Chapter 23: Friend of a Friend

Both Kim and Oscar had, of course, been banished to the Living Room while Ron prepared dinner. While Ron would tolerate company when preparing one of his 'standard' meals, he demanded privacy to work on a masterpiece. Kim didn't mind. She had learned that the banishment and the wait were worth the results.

And worth sprinting to his house on a winter's evening. She reminded herself. She looked over at Oscar. We didn't exactly get off on the right foot with me kidding him after that match. She thought. Since we have some time, this might be a good time to get to know my best friend's buddy.

"So Oscar," she said, "let me apologize again for kidding you after Ron's first match. I should have gotten to know you better first."

"My fault," he replied, "I'm not really that slow. I should have put it together. I'm just glad Monique was there to keep it from getting out of hand."

"True enough," Kim smiled, "So how long have you wrestled? Ron tells me that you're really good."

Oscar blushed at the compliment. "I started when I was eight years old. Ron tells me that this is about the time you started Kung-Fu."

Kim nodded. "I take it you took right to the sport?"

Oscar snorted, "Not exactly. I liked the sport from the beginning but I wasn't very good. It was a full two years before I won my first match. In a way, I'm fortunate that it didn't come naturally to me. Since I had to work for it I really learned it, rather than just doing it. I think that it gives me a better appreciation for the sport. How about you and Kung-Fu?"

Kim responded with a wistful smile, "Kung-Fu sort of came naturally to me. I'd just see the Sensei perform a move and I could copy it almost every time. I guess I'm lucky that way."

"It depends," Oscar replied with a strangely intent expression. "Do you practice Kung-Fu for the sake of the Kung-Fu, or do you train for the benefits?"

"My 'rents started me in it when I got into the habit of getting into fights. They wanted me to be able to control my temper and defend myself. It's only given me a little help with the first issue, but it's really helped me with the second one." She matched Oscar's expression. "Do you wrestle just for the sake of the sport?"

"I guess you could say it that way," he answered. "But I look at it as touching history. I've seen pictures of pottery from ancient Greece that show wrestlers using holds and moves very similar to the ones we use today. This sport has existed, in some form, since before anybody invented writing. I'd like to think that the sport has spent all of that time evolving, improving, and I'm receiving the benefits of over two thousand years of innovation. That's why I would love to coach at some point in my life. If I can somehow refine the sport just one little mote, and pass on what I've learned to a younger group, then I'll have given something back to it. The wins and losses just let me know if I'm a real disciple of the sport."

Kim just sat there, stunned. Spotting this, Oscar apologized. "Sorry, I get carried away with myself at times!"

"No, no," Kim replied, "there's nothing wrong with that. It's just your involvement in your sport goes so much…deeper than I would have thought." She shook her head a little. "To be honest I kind of envy you. I wish I appreciated my Kung-Fu as much as you appreciate your wrestling."

Oscar blushed a little. "Thanks, but from what Ron says, a whole lot of people appreciate your Kung-Fu skills."

It was Kim's turn to accept the compliment, "thanks yourself, but I'm at a disadvantage. You've been hanging with Ron, so you know a little about me. I don't know anything about you. What brought your family to Middleton?"

"My father works as an earthmover. He moved us here over the summer when the work started on the new wing at the space center. I understand your father is one of the lead scientists there?" Kim nodded. "Anyway, my old man really knows his way around dirt and the machines that move a lot of it. He received a promotion to foreman about the time school started. The same contractor has the contract for the new middle school, so it looks like I get to stay in Middleton for next year as well."

"What does your mother do?"

Oscar's voice dropped. "We…lost her last summer. She was a bookkeeper at an implement dealer."

Kim pressed her hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, I've…dealt with it. Dad had been a shift supervisor at a quarry back in North Dakota. When she passed away, dad needed a better job and he wanted a change of scenery. He had an old war buddy working for Mickman's Earthmoving and he told dad that they could use a good blade operator. Once we got here and dad started working, Mr. Mickman realized that dad was pretty good at what he does and hired him on permanently."

Despite his assurances, Kim wanted to change the subject. "I seem to recall you playing football during the season. I'd be sure that you would have earned a letter."

He smiled, obviously appreciating getting off that topic. "I did and both Ron and I have earned wrestling letters as well. I don't know about his but mine are back on my 'I love me' wall at home."

Kim snorted at the term. "Ron earned a letter?" Then she realized that between duels and tournaments, Ron had wrestled a total of eight varsity matches. He was seven and one, with a first and a second place finish in the tournaments. He had easily scored the team points required. "Have you gotten your jacket yet?"

Oscar looked decidedly uncomfortable. "No, I don't think either Ron or I will get one."

"Why not?"

"Ron pointed it out to me. I came from a much smaller school; each of the grades at Middleton has about twice the enrollment as my entire last high school. Back there you had to get along with everyone, at least a little bit, so it just didn't happen as blatantly there as here."

"What?" Kim demanded.

"The bullying. While most of the jocks in this school are okay, it seems that almost all of the bullying means guys wearing one of those jackets mistreating guys who don't have one. The 'in' crowd really looks down at the 'other' kids in school. I sure don't want to be part of that and I don't think Ron does either."

That set Kim to thinking. Last year at this time, Ron would crow to the world about his slightest successes. He was hungry to be one of the 'in' students. Now, as a letterman, he had a route to be one of the 'in' crowd and he showed no sign of taking advantage of it. Thinking back, she couldn't recall him mentioning to anybody, other than her, that he gave Drakken a wedgie. THAT was a prime teenage bragging point.

Kim's recollections were interrupted by Ron's call; "Dinner is served!"

Dinner was every bit as good as Kim expected. A combination of the low-fat food Ron had made and the fact that her companions had two full weeks before their next weigh in meant that they could actually eat decent meals. Not a typical teenage boy amount, but still reasonable. Once dinner was over, the three teens cleaned up and Oscar quickly excused himself.

"Why did he leave so soon?" Kim asked Ron, who was starting the dishwasher.

"What's that, KP?"

"Oscar. It's only about eight and he's heading out. You and Felix would be cranking Zombie Mayhem for another couple of hours." She paused, then blushed. "He doesn't think that the two of us…? I mean, he knows about you and Sue, doesn't he?"

Would 'the two of us' really be that terrible? Ron thought, then he shook his head. "He knows, in fact we've got a double date on for Saturday." Since Ron was in another room, he didn't see the glare in Kim's eyes. "He's probably heading home to work out, otherwise he gets scared."

"Scared?"

"Yeah, if he goes to bed without putting in at least one workout beyond the team practice, he has nightmares that his next opponent did put in a workout that day."