Oath 6
When Jay got home all the lights were off and his parents were in bed. He sat in his room on his bed, the lights off. Looking out his window he saw the moon in the distance but clouds were surrounding it. Trees swayed quietly in the brisk wind. Jay grabbed a pillow and pulled it close, trying to reenact the feeling he had in the bathroom when he was embraced. But he could not.
"No, I told you, I'm not lonely."
"Ok, ok," the doctor had a clipboard in front of him. "Wa" was taped to the side of the folder.
The doctor continued, "But you have been taking your medicine?"
Jay nodded silently, making eye contact with the doctor.
"Tell me about your childhood."
"Like what?" Jay got up from his seat and started walking around the office, behind the doctor's desk. He picked up objects, inspected them and put them back down.
"Did you have a best friend as a kid?"
Jay was running his hands along the edge of the desk. When he heard this he chuckled. "Of course. Everyone does."
"Are you still friends in high school?"
"No," he scoffed. "It ended freshman year. I thought I knew him. I thought I could trust him. We used to do everything together. Video games, movies, just walk and talk."
"What happened?"
"He backstabbed me."
"Want to tell me more?"
"Sure why not? At first he still hung out outside of school but sat at different lunch tables in school. I was dismayed but said nothing. Then one day I approached his table to sit down and found I was the subject of their discussion. He was telling lies."
"Did you ever find a replacement for him?"
"No. How can anybody replace someone they've been friends with for five years? I mean I still have friends. But...I don't share secrets anymore. It's not worth it."
"What kind of secrets do you have?"
"Sorry, I don't feel 'softened up' yet."
The doctor blinked and moved on, trying to avoid the hostile sentiments.
"How are your relationships with your parents?"
"Mom's ok. She yells at me a lot. My dad and I don't see eye to eye, so to speak."
"Do you talk with him?"
"No."
"What don't you see eye to eye with?"
Jay had his head tilted and was reading the titles of books in a bookcase behind the doctors desk. Jay felt the heat of air in his nostrils as he was asked this.
"Moral decision making, politics, finances, his problems and mine."
"What problems do you think you have?"
Jay leaned over the doctor's shoulder and grabbed the doctor with one hand and pointed at the clock with another.
"I'm sure you have some concept of time constraints."
"Cha Ryut!" The kids put their hands by their sides and put their feet together, looking straight ahead at the instructor. One of the little dragons was bouncing up and down in place and another assistant instructor went over to quiet him.
"Chun Bee!" The kids opened up their feet and put both hands in front of them like they were throwing out two punches right in front of their belts. One of the little ones was still bouncing, and now talking to another student.
"Guard stance!" All the children kiaied and put their hands by their face, putting on their tiger look.
"First kick we are doing is front kick. When we do a front kick the first part of our leg we bring up is our knee. Then we kick out with the bottom of our foot. Remember if you kick in one second, put the foot back where it was in half a second. Go!" All the kids kiaied and kicked out. Some kicked with the wrong leg and the assistant instructors went over to those kids to correct them. Some were even kicking in the wrong direction.
"Again, go!" The kids kicked again.
"Mr. Wagner! I need to use the potty!" The kid bouncing raised his hand as he jumped up and down.
"Go ahead quick so you don't miss the fun. Everyone else, go!" The children kiaied louder than before with a sudden burst of energy.
Someone from the side of the dojang came over to Jay and said, "Mr. Wagner, there is someone here to see you by the front desk."
"I'm in the middle of teaching here. Go!" All the kids kicked up again.
"Switch sides!" Jay yelled and the kids all put their left leg in the back and got ready to kick with that leg.
Erik, one of the other head instructors came up to Jay. "Go ahead. I have this."
Jay got off the mat and traveled along the marble floor where the parents of the children sat. He made his way across the room and turned to the front of the building.
"Lauren. What are you doing here? I'm working."
"You could have called last night."
"My cell is broke."
"And you couldn't find a phone?"
"To be honest I forgot. I got caught up with all the paperwork and stuff."
"And stuff. Thanks Jay." Lauren turned and walked through the entrance of the door.
Jay stood there for a few minutes just shaking his head. "I'm so sick of this crap. I need a vacation." He looked up at the clock. 4:30 PM.
