As she passed by the strip mall's parking lot, Bunny was only too glad to see most of the spaces were occupied. But nothing equaled the pride she felt in seeing the bright yellow letters spelling out "Bravo Gym". Carefully driving her Cadillac around the back, she pulled up to the rear entrance and wrestled with the old parking brake for a minute before she was finally satisfied.
"Gonna need to get that fixed one of these days." Said Bunny, sharply exhaling through her nose in disappointment. Carefully exiting the car, Bunny smoothed out the fabric of the black dress she had picked up at the bargain clothing store earlier that day and would likely be returning before closing time.
Using her key on the back door, she walked into the office and looked out on the floor of the dojo wing where her son Johnny was instructing the junior class, though she could never remember if Tuesdays were Karate or Jiu-Jitsu. On the desk, before her lay the monthly accounting report, all the printed figures on the Gym's membership and expenses calculated and undersigned by Carl C.
"Another month barely in the black." Sighed Bunny, putting the ledger down. "Business has all the risk of gambling with none of the thrill. But there are some nice parts."
Looking up, she saw students pair off and practice throwing one another over their shoulders. Standing up to give a wave through the window, Johnny acknowledged her presence before turning his attention to Suzy, the little redhead, helping her work on planting her feet into the mat and standing properly to get the right center of balance for her turn at a throw. A few attempts later and she pulled off the move successfully with the rest of the class, prompting cheers and pats on the back.
"And on that note, it's top of the hour." Johnny declared to the class, pointing out a group of parents waiting outside. "Rise, bow, and dismissed. See you again on Thursday."
The departing students calling him "Sensei Bravo" would always put a smile on his face. With respectful bows, the students grabbed their bags and filtered out of the dojo, leaving Johnny to pick up the mats and store them in the closet. After the mats were away, he got out the broom and started sweeping the wooden floor. With the flip of a switch, Bunny turned on the radio, allowing Johnny to work to the music that was playing on the main floor of the Gym. Spinning around the broom handle as a dance partner, Johnny then pretended to sing along with the classic rock song. Once the room was cleaned to his satisfaction, Johnny wiped his brow and came into the office.
"Whoa now! Who is this classy dame sitting in my office? You look like you walked out of some Detective novel. My mama warned me about women like you, flame fumitories, I think." Said Johnny, teasingly.
"That's femme fatales Johnny." Said Bunny with a chuckle.
"Yeah, that's what I said." Said Johnny, who paused for a moment before continuing. "So, how was it?"
"The wake?" Said Bunny, her sister Jebedissa had opted not to have a burial. Her ashes were on display at the old family home in the northern hills, before they would be placed in the family crypt on the property with their ancestors. "It was about what I expected."
"That bad huh?" Said Johnny, changing out of his gi and into a black t-shirt. "As much as I didn't want to go, it all happened so fast I couldn't have canceled classes even if we needed to be there."
"My sister never wanted much to do with either of us, and she wasn't the only family member who felt that way." Said Bunny, leaning back to sit against the office desk. "I saw my aunt and uncles at the wake, sitting in their gilded wheelchairs. Not a one of them had a tear in their eye, the only sign of life I could recognize were their hateful stares. And not only them, but my cousins as well." Letting out a sigh, she shook her head to release the tense memory. "Is it any wonder why I prefer our family back in the old country?"
"Not at all. There are some good Bravos back in Scotland and Ireland." Said Johnny, putting a sweatband across his forehead before checking his hair in the large mirror on the wall. "So, they're just in town to see about Aunt Jebedissa's will, right? After that they're leaving to go back up to Reno, or wherever it is they live."
"Something like that." Sad Bunny, motioning for Johnny to follow her outside. "Come with me Johnny, I've got a few boxes I got from my old room that I brought with me."
"You still had stuff in that old house?" Asked Johnny.
"Jebedissa and I were never on good terms, even as kids, but we always respected each other's privacy. I managed to save a few old family albums and knick-knacks from my grandmother. Nothing fancy, but we've got so many boxes at the house they'd get lost in the shuffle."
"I told you there was no need to bring back all that stuff from when we lived in India." Said Johnny, stepping out into the afternoon sun and walking to the trunk of the Cadillac. "You brought back almost an entire film studio with you."
"Oh, you never know when you might need that stuff, not to mention the collector's value." Bunny chuckled as she unlocked the rear of the car.
