Girls Bullying

Chapter 30
J.P. took a few minutes to bask in his delight of the scene before he said, "We're shooting the conversation about bullying next. The deck is set up already. Calvin," he called and exited the screen door.
"Scene 7- Take 1-
The Rabbi and Lucy are sitting on rattan chairs with coffee cups in hand. Ethel is poised on the edge of her seat, ready to converse but also ready to serve more coffee.
Lucy really wants this conversation to go well for both Ethel and Rabbi Thomas so they will want to repeat it.
Rabbi Thomas sees a book that is spread open on the bench in front of him and he says, "Is this your book Ethel?"
Ethel turns her head swiftly to zero in on what the Rabbi is looking at. She breathes a sigh of relief when she realizes that the book on the wooden bench is not one of her romance novels.
"Oh, yes, I picked it up the other day. Lucy has really been influencing me to think in new ways so I thought I'd surprise her by reading something 'Christian.'"
"May I?" The Rabbi asked for permission to scan the book.
"Oh yes, please go ahead," Lucy seemed pleased that he would want to know what she was reading.
"Tell me what it's about," Rabbi Thomas encouraged. "'No More Christian Nice Girl' is certainly a catchy title."
Ethel blushed. "Well, I've never felt very comfortable around church people so when I found this book at the grocery store, I thought I'd like to read what I already feel about myself."
The Rabbi thought the title may have been a sagely divined choice. "Have you read anything by Paul Coughlin or J. Degler before?"
"Oh no, I didn't even look at the authors. It was the title that caught my attention," Ethel stated bluntly. "The book is about bullying. There was also one for 'boys.'"
"What have you learned so far?" The Rabbi was very interested.
"The definitions of 'nice' and 'good' are a fresh take and new thinking for me," Ethel stated. "One of my sisters once told me that the reason I always get in so much trouble is because I'm confrontational. I was really insulted because she spoke the words like they were poison."
Ethel was barely seated on her chair now. She was so excited. "In this book, I learned that this Jesus that Lucy always talks about was VERY confrontational. He called people on their crap all the time." Suddenly Ethel sat back, embarrassed that she'd let an expletive slip out. Her chin came up and with face red, she looked at the Rabbi, blinking rapidly.
The Rabbi gave a robust chuckle, "Yes, He sure did call people on their crap, didn't he?"
Lucy relaxed her tense shoulders. "The most interesting thing about the book, so far, is that females are just as big bullies as males. They just do it differently."
Rabbi Thomas leaned forward with great interest. Lucy was doing some serious internal praying.
"How do women do it?" The Rabbi asked with true interest.
"Women cherish relationships so when they bully, they cut other women out of the loop. They don't invite them to things and they won't communicate with them. It's their," Ethel paused, "our, I guess, way of bullying and showing contempt and disrespect."