Haru invited me to dinner, but Kent told me we had to catch a flight to Iwakuni Kintaikyo Airport. Coach Hope had been stationed in Iwakuni. Cassidy wanted to show us around, so I’d made a point to have Saul schedule a job for that city.
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Chapter 20 – Master of The Universe Wednesday July 6
Cassidy woke me up.
“Get up, get up, get up!” she said as she poked me in the ribs.
Not my favorite way to wake up.
“Young lady,” I warned.
“I scheduled us a lesson at my old dojo. I want you to meet my sensei, Chuck.”
She had my full attention. I wanted to meet this Chuck; maybe he could help me learn to defeat her. In my sleep-addled mind, it never occurred to me to ask about Chuck. I’d always assumed she’d learned from some ancient master. The name ‘Chuck’ didn’t align with my mental image.
It was early, so Paul just grabbed a taxi, and we drove to the dojo. It was within walking distance of the Marine air base. When we walked in, a woman who appeared to be in her late forties or early fifties greeted us.
“Miiko,” Cassidy said and bowed to the woman.
“I know you, don’t I?” she asked and looked hard at Cassidy.
“Cassidy Hope, Tony Hope’s daughter.”
“Chuck failed to mention that our favorite student would be visiting. I will have to have a talk with him,” she said as she came from behind the counter to give Cassidy a hug.
“This is Paul; he’s just learning and is David’s security and my boss. I would like you to meet David, my kenshūsei.”
“You decided to advance your training. Good,” Miiko said and then looked me over. “He’s a big one. Is he any good?”
“He thinks he is.”
“I go easy on Cassidy because she’s a girl,” I said.
“Ha, you haven’t broken his spirit yet,” Miiko observed.
“Daddy said I couldn’t hurt him … too much. He’s normally much more respectful and well-behaved. I have a long way to go to get him fully trained,” Cassidy said as if it were a forgone conclusion.
“Go change, and I’ll let Chuck know you’re here. He will want to evaluate your apprentice.”
When we walked to the back, Cassidy grabbed me before I stepped into the locker room.
“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you beforehand, but Chuck may want to test you. If he does, I want you to be careful and protect yourself. Also, don’t hold back. Chuck is skilled enough that I doubt you could do any damage.”
That made me smile.
“I should have kept my mouth shut, shouldn’t I?” Cassidy asked.
“I can’t wait to see this,” Paul added.
Cassidy knew better than to challenge me. It would be on her head when they had to haul Chuck out of here on a stretcher.
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Holy bejesus! Chuck was a retired Marine who’d married a local girl. Turns out, Miiko was a former Olympic silver-medal winner in judo. Chuck had met her when he was stationed at the air base, and they had fallen in love. He was a hand-to-hand combat specialist who had walked into the dojo to brush up on his training. Miiko’s dad owned the place, and now she and Chuck ran it.
Chuck was my size, but as quick as Cassidy. I was perhaps a tad overconfident when we began to spar. Paul sat in stunned silence as Chuck tossed me all over the mat. If Chuck got his big paws on you, it was over. They let me take a break when it looked like I might be having a heart attack.
Cassidy leaned down to see me gasp for breath with a disappointed look on her face.
“You can take him. Do you know what you’re doing wrong?” she asked.
I could only shake my head ‘no.’ Cassidy looked at the ceiling in disgust and then stared me in the eyes.
“You’re treating this like a game,” she said. “I’d hoped that you would avenge my honor. Did you know he abused me as a child?”
I looked over at him and was suddenly mad all over.
“Do you think you can set things right?” she asked.
I willed myself to get my breathing under control and stretched to get the kinks out. Then I concentrated and dropped into the zone where I became utterly focused. My rage was bubbling in the background.
“Are you ready to get your butt whooped again, little boy?” Chuck taunted.
I just nodded.
With his snake-like quickness, he reached out and grabbed my right wrist. I twisted my arm and punched the top of his hand as hard as I could. There’s a bundle of nerves in the back of your hand that Shiggy had taught us was a pressure point. Chuck released my wrist. I followed up with two hard body blows that Fritz and Coach Hope had taught me, boxing.
I danced back because it felt like I’d punched concrete.
Chuck gave me a hard look and flexed his hand to get it working right again. I knew better than to believe he was hurt. Cassidy had played possum too many times for me to fall for that, but he didn’t know that.
He grabbed my wrist again, and I realized he planned to throw me. So, I fell back, and that straightened his arm as my weight dropped towards the floor. When it was straight, I punched him in the triceps, another pressure point. He let go of me, and I could see it had deadened his arm. Even with one arm, Chuck was dangerous.
What he didn’t expect was for me to pop up and explode towards him. This was one of my speed drills. I tackled Chuck and soon had him under me as I rained down punches.
“Release!” Cassidy shouted.
I looked back at her smiling face.
“He abused me by tossing my butt all over the mat. He never hurt me,” Cassidy admitted.
“Oh, shit,” was my brilliant response. “Are you okay?”
Chuck had a bloody lip and a mouse under his left eye. Miiko came out with a wet towel and a bag of ice.
“I see you had no confidence in me,” Chuck told his wife.
“He is Cassidy’s trainee. You didn’t expect he couldn’t hurt an old man like you, now did you?” she asked.
He sat up and let her attend to his wounds.
“Tony warned me. I just figured he’d gotten soft,” Chuck admitted.
“I hate to whoop your butt and run, but I have to get to work,” I said as I looked at the clock on the wall.
Chuck mumbled something that had Miiko grinning. I figured it best I not know what he said.
◊◊◊
Today’s commercial was for Kasia watches. They sold a watch made from wood with a digital face. On the face, you could either have a maze or time display. The maze was what most of the younger people wanted, including me. You had to study the maze to figure out what time it was. I liked the wooden case.
The location was also great. We were shooting the ad at Iwakuni Castle, which overlooked the famous Kintai Bridge.
The bridge was built in 1673 and spanned the Nishiki River in a series of five wooden arches. From the bridge, it was about a five-minute walk to the ropeway, or lift, that took you up to the castle. Iwakuni Castle was built in 1608 on top of Mount Shiroyama, and the site was picked for its defensive advantages. The castle keep is four stories high and looks out onto the city 600 feet below. Both the bridge and the castle were tourist hot spots in Japan.
Today was much more of a photo-shoot type of job where I changed clothes and watches for their print and magazine advertising. I did shoot a commercial. Since the product was the watch, my part was relatively short because they wanted to focus the close-ups without me in them.
◊◊◊
Once we finished the shoot, I found out Cassidy had volunteered me to go to dinner at the Marine air base. I knew that Coach Hope would want me to go if they invited me, so I didn’t have a problem with it. I gave everyone but Cassidy the night off. If she set it up, she was going with me. I figured I would be safe on a military base.