“That’s enough now,” Lutz interrupted him. “Can you get up? I’ll
bring you to the hospital.” He helped Kalle get to his feet with the help of his buddy. Kalle was still pale as the walls of the dojo, but he could leave under his own power.
“Call Igor. He has to train the kids today,” Lutz told Lina on the
way out, and she nodded. It hadn’t been more than two minutes since
Max’s strike and she still wasn’t over her surprise. She noticed Marcel, 142
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who stared at Max with big eyes. It seemed that he also hadn’t even
seen Max move.
“What was that?” she finally asked when the door had clicked shut
and Kalle’s cursing was muted.
“Kung fu,” Max said and wiped off his jacket with his hands, as
if they had caught him in some embarrassing activity, like listening to pop tunes or crocheting doilies.
“Well, you certainly aren’t a beginner,” Lina said, shaking her head.
“Kalle might not be the brightest bulb, but he did earn the third dan.”
She fished the cell phone out of her knapsack. After briefly talking with Igor, who promised to come by immediately, she steered Marcel and
Max to the backyard, away from the stuffy smell of the dojo and out
into the evening sun. Marcel hadn’t said anything the entire time, but he was watching Max. He seemed to have forgotten that he was sitting on a bench with two cops and said, “That was super cool. Where did
ya learn that?”
“In a dojo very similar to this one. Do you know what a dojo
is?” Max asked when he saw that the youngster was confused. Marcel
shook his head. “It’s a Japanese word that means ‘exercise room.’ Here in Europe we usually use it for martial arts training rooms, but in the Eastern tradition fighting and meditating are considered as one and
are practiced together.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I’ve been practicing since I was three. Meditation and kung fu—the two are one. Kung fu is just another form of meditation. My parents,” he said, mostly to Lina,
“are Zen Buddhists. I grew up with it.”
Lina had only a very vague idea what distinguished Zen Buddhists
from other Buddhists or what Buddhists in general thought or did. She said nothing since she was too tired. Kids were now starting to turn up for their training session. Some knew her and nodded when they
walked by, looking curiously at the other two on the bench.
Finally Igor—a tanned, trim man—showed up. “What happened?
Why did Kalle have to go to the hospital?” he asked. He glanced at
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Max and for a moment his face registered shock. He, too, had a nose
for representatives of the law. “Is that why you’re here? I mean . . . on duty?”
Lina shook her head. “No, we’re here on our own time. Kalle
attacked Max and for that he paid the price.”
Igor measured Max critically. “That so?”
Lina sighed. “Have Lutz tell you about it, or ask Kalle. Even if you believe only half of it, you’ll get the picture.”
She got ready to leave and pulled Marcel along. “We still have to
take care of this one. See you on Thursday?”
Igor nodded. “At half past seven.” He looked at Marcel. “You’re
joining us?” The boy nodded. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” He disap-
peared into the dojo, sweeping a latecomer in with him. The heavy iron door crashed shut.
Lina fumbled for her phone in the knapsack and said her name. Max
didn’t understand more than “Hm” and “Okay” and “Thank god,” as
he focused on the traffic. Then Lina said, “I don’t know. I’m kind of pooped. Doubt that I’ll still come by.” Another pause. “Okay, I’ll let him know. You, too.”
She stuffed the phone back. The motor hummed quietly as they
drove back to headquarters on the multilane road. They had delivered Marcel to his mother. She hardly recognized her son, enthused as he
was about the dojo, about Lutz and Max—and all that in front of cops, whom he usually hated.
“That was Lutz. Kalle is back home,” Lina said to Max. “The shoul-
der wasn’t dislocated, just badly bruised.”
“Good.”
“I’m sure he’ll rethink the reporting bit. After all, he’s the one who attacked a police officer, and in front of witnesses, too. It could backfire.”
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She looked at Max. “Officially it’s a training accident. Unfortunate fall.
Nobody touched him.”
Max nodded as if he hadn’t expected anything else. He was prob-
ably okay with that version and Lina, too, preferred to make as little fuss about it as possible. He said calmly, “In case he runs into any kind of