Chapter 1

Moving very gingerly, Cynthia walked into class. One of the women looked at her and snickered. Another woman said, “It looks like Sid had his way with you. I haven’t walked around like that, since I lost my virginity to a guy with a cock the size of a baseball bat.”

Cynthia glared at the woman who had been talking, but didn’t bother to give an answer. There had been a lot of catty little comments since she had started dating Sid. She was too focused on reaching her chair to respond. Her entire body hurt.

Another woman said, “It looks like Sid did a number on her.”

Sid cleared his throat and said, “Manners would normally dictate that I not respond to comments like that. However, I will make an exception in this case. Cynthia was thrown off a horse yesterday afternoon.”

“Comparing yourself to a horse, now are we?” the woman asked prompting a titter of laughter. She was wearing a tube top that showed too much skin and displayed her assets in a too obvious fashion.

“No. I’m just stating a fact. She fell off a horse,” Sid answered in a cold voice.

She snorted and said, “So you like to be on the bottom.”

Sid looked at the woman and leaned forward a touch. In a voice low enough that she was the only one who could hear it, he said, “Your words speak ill of you, rather than Cynthia or me. Talk like that makes you sound like the whore that your appearance only suggests.”

“How dare you?” the woman screamed.

“I dare with great ease. I only commented on the appearance that your actions, dress, and words give you. Rather than hold you up for ridicule, I did so in manner that no one else could hear,” Sid answered moving over to his seat.

Professor Smith entered the class room and all discussion slowly came to a halt. She stood at the front of the class and said, “The assignment for today was to read Don Quixote. I’d like to know what everyone thought of that book in terms of being a commentary on heroism.”

One of the guys in class said, “Don Quixote had bats in his belfry.”

“He was a loon,” another guy said.

One of the women said, “I’d say that whole bit about being a knight in shining armor is crazy.”

Professor Smith turned to Sid and asked, “What did you think, Mr. Jones?”

Sid was silent for a moment as he considered his answer. Every eye in the room turned to watch him. Finally, he said, “The character, Don Quixote, was insane. It’s easy to laugh at him. After all, he tilts at windmills thinking they are giants. He takes offense where none has been given.

“The fact is, that Cervantes depicted him as a heroic figure for the purpose of mocking chivalry and heroism. Cervantes meant to imply that the codes of honor and the heroic deeds depicted within Grail literature never existed in reality. He’s saying that the attempt to live by the codes of chivalry is crazy. I might be wrong, but that was how I read it.

“Despite any loss of mental abilities, Don Quixote maintained that code of honor. He was a hero. The dangers he faced might not have been real, but he faced them bravely. He charged the windmills thinking they were giants. There’s something heroic about that. How many people would charge into danger like that? Few people would, and that is what makes him a hero.

“Cervantes did a great disservice to chivalry. The codes are an ideal. There is nothing crazy about trying to live a life of honor. It may be great literature, but Cervantes was wrong in equating insanity with a desire to be a better person.”

“Interesting,” Professor Smith said nodding her head. She looked around and said, “Does anyone want to comment on the story?”

Cynthia raised her hand. When she was called upon, she said, “I feel that there is a loss when he finally returns to sanity and gives up chivalry. The world suddenly becomes a duller place. Rather than giants walking the land, we end up with windmills. Rather than magic at play, we find deception at work. In a way, I prefer the world of Don Quixote, rather than the world of Alonso Quixano.”

“Would you like to live in that world?” Professor Smith asked with a smile.

“Maybe not, but it might be an interesting place to visit,” Cynthia answered. She had already learned that thinking about going on adventure with Sid was one thing, but preparing for it was another matter all together. The fall from the horse the previous day had convinced her that it wasn’t going to be a typical walk through the park. She wondered how she’d cope with the real thing.

The next Saturday evening, Cynthia walked into the house with Sid and collapsed on the couch. She was wearing blue jeans, a thick shirt, and hiking boots. Exhausted, she said, “I don’t think I can move another inch. This has been harder than I thought it would be.”

“I told you that it would be difficult. I’ve been training my entire life for this,” Sid said.

While removing her hiking boots, Cynthia said, “I read The Lord of the Rings with those little Hobbits traveling all over the place. When I read about them hiking here and there, it really didn’t mean much to me.”

“Wait until you have to eat trail rations. Even better, wait until it rains for three days straight and everything you have is wet. You can’t start a fire because every scrap of wood is soaked. The least little wind blows through you; chilling you to the bone. Wet nights spent huddled under a tarp leave you tired,” Sid said watching the expression on her face.

“I’ll survive,” Cynthia said gamely. She wasn’t going to let Sid talk her out of going with him on his next adventure.

Seeing how tired she was after a simple eight hour hike through open country, Sid had his doubts that Cynthia would be up to the rigors of Chaos. Concerned, he asked, “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

“Yes,” Cynthia answered. She wanted to find out what this Sally Caretaker woman looked like more than anything. There was no way that she was going to let Sid go off to see that other woman without her being there.

“We go next weekend,” Sid said. He didn’t feel that she was ready. It didn’t matter that he had her exercising in the morning; training with a staff every night; and hiking during their free time. She wasn’t ready for Chaos; she didn’t have the mindset necessary to survive there.

“I know,” Cynthia said thinking that she couldn’t have walked to the closet at this moment if her life depended upon it. All she wanted to do was sleep.

