Chapter 4

The rest of the school year continued on as usual. Erica and I went out on Friday nights with Glenn and Valerie when we could get the parental units to drive us, and things were going great.

The last day of school came and as I was saw Erica’s face I knew something was wrong. She tried to hide it, but she’d been moody and depressed for a while.

“David, we need to talk.”

Oh man, is there any phrase that scares a man more than that one? If so, please don’t tell me.

“Uh, ok. When?”

“I guess now.” She looked up and with tears starting to fall from her eyes said,” I can’t see you anymore. We’re moving to Washington state next week for Dads’ new job.”

“Hang on, when did you find this out?” Damned right I was upset. This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. Her parents had to know about this a couple of weeks ago at least.

With a quivering lower lip, she said, “Dad told me last week when he got back from his trip. I didn’t want t to tell you because I didn’t want to break up with you, but now I have to. We’re leaving Monday morning.”

I just stood there. She’d known for almost two full weeks that she was leaving. She’d had time to deal with it. What did I get? Forty-eight hours. I was stunned. How could she do this to me? Had all the time we spent together meant nothing to her?

Then I looked at her, and all my anger and self-righteousness evaporated. Yeah, she’d known for two weeks. For two weeks she’d suffered, knowing that our time was ending. Do I wish she’d said something earlier? Of course, but then I realized that she didn’t want me to hurt as much as she was.

Man, is this girl amazing.

I wrapped her in my arms and just held her while she cried.

“It’s ok. I get it now. It hurt that you didn’t tell me sooner, but I realize that you just didn’t want me to hurt as well. You’re an amazing girl Erica. I’ll miss you, but life is full of things like this. You’ll be ok. I mean, we’re only fourteen.”

Once she calmed down and dried her eyes on my t-shirt, we started heading to the buses and I asked her if she’d told Valerie yet. “No,” she said,” We’re having a sleepover tonight and I’m going to tell her then.”

“Well, call me if you need to. I’ll still be here, and you can always call if you need to talk. Should I come over this weekend,” I asked. Honestly hoping that she would say no but knowing she might say yes.

“No, but can I see you Monday before we leave? Around ten?”

“Sure thing. You were my first girlfriend. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t send you off with a hug?”

That night, for the first time in almost three months, I was destined to stay home. I told my folks what happened and while they understood my disappointment they weren’t going to let me mope about it. “Say David, why don’t you go to the dojo and practice? Get yourself centered and focused. I bet it’ll do you some good,” said Dad.

Centered? Focused? Who was this man and how did he know about things like that? His mystery just keeps on growing.

“Is that something you learned at work Dad?”, I asked.

He gave mom a blank look and said, “Well, I thought it was part of your training? Aren’t they always talking about finding you inner light and focus or some such thing?”

Talk about avoiding the question. One day I WOULD find out what the old man did for a living.

While I was frustrated at his deflecting my question he did have a point, so I said I was headed there now.

At the Dojo, Sensei noticed that I wasn’t all there and pulled me aside. “David, you seem troubled. Care to talk?”

“Well Sensei, my girlfriend just told me today that she’s moving across the country on Monday. It caught me by surprise and I’m not really sure how I feel about it.”

“David, you’re still very young and haven’t learned everything life has to teach you yet. Sadly, you’re learning that life can throw you a twist when you aren’t expecting it. You’ll have lots of girlfriends over the years. Probably more than fifteen just in high school. Don’t let yourself get too serious. Have fun, make a few mistakes and learn from them. When I was your age, I had no clue about women. I didn’t even get my first girlfriend till I was seventeen and I had absolutely no clue what to do. Your folks would kill me for saying this but go out there and sow some oats young man. Women are amazing creatures. They can gut you like a fish with a look or make your heart beat so fast you’ll think it will explode. Learn how to treat women with respect but learn how to give them as much pleasure as they give you. You’ll be a better man for it and you’ll learn lessons that will serve you well your whole life.” That said, he walked away and left me to it.

When I finally got home that evening McKenna came in and said that Erica had called. Their plans had changed, and they had to leave tonight. By the time I got the message they had already left.