Jay looked through the window on the wall to the floor where the students were. The kids slowly disappeared from his sight one by one and Erik the instructor left. They weren't leaving the mat, class wasn't over. Rather, their images faded. What filled his mind were different images. But they weren't just images, they were also memories.
On the floor was Jody, teaching. She was up front and the students, the little dragons, were attentive, watching her. Jay saw himself on the side by the mirrors. The mirage Jay was correcting students' stances and postures as Jody gave commands, just as Erik was doing earlier. And on the other side was the new instructor, a black belt from some other school. He didn't even take Taekwondo. He took Shotokan. And the name of the academy they were teaching at was "Tae Kwon Do Academy."Jay saw that he was shy and would not speak up but he knew what he was doing. The owner of the building had previously told Jay he was an instructor for over a year. The boss knew what to talk about and who to hire, maybe Shotokan and Tae Kwon Do weren't that different. He was wearing a different uniform than Jay was. He was wearing a karate gee while Jay was wearing a dobak. The only difference is that the top half of a gee folds over the chest and ties to the side of the uniform at the very bottom while a dobak is a solid piece of material you throw over your head like any run of the mill shirt. It was long sleeved, white, and had a large v-neck.
This new instructor walked up to Jay and asked what they were going to be doing next.
"Two step sparring. Watch them close that they don't actually kick each other. They are supposed to just kick in the air. Watch the lower belts especially."
Jay was correcting one of the students, telling him he had the wrong leg in front and to switch sides. He looked back to the side and saw the man had his arms crossed and was watching the students to make sure they were all in the correct stance. He noticed Jay was looking at him and glanced over. Jay nodded and walked to the side of the mat as Jody made the transition from fighting drills into sparring and needed Jay to help sit the little students down. The new teacher started walking behind the students to get to the other side. As Jay walked to the front of the class he looked over his shoulder to the back and he saw the new person look over at him.
When class ended, in the memory, Jay found himself sitting with his back to the mirror walls. He was sitting, initialing the attendance cards, so the students would get credit for showing up at class. Sitting down beside him was the new instructor, also signing a group of cards.
"So what did you say your name was?"
"Adam."
"Oh ok. Where did you come from?"
"Hillton."
"That isn't far at all. What style did you take before? I noticed you are wearing a gee instead of a do bak."Jay examined his black uniform.
"Shotokan karate." Noticing Jay was looking at his uniform, he looked up from signing cards.
Jay nodded and started signing cards again. Adam continued to sign as well. Jay said, "I don't know much about that."
"Lots of fighting."
"With gear?" Jay looked up at Adam again and he turned to Jay.
"Gear? No, we don't use gear."
"That's kind of scary. A lot of people must get hurt." Jay put his attendance cards down and got up.
"Sometimes. Done signing?"
"No. I'm interested in shotokan."
"Right now?"
"Why not?"
Adam put his cards got and lifted himself off the mirror walls. He put his hands up by his face.
"What are the rules?" Jay put his hands up as he asked.
"Kick to the thighs and use knees to the stomach."
Jay moved in to throw a roundhouse kick but Adam slid back and countered, kicking Jay in the leg. Jay's facial expressions changed from excitement to pain. He threw a fake (where one pretends to do a kick to get the opponent to slide off guard) and Adam moved back. Jay quickly slid to the side and kicked him in the leg.
Adam threw a fake and Jay jumped back. Adam moved in and threw a kick but instead of sliding back, Jay moved forward closer to Adam, to avoid the blow. Jay grabbed Adam's shoulders and pushed him back, throwing him off balance, then ran in close again. Adam grabbed his shoulders and put his leg behind Jay leg sweeping him to the ground. Jay broke his fall with his hand, but landed on his back. Adam climbed on top and trapped Jay on the ground. He sat comfortably on Jay's chest, sitting upright so Jay would not be allowed to swing any punches at his face. This technique was called mounting. Jay was on his back and Adam was on his knees on top of Jay's stomach.
"Is that legal?"
"Not really." Adam raised up his hand to throw a punch at Jay but Jay moved his hips up as Adam threw the punch, and Adam fell over Jay's shoulders. Jay quickly rose and mounted Adam as he turned on his back.
"Damn you're heavy."
Adam laughed. "Four pounds of it is hair."
The side door to the mat opened. Adam and Jay both turned to look at who it was. The owner came out and asked what they were doing. Jay scratched the back of his head as he got off. The sparring match was broken up.
