My Living Nightmare

“Do you not understand the word control, Sean? Not to sound chauvinistic, but she is a girl. That side thrust could have seriously hurt her, and then you go and throw her in the air without knowing her physical capabilities!” Sensei Brian said severely.

Sean stood; his gi loose and his muscled chest showing. To say he was infuriated wouldn’t be a strong enough word.

Not that I wasn’t enjoying Sean being reprimanded, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I am not a porcelain doll Sensei, I can take a hit,” I said, somewhat annoyed.
Out of nowhere Tory started singing.

“Ha! Alex kicked your a-”she sang, before stopping abruptly and remembering that there was still an adult present. “-butt,” she revised.

“Oh, shut up Tory! This isn’t over, I want another go, and we’ll see who’ll win-”

“Sean, relax, it was only kumite-” Jamie tried to calm Sean down.

“You’re really a sore loser! What is up with-?” I said angrily.

“Enough! Okay, I’ll let it slide this time, but you have to learn to control yourself Sean, and control your temper too. Karate is an art, a sport and a form of self-defense; it’s not something you use to achieve malevolence. Now, you’ve all got a five minute water break, cool off, and then line up in your grade order so we can run through your grading katas.”

“Tory, make your stance a little wider… No, not so much… Perfect. Itch… Ni… San…” Sensei counted, moving in between the four of us.

We were running through Sanchin Breathing Kata, and it was tiring.

“C’mon class, just one minute to go… si, go, ri…Jamie, where’s your pullback? Thank you.” he said.
Easy for him to say, he’s been doing it for years, I thought, doing the final open hand block.
“All right, bow, and relax.”

Tory fell to the floor, breathing hard. Jamie walked over to the window and stuck his head out. Sean, for some insane reason, walked over to the weapons cupboard and took out a bow. He started going through the attacks.

Wasn’t he tired? I mean, not at all?

I strode over to him, took a breath and said what had been on my mind the entire class.

“I don’t understand you Sean, why are you going on like this? Why do you keep swapping from nice to mean?”

He didn’t answer for moment. He just continued striking and slashing at invisible opponents. Just when I was about to walk away, he replied.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” he murmured softly. He said it so quietly that I barely heard and had to strain my ears to hear him. “I’m sorry.”

“Line up.”

He put the bow back and walked back to the others. I followed.

I lined up in our grade order and waited.

“Kneel.”

We kneeled.

“Sensei rei,” Sean said, rather stiffly.

We bowed.

“Students turn in,” Sean said. We did as told, Sean facing me, Jamie facing Tory.

“Students rei,” he continued. We bowed; with my bow being halfhearted. “Turn and face the front.”

We faced Sensei Brian.

“It was a good class,” he said. “Apart from the minor episode, it was enjoyable. You guys have improved drastically, and I’m glad I had the pleasure of meeting and to be training you, Alex. On your feet.”

He dismissed us. Together, Tory and I walked to lockers.

“So, what now?” I asked, taking out my bag and taking a sip of water from my bottle.

“We shower, we dress,” she said.

Uhm, anything apart from the obvious?

“Then shopping!” she exclaimed.

Oh, joy.