"Man, those Egyptians were something else." Louis smirked, the light from the TV flickering in his face. Do you really think that Amenemhab guy could have cut that elephant's truck off and stopped it from charging?
"There were elephants in that area at the time." Henry replied. "So it could have happened. My guess is that if it did happen, he had some help, but if you supposedly saved the life of your pharaoh, much less the mightiest of mighty pharaohs, Thutmose III, from a charging elephant, you aren't gonna mention the help in your own tomb. Why share the glory? Accurate after action reports are not required in your 'House of Eternity,' after all."
The two brothers shared a laugh next to each other on the couch, in darkness but for the TV. The clock on the cable box read 1:30 A.M.
"It's good to have you here, man, you know I worry about you."
"Nothin' much to worry about this year. It'll probably be quiet next year too, at least at first. Make sure Olga rubs off on you in the right way, and you know what I mean, as opposed to the wrong one." Henry lightly punched his brother's shoulder.
"Speaking of, I really wish you hadn't have teased Helga about Arnold while we were out. She doesn't like people prying on her relationship."
"Well, she better get used to it. I'm sure she's bringing him to the wedding, after all."
"Yeah, but she's still only 12. She has a lot of feelings to sort out."
"Yeah, you're right. I should have stopped mom and Penelope. Still, Helga seems more uptight than normal. I know she can be prickly, but even for her, she's more defensive than usual."
Louis sighed. "Recall that 'normal' for you is her being tame. You should have seen her when I first met her. There are reasons for it. Miriam is a big one."
"Yeah, I noticed. Miriam asked a simple question about the Hawk vs. Takamura special on ESPN earlier tonight. Helga would have nothing to do with it and basically forced me to escort her out of the room. Before that, she didn't even remember that Miriam was in the house when we were ordering food. Mom of all people had to remind her."
Louis sighed again. "And you know the worst thing? I can't blame her one bit. You should have seen that house, Henry. You would have been even more pissed off than I was. I wouldn't even be surprised if Helga is taking pleasure in ignoring Miriam and giving her hell, now that the tables have finally turned."
"How's Olga holding up? I know she invited her here, but it isn't like she's immune, either. Don't act like you weren't calling me in a fit and asking for advice after your relationship got serious and you started putting the pieces of her home life together."
"Eh..." He grunted. "...It isn't like this is easy for Olga. It does bring back painful memories, and she's again taking on a burden for her family by trying to help her mom get better. She won't talk about it, but she's definitely feeling the weight. Still, Olga's a grown adult who has her life together now. She'll be OK. Helga's the one I'm worried about."
"Yeah, I imagine. And if Miriam really was that heavily on the bottle, well...we know that too much stress can stop an effort at recovery cold. Helga doesn't need to be adding any."
"That's why I'm not sure what I should do. I know I'm gonna have to put my foot down at some point, but then Helga will feel like I'm taking Miriam's side over hers, when I promised I wouldn't. She's had so many people let her down in her life. If she thinks I'm letting her down, me of all people, the one that got her out of that mess, I don't know how she'd take it."
"Don't doubt yourself." Henry responded. "You know, I was never prouder of you than after you told me about what happened back there two years ago, the way you got the two of them out of that situation. If Penelope's father treated her in the same way that blowhard treated Olga, I'm not sure I would have been so restrained. You played chess with him and checkmated him while he thought the game was solitaire because he couldn't pay attention to anything but himself."
This made Louis laugh out loud. "Go on."
"In every man's life there are a few decisive moments that define who he is. If he slithers off like a slug, it's a reversion that signals the death of him as a figure worthy of glory and respect - at least for a long time. If he fails, he won't reach his potential. If he succeeds, he's proven himself an admirable figure, worthy of the rewards he's going to get. For Thutmose III, that big moment was what we just saw on TV, him taking that great risk and marching through that narrow pass at the head of his army to Megiddo to surprise the enemy. My big moment was when I didn't ring that bell during Hell Week. That one was yours and you passed with flying colors."
"That means a lot, thanks." Louis smiled.