Since I had been at the dojo all evening I missed dinner. While I knew that mom had put something in the fridge for me I just wasn’t hungry. I stripped down and went to bed.

Life continued and a week later I was back to normal. The whole family went out to eat pizza that Friday and had fun playing games at Chucky Cheese.

I woke up the next morning and something didn’t feel right. Still groggy it took me a minute to realize that I wasn’t the only one in my bed. It seems that sometime overnight a passing thunderstorm had come by. I was too tired to notice but McKenna and Christina weren’t and had crawled into my bed when they got scared. This wasn’t unusual, since they had both been doing it for years, but this morning was a bad time for it. I had planned to get a shower last night before bed, so I’d stripped down and was naked when I laid on the bed for a minute. The only thing that had changed since then was that I had apparently pulled the covers up during the night. As a young man I suffered from the same thing all boys did at my age. I had a raging hard on. Since Christina was between me and the wall she was easy to get around, but McKenna was another story. While I wasn’t shy about my body this was my sister. No way did I want her to see me in this condition. Fortunately, I was able to slide down to the foot of the bed and slip out that way. I quickly grabbed a pair of boxer/briefs and, swearing that this would never happen again, ran across the hall to relieve myself. After grabbing a quick shower and a bite to eat I hopped on my bike and headed to the dojo.

About a block away from the house I was speeding down the small incline when out of nowhere, this young boy steps out into the road, right in front me. Oh shit!

I swerved to miss him and hit the curb doing a good fifteen to twenty miles an hour. Ever heard that phrase, “ass over elbows”? Well, now I know what it means. Thank god for my reflexes. Seeing I was going to hit and wipe out I waited till just before I hit the curb to launch myself off the bike. I tucked my shoulder in and prepared to do at least one forward flip. As I hit the ground with my left shoulder I pushed off with my hands and came up to land on both feet. Still off balance and tipping forward I put my hands out to catch myself before I went face first in the grass. What I wasn’t expecting was for someone to be right in front of me when I did that. I managed to stay on my feet, but then noticed where my hands were. Grass was NOT soft but firm, was NOT wearing a light blue tank top, and was not shaped like a small breast. Nor was it attached to a screaming green-eyed angel.

Finally focusing enough to realize just what I was grabbing I yanked my hands back and promptly fell on my butt. Needless to say, having a screaming girl near you brings a lot of attention. Just ask me, I’ll tell you straight. Within ten seconds of me hitting the ground two people came running out of the house who I can only assume are her parents. I saw this going bad really fast.

Thinking fast, I look up at the girl and say,” Oh my god! Thank you so much for saving me, I thought I was going to plant myself head first in the dirt!” I turn and look at the young boy and said,” hey, you ok? I’m glad I was able to turn and miss you. If I’d hit you in the middle of the street I’m not sure either of us would have lived.”

Now the attention was off me and all on the boy. His parents were both upset and scared and asking why he was in the street to begin with. Everyone had been moving boxes into the house though, so it was clear to see what happened. Youth, lack of supervision and boredom make a deadly mix sometimes. While bouncing his ball off the U-Haul it went it the street and like any young kid with the attention span of a gnat would do, he went after it.

While all this was going on I turned to look at the girl. Wow. At a glance I’d say she was just under five foot. and maybe eighty pounds with shoulder length dark brown hair and almond shaped brown eyes. She had an athletic butt with a slim waste, smooth, toned legs and a respectable chest. All this I noticed in a hairs breadth of time, so I walked up to her and, being smart did NOT raise my hand while saying, “Hi, I’m David Smith. I’m very sorry for touching you like I did. I hope I didn’t scare you too much.”

With her face framed by her hair like it was she kind of reminded me of that woman in that famous painting, especially when her lips curved up on one side in a clear-cut smirk. Then without missing a beat she said, “Well hello David. I’m Christa. Christa Rodriguez. I’m glad you’re ok, but you scared the crap out of me!” By this time, she had remembered just where my hands had been, and you could see the blush spreading across her face, forehead and chest.

Oh man am I in trouble. I had it bad for this girl and didn’t even know anything about her. Suddenly, I happened to remember why I was out and looked at my watch. Crap, I’m gonna be late if I don’t get a move on!

