“What?”
“They’re here for lessons,” said Tom. “I invited them. ”
“Why? And remember that you can’t defend yourself if I smother you in your sleep. ”
“Actually, I can. And I lock my bedroom door,” Tom said over his shoulder as he knelt down by the ancient black canvas bag in which he kept his equipment. He removed three battered but serviceable bokken. “I figured you’d learn better in a class setting. You know … with your friends. ”
Benny looked at his friends. Nix was staring acid death at him. Morgie had his hands cupped around his groin, pretending to scream in pain. Chong smiled thinly at him and drew a finger slowly across his throat.
“‘Friends’?” Benny echoed.
Three hours later the four of them stood on trembling legs. Sweat poured down their bodies. Their clothes were pasted to them, their hair hung in rat tails on their foreheads and the backs of their necks. Morgie could barely lift his wooden sword. Chong’s face had lost its smile a while back. Benny was wondering if it was okay to wish for a coronary. Only Nix looked relatively alert. She was as flushed and sweaty as the others, but her hands didn’t tremble as she raised her sword for the last drill.
Tom looked like he just got up from a long nap in a hammock under a shady tree.
“Okay,” Tom said. “Pair up. We’ll run through the same attack and defense we just did, but let’s see if we can take it up a notch. Don’t really try to hit one another, but make the attacks as real as you can safely manage. ”
Morgie pushed Chong out of the line, and they settled into stances. Chong was only slightly better than Morgie. He was faster, but Morgie was light on his feet for a stocky kid; he was at least twice as strong as Chong.
That left Nix and Benny as partners. Benny had avoided this all afternoon, but Nix seemed to find the pair-up faintly amusing. They squared off, raising their swords in the ritual salute and settling into their stances.
Tom called, “Hajime!” (Japanese for “Begin!”), and Benny lunged forward to deliver his attack. Nix slapped his sword aside and rapped him hard on the head. Benny saw stars.
“No,” said Tom. “We’re trying not to make contact. ”
“Oh,” said Nix distractedly. “Right. ”
22
NIX AND BENNY SWUNG AND BLOCKED, STABBED AND EVADED AS THE afternoon sun baked their skin and boiled the sweat from their pores. When Tom finally found a sliver of compassion and ended the session, they dropped where they stood. Morgie lay like a beached starfish, arms and legs spread wide, mouth open. Chong crawled under the picnic table, curled into a fetal position, and appeared to pass out. Benny limped to the oak tree whose thick trunk anchored the whole yard, slid down with a thump, kicked off his shoes, and gasped like a trout.
“Here,” Nix said, and Benny pried one eye open to see her standing there with two tall glasses of cold water. She held one out to him.
Benny hesitated.
“It’s not poisoned,” she said, “and I didn’t spit in it. ”
“Thanks. ” He took the glass and drank half of it, then looked up again. Nix was still standing there. “Have a seat. ”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Sit down before you fall down. ”
She lowered herself to the grass and sat cross-legged in the shade. Tom was in the house. The yard was still. Even the birds in the trees were too overheated to sing. There was a faint rumble of thunder way off to the west, but if there was a storm coming, then the clouds were still on the far side of the mountains.
They drank their water. Benny waved a fly away. The moment stretched.
“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time. They blinked at each other, and they almost smiled.
“You first. ” Again, both of them said it at the same moment.
Nix held up a hand. “Me first,” she said, but then she took a few seconds to get the words out. “Look … I’m sorry for being such a girl. ”
“No—”
“Let me get it out,” she interrupted, “or I won’t be able to say it. ”
“But—”