opened the doors to a floor covered in blue mat. In its center was a ring of students in white uniforms, all in a low, wide stance that was practically a squat, punching in unison. Two had black belts and blue jackets—including Darren, who was counting in what sounded like Japanese.
“EEEtch-nee-saan-shee-gOH-rok-sheech-hatch-kyooo-yooo/” he shouted, finishing up with a punch that just seemed to pop from his waist. The whole class stood frozen in that final punch; then Darren’s head cocked slightly to the side, as if he saw me. Then he said, “Come back,” and the students popped out to a standing ready stance. “Toe-et-tay,” he instructed. “Stretch out.”
As the class stretched, Darren walked over quickly without running, smiling without grinning. “Dakota Frost,” he said. “This is a surprise. Come to check out the class?”
“I have a few questions,” I said with a grin. I was surprised how young he looked in his uniform; I hadn’t realized a college karate teacher could also be a college student. “I thought this might be a good place to start.”
“Sure thing. But I can’t let you on the mat,” he said, spreading his hands apologetically. “You have to sign a waiver, and Wendy at the front desk would bust my balls if I didn’t have one for you. Even then, with you still healing up, I wouldn’t let you on the court.”
“Aw, come on,” I said, miming Savannah. “Surely you could show me a few punches—”
“Rary, Clarence, over here,” Darren said, without even looking. Two of the brown belts quit stretching—the woman rolling out of a full split—and came over to join us. “Side stance for punching. Clarence, keep the fist set, but put your feet together, toe-et-tay style.”
Rary spread her dainty feet shoulder width, right fist out; Clarence put his huge feet together, looking at Darren quizzically before his head snapped forward to attention. After surveying them a moment, Darren said. “Double punch—go!”
Both popped out their left fists with a kind of twist, then shot the right one out while the left snapped back. Their karate gis made little whizzing motions when they moved. Darren had them do it a few more times, but I could already see where this was going—Rary was solid as a rock, but with his feet together Clarence was wavering, trying to keep his balance.
“Again—go!” Darren said, slipping his hand into a red padded mitt and stepping straight into Rary’s punches. He caught her punches and pushed back hard, but she stood her ground, shoving him back with each blow. “Again—go!” he repeated, stepping in front of Clarence—and this time it was Clarence that was shoved back when Darren caught his punch.
“Good, good,” Darren said, walking past Clarence to the end of their short little line. “Come back to the same stance.” But as soon as Clarence did so, Darren pushed him, hard, and he nearly fell over. He then stepped up quickly to Rary and pushed, and while she got shoved around a bit, she never lost her balance, her legs bouncing around on the mat under her.
“You can’t throw a good punch without having a conversation with gravity,” Darren said, “and your legs do the talking. If your injured leg was just naturally weak, I’d invite you out here on the mat, help you figure out how your particular body could talk to the ground with the right accent. But since you’re healing, all I’d be doing is helping you tear that leg up.”
My student escort waved and left us, and I sagged into my crutches. “I know that… it’s just…one of my best buddies got murdered last night,” I said, trying to piece together all the things running through my head. “And a client took a bullet for me—”
Darren’s eyes bugged. “Just since I saw you?”
I nodded. “It’s been a busy week, and I’m feeling more than a little vulnerable.”
“Sorry to hear all that, but it’s even more reason to take it easy, sit back and watch, and see if this is right for you,” Darren said. The other blue-jacketed black belt stepped up behind him, and Darren nodded to him. “I’ll be there in a second. We’ve got a lot on our plate tonight—but stick around, maybe we can help you out during family fun time. All right! Brown belts and higher: over there; everyone else: with me—”
After that it was like watching out-takes of a karate movie. The white belts lined up and did standing punches and kicks; the greens and purples did