Taking a chance, I looked up and into her beautiful green eyes and said,” Fair lady, whilst thy beauty is captivating, and thine actions have saved this lowly person’s life I must away. I prostrate myself at your feet and beg forgiveness at what must needs be a speedy departure. Would that it were possible to return to yonder doorstep on the morrow and hear the beauty of thy voice once again?”

Wow, ok I admit it. I was hamming it up, but I saw what she was reading. While I wasn’t quoting Hamlet, I knew that I’d either get a raving smile or a disastrous frown from her. What I wasn’t counting on was her mother.

“Christa, if a young man can speak like that after almost killing himself to save your little brother you’d best grab him and hold on!”

Well I got mom on my side, no doubt about that.

Before her Dad could say anything, his wife gave him a look that allowed no room for discussion. He stood there quietly while Christa looked at her mom, then at me and said,” Good sir, I would be pleased to partake of a repast on the Morrow with you whilst we discuss matters of grave import. Shall we say before the sun sits highest in the sky?”

Ok, I might have bit off more than I could chew. She dished it right back at me, but like they say, faint heart never won fair lady so, “My lady honor’s me with the opportunity to bask in her beauty once again. I shall wait patiently, counting the seconds until we may meet again.”

At this point Dad just couldn’t take it anymore and with a chuckle said, “Alright Casanova, we’ve got to finish unloading this tonight before the other truck comes in the morning.”

“I understand completely sir. Perhaps I can help in the morning to unload, if you could use the help?”

He thought for a brief moment and said,” Sure. The truck should be here around ten. If you want, you can show up around then and help. We’re going out for lunch, so I’ll stuff you in a sack and drag you along behind the car with us, so we can feed you.”

“Daddy!”

Smiling I shook his hand and said I’d see him at ten. Since my bike was trashed I asked if I could leave it there till morning when I’d have Dad come pick it up and they agreed it was fine, so I had to high tail it to the Dojo.

It’s a good thing I run so much, or I’d have never made it. After changing and stretching I had no clue where to. This was a whole new experience for me. Fortunately, Sensei Nakamura was there and showed me where to start.

Today we were going to spend two hours on each of four subjects. Weapons, First-aid, Security protection and intelligence gathering. I had already read most of the first-aid book, so I was looking forward to that part maybe a little more than the rest.

Directing me to my chest Sensei said to grab all my shuriken and throwing knives and follow him over to the archery butts. I had no clue what he meant, but it was easy to grab my tools and follow him. Ah, so Archery Butts is what they call the targets you shoot arrows in. See, ya learn something every day.

On the table that was provided I laid out the various shuriken and knives. As Sensei began to tell me about each type and how to throw them he would demonstrate each one. We lined up at the end of the table and sensei showed me how to stand. “This is a basic standard stance for throwing just about anything. Since you’re right handed we’ll start with that side first. Place your left foot forward and to the left, like a standard fighting stance.”

As I followed along and did as he did he talked about weight and revolutions per foot. I was completely lost until he first threw the knife, then it made sense. If you wanted the knife to stick you had to be far enough away that when the knife hit the target the pointy end was aimed at the target. Half a step too close or too far away and the knife would strike flat along the front or back edge and not stick. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Each type of knife had a different weight and length and therefore also had a different optimal distance from which to throw. You also had to use different amounts of force based on the weight of the weapon you were throwing.

After demonstrating each of the various shuriken and knives it was my turn. I found that while I had a hard time throwing the lighter shuriken like spikes and darts, I had an affinity for knives, stars and hand axes. Man, I was going to have to get a target butt for the back yard. This was fun! After almost two hours we stopped and talked about the laws in our area regarding knives, darts and stars. It seems that while it was illegal to carry them while hidden, you could carry them where they could be seen by the public. Sensei then presented me with a belt, and a separate belt buckle. The belt was made of leather and had four-pointed, four-inch square shuriken all along the length. Both the belt and the shuriken were black. Each blade was long and narrow enough to penetrate the optical orbit, otherwise known as the eye socket and puncture the brain. Sensei said that I should always have this on me when I went out. Since the belt was considered a piece of clothing to be worn on the outside of pants, they met the legal requirements about not being concealed and as all the shuriken were made of the same Zirconium oxide ceramic material as the Wooden colored Tanto they would pass any metal detectors. In another case he presented me with a dozen ten-inch custom made throwing knives also made of the ceramic material. These knives came special sheathes that would allow me to carry them in a multitude of ways.

