After several minutes of conversation with Geoffrey, the others began arriving for practice. She joined the group, took a bottle of water from the cooler, broke the seal, and squirted its contents into her mouth as she watched the boys go through warm ups. Darrell kept to the back of the group. When he recognized her, he took a break from his routine exercises.
“Hi. Geoffrey really did a great job with your uniform. I told him it should subtly convey your skill and athletic power while highlighting your beauty.”
She watched his eyes, smiled, blushed a little.
“You never said that.”
“You’re right, it’s one of Geoffrey’s lines. But I think it does exactly that, so it’s yours to keep. You’ll have to remember to wear it for every practice and every match, and keep it in good condition. That’s part of our bargain.”
“I don’t mind it, really, I don’t. It suits me. I really like it! And, thank you for the present, the one from the party. I got the package in the mail. You didn’t have to apologize. I’m sorry about throwing it. I was just feeling angry about something and I kind of acted a little crazy. I had to go home and cool off.”
“That’s fine. You can tell me more later if you ever want to talk about it. I’m just glad you’re not mad at me for sending it to you. Umm, I’m going to finish my warm ups.”
She pulled at his arm and enjoyed his flustered reaction, “Wait a minute. It’s kind of awkward just standing here. This is just your practice. It’s not like I can cheer for that.”
“You can go home if you want, but I was hoping you’d help me supervise after we finish the warm ups. If you want to participate, get out here on the gym floor and warm up with me.”
She had no problems with the warm up exercises. Being limber was something that had been drilled into her training since birth, and she found that quality had improved. After the exercises, Darrell taped ten papers to the wall and drew a red dot in the center of each one with a magic marker.
“Is anyone unfamiliar with the drill?”
Nadia almost raised her hand but she had the idea before it was quite there. The fencers poked the paper with the edge of their swords, hoping to hit the red spot with a decent pressure while not tearing the thin paper, or allowing it to fall from the wall. The exercise caused a great deal of frustration, as each time the paper was torn even slightly it had to be taken down, thrown away, and replaced. The only student who hit the spot without tearing the paper moved his sword in slow motion, twice a minute. There was one paper unused. Darrell tossed Nadia his sword, which she caught by the handle easily.
“Why don’t you show them how it’s done.”
Darrell had a clicker and stop watch ready to keep tack as she stared down the red spot and aimed her sword.
“Watch and learn boys, watch and learn.”
Her sword hit the mark, was withdrawn, and hit the mark again in such quick succession that her arm, even more so the blade, remained a blur. Darrell could barely keep pace with the clicker. After fifteen seconds, she had hit the mark thirty times without damaging the paper; everyone gasped.
“We need a movie camera with slow motion to capture that speed.”
“She didn’t fully retract her arm.”
“I’m pretty sure she did, she was just really fast.”
“No, that’s impossible, there’s a trick to it.”
“Look at the tone on that bicep.”
While holding the sword behind her back with her right hand, she raised the bottom of her left leg.
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“So, what do you think?”
Darrell clapped, and soon every one joined in. With a delighted smile she bowed humbly to cap off the performance, after which she spent time supervising efforts at hitting the paper. Fifteen minutes of this activity passed when Darrell announced the time for the balance test; a test that involved balancing the sword upright on the flat of the palm by the tip of the handle and walking a straight line the length of the gym. Nadia ran forwards, backwards, sidelong, skipped, and even jumped without once causing the vertically standing sword to sway from her palm. However, when it was time to supervise the practice matches, she gave pointers and cheered. There weren’t any fighters at her level, plus her stomach still hurt at odd intervals, so she decided to back off and get another bottle of water instead of matching up.
“You’re good with the students,” Darrell said, closing the distance between them.
She instinctively pursed her lips before she took a step back while scratching the back of her neck, “It’s nothing. Just comes naturally, I guess.”
They watched the others and conversed about technique, equipment, and how the skills of the students could develop until it was time to clean up. Afterwards, she waited to say goodbye to Darrell, who walked her to her bike.
“I see you don’t drive yet.”
“I’ll get my license soon enough.”
“Is something wrong?” he asked, noticing she looked a little pale.
“No, just a little stomachache I’ve had since lunch,” she forced a smile. “But everything’s fine. I needed this. I had such a great time. You have no idea how much I needed this.”
“You were great tonight. Are you into gymnastics.”
“No, but I guess I could be if I wanted to.”
He pulled a rose out of the side pocket of his fencing bag, said, “This is for doing such a great job tonight. If you don’t want it, that’s okay.”
She took it. It twirled between her fingers as she suppressed a smile.
“I think I have a good place for it.”
“You’re going to be an opponent I’ll have to watch out for. Were you distracted during the first match? How did you get so good?”
She leaned a little bit toward him, “I was a bit drained. Next time you won’t be so lucky. Talent runs in my family.”
She backed away before he got too close. Then she waved one last time and then jumped on her bike for the trip home. She placed the rose between her palm and the handlebar. As the school became more distant Nadia became pale with the realization that she’d almost kissed him twice.
-----
A small church with a fenced graveyard stood tucked away only a few hundred meters from the school. Nadia rode past the open gate to a glossy brown stone rectangle that marked an open patch of freshly mown grass. She stood her bike to the side before kneeling in front of it. The rose she held went atop the grave marker. A loose piece of flat slag served to weigh it against the stone, holding it against the breeze. While still on her knees she folded her hands and remained silent, eyes closed for moment, just how she’d been taught. Then she looked up at the smooth stone carved only nine years back. The same age as her little sister.
“Mom, what am I supposed to do? I need you more than ever. Please help me.”
She put her hands over her face as a tension more powerful than any previous burned through her midsection. She thought the pain had mostly subsided even though she hadn’t even been given a chance to take a pill. As she stood up, a bit of vertigo struck her. She had to get home without being seen. This was really bad.
-----
Cool night air settled through the bedroom. With four woman and one girl in the house Norman felt compelled to wear his white flannel suit pajamas. Cool air helped negate his discomfort as he thrashed in bed. Two-thirty flashed on the radio clock on the bed stand. Pushing the covers aside, he slipped into a pair of plastic soled moccasins and buttoned his collared pajama top. Out of respect for his guests, he avoided turning on any lights that might have roused them. He quietly felt his way across the hall and down the steps. On the fifth step, downward he heard Nadia whisper for him. He tread on her foot and almost fell over her. Nadia uttered a high-pitched squeak as she shoved an open palm into his face. They both backed up one step.
“Dad?” Nadia asked cautiously.
“It’s me.”
“Don’t do that, you scared me.”
“Sorry. I want to make warm milk because I can’t sleep. Also, there was a hole in the kitchen table when we returned from the supermarket. Are you feeling all right?”
“Everyone keeps asking me that. Do I look all right?”
“It’s dark. I can’t see you very well. Where have you been? The others said you were upset when you went to practice. Dew apologized to me thirty times. I’d have been worried sick if it wasn’t for the groeble. But I didn’t pry, just wanted to make sure you were safe out there. I don’t know, the thought of you being in danger hurts me, okay. All I can do is think about when you have to go back to Pozalm and how you won’t be here. And I can’t sleep.”
Nadia blinked, almost in shock.
“Who are you and what have you done with my dad?”
“I’m just trying to say that I have trouble letting go of the reigns.”
“Of course you do, that’s why I love you. But I’ve been home for hours. I’m doing some laundry. Didn’t you hear the machine.”
“Laundry? I must have actually slept through it.”
“Yes, laundry. We need to talk.”