OOOO

"Is she here?" Carol-Anne asked, anxiously and she wandered over after she had completed warming up, grabbing a bottle of water.

"Not yet," Mac shook her head, "but maybe she's just in a traffic jam or something. Go and register and get a program, I'll keep an eye out for your Mom."

Carol-Anne ran off in the direction of the registration table and Mac took out her cellphone. A call to Cheryl's apartment yielded nothing, so she called Cheryl's therapist at the clinic. Her worst fears were pretty much confirmed.

"Dr. Jorgensen is out of his office to consult with a patient," the man's secretary told her, "Would you like to leave a message for him?"

"Could you just ask him to call Colonel MacKenzie, when he returns, please?"

Mac heard the scratching of a pencil on paper as the woman took down the message and so ended the call.

"Any news?" Carol-Anne was back, with her registration number and a program that showed she was third in the second division of the competition.

"No," Mac shook her head, "You're not on straight away, so let's give her some more time. She might still make it."

Carol-Anne was distracted for a while, as later Harm showed up, still in his uniform just like Mac.

"Glad to see I'm not too late," he announced his presence, standing behind them where they were watching the first sparring session, "My apologies, but court ran late."

"Harm!" Carol-Anne grinned and leaned over to hug him, "I'm so glad you're here! I'm so nervous, I feel like I'm gonna puke!"

"You'll do fine," Harm gave Carol-Anne and Mac a hug and steered the two of them down to get a closer look at the sparring going on, "Mac and I are going to give you some pointers, so you know just what to avoid…"

They sat at the front, watching the two fighters exchanging moves.

"Try to keep from bringing your arms in towards your body like that," Mac began the lesson, pointing at one of the young teenagers competing, "By keeping your guard open and away from your body; your opponent is less likely to get a strike at your body through it."

"Don't put too much energy into your moves, either," Harm added, "In competition, it is the placement and timing of the punch or kick and not the force that are judged. It's important to control your force, because you can exhaust yourself if you don't."

"And keep moving," Mac continued "If you keep moving, back and forth, your opponent will find it harder to catch you with a punch; keep changing feet, keep moving around, keep it unpredictable. But don't let them back you into a corner, keep an eye out for how much space you have behind you, whether you still have an exit if you'll need it."

"At times," Harm picked up the commentary, "try and keep your body low. Because you're shorter, you'll actually have an advantage over you're opponent, because it may open up an way to get a punch to their belt-line."

With the lesson over, Carol-Anne went to stretch and loosen up a bit more, until it was her turn to enter the sparring arena. She donned her fist guards and took her place, bowing first to her opponent, then to the referee. She did very well, considering this was her first competition. She was first paired up against a fellow first-timer, whom she easily beat. The second round was not so easy, but she had the advantage of shorter stature and Harm and Mac were delighted when the last bout was awarded to Carol-Anne (she and her opponent had won two bouts each, so far.) She didn't win her next fight, but managed to get a few good jabs in, so they were actually close to drawing, but her energy failed her at the last moment. The opponent was however more advanced than her, so she came away with pride that she had managed to get as far as she did. After being awarded a trophy, Carol-Anne left it with Harm and Mac as she went to warm up for the weapons display that was traditional after the sparring was complete and the awards ceremony had taken place.

"So what happened to Cheryl?" Harm asked Mac.

"I don't know," Mac sighed, shaking her head, sadly, "I spoke to her this morning, reminded her the time the competition started, when she'd need to set off from home by and she said she'd be here. But her therapist is out seeing a patient, so maybe she wasn't able to leave the house, this time. That happened a couple of weeks ago, when Carol-Anne had a parent-teacher conference, but Dr. Jorgensen managed to anticipate it, swing by and get her there on time, anyway."

"It hasn't been easy for her," Harm sympathized, "But she is getting better."

"It's just a slow process," Mac added, "and Carol-Anne is finding it hard to understand."

They had to silence their talk while the display was going on and were impressed by the skill Carol-Anne had acquired in the short time that she'd been taking part in the Kung Fu training going on at her school. She enjoyed the sparring aspect of the sport, but weapons-training was her real forte.

"The girl's got serious skill!" Harm noted, smiling as they watched Carol-Anne perform a routine with a bamboo staff.

"She does," Mac smiled, wondering how she was going to explain why her mother hadn't attended, "She's got amazing concentration and great perseverance."

OOOO

"So you called Dr. Jorgensen?" Carol-Anne asked, on the way home, "What did he say?"

"I only got his secretary," Mac told her, "She said that he was out consulting with a patient."

"Do you think it was my Mom?" the girl asked, worriedly.

"I don't know," Mac shook her head, "But let's stop by your Mom's just to check she's okay."

They soon saw that Cheryl was physically fine, but she was sitting in the lobby of the apartment building and looked badly shaken. Dr. Jorgensen was with her and it seemed that that was as far as she could push herself, that day.

Mac saw Carol-Anne's expression become hurt and angry, as she took in the sight of her Mother, through the glass entrance doors.

"Carol-Anne," Mac warned her, pulling her aside, "don't be angry…"

"But she's fine!" Carol-Anne exclaimed, "she left home and everything…She just didn't want to come…"

"No," Mac shook her head, insistently, "Your Mom tried her best to leave today, but she's still finding it hard to leave the places she feels safest. Don't be angry with her, because she never asked for any of this to happen to her."

Carol-Anne was instantly appeased and they managed to persuade Cheryl to venture out to a nearby pizza parlor for dinner that evening.

OOOO