Hubert's Big Obstacles

            by Nate Levin

 

            There once was a boy named Hubert who lived in a big city. Hubert was a really smart second grader and always did his homework. He was as short as a kitchen table and he wore big, round eyeglasses that the doctor had given him when he was only two years old.

            Every day Hubert woke up at 7:00 am, ate his big bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, packed his lunch in a brown paper bag, grabbed his homework, and caught the yellow bus to school.

 

           

 

    Hubert hated school more than anything else in the whole world, even more than he hated taking out the garbage. But he didn’t hate school because of all the hard homework and the difficult tests. Actually, he liked the work. The reason that he hated school was because of a bully. He was a big bully, and his name was Phil. Phil was very, very fat from always eating everybody’s peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and his brain was very, very small from always stealing everybody else’s homework.

            As soon as Hubert would climb down the stairs from the yellow bus, Phil would pull him aside and snarl at him. “Hubey, gimme your lunch and the math homework unless you want me to beat you up.” And everyday Hubert would have no choice but to hand over his work and his lunch.

            When he walked into class and never had his homework, his teachers got upset and demanded to know why he hadn’t done it. Sometimes he would say, “My dog ate it,” or, “I lost it on the bus,” or, “I left it at home,” but he would never tell the truth because he knew that Phil was always watching him from the other side of the room. And everyday at lunch Hubert would sit by himself and watch as Phil gobbled up his sandwich.

 

 

            One day, things went from bad to worse. Hubert woke up as he normally did, ate his big bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, packed his lunch in a brown paper bag, grabbed his homework, and caught the yellow bus to school. When he climbed down the steps expecting to meet Phil, he saw no one. “Maybe he’s not at school today,” hoped Hubert. But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Hubert felt two hands on his shoulders yanking him back. “Hubey!” Phil snorted in Hubert’s face. “Gimme your homework and your lunch.” Hubert handed them over. Phil pointed to another fat boy beside him. “This is Will,” he said. “He is my cousin and he just transferred here from Oakside Elementary. Tomorrow you will have to bring two lunches: one for me and one for Will. You will also have to bring an extra copy of your homework, unless you want both of us to beat you up.”

 

 

            As usual, Hubert’s teachers yelled at him for “forgetting” to bring his homework and again he sat by himself at lunch. Hubert spent the rest of the day worrying. He couldn’t make two lunches every day; it would take up too much time. After school, Phil tripped him in the hallway and Will punched him in the shoulder so he was late for the bus and had to walk home instead.

           

            The city was a big and scary place for Hubert, but he knew that if he had been able to survive all of Phil’s bullying, he could make it home on his own. Hubert knew that first he had to go right, then left, then right again at the next corner. Giant men with briefcases shoved him this way and that, and creepy old people begged for his money, but Hubert slowly made his way through the city. Finally he got to a very busy corner that did not look at all familiar. Cars zoomed by and people yelled at him to move out of the way, but Hubert still could not remember which way his home was. The only thing he could think of to do was to ask someone inside a store. So he ran into the closest one.

            As soon as he managed to open the shiny glass door and stepped inside, a big man wearing a white shirt and white pants approached him. He had a thick black belt wrapped around his waist, and he held a scary stick in his hand.

 

 

            “Can I help you?” he asked. Hubert was terrified. He started to run back out into the street, but the man in white held him by his shoulder. “Hey, hold on a second. What’s your name, kid?”

            “H…H…Hubert.” He glanced up at the big stick.

            “Oh the stick,” the man in white replied. “It’s nothing. Let me put it away.” He tucked it in the back of his belt. “You know what, you look like you could use some karate lessons.” Hubert was astonished.

            “But I’m too small,” Hubert responded.

            “Size doesn’t matter. Actually, why don’t you start today? Come with me.” The man in white led Hubert over to a giant mat. He showed him how to punch and how to kick. He showed him how to escape from grabs and choke holds. Then he made him do twenty-three push-ups and sixteen sit-ups. All of this was difficult for Hubert at first, but after a while he began to get used to the hard work. When a few hours had passed, the man in white helped Hubert out of the door and told him how to return home. “Thank you,” Hubert said shyly. “I was actually wondering whether I could use my karate on this big bully at my school tomorrow?” The man in white seemed taken aback.

            “Absolutely not,” he retorted.

            “But why?” Hubert asked.

            “You must wait until you know when it is the right time,” the man in white said. “Now go home. It is getting late.” Hubert decided not to ask any more questions and with the man’s help he was able to weave his way back through the city to his tiny little house. It had been a long day and he was ready for a good night’s sleep.

            The next day, Hubert wanted badly to show off his new karate moves, but he remembered what the man in white had told him, and he did not want to disobey him. So instead he ate his big bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, packed his two lunches in brown paper bags, grabbed the two copies of homework, and caught the yellow bus to school. When he climbed down the steps, Phil pulled him aside by the collar. Will sneered at him right in his face. “Hi Hubey. What do you have for us today?” Hubert unwillingly opened his backpack and watched while Phil and Will stuck their huge grubby hands inside and snatched up his lunches and his homework. “Good,” Phil said. “You brought two of everything. This is how it better be for the rest of the year, unless you want to get beat up.” Phil laughed and Will snorted at him as they walked away.

