Chapter 84

"Oh, Shit!" Jack said. "Did you call Silverwood?"

We were on the way home from the grocery store.

"Yeah, I talked to Claude. They all left early today. He said we didn't miss anything."

"That's good. I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it till just now."

"That's OK. They're my customer so it's my responsibility, not yours."

We got home and Bozo must have smelled the chicken because he followed us into the kitchen, his nose in the air. He was quite disappointed when I put it in the oven to keep it warm.

Posie and Laurie greeted each other as if it had been weeks instead of just over an hour. Jack and I paid some attention to both dogs so that neither would feel slighted.

"Ready to make cranberry sauce?"

"Yes."

"Good. Put Posie down and let's wash your hands."

I put her chair near the sink and soaped up my hands, then did hers. Once she had washed the soap off, I turned off the water. "Stay up here. You're going to wash the cranberries off."

I got my colander and put it in the sink, then got the new bag of cranberries and cut off the end of the bag. I put the bag in the colander.

"Now, lift it up and let them come out. Careful so you don't damage them. Atta girl."

I went to the refrigerator and got the bag I'd already bought. I cut the end off and gave it to her.

"Do the same thing with these."

She went to lay the bag on top of the loose berries. "Like this?"

"Yup."

She lifted the new bag cautiously, letting the berries come out on top of the others.

"Good. Now you're going to wash them." I turned on the cold water and pulled out the sprayer. "Hold this part down and aim it at them. Use your other hand like a shovel and dig up the ones on the bottom. Wash them all really good. Can you do that?"

"Uh huh."

While she was doing that, I got a saucepan and put it on the stove. Then I got some measuring cups, the orange juice and the brown sugar and put them all on the counter next to the stove.

Jack came into the kitchen. "Anything I can do?"

"How do you feel about grating some orange peel?"

"Fine. Just tell me what you want."

I got him set up with the oranges, a knife and a grater and swung Laurie's chair around so it was in front of the stove.

"First thing we need is four of these filled with orange juice. Let me do the first one to show you."

I put the cup on the counter, then lifted the orange juice carton with both hands. When it was just about full, I put the carton down, picked up the cup and emptied it in the saucepan.

Now that the juice was a little lighter, I let her try.

"Too heavy."

"All right. Let me pour it for you."

I filled the cup, then let her put it in the saucepan. I turned the gas on medium.

"How you doing over there, Jack?"

"I'm fine. What are we going to do with this orange?"

"We can eat it. If nobody wants it,..."

"I do," Laurie interrupted me.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that," he said. He came over with a chunk of orange in his fingers and held it up for Laurie. She opened her mouth and he popped it in.

We got all four cups of orange juice in the pan and I got out one of my spoons. "Any time you heat up something like this, you should stir it once in a while so it doesn't burn. You have to watch that you don't touch the pan or you can get burned, too. Go ahead and stir it ... Slower. We're not mixing anything yet. Good Girl."

I got a bowl and emptied the brown sugar into it. Then I got a box of toothpicks out of the cupboard. I picked up the half cup measure.

"We need six of these filled with the brown sugar. Can you count to six?"

She counted from one to six without hesitating.

"Atta girl. Here's what we need."

I got the half cup and scooped up some sugar, then packed it in until it was full. I scraped off some that was above the rim. I put it down on top of the sugar in the bowl.

"OK. How many is that?"

"One."

"Good. So I put one toothpick down." I got a toothpick out of the box and put it down near the bowl where we could both see it.

"Now we put it in with the orange juice." I held the cup upside down and dug my finger into the sugar until it fell out. I looked and dug a little more of it until it was empty. The cup went back into the sugar bowl.

"OK. Now we need to mix it in with the orange juice. Go ahead and stir it. OK." I held her hand and turned the spoon around, then guided her so she broke up some of the sugar with the side of the spoon. "Good. Go ahead and stir some more."

She stirred for a bit. "Is it mixed in?"

"Yes."

"Good. You can put the spoon down. I'm going to lower the gas a little. Ready for another piece of orange?"

"Uh huh."

"Orange Man. Can we have another piece of orange for my hardworking helper over here?"

Jack came over and popped another piece in her mouth.

You know, it took twice as long to make it as it would have if I'd done it myself but we had fun. I had to lower the heat several times to keep the mixture from burning. Each time she filled the cup with sugar, I had her add another toothpick to the pile. She counted them before starting the next cup.

Once we had the sugar mixed in with the juice, Laurie scooped the cranberries into the mixture and let it simmer. As soon as the berries started to pop, I took the saucepan off the flame and let Jack and Laurie sprinkle grated orange rind over the mix. I have a couple of Pyrex pie plates that I put on the counter. Jack and Laurie divided the mixture between them and they went into the refrigerator overnight.

I got a microwave safe two quart dish and put some frozen vegetables inside, added a little water, then put the microwave on 6 for five minutes. When it dinged, I stirred it up and scooped some nacho cheese sauce on top of it, then zapped it for another three minutes. Jack and Laurie set the table and I made coffee while it was cooking. The chicken was just right; the meat fell off the bone. Laurie seemed to do fine with the veggies, even though there were all kinds of things kids usually hate: cauliflower, broccoli, peppers and some others. I guess the cheese made the difference.

