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Abby's Gift
Chapter 39: Testing

Chapter 39: Testing

Eva laughed her ass off. “You have Bobby and Mark already taking Kung Fu classes and you’ve convinced Tyler to try it too. Tell me again how none of them like you, Abby. Go on. I’m waiting. Also, tell us how this ends well.”

“Well, Bobby does like me, so you were partially right, but Mark and I are just friends and Tyler is not into me. He wants to apprentice with my dad and become a blacksmith.”

“I get it. You’re right, Abby. Tyler will just be coming over everyday and working out back with your dad in the forge where it’s all hot and he’ll come out all sweaty and take his shirt off and his muscles will glisten in the hot sun and you’ll run over and help him draw some water for the well to quench his thirst.”

“What kind of trashy romance novels are you reading? Besides, we don’t even have well in the yard! I’d just bring him some water from the kitchen. So there!” I stuck my tongue out at her and we both giggled. James, on the other hand, was less than amused at our discussion.

“Don’t mind Mr. Sourpuss over there. He’s not used to having a job and he’s tired.”, Eva said.

“I am tired, but it’s not because of work. I’m tired of hearing about Mark and Tyler. Abby’s with Bobby. The only thing we need to discuss is when he’s going to get here and what we’re going to do. My vote is still for the water-park.”

“James, just because you’ve made a choice, doesn’t mean that the other options simply disappear. It’s always fun to let your imagination soar. Speaking of which, I think we should go to the carnival and soar on some of the rides. Also, I want a stuffed lion like Abby’s, except I want a blue one.”

“Abby and Bobby just went last week. I don’t think they’ll want to go again.”

“Don’t be too sure about that, James. The whole point of going there for their first date was that they’d be reminded of it every time they saw a carnival. Maybe Bobby will want to relive the experience.”, Eva countered.

This Saturday was my first chance to relax in what seemed like forever. Summer break was finally here! It was August, so of course football practice season was set to start next week and my time with Bobby would go down to almost nil, again. We’d still text and facetime, but we wouldn’t get to actually see each other that often until school started.

To James’ delight, Bobby showed up and voted the for the water park. He said something about seeing me in a bathing suit, but I was too busy not blushing to notice. Bobby drove us all out to the park and we had a blast. Since this was a double date, Eva and James relaxed their no PDA rule and Bobby and I had no choice but to follow suit. We didn’t want them to stand out in the crowd. The slides were fun too and I only had to cheat a little, by slipping into R1 once or twice to bypass some slow mover, to beat Bobby down the innertube slide. Winner got a kiss, so I don’t think he’d have minded even if he’d known.

The next afternoon, Sifu Zhang showed up at Uncle Magnum’s. Uncle Magnum and I were going through our forms when the door opened and an older Asian man walked in. He was stooped a bit and he walked like his stomach was in pain. He immediately sat down in one of the chairs from which the parents would watch their children and Uncle Magnum was at his side asking Sifu Zhang if he was ok.

“I’m as fine as I’m going to be. Continue your forms, Paul. I’ll watch from here.”

I expected Uncle Magnum to ignore his request to continue and help him to a more comfortable chair, but he didn’t. He came back and we continued our forms as if some sick dude hadn’t just walked in. Uncle Magnum started us back at the first form, Small Idea, and we worked through all the others, including all the weapons forms. We did each form twice before Uncle Magnum moved us on to kicking exercises and finally to sparring.

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This was the big test. Not the red belt test to become a master, but more important in some ways. This session was the reason that Uncle Magnum had been working me so hard and I knew that I needed to be shine in this evaluation. Uncle Magnum wasn’t going to go easy on me today.

It wasn’t about winning, as I had no hope of that given the disparity in our levels, but I had to give Sifu Zhang an appreciation for what I was capable of. I gave as good as I got for the first round and for the second round Uncle Magnum stepped it up a notch and soon another. It was all I could do to just keep up, but I wanted to show Sifu Zhang that I had more in me so I wrapped Uncle Magnum in a field and used the information I was getting to up my defense and then go on the attack. It worked for about thirty seconds. After that, Uncle Magnum raised the bar again and I was outclassed by his experience, speed and power. I managed to finish out the round in full on defense, not my favorite style of fighting, and I was completely spent. I’d left it all out on the sparring floor. Uncle Magnum had us end the sparring with our salutes and took me over to meet Sifu Zhang. Once he’d introduced us, he sent me off upstairs to the shower and told me we’d talk when I came back down.

I walked down the hallway and up a few stairs before shifting to R1 and going back to listen in. Uncle Magnum would fill me in later, but I didn’t want the filtered version.

“Enough about my health. My health had been all consuming for far too long. We’ll have plenty of time for that later. Let’s talk about your student.”

“Did you see what I was talking about? After the second round?”, Uncle Magnum asked in a serious tone.

“Yes. She is as you described and I haven’t seen anything like that. Many people can lower their level of fighting, very few can suddenly increase it. She had reached her maximum and she was good, good enough to test for her red belt, but then a change came over her and she was better. Much better. I can see why you called me. There is something else that you may not have realized, though.

“Really?”

“You mentioned that her forms had improved. What you didn’t mention is that her forms are the same to yours.”

“Well, she’s been learning from me since she was four. How else would she do them?”

“I don’t mean that her moves are just similar to yours. Your moves are similar to mine, but they are different. You have your own way within the form. Charlie’s style is very different from both of ours. It is not bad. Everyone has their own idiosyncrasies. However, Abby’s moves are identical to yours. She moves her hands and fingers to the exact same position every time. If you practiced with her for hours every day, for months, I doubt you could have choreographed your moves so well together.”

“I didn’t notice that, but now that you mention it, I can see that and I’m sure that it wasn’t always like that. I clearly remember that I used to have to correct her hand placements. I haven’t done that for awhile. Maybe since last year sometime. I’ll have to check my notes, but I’m betting that it was around last summer. Something about her changed then. She knows what it was and she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“It is her choice to tell you about it or not. You’ve done well in not forcing the issue. Our job now is to figure out how to move her forward.”

“You’ve decided then? You’ll work with her?”

“For the time I have left, yes. I’m afraid that it won’t be very long. That is why I came early. I still have enough energy for teaching Kung Fu a few hours a day. I will give her that time and it will have to be enough.”

I raced back upstairs, tears streaming down my face. Not again! I’d scanned Sifu Zhang while he was talking. He had late-stage pancreatic cancer and it had spread to his lungs and his kidneys. I’d seen this cancer a few times in the hospital and he had a month or two to live, at best. What struck me as incredible was that he had such dedication to his Kung Fu and to his student that he was willing to spend his last days helping him. Helping me. Someone he’d never met before today.

I let the hot water stream over me and it helped calm me down. The downpour put to shame what my eyes could produce so there was no point in crying. I needed a plan. I wasn’t going to let Uncle Magnum’s teacher die if there was something that I could do about it. I’d waited too long with Evan because I’d overestimated how much time I had to work with and I’d been too busy practicing instead of doing. This time I would start right away. I just needed to find a way to do it without giving away my abilities.