I gave a lot of thought to these weapons and considered their use.

After that we buckled down and I took what I later found out was the Red Cross Basic Lifesaving class. We covered minor injuries, but also things like broken bones, the recovery position, as well as CPR. At the end I was given a small card to place in my wallet. It stated that I had taken and passed the requirements to be a Basic Life Support, or BLS first-responder. I was told that as the summer progressed we would cover more and more first-aid and medical material until, after two years I would qualify as an EMT Advance Paramedic with authorizations for drastic life saving measures. How drastic, was my question. Guess we’ll find out.

We took almost an hour for lunch today and instead of eating at the dojo we went out to a small building about three blocks away. You’d never know this place even existed from the outside but inside was a traditional Japanese Teppenyaki restaurant. While we sat there watching our food being made we talked about what we could do in emergency situations. What if we were lost in the woods? What if we were at the park and were attacked, what could we use as a weapon? We also talked about being aware of our surroundings and noticing things, like seeing the same person or car multiple times an hour. Since we only had an hour we talked while we ate, but everything Sensei said made some serious sense. How many kidnappings, rapes and robberies could be avoided if the victim had been aware of their surroundings and of the people following them? Food for thought and the body were taken in.

Having noticed that I arrived without my bike Sensei asked me where it was, so I gave him the story, holding nothing back. I knew that he would not chastise me for touching Christa where I did since it was an accident, but he did ask questions about what I noticed when I touched her. Huh? Clearly my look gave away my curiosity. With a chuckle and a smile (again? Weird), he talked about how you could bump into someone and learn many things. Were they armed, left or right handed, what their body type was and, when light fingered enough you could relieve them of said weapons or wallets if needed. It was also an effective way of delivering injections of drugs, such as knock out drugs or poisons. Oh man, how many times have people bumped me in the past? Noting the shock on my face Sensei said,” David, I’m sure you have nothing to fear from any of these things right now, but as you get older, as your sisters, friends and girlfriends get older, you all need to be aware of what can happen. It only takes a second to slip something in a drink, or poke someone with a needle. Never assume that anything is an accident and you’ll never be caught off guard.”

Wow. I’m not sure if I was scared or just shocked at how unaware we are about other people’s actions, but this was a wakeup call for me.

Since we’d taken quite a bit of time talking about this and since we’d combined our last two topics for the day, Sensei cut me loose. He suggested that if I was free during the weekdays that I may want to alternate coming in in the mornings and afternoons, then allowed me to use the phone to call my Dad for a ride. After explaining what happened to my bike we hung up and I changed clothes, gathered my new-found tools and waited the twenty minutes it took for Dad to show up. He wanted to see how bad my bike was, so we headed over to Christa’s house.

After knocking on the door and waiting for a few minutes Mr. Rodriguez finally appeared and opened the door. With a huge grin on my face I introduced him to my father as I saw Christa coming up from behind him. She slipped under his arm and came outside wearing shorts and a crop top. Man, was it possible for her to not look beautiful? We spoke for a few minutes while the Dads got acquainted and I explained that Dad wanted to see my bike. She walked with me as I put the bike in the back of Dad’s SUV and I found out that she was also going into the ninth grade like I was. With our last names, Rodrigues and Smith, we’d probably be in the same home room. While we were talking I discovered that while I was taking French she was taking Spanish. I planned to take Spanish my Junior and Senior years, but she wasn’t sure if she’d take more than the two required years of languages. When I mentioned I’d already been learning Japanese, German and Russian for several years and didn’t think I would have too much trouble with French she looked at me funny. I told her, “We had German and Russian housekeepers that used to teach us their languages. When we all got old enough to clean up after ourselves they quit coming so much but we still see each of them at least once a week.”

