I winked at him because I knew none of us would quit this year. Coach Hope used the running to weed out players. We had all had Cassidy abuse us since the first of the year. Running steps was nothing compared to her workouts. He gave up after we’d completed our fourth set.
We all laughed and played grab-ass when we went back to Moose. He had an evil glint in his eye and we all quit smiling when we saw Cassidy waiting for us. She’d finished doing her after-school workout program. How she was able to do back-to-back sixty minutes of hell was beyond me. When we were done, Moose sent us to the showers. I had to chuckle as we passed the JV. Coach Hope was running them through his version of sixty minutes of hell.
AFTER OUR SHOWER, I took Jeff and Cassidy home with me for dinner. We had agreed to go to the dojo three times a week. Tonight was taco night. Jeff and I high-fived each other because we could polish off some tacos.
Before I ate, I had to deal with a problem. Duke was a complete spaz. I hadn’t taken him today because I was going to practice and wasn’t sure who would watch him. Normally Pam or one of the other cheerleaders played with him and wore him out. I was going to have to figure out how to take him to baseball practice. I sure hoped Moose would be on board with it.
After dinner, we went to the dojo. Cassidy was not respecting I had kicked butt in Yellowknife in the bar fight.
“I’m a badass now!” I told her, to see what kind of reaction I’d get.
She looked at Jeff, who was wisely staying out of it. She tilted her head and then came to a decision. I had started this as a joke to tweak Cassidy. I’d told her at lunch about my bar fight. She was mad at me for using what she’d taught me in a fight. I tried to explain Ben was getting his butt handed to him. She made some smart comment that pissed me off. So tonight I thought it was a good idea to act like a tough guy.
“Okay, badass, let’s see what you’ve got,” she challenged me.
Shiggy stuck his head out of his office and hurried out about the time I tried to toss little Cassidy. Somehow, she went from being tossed to having wrapped her thighs around my neck, and she face-planted me into the mat. I had started to black out from the chokehold she had me in when Shiggy made her let me go.
I staggered up and faced her. There are times when it’s not a good idea to be a teenager and think you’re indestructible. My mouth was going before my brain could slow it up.
“You got lucky,” I said.
“David, shut the hell up,” Jeff advised me.
Shiggy shrugged and motioned for us to begin. Cassidy did a flurry of attacks and then stopped. I got a smug look on my face. I’d been able to counter all her moves. Then she pointed down. The heel of her right foot was almost touching my ball-sack. I was glad Cassidy was my friend and hadn’t finished her move. I would have been singing soprano.
“Still think you’re a badass?” Cassidy asked.
“No, I am yours to mold,” I said and bowed to her.
One of the classes they had at the dojo was kickboxing. That meant they had both heavy and speed bags. The speed bag was six feet off the floor.
“Tonight we’re going to work on a hook kick. We’ll use the speed bag so we can do it full force,” she taught me. “Now get into your stance so I can show you basically what I want you to learn.”
I turned to the side so my left leg was forward and bounced on the balls of my feet.
“What I’m going to teach you can either be done with your trailing leg or your front leg,” Cassidy said.
She then bounced up and used her front leg to catch me with her foot right behind my knee. I could see how she would cause me to get off balance.
“Notice how I did it with my front leg. I could do it with my back leg, but if you pop me in the chest I’d be off balance,” she said and demonstrated, then showed me how to counter her move. “Think of this as an option play. You can either hook behind the knee or kick hard into the thigh. The third option is to go upstairs.”
She did a little boxer bounce and then I felt her tap my thigh, then her foot shot up and she touched my chin. If she’d done this at full speed I would either be out cold or wondering what truck hit me. Shiggy decided to make his presence known.
“Very good, but use the flat of your foot. It’ll give you more range. If you’re serious about taking them out, use your heel and aim for the temple.”
Cassidy had Jeff get a pad and hold it at knee level and then had him crouch down under the speed bag. Cassidy did it at full speed. It sounded like she hit both at the same time. Smack, BAM! It sounded like a heavyweight had just crushed the speed bag.
I tried it at three-quarter speed to get the technique down. Cassidy and Shiggy watched me, so they both coached me up. The first time I tried it at full speed I was off-balance and landed on Jeff.
“Sorry, man,” I apologized.
He just shoved me off him and we laughed. One thing was obvious: I wasn’t getting the power Cassidy had put into her kick. At least, not until Shiggy told me to kick to a point beyond the bag, and the lightbulb clicked on. It was the same as in footbalclass="underline" I hit them as if they were further upfield so I drove through them. When I did it right, it sounded like a gun had gone off. BaPow!
Cassidy made me do it five times in a row before she called it a night.
Chapter 10 – Baseball Bag Boy
Tuesday March 3
Duke tested my patience as we ran this morning. I noticed over the last couple of weeks he’d seemed to forget what he’d been taught. He tested his boundaries more. Uncle John had warned me he’d do this, so I was prepared. Instead of giving him his full leash to check out every neighbor’s yard, I shortened it and brought him to heel. He didn’t like it at all. I laughed aloud when he stopped and flopped on the ground and tried to push his collar off with his feet.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him.
Then I thought about what I wanted Duke to do and gave him a command.
“Sit!”
He still tried to get away, so I picked him up and put him on all fours. I then pushed his butt down and raised the leash to get him to sit. Uncle John told me when he threw a fit to break his concentration and then make him mind. Once he did mind, then I was to reward him. He loved to have his ears rubbed, so that was his reward.
“Good boy. Heel!” I commanded, and we began again.
Uncle John also instructed me that I needed to go so far and then turn around and head in the other direction. This would teach Duke to pay attention to me. Pam and Mona had helped with his training as well. He had learned some valuable commands like sit, heel, no bite, and down. They’d also taught him to fetch. I was happy it no longer involved me chasing the ball. He thought it was a great game, and I was glad they’d him worn out when they would bring him back.
While I taught him the basics, Mom had committed to take him to formal training classes so he could be used as a service dog. If she planned to take him into the hospital, she needed to be able to control him. Dad still worked with him also. Not that he was normally a bad dog, he was just young and full of energy. Uncle John said he would act like a teenager. I think he just took a jab at me.
PAM, KIM, MONA AND Sammie had me cornered at lunch. They had requested I eat with them alone. I was such a ‘stupid boy.’
“What do you mean you can’t take one of us out Friday?” Sammie asked.