I can't remember if I posted about him before, but there was a kid a few grades behind me in school named Ray. Ray was a fat kid, who always wore the same thing every day, and never, ever bathed.
He wore black basketball shorts with a silver stripe and one of those sleeveless shirts with the sides torn all the way down redneck style.
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I think every shirt he owned must have been like that.
A distinctive feature was the fact he seemed coated in a layer of filth from never washing, and his knees and elbows had large dark areas around them the size of CDs for some reason.
But the worst was that he had probably the foulest stank I've ever smelled. I'd never experienced anything like it before or since. It was especially heinous because you wouldn't notice right away. It was like some delayed effect. It hung in the air and only hit once you had a nice lungful. He could walk past you in the hall and you might not even know until a few seconds later when suddenly you're gagging and your lungs are on fire and you could taste it in your mouth. Disgusting.
One day at lunch he was walking by my table and decided to start dancing around like an idiot to show off for his friends and tripped and fell on me. I shoved him off, but he was 200+ pounds of lard and I was trying not to choke on his smell of rotten meat or whatever.
I yelled something like "HOLY SHIT DUDE TAKE A FUCKING BATH JESUS CHRIST!" As I pushed him and got called to the principal's office for it. I figured it was because a 14-year-old probably shouldn't be swearing during lunch and I'd just have to promise not to do it again. Understandable.
Instead I got a nice stern lecture on why I should never tell the stinky kid to take a bath.
"Because he'll go home and kill himself." The principal and counselor were in complete agreement. Ray committing suicide would be a completely rational reaction to being told to bathe, and I'd have to live with the guilt forever.
I remember going home and telling my mom about my day and the whole thing with Ray and how he needs to wash himself, and she just looked me straight in the eye and said
"He'll probably kill himself now because of you." As if that was just the most natural thing ever.
I remember that as just the most bizarre thing I'd ever heard, but now people just seem to accept that kids should be expected to neck themselves over the slightest hurt feelings or someone not validating their genderspecialness or whatever and I guess the principal and my mom were just ahead of the curve on that one...
Needless to say, Ray didn't do a flip, but he also didn't take a bath. I was telling his story to a friend the other day and looked him up. He's still as filthy as ever.
Yes he dyed his neckbeard too, and I'd bet money that shirt is torn all the way down both sides:
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He got a tattoo on his upper arm, and you can see where they had to literally SCRAPE the dirt off him to do it;
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I need a shower now.