“Ok, that explains the German and Russian, but Japanese?”

“Oh, well, I’ve been taking martial arts since I was four. Almost everything we say is in Japanese, so it was sink or swim. I can’t write in Japanese like I can in German and Russian though. There are hundreds of symbols between the Kanagawa and Kenji written forms.”

“Oh! Is that how you were able to fall so gracefully before you so daringly accosted my virtue,” she said with a gleam in her eye?

“Yep! And I must say that I’ve never had the opportunity to accost a more accostable virtue than the one I see before me Mon Sherie.” Man, I hope she takes that the way it was meant or I’m bug slime on her shoe.

So where were the Dads during all this you ask? Why, standing at the front door watching the whole thing! Yep, you got it. I wasn’t gonna hear the last of this one for a while either.

Knowing what was coming when I got home, I said it was probably time for me to go and collect the old man so we could get him home to his walker. He clearly heard my comment and just as clearly made sure I heard a comment about smart-ass kids.

Dinner was some of my favorite, Baby-back pork ribs! Oh man can I eat some ribs.

I had just taken a huge bite of potato salad when Dad looks up at mom and says,” So I met David’s new girlfriend today. We need to keep an eye on this one. He’s already pawing at her.”

Two things happened at that point.

One was the thought, ‘Oh shit, he didn’t just say that!’

The other was moms head turning on an instant swivel, glaring at me with her head aflame with fiery red hair and the Grim Reaper standing behind her shaking his head forlornly as she said,” WHAT!”

Oh man I’m dead! How could you Dad?

“David James Smith, explain yourself,’ she said brooking no humor in my response.

Mom NEVER used our full names. It was a sure sign that we were dead meat when she did. Finally, Dad decided to save me from the gallows,” Katherine, it wasn’t that bad. He wrecked his bike trying to not kill a young boy in the street and ended up with two handfuls of the chest of a new girl in the neighborhood. He ended up so shocked that when he let go of her he ended up on his butt.” He couldn’t stop himself at this point and was laughing so hard I swear I saw a vein burst.

What Dad thought was funny was clearly not what mom did. Instead of ripping me apart and feeding me to Chiron she turned her baleful glare at Dad. Uh oh. Too late Dad realized that maybe he shouldn’t have worded things like he did.

“Johnathon, are you aware that you almost caused your son to receive the first whipping he would have ever had? David is NOT one of your co-workers. He has been taught to respect both women and life. I think, instead of whipping our son I shall cut off your privileges!”

Oh God, she was going to cut something off of Dad? Had mom finally lost her marbles? Hang on a second. The last time she threatened to do that Christina was born ten months later. Oh Christ, she was talking about sex!

As the thought of my parents having sex rolled around in my mind I thought, ‘That’s something I can never un-imagine!’

Well, I’ll be honest. My sympathy for Dad’s plight wasn’t very high. After all he did nearly get me killed. While Dad sat quietly and ate crow I mentioned what Sensei had suggested about changing my schedule at the dojo. Since we had already scheduled some Gymnastics classes for twice a week I simply changed my classes, so I had gymnastics in the morning and went to the dojo in the afternoon.

Hoping that moms temper had cooled enough to save Dads life I mentioned to mom that I had promised Mr. Rodriguez that I would come over and help them unload the moving truck in the morning. After almost staring a whole through Dads head she finally looked at me and said, “That’s fine Dear. Make sure you invite them to dine with us sometime soon. I’d like to hear her perspective on the unfortunate incident.”

Gulp, “Yes ma’am.”

Thinking that a withdrawal at this point was the better part of valor, or at least common sense, I bid my family a good night and went up to my room for the rest of the evening...

Sunday proved to be a long day. After doing my forms, and exercising I prepared for my hour run when suddenly my shoestring broke on my running shoes. Ok, no biggy. I just won’t run today, and I’ll pick up some strings from the store this afternoon. I changed out of my running clothes and put on some comfortable jeans and a T-shirt. I grabbed my new belt and put on my everyday shoes and walked the block and a half down to Christa’s house showing up right at ten a.m. as promised.

