Chapter 1

Sam's Story.

Sounds like a 'Clementine' should be in here, but not everyone likes Orange.

A lot had transpired this last year or two. There were family events, business conflicts and one or two personal problems for me. Overall, it seemed to be a new start, a bad one and one that I just did not look forward to; my name is Samuel B. Smith, Sam for short.

Mom and Dad had died, killed by a drunk driver. Then my sister was driving home and some old(84) grandma hit her car. Not bad enough though, Mira was expecting a baby. I cannot tell you what Hell waiting that can cause. Business issues made that year a bit off too. One of our longest, biggest and best opportunities to bid on went to another firm.

Let me step back a little. It may sound funny but it happened. I was all set to serve my country, except, my medical 'eval' stopped everything. I was found to have 'flat feet'. Man, 6' 2", 178 pounds and not enough fat on my bones to even sizzle on the BBQ, but 'flat feet'. The kicker was when my trip to boot camp was cancelled I called Paige, my girl, to tell her the good news. Surprise, surprise, she was on her way with her 'boyfriend of the week' to 'someplace warm' to unwind, according to her younger sister. Brooke always had treated me great and I knew she would never lie to me. I got the feeling if she was a few years older or I was a bit younger what a 'package' we would make, if I had been smart I would have grabbed and held on to her till she turned 18. I never had that kind of relationship with Paige, that I had with her sister, and now I knew why.

I had started a sort of gym, mostly for me to get in shape, about a year ago. It was not a regular kind of gym. There were very few machines; we used isometrics, tree trunks, sand bags, running, rubber straps, hoops and heavy balls to get in shape. A few members wanted to learn hand to hand fighting as well as martial arts. Since it was a simple venue, the addition of Kendo, and a variety of martial arts meant there was something for everyone. Within a year, there were 15 or 16 regulars as well as another 20 younger members. Tai Chi was offered to a number of seniors at no cost, it was for the community, after all.

First, we had three kids, one girl and two boys. Then I do not know what happened, half of our members were younger than 13 and Brooke was there as if it was her gym. For whatever reason (I really did know) she acted like she and I both owned the studio. She could have maybe, there was never anything I asked of her that she would not do or try. Fitness, I mean, just fitness.

I have to admit there were times I ended up thinking 'what if?' about her, 'what if?' There comes into one's life people like Brooke only a few times. I think her Mom recognized better than I did that Brooke was special to me.

When I asked her to instruct the 6-13 groups and I would pay her, our closeness increased. Hell, it was more than closeness, that thought of snatching her and running away came to mind a few times. My time became focused on the 14 -21 year olds. Things changed, Brooke now took those 6 to 17 and I expanded the age to 25. This was somewhat required since we began a sort of security service, personal protection. It was a large contract like that we had lost before.

We were not a large company, we were able to pay the bills and every employee ended up as a member of our gym. By the time, Brooke was nearing 15 she was running the 16 and 17 year olds ragged. There was no doubt that those 18 and 19-year-old boys were not offering to help just because they were interested in the students. Some of the girls in that age group also wanted 'advanced' training from me so I understood how that might happen.