"If you passed a moment like that, you'll find a solution for this. Sometimes, you just can't know exactly what it is. You need to let the situation develop and act when you have the opportunity. You'll figure it out. That doesn't mean there won't be bumps along the way, though. If you're prepared for chaos, and know that even your best laid plans won't go smoothly, you'll more capable of dealing with it. Obviously, I've experienced this with the SEAL Teams, but did you know it was dad who first taught it to me?"
"No." Louis shook his head.
"I understand - you were too young to remember. Dad took us to play miniature golf and we both kept missing every shot we took. Both of us got pissed off and started throwing tantrums. Dad just stood there - looking a lot like you do now, actually. That black hair of his glinting in the sun was unmistakable. Anyway, dad just looked bored. We couldn't get anything out of him. He just blankly said to us: 'You're mad because it's not fair, is it? Tough luck. The world will laugh at you and wreck what you wanted to do. So, are you gonna cry about it and fail, or will you get up and find ways to improve your chances to succeed? Remember, boys, it's the people that can suffer the most unfairness, and then change themselves to meet it, that do the best with themselves.' I might have been only 8 at the time, but it was something I always remembered. Those words stuck to me like glue during the hell that BUD/S training put me through."
"Too bad I don't remember. It would have meant more hearing it from him."
"Yeah. Dad got sick not long after that..."
The two brothers drooped their heads. The noise coming from the TV dulled in their ears.
"...Anyway..." Henry continued. "Just keep it mind. You didn't ask for this, but it's here. I don't think I need to remind you, but remember dad's words. Don't let the situation overwhelm you. You've had it under control until now. Think about how you can leverage your skills to deal with it, and action itself will take care of the rest. All you can do is have faith in yourself and your skills, and if there's anything you're good at, it's dealing with and persuading people."
After grabbing her food, Helga took a seat to the right of Louis, who sat at the head of dining room table. Olga, who sat at the other head, had prepared a full course Italian dinner for the now-crowded house.
"So..." Cecily, who sat to Louis' left, began. "...What do we want to talk about? The baby? The wedding? Anything at work? Henry's imminent promotion to lieutenant commander?"
"Eh...I'm not entirely enthusiastic about it." Henry replied. "It means I'll be spending more time with the brass and less with my brothers."
"Well your wife and your blood brother and your mother will feel much more at ease." Penelope responded.
Henry shrugged. "Eh, guess so." He smirked.
"Aw come on, mom. It's not like we haven't discussed those ad nauseum." Louis replied. "I can think of something to talk about..." He shot a knowing glance to Henry and then Helga.
"The fight!" All three chimed at once.
Olga and Penelope groaned.
"I'm so excited!" Helga squealed. "Tomorrow's the big night! Can you believe how much of a jerk Hawk was at the press conference today?! First he harasses Mari Iimura, then he punches Takamura, and then hits his trainer!"
Louis chuckled.
"And you actually found it funny!"
"Well, I can appreciate it from the business side." He replied. "Say what you want about Bryan Hawk, but he's doing a masterful job of playing the heel. You want to see him get beat up, so you want to watch his match, which means a bigger purse for him at the end of the day. It's just like what the bad guys are supposed to do in Wrestle-Mania to draw in fans. Truthfully, he's probably not smart enough to realize this, but I can appreciate it nevertheless."
"Takamura looked good, at least." Helga grumbled. "Let's just hope he makes good on his word of knocking that bum out."
"I think he will." Henry declared before taking a bite of the eggplant parmigiana on his plate. "And before I'm forced to explain myself, I want to say that this is great, Olga." He gave her a thumbs-up. "It always is a pleasure to eat one of your meals. I'm jealous that my brother gets to do it every day."
"Thank you." Olga replied, her eyes sparkling. "So...do you want to say anything else?"
'Nice try, Olga." Louis countered. "So you really think Takamura's gonna knock Hawk out? Really?"
