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“Yeah, kind of like those old cartoons where the chick bats her eyelashes at the guy she has a crush on.”
“Maybe he has a crush on all the wrestlers he fights, but not until after he body slams them into a table,” I added and then tried to refocus on our task. “Okay, so here’s where you’re going to pull me, or your attacker, toward you.”
Patrick wrapped his hand around my forearm and pulled me close.
“Okay, from here, you already have your attacker off balance. You’re going to hook your foot around my leg and push me backward. But don’t take your hand off me because once I’m on the ground, you can grab my throat.”
I walked him through each step again and finally ended up on the ground with his hand wrapped around my throat.
“This is good, but remember, you’ve left me open to counter. So don’t forget the knee to my gut.”
“Um, yeah. Shit. I forgot.”
“Want me to show you from the attacker role?”
“Okay, but… can we just start with me already on the ground? Like you just took me down?”
“Yeah, that’s cool.” I moved into position and then pointed to the spot on the floor where he would have landed. He gingerly lowered himself to the ground and looked up at me.
“Don’t actually knee me,” he said.
I nodded. Maybe he was hurting from some fight he’d had. I had enough strength to hover over him with my leg and knee parallel to his stomach and chest.
“So this is where I’d have my knee in your gut and my hand wrapped around your throat. From here, I’d be in complete control.”
“But I’d still have my arms to swing at you.”
“Maybe. But remember, my hand is around your neck. All I need to do is squeeze in the right place and you’d lose consciousness.” I stood and watched Patrick hold his side as he got off the ground.
“Wow. How’d you learn all of this stuff?” he asked as I gestured to the water fountain. As we walked, I explained my dedication to martial arts.
“I’ve been taking karate since kindergarten and studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a few years. It helps me a lot with wrestling for school. I have two brothers, and we’d always wrestle around.”
“Older brothers?”
“Younger. Morgan is in ninth grade and goes to our school. And our youngest brother is in elementary school still. Morgan is a green belt but doesn’t want to take classes during the school year, so he only studies karate during the summer.”
“Is the karate and jiu-jitsu stuff what makes you so strong?”
“No. I mean, it helps. But being in the gym doing weights is what helps me build muscle.”
“I need to get into a gym.”
“There’s one attached to the locker room at school. It’s free and open before and after school.”
“I didn’t know that. I’ll look into it.”
As class wrapped up, I went back over to Patrick and shook his hand again. I didn’t want him to think that we only had to act civil to one another in karate class.
“It was nice meeting you, Patrick. Maybe I’ll catch you at school next week.”
He looked at me as if I had grown two heads or something.
“Nice meeting you, Hollis.”