After we were done, Jack cut up what little chicken was left and I gave the dogs the bowl the vegetables had been in. There was about a teaspoon of cheese spread around the whole bowl and they had a good time getting it. Somehow, both dogs managed to get their snouts and a good portion of their heads in a two quart bowl. Once Jack was finished cutting up the chicken, I took the dish away and Laurie sat down in front of them with a plate of chicken pieces on the floor in front of her. All they had to do was lower their heads and they could have eaten it all without anyone being able to stop them. But they waited patiently as Laurie picked pieces up off the plate and fed them.

By the time the dogs had gone outside, everyone was washed and the kitchen was cleaned up, it was time to leave.

I pointed out the apartment building where Annette lived to Laurie as we drove past it. She wanted to stop but was OK when I told her we had to work and couldn't do it today.

When we got to the mall, Jack stopped us at the bench he and Daddy usually sat on while we were in class.

"Laurie, I need you to do me a favor. I want you to go over to the window over there and look inside so you can see what they're doing."

"OK."

She went over to the window. I didn't realize she'd brought her Raggedy Ann until I saw it dragging on the floor as she leaned into the display window, her free hand up against the glass so she could see inside.

"Perfect," I heard Jack say under his breath as he took several shots.

"There's your home page. 'A look inside our Karate Studio' or something like that."

"I love it!" I said, kissing him. Laurie came up and I said, "And you! You did an excellent job!" picking her up and swinging her around.

"Stop it! I'll get dizzy."

I gave her a big smooch on the cheek, then put her down.

We opened the door and Sensei looked over at us. Jack held up his camera and he nodded his head and smiled. Jack walked quietly around the room, taking random pictures of the students. Or at least as random as any pictures he takes. I swear, that man can see things through his camera that we mere mortals can't even imagine, much less see.

There were eight student, four groups of two. Mary and Charlie were paired up and she was going through one of our basic routines as he tried to follow. Every time he messed up she'd stop and go back to a point before that. Once she went over a particular kick several times, breaking it down and doing it in slow motion, then having him do it.

The other three couples were much more advanced. All three were simulating combat. I could see the degree of difficulty increase the farther away from the door each group was. The most advanced couple was a guy and a girl. The rest were all males.

Sensei told Mary and Charlie he wanted to talk to them, then dismissed the rest of the class.

"Charlie, you are doing well for your first time but I noticed you are making a lot of mistakes. As if you have to see what Mary is doing and then try to follow and catch up."

"I've never been good at memorizing."

"You don't need to memorize. You just do it, over and over and over until your body has it memorized. Until it is a part of you. Jill. Show him, please."

I let go of Laurie's hand and bowed, staying down until Sensei bowed back to me.

"Double time, please."

This was something new to me. I closed my eyes and centered myself, picturing my old class doing the routine at normal speed, then envisioning what double speed would be like. I opened my eyes and went into the routine. What he had told Charlie was true; my body did know the routine. Doing it twice as fast as I was used to felt right, exhilarating even. Suddenly Sensei was there in front of me, doing a counter routine. He would reach for me, as if to hit me, a split second before my next move would knock his arm to the side. He'd kick where I had been just before I moved out of the way. It was like a choreographed fight and what had seemed like random movements before, now had meaning. I finished and Sensei bowed to me, holding it until I returned the bow. We straightened up and Charlie started clapping and was soon joined by the rest of them.

Sensei stood next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "See, Charlie, there is a purpose for every one of these movements. First you have to train the movements into your body and then you can make use of them. Practice. Practice. Practice. You have a whole week to do it. I will see both of you next Wednesday." He bowed and they both bowed back to him.

He closed the door after them and locked it. He grabbed a rod and pulled it to the right, spreading the vertical blinds for the door. He twisted the rod and they twisted shut.

"Jill? Do you mind?" He pointed over to the far corner of the picture window. I saw a similar clump of blinds so I took the pole and closed the blinds for the picture window.

"Now we can talk. Please come into my office." He led us through a door on the side of the exercise floor. We entered an office that was probably ten feet square. There was a door at the back which I assumed led to a similar room, judging from the size of the exercise room.

The office was sparse. A used desk, sturdy but probably older than me, a big chair behind it, a couple of visitor chairs in front. There were some file cabinets along one wall with five or six trophies on them. I noticed an old CRT monitor and a single line cordless phone on the desk. There was a metal cup filled with pens and pencils, a stapler and some paper clips.

"OK. Class is over. Sensei's gone and Paul's here. Have a seat, Guys."

We sat down, Laurie on my lap, holding Raggedy Ann. "I know we talked a little bit last Saturday, but I'm not sure why we're here. Exactly what do you want the web page to do?"

"Bring me customers. Here's the story. I started my own dojo twenty one years ago, shortly after I got married. Over the years I built it up and became very successful. We always placed in tournaments and had a read good reputation. I had four instructors working for me and was looking at opening a second dojo when my wife told me she was in love with someone else and wanted a divorce. To make a long story short, she'd been cheating on me for years and ended up marrying the guy. Before that happened, I had to sell my place and she took half. I signed a contract when I sold out that forbids me from using the name of my old place and from taking any students.