"I get that he's had to cut like hell. That's gonna take a lot out of him." Henry replied. "But you know, when I was stationed in Okinawa earlier this year, I met this guy, Jason Ozuma. Good dude...for an army guy, that is." He smirked. "Anyway, believe it or not, Ozuma was Ippo Makunouchi's first opponent in that rookie of the year tournament he eventually won. So Ozuma has a line into the Kamogawa Gym, because he talks to Makunouchi every now and then. According to him, Takamura's been so pissed off during the cutting process that he's got nothing on his mind but killing Hawk for forcing him to go through it. So while Hawk's farting around and cavorting with women, Takamura's sole focus is ripping Hawk's head off. When I see that, I see someone with a killer instinct going up against someone that doesn't have it, despite his pretensions. Maybe Hawk's background and style can fool most people into believing he has the killer instinct, but not someone of my background. I know what it actually looks like, because I've been there before. I know what it's like to have your body scream out in pain, but you've got nothing on your mind except victory or falling where you stand. Trust me, Takamura's gonna take Hawk completely by surprise in this fight. He's gonna find a way and the punk won't know what hit him."
"Wow. I hope you're right!" Helga answered. "That would be awesome!"
"When have I ever been wrong?" He grinned.
"What I don't understand is how he lost all that weight..." Helga pondered. "I mean, it's not like the guy had a lot of fat on him."
"Well, he still could have lost a few pounds of fat. For example, Louis, how much do you weigh?" Henry shot a sarcastic glance.
"Henry!" Louis mocked in a high pitched voice, with a girly expression. "About 180, 185." He replied after the table shared a laugh.
"Yeah, I'm about the same. And I imagine you're at 8% body fat?"
"Around there."
"So you see, Helga, on Louis and myself, that would be between 14 and 15 pounds of fat still. And remember that Takamura is naturally heavier than us. So we would still be able to cut about 10 of those pounds, Takamura maybe more. Of course, if you cut those, then you'd be getting into your essential body fat, so Takamura definitely wouldn't want to be there for any longer than the day of the fight, because that's the fat your body's organs need to function properly."
"Like what kind of function?" She asked curiously.
"Your body needs a certain amount of fat to absorb nutrients, protect the nerves, build tissue, you know." Penelope said before biting into the orecchiette on the side of her chicken parmigiana. "Obviously, if you cut into that, your body will be in trouble. For men, that level is about 3 to 4% body fat, and us gals need about 11 to 12%."
"So what other weight could he possibly lose besides some marginal fat?"
"A lot of it would have been water weight." Penelope answered. "Over half of our body weight is water. Of course, a lot of that is vital, but some of it isn't. I just hope he didn't dehydrate himself to a dangerous level. I've treated people who've gone on irresponsible crash diets for that. He was probably so dehydrated that his nerve endings felt exposed because of how worn away he was during the cutting. He was also probably thinking about water so much that he couldn't sleep, which makes it even worse."
"When you put it that way, I'm surprised he'd be in any condition to fight." Helga replied.
"Trust me, I've seen people fight - and fight hard - in way worse shape." Henry answered. "Of course, most of the time they were so screwed up on drugs that they couldn't tell the difference, but that's the entire point. One of the things I learned during my SEAL training was that the body can take almost anything - a lot more than you think. The mind is your biggest enemy. One of the instructors made sure this was drilled into my skull. If it wasn't, I never would have made it. You never do unless you get that."
"But still, that's why I find it hard to imagine Takamura will win." Louis interjected. "If he had more time, maybe, but he's only had two months to get used to all this. That's gonna screw with his conditioning."
"Well, it isn't like he hasn't been training to condition his body for the new weight." Penelope replied. "That would make a difference. Still, I'm inclined to agree with you. Henry's explanations are rather strange."
"That's because you're biased to measuring things in your line of work. What I'm talking about can't be measured, because it's a feeling, a psychology that lingers over the battle space that you can't see, but you know it's there, and when it strikes, it strikes like a thunderbolt and changes things in an instant, and I'm not alone. Napoleon himself said it was three times as important as physical factors. Having been there, I agree with him."
"Henry, you've been a lot of places, but I don't think you were there with Napoleon." Cecily joked, making the table erupt in laughter.
"Well if I was, he might have won the Battle of Waterloo."
