CHAPTER 8: WHAT MAKES THIBAULT TICK
AUTHOR'S NOTE: We will conclude this story with this chapter devoted to Thibault. We also get a look into his psyche and learn about how he became an angry boy with ill-conceived views about girls.
"I think it started when my mom died," said Thibault to his psychiatrist. "She died when I was probably two. I have no memory of her. My dad pretty much raised me alone. He did date every so often, but it always ended when the women saw he had a son. I got to feeling that they didn't like me. Maybe that's why I act the way I do towards girls. I know my uncle Max was also a contributing factor to this. Whenever he'd take me on a fishing trip or to a ball game when my father was too busy with work to do it, he'd go on about the women's place was at home and the only work they needed to be doing was cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and cooking the meals. I started to believe what my uncle was saying. When my dad heard about what my uncle was telling me, he was angry, but I didn't listen to him. As far as I was concerned, Uncle Max was more a father to me than my real father was.
"Anyway, I started getting these thoughts about girls not doing what boys do. It was engrained in me. I also started being angrier for some reason. I don't know why. I also felt like people thought they were better than me. I know it's crazy, but it's true. I even tried to pick a fight with this round-headed kid over his glove that I borrowed for a baseball game. I tried to make him fight to get his glove back because I thought that he thought he was better than me. I don't know why I thought that, but I did.
"I even had a girlfriend briefly recently. I know right? The male chauvinist who hates women gets a girlfriend. Anyway I started mouthing off about the same stuff my uncle told me. Well she and her friends didn't take too kindly to what I had to say and at the Spring Dance back in April; I got tossed out by every girl at my girlfriend's school, not before being decked by a huge girl with an even nastier temper than mine. That's when the real downward spiral started. I started stalking my ex just because I blamed her for what happened to me. If those police didn't stop me, I probably would've continued to do it. Because I was a juvenile I couldn't go to jail but I still paid dearly. I was suspended from school indefinitely; I had to go to a remedial school because no public school would take me in any district. I had to do community service, which I'm still doing. And worse of all, I have a restraining order against me banning me from contacting my ex.
"I think had my mother lived, I think I would have turned out different. I'm just realizing the consequences of my actions and what it has done to those around me. I think that had my mother not died, I would've respected women and girls, rather than talk bad about them. I now see that I was wrong, and I want to make things right with the people that I wronged. But most of all, I just want to tell my ex-girlfriend that I'm sorry."
Thibault ended his story right there. A single tear fell down his cheek. He was truly ashamed of how he acted over the years. He regretted how he treated Patty, Marcie, Charlie Brown, and even Peppermint Patty, the only girl he halfway respected. He knew he had to do better. It was going to be a long road to redemption for young Thibault, but when he shared his thoughts with the psychiatrist, it was just the start to the healing process.
Sun a-shining, there's plenty of life
A new day is dawning sunny and bright
But after I've been crying all night
The sun is cold and the new day seems old
Since I lost my baby
Since I lost my baby
Birds are singing and the children are playing
There's plenty of work and the bosses are paying
Not a sad word should my young heart be saying
But fun is a bore and with money I'm poor
Since I lost my baby
Since I lost my baby
Next time I'll be kinder
Won't you please help me find her?
Someone just remind her
'Bout this love she left behind her
'Til I find her I'll be tryin'
Now, every day I'm more inclined to find her
Inclined to find her
Inclined to find my baby
Been a-looking everywhere, baby, I really, really care
Oh, determination is fading fast
Inspiration is a thing of the past
Can't see how my hope's gonna last
Good things are bad, and what's happy is sad
Since I lost my baby
Since I lost my baby
I feel so bad
Oh I feel so sad
Everything is a-wrong
THE END
"Since I Lost My Baby" written by William "Smokey" Robinson and Warren "Pete" Moore
Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC