The next day after his victory, after he literally purged all of the joy at being better than Kai and proving himself to his father, Jack has woken up after a long sleep brought on by sheer exhaustion, feeling both rested and dissatisfied. His morning run happened merely by force of habit. When he came back and showered he found out that his father already left. He was dealing with overflow of work because of the holiday. Jack thought he'd be asked to join in, but his mother told him that he was given a break because of his spectacular victory yesterday. Her tone was neutral, but her phrasing wasn't and Jack felt the discomfort again.
Before he could sink into the pit of despair again, his mom told him that they have only a day left to prepare the Thanksgiving meal and they should get the head start. So off they went, getting food, buying spices, picking the best apples and yams. It was like the last time they had that dinner together. She kept things light and he appreciated it. It wasn't until they were in the middle of preparing all the ingredients for the stuffing that his mom finally mentioned the tournament.
"So, what happened there? I've known you, darling, since birth. You wouldn't triumph over him so thoroughly. Just a few knocks would have been enough."
"I had another altercation with him days earlier. In the coffeehouse. In front of one of my school mates." Jack told her, unable to lie to his mom.
"Really? Why there? Why confront him at all if you were to fight so soon?" She looked at him searchingly.
"He was bothering them and trying to get to me. I guess it worked... You know him. He is not above this sort of thing."
"He was bothering your friend? In order to get to you?"
"Yeah..."
His mother looked at him for a long time and then got this look that he didn't like. She smiled knowingly and nodded her head.
"I see. I hope you school mate is fine."
"I may have said we weren't friends at all to get Kai to stop bothering her..." Jack exhaled with feeling, finally admitting the part that bothered him about that afternoon. He didn't even realize he had a slip of a tongue.
"And she is mad with you now..." it wasn't a question and he only sighed in response.
"And at the tournament? What exactly were you saying to each other?"
"Just the usual... And I feel so horrible." somehow Jack didn't want to tell his mom how the mere mention of Kim drove him mad.
She didn't press for more seemingly aware of what he left unsaid.
"Well, I for one am glad I got to see you knock him down a peg. I can't believe you'd feel bad about this. Kai has been head strong and took the idea of winning at all cost too far."
"Mom, I fractured his wrist!"
"And he did it go you in China. Remeber? Not only he arranged for the ambush, he actually hit you on the broken hand. At least you did it fairly, during the fight. He needs this lesson, believe me."
He couldn't say, couldn't express just then, how good it felt that his mother didn't outright condemn him. That she thought he hasn't done anything wrong.
"I mostly regret the complete loss of temper. That I lost it so thoroughly and in public... And in front of her..."
"If it helps her to stay away from him... You know he wouldn't have compunctions just because she is a girl... He would do so much worse just to get to you. I always regretted that Lucy and I allowed your fathers to poison the two of you..."
She was pensive for a while and Jack kept quiet, afraid to ruin the moment of rare honesty between the two of them.
"At first it was this funny and fun thing to watch you two play fight. It was all too easy to say that the two boys always fight: over toys and over the last piece of cake. Then you kept growing up and it didn't stop. Then, you started Karate and the fights became more and more serious... and Chris and Tommy were just egging you two on..."
She stopped again as if recalling where they were. "Jack, be honest with me, are you well? You have been quiet lately. Quieter than usual. I hardly see you smile. Is it because of that unnamed school mate?"
Jack recoiled at this. He didn't mean to add to his mother's troubles. She already had plenty of those.
"I am well, I promise. I am ... just... tired now. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a while. But otherwise, I am well. Really I have to be well. There is nothing wrong with me..."
He rushed his explanation out and shut his jaws tight.
"Oh... You have to be well? But Jack, are you well?"
