Every year Chief McConnike hosted a Christmas reception for all the stations in his battalion. Cap's paranoia notwithstanding, Chief McConnike was an amiable man and enjoyed the annual opportunity to mingle with the men informally.
Chet and Marco stood at the punch bowl, getting a refill for their dates, when Johnny and Midori arrived.
"She's really good looking," Marco observed, indicating Midori with a nod of his head.
Chet looked up to see whom Marco was referring to. "Better not let your date hear that," he advised.
"I can't believe he's still with her."
"I can't believe she's still with him."
Marco laughed. "Must be some kind of record for him."
"I'll call Guinness in the morning," said Chet, picking up the two cups and heading back into the crowd, in search of his date. "Hi, Gage. Midori," he greeted in passing.
January, 1978
Midori was explaining certain joint twisting techniques that were very useful in freeing oneself from the grasp of an attacker. "Johnny, come demonstrate," she called. "Grab me from behind." He complied and with a quick motion she grasped his wrist, twisted out from under him, and applying pressure to the joint, forced him to the ground at her feet.
He calmly slapped the mat and said matte, which literally meant 'wait,' and figuratively meant 'stop now, that hurts.' Joint twisting was a remarkably effective technique for smaller people to use against larger assailants. Practice in class had to be done very carefully so as not to injure anyone and required a high degree of trust and skill. As he rose to his feet, Midori instructed the class to work with partners.
Johnny worked with a white belt woman. He had gotten his brown belt a couple of weeks ago. The role karate continued to play in his life still amazed him. 'When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,' the sensei had said through Midori.
Sensei had taught him much and he was still learning a lot:
About respect. 'Life is so hard; how can we not be compassionate?' It was a different way of reverencing himself and other people. A new way of acting on the belief that each person was no better or no worse than himself and that all life merited honor simply by being.
About attention. 'Be wherever you are, or you will miss most of your life.' Learning to live in the here and now, without making value judgments on what had happened to him required a lot of awareness. Tuning into his mind's running commentary on life afforded a sense of peace as he learned to release the belief that 'it should never have happened to him,' a belief which had only led to more suffering. Through a lot of hard effort, he had finally begun to recognize the attack for what it was, had begun to learn how to be more aware of inattentive thoughts, and to replace them with meaningful thoughts and action.
About gratitude. 'Feel the miracle of the sun on your face, see the miracle of the rainbow and be amazed.' Remembering to count his blessings every day, every minute, without believing that life should be different, that he deserved something else, became part of his life. He found a lot of joy in simple things from sunsets to smiles and in complex things such as successful rescues and well-executed kata. The many ways to be surprised by joy awed him, and he felt truly awake for the first time in his life.
About strength. 'Freedom comes from allowing no other to rule us inwardly from the outside.' That the only real power he had was over his own thoughts and actions. That true strength came from within, not from without. And that strength came from yielding, like the water, rather than resisting, and being worn away, like the rock.
About love and forgiveness. 'Consider the comforts of both anger and forgiveness. Then choose.' Learning to love and to let go of the hatred he felt for Barnes proved no easy task, but he was beginning to realize that therein lay the way to inner stillness and peace. 'Compassion that does not include the self is incomplete.' Learning to love and forgive himself seemed almost more difficult, but he continued to press on with both. And as he did, he was able to reconnect with others and to trust again.
And above all, he was learning about who he was.
He had learned a lot. The journey still stretched before him, but he traveled in his right path.
He repositioned the woman's hand on his wrist. "Don't worry about speed right now. Relax and go slowly. The rest will come later, naturally."
The paramedics were in the break room when the engine crew returned, their other station duties for the day completed. Roy sat at the table, drinking coffee and reading the paper, while Johnny lounged on one end of the sofa, studying a book. Henry snoozed in his usual spot on the other end.
Chet plopped down on the sofa next to Johnny.
"Chet!" Johnny glared in mild annoyance as the movement jostled him. "Do you have to sit down right on top of me? Move over!" Johnny made no effort to move over himself.
"Henry's in the way."
"Well, move him over! Geeze!" Johnny tried to concentrate on his book.
"Whatcha reading?" Chet leaned over Johnny's shoulder.
"Get outta here." Johnny tried to push the annoying firefighter's face away. "Hey! Give that back!"
"Hmm. Conversational Japanese. You guys do a lot of conversing?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh, grow up! Give me that! Her father doesn't speak much English." Johnny snatched his book back from Chet's hands.
Grinning, Chet got up off the sofa. "My work here is done."
"You are seriously demented."
As they walked to the locker room at the conclusion of the shift, Johnny was engrossed in telling Roy about the new karate technique he was learning: Iaido, or the art of drawing the sword. No longer studied for self-defense, but considered an art for developing self-discipline and physical strength, iaido roughly translated as 'the way of being in harmony.' The goal of the student was not to overcome an opponent, but to control himself. The form appeared both beautiful and challenging, steeped in ritual and precision. Posture, movement, concentration and attention were important ingredients in practice, making the technique highly refined and gracefully spare. Some forms required two people, and the kata looked choreographed, like a dance. Beginning students used wooden swords, or bokken, to practice drawing, cutting, parrying and resheathing. Next, they progressed to an iaito, or an unsharpened metal sword similar in feel to a katana. Only the masters were permitted to use a katana, or live blade. And even then, only one student and one master would work together at a time. The katana were so sharp that merely touching the blade could slice open a hand .
"The sensei brought a katana to the dojo. It was beautiful. You should have seen the carvings on the..." As he opened his locker, a water bomb caught him full in the chest. Blinking in stunned surprised, he bellowed, "Chet!"
Chet poked his head in the locker room door. "What? Hey, Gage! What happened? You're all wet!" he said with a grin.
"Like you don't know!" Johnny pushed past him to retrieve a towel from the showers.
Roy wandered over to the showers and stood leaning against the doorway, grinning. "So, did you decide to let Chet get you?"
"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I did." The towel covered Johnny's head as he dried his hair.
Roy started laughing. "You did not! He got you, fair and square!"
Grinning sheepishly, towel draped over his neck, Johnny replied, "Yeah. I guess he did."