Hmm. No truck in the driveway or on the road. Maybe they were just running behind. I knocked on the front door and when it opened got my Christa smile and, surprisingly, a hug.

“Well good morning to you pretty eyes! If I’m going to get that kind of greeting every time I visit your parents might have to lock you up to keep me away,” I said with an infectious smile.

“Well, better not get too used to it then. You only got this one because you already made it to second base.”

Oh man, as soon as she said that I couldn’t help but remember the way her breasts felt. This of course caused jr. to wake up and show himself. After doing my best to imitate a beet I figured oh well, too late now so, in true Smith fashion I opened my mouth and inserted foot.

“When I saw you I just couldn’t help myself. You’re lucky though. I skipped breakfast yesterday, so I almost ate you up instead.” As I finished saying this I went to reach out for her with a leering look on my face.

Yeah, that sounded so much better in my head, but it had the desired effect. Christa turned a brilliant shade of red, squeaked like a mouse and tore off into the kitchen to find her mother.

Her Dad showed up about that time. After shaking my hand and asking how I was he asked what I had said to make is no fear daughter run screaming.

While I wasn’t sure it was a wise idea to tell him, I figured I’d already jumped into the frying pan, might as well get it over with. “Well sir, after giving me a megawatt smile and a hug I threatened to come over at least three times a day if I would get that reception each time. She then said the only reason I got it was because I’d already skipped first base and stole second.” At this point I thought his eyes might pop out but as he was able to hold his coffee cup I continued. “So, I told her that I’d skipped breakfast yesterday, so she was lucky I didn’t eat her up instead.” At this point it was over. Coffee went flying all over, or more specifically all over me. Just as I thought he was going to explode he suddenly broke out in laughter. Loud, raucous laughter. The ladies came out of the kitchen and all it took was one look at me and everyone else broke down too. After what seemed an eternity everyone finally calmed down and. since my shirt caught twenty percent of the spray, Mr. Rodrigues offered me a new t-shirt to change into which I gladly accepted. No way was I going to wear a sticky shirt all day. As he came back down stairs while opening a new package of shirts I quickly stripped my t-shirt off and was ready for a clean one when suddenly, I heard two whistles. I was so used to changing shirts in front of my sisters that it never dawned on me that I was doing something wrong. I wasn’t but you know what I mean. As I turned around I damned near knocked Christa over as she was so close to me.

“Wow David, you look amazing! You look like a young Greek God!” Christa exclaimed.

“I’m not sure I’d go that far honey, but your young man definitely puts in the hours working out,” said her mom. The look in her eyes told me two things. One, the other whistle clearly came from her and two, Mr. Rodriguez just may get to take some of those privileges mom was talking about last night.

“David, I see you’ve been working out a bit. Planning on sports in high school,” Mr. Rodriguez asked?

“Yes sir, my friend Glenn and I are both hoping to make the football team,” I said.

While all this was going on Christa had apparently decided that the hunter was now the hunted, because she suddenly placed her hand on my chest and ran it down over my eight-pack stomach.

“Well, I’m sure that you’ll make the team with as much effort as you’ve put in. Keep it up and we’ll have to look for you on the field on Friday nights if my daughter’s reaction means anything,” he said with a huge smile on his face. As soon as she realized what she was doing she yanked her hand back, blushing furiously and made an excuse to disappear upstairs so I took the opportunity to quickly slip the t-shirt on.

As Christa ran upstairs I think her mother realized that her daughter needed her and said she’d be right back. As luck would have it that’s right when a loud horn was blown outside. The moving truck had arrived. I quickly realized that while my offer of help was accepted it was only necessary in the widest sense of the word. The movers quickly and efficiently had the truck emptied and boxes taken inside the house to the rooms annotated on the boxes. Mr. Rodriguez and I were simply the hired muscle for inside, moving boxes where the women folk wanted them and taking out the empties. We completely missed lunch since we were so busy we forgot about it when Mrs. Rodriguez asked if we were ready to eat she got a resounding yes. We’d been working for almost eight hours straight! Since I had no clean clothes here, obviously I was about to decline when Christa took one look at my shirt and said, “mom, we need to take David by his house first, so he can rinse off and put some clean clothes on.”