"Yes." He said with finality and then blurted out what has been simmering in his head. "I... Mom, there are people, people I know, who don't have half of what I have. You know, I have you and father. I live in a house and there is always food on the table. I work because father wants me to learn the ropes, but I don't have to like some others. I never have to choose between college or providing for the family. I am healthy. Why then do I not sleep at night? Why do I feel that each day is like a slog? I try to do what sensei and father want me to do, but I do not feel satisfied with that. Why can't I be happy with doing just that?"
"Because you are not your father, darling! You are your own person. You can't be happy living out your father's dreams, because they are not yours. I am so glad you didn't turn out like you father wished you to be... He wasn't always like this, you know."
"What happened, mom? Why'd he change?"
"It's a story for another day..."
"And why are we cooking for what seems like an army? I thought it would be just family? Just us?"
"Oh, I thought you knew. Your Uncle and Aunt are coming. Kai too, probably."
Jack couldn't contain his shock and surprise. He thought that Kai would either be too appalled to come after the loss or he would be somewhere else, apparently dining with Kim.
"I don't understand why we have invited them at all to this function."
His mom came to a stop in front of him and smiled, reaching up and smooth out the frown lines in his face.
"First of all, you are making it sound like some big fancy event, when really it's just a casual gathering of the family. Second," she said, poking his chest. "Your father and his brother has always spent thia holiday together. And, of course, there is the rivalry." His mom shook her head and frowned deeply.
Jack's face was a picture of disbelief at her explanation. "I still don't understand why that means they have to be present at dinner tonight. You'd thinks that neither Kai nor Uncle Thomas would want to be here after yesterday."
By now he stepped away from his mom and was pacing the kitchen. His mom leaned against the counter and gave him a wry smile. " And if it was you who lost yesterday? Don't you see Jack? The Brewer brothers would not pass up the opportunity to snub each others' noses. If you have lost, your uncle and cousin would be here and mentioning it at every turn. And now your father wants to show you off."
Upon hearing this statement, Jack's frown returned in full force. "Is this supposed to be making me feel better? The only thing worse than being in a room with Kai right now is being in the same room with him while father brags and parades me around like a trophy."
His mother was frowning again and nodded along his words. "Yes, your father will gloat about your win like it's his own. Your uncle would try and remind about all other times his son won. Your will be silent and brooding. Kai will be either scowling or smirking. And Lucy and I would flit around the table and kitchen, trying to diffuse the situation and failing utterly."
This seemed to do the trick, and Jack's frown faded into a concern over his mom. He studied her, under the task lights over the island. She was still a very beautiful woman, but there were more silvery strands at her temples and the frown line between her brows was there even when she wasn't upset.
"I am sorry. I am reveling in my own upset feelings when you are the one who gets the worst deal."
"Darling, please, this is not a competition. And I'll be fine."
"Why are you not freaking out about this?"
"I guess I'm OK with your father wanting to show you off because, well," she paused a moment, trying to find the right words, hugging her own waist tighter. "I feel very proud to be able to call you my son, Jack, and I am so happy that you are still like the son I raised I just… I just want to share it with everyone." She shook her head again. "No, I not saying it right. I am proud of you and your Karate prowess. I am glad you got to win fair and square. And I am proud of you taking a stand against Kai. And protecting your friend. Even if neither father not Tommy will not know, I will."
She hugged him and he didn't dread the dinner so much anymore.
The serious conversation ended then and they reverted to simply cooking together, chatting, joking and retelling old stories. Jack cherished this day with his mother.
The first address the three friends arrived at was in an affluent suburb and everything checked out. If fact, Kim was surprised that they even applied for the grant. It seemed that they had plenty of clientele and, if the sign in the lobby was anything to go by, they held a fundraiser recently that brought in some money for them.
She didn't tell boys, but she this shelter added as her control group.
The next address was a more realistic place. It was a shelter in a less spiffy area and they clearly deferred some basic repairs. They were less busy and she believed they would desperately need grant money to keep the animals alive.
