direction and then storm out. It took an awful
lot of power to manage what she had, particularly when she stood, he guessed about five – three, and weighed around
one hundred and forty pounds. The Bamber family were a bad bunch but his hands were tied; he needed to speak to
them though, if only to avert a potentially explosive situation.
* * *
Teachers shouldn’t have favourites, Betty readily accepted as much but nonetheless Debbie Langton, bright and
enthusiastic was an exception to that reasoning. There was some concern therefore, at Debbie’s unexplained absence
from school the following morning.
Betty had been about to contact her parents when the white envelope on her desk caught her eye. She ripped it open,
pulled out a note; the scrawny handwriting read, “We have your pet pupil, if you fear for her safety you’ll come to the
cabin in the woods, alone after school. Tell no-one.”
Unsigned; but the cabin in the woods meant only one thing. Betty looked up and into the eyes of Dolly; mean, nasty
eyes. She bit her lip, so they weren’t giving up, they wanted revenge. So this was the showdown, well so be it.
The cabin was a ramshackle place, a run-down building and walking straight into it wasn’t an option at all. There was
only one entrance and she’d be at the Bambers’ mercy the moment she walked through the door. And who was to say
that Debbie would be let go so easily?
So she needed a distraction.
Dolly Bamber seemed to hang around after school, presumably she was planning to track her movements but Betty was
having none of it. She could handle Dolly easily enough, but if Dolly was forewarned then her brothers would be
forearmed.
She tensed as she neared the cabin; she’d changed out of her school-wear into trainers, a pair of Levi’s and an armless
white t-shirt; something suitable for a fight. The Bamber brothers had plans for her that went way beyond a normal
invitation but getting Dolly out was her priority.
There were cars outside the cabin, rotting hunks of metal on flat tires. They restricted the view out, one dirty window was
the only warning of her approach, but once she’d threaded through them she’d be in full view. But she wasn’t threading
through then, not just yet.
Betty looked around her; all was quiet save for the rustle of trees in the woods. There was a small truck sideways on to
the cabin that suited her purposes if she had enough power. She could manage to lift five times her own weight but what
she was taking on here was beyond even that.
She took a deep breath, spread her arms, crouched low, grabbed the rusting underside of the pick-up and gritted her
teeth, heaving with all her might. Her wide shoulders, powerful back, strong legs and fifteen inch plus biceps all
combined in one massive lift that saw the truck’s flat tyres raised from the ground. Absorbing the weight for a second the
pressure on her arms became enormous. As they started to shake she gave one final heave, the clatter and creaking of
metal filling the air as the truck crashed on its side, shaking the ground around.
Betty, hands on knees, paused for breath; she needed it – and then the brothers came running from the cabin. ‘What
the hell’s happened?’ Johnny stared at Tommy, stunned,
But Tommy snarled, ‘What the hell do you think. It’s her, she’s here – get back in the cabin.
But Betty had already ducked behind the overturned truck and edged round – springing out before reaching onto her
toes, grabbing Tommy in a neck hold and exerting the power of her python-like arms – ‘Free Debbie or I’ll break your
brother’s neck,’ she screamed at Johnny and it seemed for a moment he might do just that, because Tommy grimaced,
began to choke. But Betty was holding on now, there was no more fuel in an engine drained by her exertions and she
was struggling to maintain her grip. She saw Tommy turn, he knew she was tiring and a blow from his elbow caught her
in the midriff. It broke her hold completely and he lashed again, catching her beneath the chin, sending the ground
rushing up on her and she down to meet it.
And then Dolly Bamber was upon her, kicking and lashing with both feet – Dolly, the thorn in her side – so she had
lingered, damn her.
But she’d taken the blows and the fall well, and Dolly’s actions contrary to compounding her plight, induced some of the
strength back into her. Tommy lunged but Betty’s raised forearm sent him sprawling sideways, and then grabbing Dolly’s
leg as she tried to lash again, she brought the large girl crashing down.
Tommy yelled to his brother, ‘Do something, damn yer…’
Johnny grabbed a spade resting against a makeshift hut next to the cabin, paused just a second before bringing it
crashing towards Betty’s head – but that one second proved vital. Betty doubled her arm, fended off the blow, Johnny
raised the spade a second time as a voice rang out, ‘Stop right there, Johnny…’
Rudi Gater came through the woods with two deputies, ‘You owe us Rudi,’ Tommy groaned, pinned down by Betty’s
powerful arm. ‘Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,’ Gater mumbled.
‘They’ve got Debbie in there,’ Betty shouted, getting to her feet, then grabbing the spade from Johnny she pushed him
to the floor. Glaring at Dolly she gripped the thick stem of the spade with both hands, gave it a savage wrench that
snapped it in half, an inch from the Bamber girl’s face. She flung the remnants into the woods, ‘You’re lucky that wasn’t
you Dolly.’
Dolly bared her teeth defiantly but Betty’s concern now was Debbie’s welfare, and racing ahead of Gater into the cabin
she thrust aside the hefty form of Ma Bamber, to find Debbie bound and gagged in a high backed chair.
Betty untied the gag, broke the rope with her hands and tossed it aside, ‘You okay girl?’
‘Now you’re here – they …’
‘Yeah, I can guess – they used you to get to me, but it’s over now.’
Betty turned to Gater, raised her head and squared up to him, ‘It looks like the sheriff’s got some work to do – that right
Rudi?’
‘Guess I might have…’ Gater turned to find his deputies cuffing the two brothers, then conceded, ‘mighty brave thing
you did there Miss McCloud.’
‘She’s a mighty woman,’ Debbie cut in.
‘She sure is,’ Gater shook his head slowly at the overturned truck.
Betty smiled, slapped her favourite pupil on the back, then met the hostile eyes of Dolly Bamber. ‘You not cuffing her?’
‘No Mam,’ Gater said, ‘she’s just an accessory, she’ll have questions to answer, mind.’
‘Yeah, just an accessory; like those kicks to my side don’t matter.’ Betty lifted her T-shirt, examined the developing
bruises around her waist, then in full view of Dolly gave a big stretch, watching her biceps rise high in her arms. She
walked slowly down the cabin steps and stood a foot from her, ‘You just keep on testing me Dolly Bamber.’
‘I sure will, Miss McCloud.’ Betty saw the defiance that still remained in her eyes, clenched her fists. She saw red, but
seeing red was one thing, seeing sense was another. Nonetheless Betty made Dolly feel her power as she shouldered
her aside.
‘Phew – would you look at that…’ Debbie pointed at the truck lying on its side, ‘I wondered what the commotion was, then
I realised – only you could have done that – thanks Miss.’
‘That’s okay; it’s on account of me that you landed here.’
Debbie watched the brothers being loaded into a van, ‘The real fault lies with the brothers and Dolly, I reckoned you
were going to thump her.’
‘I restrained by a whisker, she’s really starting to rile me.’
‘Don’t let her Miss.’
But Betty McCloud wasn’t listening; what did Gater owe the Bamber brothers she wondered, and why had he been so
reluctant to act?
But that was a question for another day; this one had ended with Debbie safe.
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