“I’ll fix us something to eat. After dinner, we’ll practice with the staff,” Sid said.

Cynthia groaned at the thought of trying to use the staff. She wondered if she could even lift it considering how tired she was.

Instead of complaining, she said, “Okay.”

Sid looked at her with a frown. It would be better if she admitted when it was too much for her rather than allow herself to get injured. He would wait until after dinner to see if she was in shape to practice.

He said, “I’ll get started on dinner now.”

He headed into the kitchen to prepare a meal that would replace the calories burned during the day. There were two steaks waiting in the refrigerator. They’d provide protein which would help her build a little muscle mass.

After wrapping two potatoes in foil, he threw them in the oven to bake knowing that they would take forty-five minutes to cook. He looked out of the kitchen door into the living room. Open mouthed, Cynthia was sprawled out on the couch asleep. He grinned at the sight, and went back into the kitchen rather than wake her.

He rummaged through his pantry for other things to serve with the steak. All that he was able to come up with was a can of baked beans. With all of the time spent training Cynthia, he had let his shopping slide. He set the can aside and went into the refrigerator. There was half a head of lettuce and he decided that he’d add a salad to the dinner as well. She was going to be hungry when she woke.

Five minutes before the steaks, baked potatoes, and beans were finished, Sid stuck his head out of the kitchen. He called out, “Dinner is ready.”

Cynthia groaned and rolled over wanting to get some more sleep. She didn’t even bother to voice her complaint. Sid said, “Wake up. Dinner is ready.”

Cynthia opened her eyes and stared at him. She found it hard to believe that he was still so energetic. It wasn’t fair! He’d been was doing the same things that she was doing, but it didn’t seem to affect him. The more she thought about it, she realized that he did more than she had. She slowly climbed up from the couch and moved towards the bathroom.

She said, “I’ve got to wash up before dinner.”

“You might want to hurry,” Sid said with a grin. He went back into the kitchen to finish the meal figuring that it would hit the table about the same time she finished washing.

Five minutes later, Cynthia entered the dining room and looked at the meal. She had eaten more beef since starting the training program with Sid than she had eaten over the previous year. It didn’t matter. She was hungry. She said, “It looks good.”

“I hope you like it,” Sid said.

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” Cynthia said thinking that she could have eaten a bigger steak.

Grinning, Sid gestured to the steak and said, “Be my guest.”

She looked at the steak in horror and asked, “Are you serious?”

“I’m joking,” Sid said. He cut into his steak and tasted it. He was half tempted to neigh, but knew that she wouldn’t appreciate it.

Cynthia cut off a bite of steak and ate it. Moaning, she said, “This tastes so good.”

“Tomorrow is Sunday. I thought we’d work out a little in the morning, go horseback riding for a couple of hours, and then rest up in the evening.”

“Shh, don’t ruin the meal,” Cynthia said piling a ton of butter in her baked potato. For the first time in her life she wasn’t worried about calories.

Monday morning, Cynthia walked into class. She was sore, tired, and feeling irritable even though the previous evening had been spent relaxing. The woman who had been harassing her the previous week asked, “Another rough night with Sid?”

Cynthia replied, “You have no idea how cheap you look and act. If you had a clue, you’d be ashamed of yourself.”

“You bitch,” the woman said.

Tired of the constant rude comments, Cynthia stopped and looked at the woman. She said, “You’ll never find a husband if you keep talking and acting like that. Men marry ladies! They rent prostitutes.”

“Don’t call me a whore,” the woman said while attempting to slap Cynthia. No one called her a whore and got away with it.

Without thinking, Cynthia blocked the slap and responded with a backhand to the woman’s face. She managed to stop her hand before it actually made contact. With the woman staring at her wide-eyed.

Cynthia said, “Don’t try my patience.”

Sid had entered the room in time to see Cynthia’s reaction. He was actually impressed with how quickly she had reacted. If this had been Chaos, she should have gone for the throat, rather than instead of a blow to the face. While she did have the control to stop before making contact, she didn’t have the control to have made the decision to go for the face over the throat. An unprovoked attack required a brutal response. He wasn’t sure if he should correct her or praise her.

He nodded in her direction and went to his seat to wait for class to begin. Cynthia went to her seat. She sat down wondering how upset Professor Smith would be if she happened to fall asleep in class. She looked over at Sid finding it amazing that he was so alert.

Sid leaned over to the woman who had tried to slap Cynthia and said, “She’s been training in the martial arts. She’s got the moves, but not the discipline to respond with the right level of force. You were lucky she was able to control herself.”

The woman stared at Sid. He had the reputation of telling the things as he saw them. She asked, “What you do mean?”

“She could have killed you,” Sid answered with a smile.

“You mean that...”

Sid held up a finger and said, “I suggest that you think before you say another word. You need to learn how to act like a lady before someone mistakes you as something else.”

Although she had initially been interested in Sid, his military bearing and rigid sense of right and wrong had worn on her nerves. She didn’t like that he felt he was better than her. The woman replied, “You act like someone stuck a fucking ramrod up your ass. You need to learn how to chill.”

“I abhor that kind of language,” Sid said shaking his head.

“See what I mean,” she said rolling her eyes.

------ Cynthia looked over at Sid, nervously. They were in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. It was a typical waiting room filled with coffee tables loaded with old magazines, plain chairs, and bored people waiting to see their doctor. She asked, “Are you sure that I have to get an implant?”