THE PINCHING MAN

In almost every village there is a disciplinarian called the "pinching man. "He punishes disobedient kids by pinching them. He pinches them really hard on the legs, and let me tell you, once you are pinched you will remember it! Parents who want their children to obey will tell them. "If you don't behave, i will the pinching man." That usually does the trick. Kids are so scared by the pinching man. The pinching man in every village is a scary parson. Sometimes he has long, pointy fingers, or hair on his face. He chews tobacco and he looks mean. Our pinching man is the worst of all. You never want to be on his bad side, because then he would watch for you, and he will tell the other pinching man in the other village's to watch you too. And parents rarely protect their kids from the pitching man because that is how discipline is enforced in the community. A rule i often broke was the one against going to other villages by myself. But i always liked to play with friends in the different villages. One day when i was little, about six or seven years old. The village i wanted to visit that day was two or three miles away. A narrow, winding path through the woods led there. i took off running, but had not gotten vary far when i turned a corner in the path and came face to face with the pinching man. As soon he saw me, he went down and put out his hands toward me. His fingernails were long and dirty and sharp. He was waving his hands, ready to pinch. When the pinching man gets you like that you cannot run away because he will remember you. The next time he sees you he will grab you when you are not looking and pinch you even harder.