I swear its a disease

                                                      I swear its a disease



                “What the hell have you been up to now?” Mark's Dad asked him, he looked and sounded angry.

      Mark Bodice had mud on his knees, his white tee shirt was covered with a mixture of blood and mud, both his elbows were cut. His lip was split and he had a large bump on his head.

    “I was on Kieran's bike and I done the jump just had a problem with the landing,” the fifteen year old lad with spiky blonde hair replied, but he was lying.

          The truth was he'd being picked on by five boys who didn't like his brother who always got away with swearing in school.

    “Tell your brother to stop calling me names, its getting annoying. He walked up to me the other day in front of my Mum and was swearing and it got me in trouble! Yeah I swear but he's doing it all the time and what's that thing he does with his neck?” Dan asked, he didn't want an answer, it was more of a statement.

    “Everyone on the estate is complaining about him, so either you sort it out or we will,” Matt said, he was the biggest boy out of the five, “And here's a taste!” Before Mark knew it he being hit twice and was on the floor covering up.

        “Did you break the bike?” his Dad asked as he got up out out of his chair, he was ex-army and barely had an ounce of fat on him.

    There were two reasons for not telling his Dad what had happened, first he wanted to protect his brother, second his Father would have had a go at him asking him why he didn't fight back or at the very least why he hadn't come and get him.

            Shane Bodice as one of the nicest teenagers you could meet except for one thing, he suffers from tourettes. His Mother Joan used to get embarrassed when she was out with him but she was used to it now, she was also used to other Parents having a go at her but there was nothing she could do. At first Shane was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD as its better known but then the swearing started. Joan and Shane's Dad Maurice first thought it was attention seeking but along with the twitching in his neck and his arm it was confirmed he had tourettes. Despite popular belief only ten per cent of people with tourettes swear, and its completely out of there control.

    “The bike was fine Dad, I kinda lost control on the landing, it seemed to just go underneath me,” Mark had the feeling his Dad didn't believe him but couldn't be sure.

    “And I bet you didn't wear a helmet because you didn't want to mess up your hair!”

      Mark didn't answer he just laughed with his Dad, he wanted the conversation to finish.

        “What's for dinner Mum?” Mark shouted to his Mum as he walked into the kitchen where his Mum was reading a magazine.

    She took one look at him and said, “The first thing your going to do is run a bath while I get the first aid kit, I'll meet you in the bathroom.”

  Mark turned and made his way upstairs.

      The following day at school Mark was asked to wait behind after registration by his form teacher, Mr Willis.

    “I didn't have you down as a fighter Mr Bodice,” he said, his voice was placid.

          “I'm not sir, but when it comes to protecting Shane I'll do anything,” Mark answered. He trusted Mr Willis who had helped him out of trouble before.

      “You don't have to take care of things on your own Mark, is there anyway I can help?” Mr Willis asked, there was concern in his voice.

    “I'm going to try and sort it out sir, but thanks for the offer,”

            “Well I'm always here for you, does your Mother and Father know about this?”

        “I didn't want to worry them sir,”

                    “You ever need to talk you know my doors always open,” Mr Willis said as he opened the door for his young student.

      “Thank you sir,” Mark said and headed off to his lessons.

    After he got home he was called down from his room by his Dad who'd just come in.

    “Alright Dad?”

          “Not really Son, I've just seen Kieran's Dad and mentioned your fall yesterday, he told me Kieran's not had a bike for over a year. Can you see my problem Son?”

    Mark felt all the blood rush to his face and his mouth went completely dry, he tried to look confident but it wasn't working.

    “Did I tell you it was Kieran? I meant Joseph's bike, I did bang my head Dad!”

    Maurice Bodice got even more annoyed with his Son, he was lying to him but he hadn't done that in years, there must be a good reason, he just needed to find out why. 

        “What sort of trouble are you in Mark?” his Dad asked sternly.

          Mark just looked at his Dad without saying a word.

      “Whatever it is Son, you know you can talk to me about it, or your Mum. I can't remember the last time you lied to me and I got to say Son it hurts, I thought better,”

      “They were having a go at me about Shane!” he blurted out, he didn't mean to sound so loud.

            “Joan!” Mark's Dad yelled, “I think you need to hear this.”

        It didn't take Mark's Mum long to join them. The scared young man told them everything that happened and how sorry he was, but he didn't want Shane in trouble. Both his Parents had tears in there eyes as they hugged him, then Joan said, “It's time to put the plan together then.”

          A week later on a warm evening there was a meeting at the community hall in the middle of the estate, it was organised by the Bodice Family and everyone that lived on the estate was invited. The hall held three hundred people and it was about two thirds full when the meeting was due to start.

        Maurice Bodice tried to clear his throat, despite him being used to talking to big groups from his army days he'd never being so nervous.

      “Ladies and Gentleman Good evening and welcome to this meeting, I won't keep you long but there are few things that need to be said, to be sorted. Last week my Son Mark was beaten up for trying to protect his Brother Shane, my wife and I are talked about as bad parents because of Shane's behaviour,”

      “You are!” came a shout from the back.

      “We are not bad parents, one of our children has tourettes, its a medical condition and there's nothing that can be done about it. That doesn't make him a bad person, he's just a lad that swears a lot and that's not on purpose. You wouldn't blame a Parent if there child had cerebral palsy, if the truth be known you'd feel sorry for them. We've called this meeting to let everyone know that Shane has tourettes, you can't catch it, its just something in his brain tells him to swear. All I'm asking for is a fair go and for my family to be left in peace, surely that's not to much to ask?”

      The hall went quiet, everyone was looking at each other to see who would ask a question.

  “I didn't know,” came a voice from the back, Maurice couldn't hear it properly.

        “I'm sorry, what was that?”

    A young man wearing a black tracksuit with red lines on the outside and a baseball cap on the wrong way round walked forward.

      “I said I didn't know about the tourettes thing, I just thought he was a mouthy git,” Mark recognised him as one of the group that attacked him but said nothing, he wanted this sorted.

          “Thank you,” Joan said, “Not a lot of people do, that's why we called this meeting.”

    Shane's twitch was getting worse, he didn't like sitting to long.

      “Are there any more questions?” Maurice asked.

        “Tossers!” Shane said and everyone in the hall laughed.

    A few more questions were asked and answered and at the end of the meeting there seemed to be a better understanding of just what the Bodice family had to deal with and life got better for Mark as well.