Looking down, Johnny saw the two boxes his mother had mentioned. One had a large binder with a flowery cloth embroidered on the cover with the word Album intricately sewn on. The other just looked like a box of books, one of which seemed like an adventure title with the letters "journ" on the cover. Carefully lifting the two boxes, he waited for his mother to open the door and followed her inside.
"Just put those in my employee locker. All I keep in there is a change of sweats I never use anyways." Upon opening the locker, a sizeable stack of clothes tumbled to the floor, prompting an "Oops, forgot about those." from Bunny.
"Let's just put these in Carl's locker. We gave him a locker, but he's got an office at that firm of his or whatever." Gently setting the boxes down, Johnny closed the locker before grabbing a cloth bag and scooping up his mother's clothes and wrapping them up neatly. "How about I run these by the laundromat on my way home?"
"That would be awfully kind of you." Said Bunny, giving her son's cheek a pinch.
With a nod, Johnny grabbed a couple of elastic bands and began some warm-up stretches. As Bunny quietly paced around.
"You still troubled about the wake mama?"
"There were a lot of faces there I haven't seen in years, and even more that I couldn't recognize at all. We own a lot of property up in those hills. Most likely they're all a bunch of landgrabbers hoping to buy out our family's property. Part of that makes me sad, but the other part makes me think that maybe our family name still means something."
"From the Italian for bold." Said Johnny, giving his mother a knowing smile.
"And never forget it." Said Bunny, walking to the mirror to see how she looked in the dress. "On second thought, maybe I'll keep this dress. It's slimming."
"Just don't let Chris see you in it. The last thing I need is for you to break another client's heart." Johnny teased his mother.
"Oh, is that why you're doing your stretching now? You've got an evening workout session with Chris H?"
"His last name starts with an H? No wonder I can never remember it. You know I can't keep track of all those movie stars."
"Just remember to get a post workout video up on Instagram and social media. Those bring in more customers to the gym than those silly television commercials you used to do."
"I worked hard on those commercials." Said Johnny, remembering the series of choreographed stunts and comedic pratfalls he had filmed to promote his gym before they had opened. He had been particularly proud of the one where he arm-wrestled an elephant's trunk. "I'll remember mama, promise."
"Good boy." Sad Bunny as she got up to leave.
Left alone in the office, Johnny finished up his stretches before taking a seat. Picking up a grip trainer, he finally had a moment to think about the passing of his Aunt. The few childhood summers he remembered up at the family ranch, and his aunt's strange habit of playing cruel practical jokes. His grandmother's soft gray hair and kind eyes, the only relative other than his mother he had realized liked him. The last time he had gone up there was a hard memory to revisit. Closing his eyes, Johnny opened the bottom drawer in his desk and blinked away the memories as he looked down at the portrait he kept there.
A knock on the window brought his attention back to the present. The painfully handsome features of the man on the other side of the glass were unmistakable. Every time Chris came to the Gym, Johnny had to remind himself that one of these days he had to visit Australia to see if his friend Chris was the exception or the rule.
"Johnny, my man!" Chris said, opening the door to the office and taking Johnny's hand in a mid-air grasp. Once Chris had tried to repeat the line from that famous 80s action movie, but Johnny had been quick to correct any such language or implications about his mother.
"Chris, I heard about your latest movie. Congratulations on the success."
"Oh, you know how it is Johnny. A collaborative process, so many people involved. Would they all be lost without me, of course not. But there's no denying that they're better off with me involved." Turning his head, Chris motioned to the open floor of the dojo. "I hope you don't mind, but a couple of friends of mine tagged along wanting to check out our training session."
"I don't know man. I mean, sure it's been great doing sessions with you on the down low, and yeah, I've advertised it to help my gym's business. But I don't know if I want to make this a regular thing." Johnny paused for a moment looking out the window at where two others were waiting.
"So, I should tell my friends Robyn and Martin that we're doing a private session tonight?" Said Chris.
Johnny paused to look closer outside, recognizing the attractive woman as a famous R&B singer and the man as an English actor. It did not take but two seconds for Johnny to think about the matter.
"Well, it would be rude to turn them away. I'm sure we can work something out with them." Chris smiled at the news and went out to tell the good news to his friend. Bending over to lift a stack of four medicine balls, Johnny took a moment to slowly close his desk drawer before walking out to his dojo to greet his evening's exercise partners.