In the locker room Jay and Adam took off their shirts and pants to change back into street clothing. They both found heavy and dark bruises on their respective legs. They faced each other as they put their normal clothing on.
"How often are you going to be working here?" Jay asked as he put his Still Line hoodie on.
"Master told me to come in every day this week."
"Guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow."
Jay shook his head as he heard his name called. The images of the locker room faded and he found himself staring at the school's floor with all the students there.
"I was half expecting you to come out and try and justify your actions." Jay looked over and found Lauren with her arms crossed. Sighing he looked up at the clock on the wall. 4:45.
"Were you waiting outside for 15 minutes?"
"No. I was here watching you. Wondering what you were thinking. Wondering what was so important that you didn't come follow me."
"For 15 minutes?"
"I'm supposed to go out to dinner with my parents. If I say I got caught up with you, I can be late. Was in no rush here."
"So what happens now?"
"Come with me. I don't want to go to dinner alone."
"I'm working."
"You don't look it." Lauren pointed to the class that was going on with Erik teaching with Dan, another instructor.
"Shoot I need to be out there."
"So that's it? Just leave me?"
"I told you, I'm working."
"What were you doing for almost twenty minutes Jason?"
"I– " His words trailed off. He did not want to discuss what he recalled.
"Fine. Bye."
"Lauren wait– Let me talk with Erik."
Jay asked Erik if he would be ok teaching solo for the rest of the day. Erik didn't mind. He had been teaching for eight years.
"Hey Erik?"
"Yeah Jay?"
"Do you remember Adam, he was an instructor here?"
"No I don't remember. Maybe he was teaching before I came. Sorry."
Jay nodded and left with Lauren.
Jay sat at the restaurant with Lauren to his left, Ashley, a friend of Lauren's to his right, and Lauren's parents across from them.
"So how is school going Jay?"
"School's fine." He said sipping on his water, waiting for his hamburger to come.
"Did you decide where you are going next year?"
"Was thinking of Brandeis."
"Wow. Top notch school. I've heard some great stuff about that place. Do you know what you want to major in?"
"Psychology."
"Really! Didn't they just open up a new psychology department?"
Jay nodded and sipped on his water.
"And have you heard from them?"
Jay nodded again. The father of Lauren got up and patted Jay on the shoulder, congratulating him. Jay forced a smile.
"And what about you Ashley?"
Ashley responded after drinking her soda. "I applied to a lot of places in Boston, as well as a school in Alaska."
"Alaska. Why so far?"
"To be as far away from my grandparents as possible."
The parents looked at each other and forced themselves to smile. There was silence for a moment until they continued.
"What are you thinking of majoring in?"
"Meteorology," She responded, "or Communications."
"Meteorology, how exciting. Maybe we can have someone dependable to tell us the weather. I feel like every time I'm told it's sunny, it rains, and vice versa."
Ashley laughed as Jay shifted.
"Ash, can I borrow your cell? Mine is broke."
"Yeah sure." She handed him her cell, it was a more upgraded version of his.
Ashley waved her empty glass in the air as a waitress walked by.
"More coke please." The waitress took the glass as Jay left the booth.
Jay, now outside of the restaurant by their doors, cross referenced his contacts list until he came to the cell phone for Jody. He brought the number up on his cracked screen and started dialing with Ashley's cell phone.
An operator came on. "The number you have requested is not available."
Jay hung up on Ash's phone and looked at his cracked screen more closely, discovering one of the digits was distorted but he could see it was 9, not a 0.
He dialed again. The phone ring four or five times.
"Hello, this is Jody."
"Hey Jody, it's Jay."
"Jay, what's up? I'm at the hospital working right now."
Jay made a noise as he realized she was scheduled to work this time.
"I apologize. Real quick then, do you remember that kid who joined Tae Kwon Do a while ago and was teaching for us. Adam was his name."
"Adam...Adam...Adam. How long was he working there for?"
"I don't know. Not long I guess."
"Sorry Jay, doesn't ring a bell. Listen can't talk. My boss is coming and I'm supposed to be changing the dressing on a wound for a patient."
Jay listened as he heard that distinctive click when someone hangs up on you. He hit End on the phone and walked back into the restaurant.
"Everything alright?" Ash asked as Jay handed her the cell phone.
"Just feeling a little sick."