Finally, and both Jerry and Milton were visibly wilting, they tried to find the third place. After an hour of studying yet another block if abandoned buildings, Kim called off the search. She scribbled all her observations and the three left this particular town. Jerry pointedly looked at his watch; they'd spent three hours driving around the entire town and it's suburbs looking at buildings and writing things down.
"I know you said that you'd cover the gas for this trip, but we've been at it for three hours. I am hungry." As if to prove the point, his stomach grumbled loudly.
"You had snack. I saw you eat. How are you hungry again?" Kim said in disbelief.
"I am a growing boy." Jerry answered.
"I heard there is a decent empanada place nearby," Milton offered and Jerry could not contain his glee. Kim herself was feeling famished and off they went.
Half an hour late, when they were feasting on all amazing food, Milton addressed her.
"What are you thinking about the charities and the last address?"
"I don't know... I mean, I know there is an inconsistency at the very least. And I don't know who's responsible for it. It who has prepared the application. You saw for yourself, there could not have been a typo. And now I am suspicious of the first one too. It is too affluent to apply for a grant. I don't know... Maybe there is more..."
"You thinking of checking out more of those applications? Or do you think the answers are in the past applications and grant recipients?" Milton was talking like this was a science experiment, interested, but ultimately impersonal.
"I don't want to stop now. I am either very wrong, which would be great, or I am right and then I have to do something about it. This charity that gives away grants, they get their money from people who think it's going to a good cause. Somehow, if I am right, the fraud is so much worse."
Milton was quiet for a bit and then said, "We. We have to do something. You don't have to do it alone."
Kim's eyes flew to him and he smiled, while Jerry nodded along, "Yeah, girl. If you keep providing the top notch food, I am in."
In the end, Milton promised her to help prepare an algorithm that would isolate addresss on applications that were either non-existent or in very affluent areas. For her part, Kim was to fund the list of past recipients to run the same analysis on them. Not for the first time she thought she was incredibly lucky to have met these wonderful people.
The next day, Kim was at Julie's home bright and early to prepare the feast. Julie told her that Kai has lost the fight to Jack and that her Uncle Ty was in a terrible mood.
"I dont know the details but Uncle was quiet and only said that Rudy has prepared a very good student and that he wished Jack was in his dojo. You know what that means, don't you? Jack must have been very good and won decisively. No room for doubting his technique or power. Usually, Uncle scoffs at Rudy for being too concerned with honor, but it must work..."
"Oh... Do you we should scrap the idea of the dinner altogether?"
"No. Kai is supposed to come here tonight..." Julie was interrupted by Kim's gasp of shock. "Yeah, I know. But, apparently, otherwise he has to go to Jack's house for Thanksgiving and that is just too much for him right now. So, Uncle said the dinner is on. I am sorry that you have to deal with his creepiness."
Kim wished Julie's concern and apologies. "I'll be fine. He won't try anything with others around. I don't think he would even care. He only wanted to get at Jack by chatting me up, for whatever reason."
Julie smiled teasingly. "You sure you don't know why he thought it would get to Jack?"
Kim looked at her friend in frustration, "You and Mike are so funny. I know what you are implying, but there is nothing of the sort between Jack and I. In fact, according to him, I am just a barista in a dinky little coffeehouse." When Julie looked at her surprised, Kim followed up, "that confrontation they had in the GreenBean. Jack said that about me to Kai." Try as she might, she could not hide her disappointment.
"I can't believe it. Maybe he was just trying to downplay your relationship, so that Kai leaves you alone?"
"I don't think so and I don't care. I told them both to get out of my coffeehouse and to never talk about me like I am not there."
"You said that to two black belts? You are very brave..."
"Gryffindors charge ahead!"
The two girls laughed and when they calmed down, Kim offered.
"I don't know if it was brave or very stupid. You know at some point bravery is just stupidity for the right cause."
They went back to cooking and Kim was mentally preparing herself to deal with a very disappointed and competitive boy, who lost to his greatest competitor.
