you-'
'Fine,' she said, rolling her eyes.
'I take it you are the police asset?' he said, eyeing me as he escorted me through the turnstiles and down to the elevator. 'And Darren is more than a witness?'
'He was the savior of my ass, is what he was,' I admitted.
'The guy is a machine,' he said, walking me up to room 211, a large classroom with double doors, beyond which I could hear rhythmic shouting. 'I sneak down here to watch his Taido class sometimes-'
He opened the doors to a floor covered in blue mat. In its center was a ring of students in white uniforms, all in a low, wide stance that was practically a squat, punching in unison. Two had black belts and blue jackets- including Darren, who was counting in what sounded like Japanese.
'EEEtch-nee-saan-shee-gOH-rok-sheech-hatch-kyooo-yooo/' he shouted, finishing up with a punch that just seemed to pop from his waist. The whole class stood frozen in that final punch; then Darren's head cocked slightly to the side, as if he saw me. Then he said, 'Come back,' and the students popped out to a standing ready stance. 'Toe-et-tay,' he instructed. 'Stretch out.'
As the class stretched, Darren walked over quickly without running, smiling without grinning. 'Dakota Frost,' he said. 'This is a surprise. Come to check out the class?'
'I have a few questions,' I said with a grin. I was surprised how young he looked in his uniform; I hadn't realized a college karate teacher could also be a college student. 'I thought this might be a good place to start.'
'Sure thing. But I can't let you on the mat,' he said, spreading his hands apologetically. 'You have to sign a waiver, and Wendy at the front desk would bust my balls if I didn't have one for you. Even then, with you still healing up, I wouldn't let you on the court.'
'Aw, come on,' I said, miming Savannah. 'Surely you could show me a few punches-'
'Rary, Clarence, over here,' Darren said, without even looking. Two of the brown belts quit stretching-the woman rolling out of a full split-and came over to join us. 'Side stance for punching. Clarence, keep the fist set, but put your feet together, toe-et-tay style.'
Rary spread her dainty feet shoulder width, right fist out; Clarence put his huge feet together, looking at Darren quizzically before his head snapped forward to attention. After surveying them a moment, Darren said. 'Double punch-go!'
Both popped out their left fists with a kind of twist, then shot the right one out while the left snapped back. Their karate gis made little whizzing motions when they moved. Darren had them do it a few more times, but I could already see where this was going-Rary was solid as a rock, but with his feet together Clarence was wavering, trying to keep his balance.
'Again-go!' Darren said, slipping his hand into a red padded mitt and stepping straight into Rary's punches. He caught her punches and pushed back hard, but she stood her ground, shoving him back with each blow. 'Again- go!' he repeated, stepping in front of Clarence-and this time it was Clarence that was shoved back when Darren caught his punch.
'Good, good,' Darren said, walking past Clarence to the end of their short little line. 'Come back to the same stance.' But as soon as Clarence did so, Darren pushed him, hard, and he nearly fell over. He then stepped up quickly to Rary and pushed, and while she got shoved around a bit, she never lost her balance, her legs bouncing around on the mat under her.
'You can't throw a good punch without having a conversation with gravity,' Darren said, 'and your legs do the talking. If your injured leg was just naturally weak, I'd invite you out here on the mat, help you figure out how your particular body could talk to the ground with the right accent. But since you're healing, all I'd be doing is helping you tear that leg up.'
My student escort waved and left us, and I sagged into my crutches. 'I know that… it's just… one of my best buddies got murdered last night,' I said, trying to piece together all the things running through my head. 'And a client took a bullet for me-'
Darren's eyes bugged. 'Just since I saw you?'
I nodded. 'It's been a busy week, and I'm feeling more than a little vulnerable.'
'Sorry to hear all that, but it's even more reason to take it easy, sit back and watch, and see if this is right for you,' Darren said. The other blue-jacketed black belt stepped up behind him, and Darren nodded to him. 'I'll be there in a second. We've got a lot on our plate tonight-but stick around, maybe we can help you out during family fun time. All right! Brown belts and higher: over there; everyone else: with me-'
After that it was like watching out-takes of a karate movie. The white belts lined up and did standing punches and kicks; the greens and purples did spinning punches and kicks; the browns and higher did weird, funky kicks that seemed to involve throwing one's head at the ground while simultaneously kicking an opponent in the face. My knee throbbed just looking at them, but they still did it.
That's around the time I realized I wasn't ready for any of this.
Sure, my dad had taught me some self-defense moves, and I took two years of tae kwon do in college. But I was woefully out of shape. I hadn't been to a gym in years, hadn't been running in months. And I certainly couldn't perform any of the basic self- defense moves now, much less stretch my leg so far I could scratch my own damn ear from the topside.
The younger instructor came to join me. 'So, are you really joining the class?'
'I'm not going to let this stop me,' I said, pointing at my knee, 'but… looking at you guys in action, my knee sure is going to try to hold me back from getting started.'
'You do need to be healthy to get the most out of this,' he said. He hesitated, then continued: 'And I don't mean just the knee. You've been banged up, and it will leave you with a victim imprint. You may not feel it right this minute, but a serious assault will leave you with a lot of issues. You should do more than just learn some kicks.'
'What? Like get my head examined? Find a victims' counselor to help me work through the issues?' I cracked. He smiled faintly, and I sighed and said: 'All right. I get it. You guys are big on mind, body, spirit being one, or whatever. I'll… consider it, OK?'
He held up his hands. 'All right, no pressure,' he said, then rejoined the class.
Then my phone buzzed, a text message from Jinx: «elegant, this watch»
With some difficulty, I thumbed back: «But will it work?»
Jinx texted back, seemingly instantly, all in lowercase: «like a charm»
«What about Wulfs tattoo?» I responded. If I ever did get back in touch with him, I wanted to be able to say we could go ahead and get started.
«marquis still sitting on it» was the quick response.
«Keep on him. The full moon is Saturday,» I replied. For once Jinx didn't reply; I hesitated, then asked: «Should I take Valentine's challenge?»
Another instant lowercase ping: «o, dakota»
I sighed. Oh, Jinx! I messaged back: «Translate, O cryptic one.»
Jinx: «elegant ink + $1M reward? srsly! take'im on»
I grinned. Then I looked at my hand. There were two ugly scabbed lines on the undersides of my first two fingers and healing scrapes all over, but it functioned. I would be able to ink just fine. For all Transomnia had done to me-even knocking out two of my back teeth- he'd still obeyed the rules. I was alive, unspoiled-with two good hands.
It was time to get back to work.
Soon, the class finished with an informal bow and Darren came back to check on me. 'So… did we sell you on maybe trying this out, starting Spring Semester?'
'Oh yeah,' I said. 'But you know, while I've been watching, I've been thinking. Long term-I never want to feel helpless again, so I'm going to have to make changes in my life. I can't waste time waiting.'
Darren sighed. 'You aren't listening. You aren't ready to start practicing-'
'Who said anything about practicing?' I said, dialing a number on my cell phone. 'I need to start working. Alex? This is Dakota. Jinx gave me clearance-I'm ready to do your watch tattoo. How soon do you think the old man will be up for it?'
