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The instructor got everyone’s attention and then did a basic takedown move with one of the assistants. I realized this was for the benefit of the novices, whom I was here to help. The instructors repeated the takedown move a few times and then asked us to practice with our partners. I turned to face Patrick and realized he was taking this seriously because he was mirroring the moves the instructors had shown us. Though his body turned to face me, he kept his head facing the mirror and watched his hands go through the motions.
“Ready to try?” I asked.
“Um, yeah,” he said and nodded once at me.
“Okay, we’ll just go through the steps before the actual takedown.”
Patrick nodded and waited for me to make the first move. I brought my hand toward him and was a bit surprised when he grabbed my arm and leaned away from me. I frowned, but there was something about his expression that told me it was a gut reaction and he hadn’t meant it. I kept my arm straight and made no move to retract it, but I kept my eyes on his. Slowly, he raised his fingers off my arm and then pulled his hand away.
“Um, sorry.” Patrick’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he looked like he was thinking about something else.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Focus on me.” I brought my arm back to my side and hopefully it gave him some time to refocus. “Okay, I’m going to bring my right arm across my body so it’s next to the right side of your face,” I warned. Maybe he’d been confused with the demonstration and thought I was going to make contact and strike him. “Ready?”
“Yes, ready,” he confirmed.
I did exactly as I explained, but he still flinched and moved away.
“I’m not actually going to hit you, Patrick.”
“I know!” His chest heaved and his fists were clenched. This kid was wound tight.
“How about we try the move with you going first?”
“I don’t know how to do it.”
“I’ll talk you through it. We’ll go step by step. Okay?”
Patrick nodded and uncurled his fists. He brought his arm forward until his hand was beside my face. I spoke as I made the motions next.
“Good. Okay, so if you were the attacker, I’d grab your arm and pull you toward me—”
When I lightly pulled him toward me, he came out of his stance and pushed my chest. We stared at one another. I was confused as fuck. Didn’t he want to learn this? He looked extremely frustrated with me. Was he just scared of being hit?
“You saw the demonstrations. You know I’m not actually going to hit you or do anything with aggressive force.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said through gritted teeth.
I was at a loss. If he knew this, why was he still reacting this way? The instructor’s assistant walked by, and I asked him if we could do another few demonstrations for Patrick. We each played the role of the defender and attacker twice so Patrick could watch it again up close.
“Ready?” I asked Patrick when the assistant walked away.
“Yes. Can you be the attacker?”
“Yep.” I made a slow, overexaggerated motion over his shoulder. It made him laugh. This Patrick kid laughed!
“Just like the funny moves the wrestlers on TV make,” he said.
“Dude, I love wrestling,” I said as I waited for him to make the counter move.
“Me too. I watched this morning before I came over here.”
“I did too!”
We had something in common. Suddenly, he didn’t seem so resentful or hateful toward me.
“What did you think of The Undertaker?” he asked.
“The guy is built like a monster. He’s huge. I’m not sure about that weird eye flutter thing he does, though.”