Louis laughed as Cecily rolled her eyes. "What do you think, mom?"
"I think...well, nothing about the fight itself, but I agree with what you said earlier about Hawk's behavior. It made me want to see him get beat up and I couldn't care less about the fight. Characters like him make for better television. Every program needs a good villain. If they had put me in charge of producing that fight, I'd be smiling right now, and I'd want him to do even more press conferences and public appearances to show his grating personality."
"Stick to sitcoms and documentaries, mom." Louis challenged. "I just don't see you producing a boxing pay per view."
She narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Oh yeah? I'd jump at the chance just to prove you wrong."
"Think you'll be needing music for your production, Cecily?" Olga challenged.
"Since when do boxing shows use classical music?" Louis challenged back.
"...Anyway, back to what we were saying before, Takamura's gonna have to get tired before Hawk does. There's just no getting around that. Cutting all that water weight will take a lot out of him." Penelope said.
"Agreed, but my prediction stands. Of course, the earlier he gets it done, the better, but if it goes deep, he'll have the killer instinct and morale to fight in the deep water. Trust me, Hawk won't think he'll have it." Henry replied.
"Penelope, since when were you so interested in the fight?" Helga lightly taunted.
"Well...we're talking medicine, anatomy, and physiology, that's my field. Much like Cecily and Olga, I could care less about the actual fight itself. But, hey, we're having more fun discussing this as a family than I thought we'd have. Isn't that what Christmas is supposed to be about? Why take away from it?"
Everyone at the table smiled at teach other for a moment before Helga spoke.
"Hey! All this actually reminds me! I have a biology report to do over the break. I could do mine about this! I could use the Monthly Boxing Fan and I could ask you guys about the biological aspects of the training and conditioning Takamura did for the fight - the weight loss, that stuff you said about body fat and water, all of it! Will you help me?"
"Eh? OK." Henry shrugged.
"Sure. We'd be happy to."
"Helga?"
She nearly jumped out of her seat as the table fell silent. Helga looked to her right to see her mother there, across a sizable gap, sitting to Olga's left.
"What?!" She growled involuntarily.
"If you're doing a report about athletic conditioning and what its relationship to the body, I think I might be able to help, too."
Helga snickered, her lips curling up to reveal her fangs. "What would you know, Miriam?! Penelope's a nurse. Henry's a Navy SEAL, so he's basically a professional athlete himself. What could you possibly add to it that they can't? I don't want to do my report about the effects of alcohol on the body, though if I had to talk about brain and liver damage that 'smoothies' can do over time, you'd be the queen, wouldn't you? Or maybe we could talk about how alcohol gets so addictive that it takes over your life and puts you in a position to forget your own children? You'd know a lot about that, too, right?! Or would you prefer to make a smoothie right now instead of helping in that report?"
Olga gasped. Henry, Penelope, and Cecily stared at her, wide-eyed.
Miriam's jaw dropped. She was suddenly conscious of the rest of the table besides Olga, these strangers who her daughter was evidently closer to and trusted more than her own mother. It was a visual reminder of her failure - that was the word - in everything, except making smoothies, that was. Helga had bitterly reminded her of the one thing she'd been great at. That was why she was even here to begin with, after all, drinking water while everyone else but Helga and Penelope was drinking wine, yet another reminder of how haphazardly she fit in at this table, and her own irresponsibility. Could she really blame Helga for acting this way?
No.
Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes at the realization, which finally overcame the denial she'd been in before and now recognized, a feeling she'd hoped her daughters would share, but obviously, they didn't, especially Helga.
She pushed herself away from the table and rushed from the room, sulking. Olga gasped again, while the rest of the table was still awkwardly silent, looking at Helga, then at the threshold, where Miriam just rushed from. Cecily's face grimaced. Wordlessly, but calmly, she got up and left. Helga leaned back in her chair, arms folded across her chest, suddenly feeling self-aware, as if she were turning off her autopilot program. That self-awareness crystallized when she turned to Louis, who's eyes burned green fire into her, but were still visibly calm and composed. His firm, but booming voice lent finality to the situation:
"Helga. Office. Now."