News-Record.com

I saw a fist fight Sunday afternoon.

I was walking the dog, vaguely aware of a group of boys playing football in a neighbor's front yard. The sound of arguing broke through the usual noise of kids playing, and I looked up. Two boys, one significantly larger than the other, both about middle-school age, were face to face shouting at each other. As the larger boy turned away, his adversary pulled him back and sucker punched him in the face. The crack was audible to me about 100 feet away.

The larger boy dropped to the ground, but only for an instant. He leaped back up and grabbed the other kid in a bear hug, and they both fell to the ground wrestling.

An adult at the house swept onto the scene quickly -- the whole thing took probably 10 seconds -- and broke it up. Both boys were sent home.

Inured by routine stories of crime and movies of cartoon mayhem, I had forgotten how ugly even the tamest violence can be.