to loosen their neck muscles. In the minutes that followed, he took them through more stretching routines from top to bottom — head, arms, trunk, and legs. He worked on balance exercises for kicks: they stood on one leg, with the supporting knee slightly bent, and then they extended the other leg. Most of the students were able to keep their balance for the allotted time. Some, though, teetered on their supporting leg and kept falling over. The college women seemed to do well, as did a few of the younger students.
At one point Jon and I made eye contact, and with a slight nod he called me over. “That’s her in back,” he whispered, “the one I left you a message about last night.”
I looked at the college kids in the back row. He had described the new love of his life as being tall with long blonde hair and an amazing smile; a junior at Hopkins. Both college girls were on the tall side and both had long hair, so I couldn’t tell which one he meant.
“All right, everyone on the floor, on your backs,” Jon got back to work. “Leg lifts.”
He had them supine, with hands tucked under the small of their backs for support. Jon ordered them to raise their feet about a foot off the floor. He modeled everything from up front.
“Now, hold it.” Everyone, including Jon, froze with legs off the ground.
As he worked them — and probably harder than he had to — I wandered up and down the lines to see if I could make anyone nervous. For the most part, they all seemed pretty focused. But then they hadn’t seen me hit Jon yet.
The after-school kids in front began to moan. The class was still in the leg-raised position. One student dropped his feet to the floor. Then another kid did the same.
“Keep those legs up there.” The students struggled to lift their legs. “Okay, now on your bellies. Push ups on the knuckles, except for you kids in front. You guys just use open palms.”
Jon clenched his fists, put them on the floor, knuckles down, and began counting as he pushed up. The class began to follow. I watched the coeds. They were in the middle of their line, and the one on the left, seemed particularly driven. She was dressed in shorts and a white T-shirt and had long blonde hair that was held together by a silver barrette. She was keeping up with Jon’s vigorous count.
“Okay, relax.”
Everyone moved into a sitting position and the few students who attempted the knuckle push-ups gingerly opened their hands. The blonde college girl with the barrette was one of them. Now that she was sitting up I got a better look at her. She was, indeed, a looker. Young, slender but curvy, she had beautiful clear skin, high cheekbones and dark eyes. Her face was red with exertion and beads of sweat had formed on her upper lip. I could also now make out her T-shirt. It had a beautiful depiction of Chinese zodiac symbols, from dragon to tiger to snake, and all signs in between.
I moved behind her so she couldn’t see me. I caught Jon’s attention. Out of her line of sight I pointed to her and he discretely nodded. I smiled.
Jon continued with crunches and more leg stretches. Finally, he turned to me and said, “Okay, Sifu, they’re all yours.”
The class turned to me and I headed to the front of the room. “Good afternoon, everyone.” I was dressed in a pair of black military-issue BDU pants and a turquoise T-shirt depicting an Oriental mountain scene. Very untraditional for a martial arts class. “Anyone ever hear the expression, ‘Your money or your life’?” I looked the group over.
There were a few murmuring acknowledgments.
“Well, it’s not true...not anymore. I know of a young man who was on the “A” train in New York a number of years ago with his girlfriend. They were headed to a movie when two guys came up and demanded his money. He gave it to them. Guess what happened next. They wanted his watch...then his ring...then his girlfriend.”
I paused for effect.
“And today,” I scanned the faces as I spoke, “even if you give them everything, they might just shoot you for the hell of it...just because.”
I turned to Jon and waved him over. He hustled and stopped right in front of me.
“Reach for me, please,” I said to him.
Jon took a step forward, reaching for me with an open right hand. I parried his arm, side-stepping his grasp. I simultaneously swiveled his far shoulder backwards toward me and swept his right foot. He collapsed to the ground. Jon lay there for a moment, and then sprang to his feet.
“A fight’s over in less than three seconds, one way or the other. If you want to be the one standing, you better be good. Let’s get started.”
I began with basic fist and horse stance. With Jon’s assistance, we circulated through the ranks to make sure everyone was on the right track. I noticed he often returned to the blonde college girl to adjust her arm and hip positions.
In what seemed a matter of moments, the sixty minute class was over. I gave them my homework expectations and then wished them all a good evening. For the most part, the students both young and old left the room, buzzing about what they had just learned.
As the last of the students filed out, Alli walked in. She was wearing white slacks and a green polo shirt that had a white “Northwest Physical Therapy” logo above the left breast. “Hi there,” she smiled.
“Hi there.” I leaned in and kissed her.
“Good class?”
“Yeah, pretty good. Jon has his eye on a very attractive new student, a college junior he says.” I looked around for my senior student but didn’t see him.
“I saw him outside, talking to this awesome-looking blonde.”
“That’s her.”
“No policy about dating students?” she asked smiling. I didn’t know if she were serious or not.
“For me, yes. Him, no.”
“Sounds fair. So, where do you want to go to dinner?”
“How ‘bout Little Italy? Haven’t been there in a while.”
“Okay, nothing too fancy, though. I’m not dressed for it.”
“Fine with me.”
“And why don’t we ask Jon to come along. He’s never joined us.”
“Sure, but the boy is busy. He may already have plans.”
No sooner had I said it, then Jon came back into the room with a huge smile on his face.
“Don’t tell me,” I said. “You have a date.”
“Tomorrow night,” he beamed.
“Jon, Jon, Jon,” I said. “You must be losing your touch.”
“What?”
“Not tonight?”
“I guess she needs the time to dump whoever she’s currently with.”
“Uh huh.”