            Hubert had to suffer through the cold remarks from his teachers and the sight of Phil and Will slopping up his lunch. Only one encouraging thought kept his hopes up: karate class. As soon as the bell rang, Hubert ran through the city until he arrived at the scary street corner and knocked and then entered through the shiny glass door.

            “There you are!” said the man in white excitedly. “I was expecting you. Here, I have something for you.” He brought out a small white shirt and similar white pants and helped Hubert put them on. Then he fastened a stiff white belt around his waist. Hubert looked into the mirror and admired his new look. But something was wrong.

 

 

            “Why is my belt a different color than yours?” he asked.

            The man in white looked down at him. “It is because you are a beginner. You must work hard and long to earn the belt that I have on. But I believe you can do it. Come on, let’s start practicing.”

 

            Hubert returned to karate class everyday, ready and eager to learn more. It was hard work, but slowly he made progress. He would suffer through school in the morning and in the afternoon he would practice karate. One day he received a yellow belt. Then a few weeks later he earned a purple belt. After that his belt was blue. Hubert learned how to do flying kicks and back flips, he learned how to block two people at once, and he learned how to duck and jump over other people’s attacks. He even began to work with the long stick that the man in white had been using on the first day.

 

 

            But even with all this skill, Hubert still had to put up with the taunts of Phil and Will, because every time he would ask the man in white if he could defend himself, the man would say would say, “You must wait until you know when it is the right time. Now go home. It is getting late.”

 

            Finally, the last day of school came. Hubert woke up as he usually did, ate his big bowl of cereal, packed his lunch in a brown paper bag, grabbed his homework, and caught the yellow bus to school. When he stepped off, he met Phil and Will at the gate. “Morning, loser,” Phil said. Will just snarled. Hubert opened his backpack and let Phil and Will reach inside. They groped around for a minute and then Phil withdrew his hand holding only one brown lunch bag. “Where is it?” he said angrily.

            “What?” Hubert replied.

            “The second lunch, dummy. Where is it?” he was getting angrier.

            “It’s not in there?” But as soon as Hubert said this he realized that he had left the other lunch sitting at home on the kitchen table. Phil’s face began to get red. Really red. Suddenly Will grabbed his hands from behind. “What are you doing? STOP!” Hubert cried. “It’s the last day of school, give me a break!” But Phil and Will were already too angry. Will pushed Hubert over to the side and smashed his head against the fence. It made a loud rattling noise, and all the kids turned around to look, but they knew that they couldn’t interfere. No one ever interfered with Phil and Will. Phil drew back his fist and socked Hubert in the stomach. Hubert bent over forwards onto the ground and began to drool.

            But then all of a sudden, something “clicked” in Hubert’s brain. He knew that the time was right. Everything around him seemed to slow down and he saw Phil’s chubby leg speeding through the air about to hit him. Hubert moved like lightning. He dodged aside from the kick and leapt up to his feet. He noticed Will’s chubby hand coming in from the side and blocked it with his own hand. Then he took a couple of steps away. “You little jerk!” yelled Phil. Together, the two bullies rushed at Hubert with all their might. But just as they were about to hit him, Hubert did a back flip up into the air and Phil and Will crashed into each other and fell over.

 

 

            All the children around him cheered with delight as Hubert took a nearby jump rope and used it to tie up their arms and legs. Then with his strength from all his push-ups, he picked up Phil in one hand and Will in the other and carried them across the playground and into his classroom. He set them down in front of his teacher and made Phil and Will tell the whole story, from beginning to end, about how they had been stealing his homework and eating his lunches.

 

           

 

    However, Hubert had one more thing left to do. He was worried that the man in white would be upset at him for using his karate. Hubert ran through the city and finally approached the shiny glass door and opened it. “I have something to tell you,” he said nervously to the man in white. The man listened to everything that had happened that day. When Hubert finished, the man in white walked into a back room and came out carrying a stick. Hubert knew that the man would be upset, but not this upset.

            “Get down,” the man said. So Hubert got down on one knee and lowered his head, expecting to be punished. But then, all of a sudden, the man in white began to untie Hubert’s belt.       

            “What are you doing?” Hubert asked. But he didn’t answer. Instead he withdrew a new belt and presented it to Hubert.

            “It is time for you to wear the green belt,” he said. “You have shown that you are ready by defending yourself in danger. Not only that, but you knew when it was the right time to use your skills.” Hubert was shocked but at the same time honored. He took the belt in his hands and slowly tied it around his waist.

 

  

        

            School was finally over so the next morning Hubert slept in. He did not wake up at 7:00 am, he did not eat his big bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, and he did not pack his lunch in a brown paper bag, or catch the yellow bus to school. He didn’t even have to worry about being bullied by Phil and Will at the gate. Hubert had overcome his obstacles. He could not wait until next year when he would be able to turn in his homework and eat his lunch every single day.