| THE BATTLER BEGINS by James Sixteen year old Jill Johnson lay on her bed talking on her cell phone with her best friend Susie. It was late and her parents were sound asleep a few rooms down, so she talked as quietly as she could. “I know, I know, Joe’s s a cool guy, good-looking, but he’s not into the things I am”, Jill said. “Like what?” Susie replied. “Well he wants to go to school yes. But he wants to go into something really techie like computer science, and make money, and I do, but...” “Yeah, and???” “Well, do you remember that mission trip I went on that I told you about?” “Yeah, to those slums somewhere, India I think it was?” “Yeah, Calcutta, India. Well, after seeing how those people live, and how we live, I cannot help but feel that someone who seeks to get into technology and get into that kind of live, well, I can’t help but feel a certain meaningless to it.” “What do you mean?” “Well, I mean we have it so good here already, I really shouldn’t strive so much to get better, because we have it better than most people.” “You mean this town? You’ve got to be kidding me.” “You would see if you went to one of these areas.” “Didn’t you talk about becoming a teacher? Wouldn’t you wind up then teaching in a town like this one?” “Well, Susie, I’ve been thinking, there is this program called Teach For America where they send new teachers to inner city schools. That’s what I want to do.” “Are you sure, Jill? It’s not always safe in those places, and you are not the most, shall we say, physical person?” “Yeah, I know, but it’s what I want to do.” “It’s your death sentence. Unless of course, Joe kills you first.” “Yeah, I just gotta find the right time to break it to him.” That time happened a few days later. After school got out, Jill and Joe went for a walk in the park next to the high school. “Jill, what did you want to tell me?” Joe asked after a few moments of awkward silence. Jill looked up, sighed, and then looked at him. “Joe you are a great guy and I love how you have reached out to me. However, our, our…” “What?” “Our dreams are different.” “What do you mean?” “You want to go upward; I want to go down to the ditches and bring people up to where we are.” “What are you talking about, Jill? You’ve always wanted to get out of this dump. You wanted a better life. What happened?” “Well, that mission trip opened the world to me. I saw things I have never seen, and it opened my eyes.” “You have seemed a bit detached since you took that trip.” There were a few moments of silence before Joe spoke again. “Why can’t you have it both? Me and all that?” “If I am going to be that light for those people, I got to be with them. I got to live with them where they are. I need to be devoted to them entirely, at least for now.” “Jill, you have always been idealistic. However, you also have to be realistic. Those places are not safe. And you...” Jill waved her hand at him, “I know, I know, little Jill, can’t take care of herself. But this burden has been put on my heart, Joe, and I believe I will be given what it takes to do it.” “Your last boyfriend beat you up pretty good. You were also assaulted by that guy outside the supermarket a few years back.” Jill did not respond; there was nothing she could say to that, those words were true. Joe hugged her. “Good luck, Jill.”, and kissed her. He walked away and left her alone in the park as the evening drew near. Once again, she was alone and felt afraid, but determined. Jill remembered those conversations as she lay now in another bed almost five years later. She was no longer a teenager in her parent’s nice suburban home, but a young adult in a small studio apartment in the inner city. Those days now seem like so long ago, yet she knew deep down she was in the right place. After recalling those conversations, she then recalled what had been mentioned in the second one, the attacks. The first was from her first boyfriend, Chuck. He had punched her, slapped her, and to add insult to injury, spit on her. Then a stranger grabbed her from behind in the supermarket parking lot, threw hew to the ground, and stomped on her several times. Both occasions she had suffered cuts, bruises, scratches, and a broken bone or two. Now, here she was years later. She raised her right hand and made a fist. The knuckles cracked. Now who would have gotten all those bruises, scrapes, and broken bones? Not her. Rather, her boyfriend’s punch would have been deflected way off to the side and he would have received one from her in the ribs and he would not have been able to breathe. Or, that fist may have been caught and pushed down so hard causing him extreme pain in his lower arm. Or, his arm could have wound up broken from the force of her pulling it down and putting pressure on his elbow once she got control of his arm. And the other guy? Well, her “butt to gut” technique would have eased the pressure of his bear hug, and she would have then lifted his hands off her and escaped; or, maybe she would have showed him a lesson and proceeded to break his hand, fingers, arm, or all of the above. Even if he did wind up getting her on the ground, he would have received a very nasty kick to the groin and/or a trip to the ground caused by her legs cutting off his balance, and once there, he would have received some knockout below to the back, rib cage, or face, whatever was exposed. Oh, the possibilities! But that was then, and this was now. She got out of bed and looked out the window. It was nighttime and the view was full of city lights, dazzling to the eyes. From her window, she could see the lights from a lot of the sites in the city she had either heard about or been to. Down at the end of the street, there was a bar that she had heard about; the Smyth Road tavern. She heard there were a lot of brawls there. Not far was a church she had started to go to. She had heard there were sometimes stragglers there who loved to hassle people for money, but she had not encountered anyone like that yet. She also saw a few scattered lights from the park where she had heard there were some muggings. Also she saw the school were she would be teaching; some violence there, too, especially by members of the sports teams. She also saw her bank where that had been a robbery or two over the years. Far away she could see the lights end where there was a huge lake on the outskirts of town; at this lake, there was a nice beach; she had heard there were some bodybuilding shows there from time to time. Turning her face back into her studio, it was time for her daily workout. After some stretching, she began practicing her self-defense. She had studied it for several years now, and this was what led to her sense of self-confidence. First, she did her blocks, high, middle, low, and cross. Then she threw some punches at her punching bag. She had learned to bring her total body weight into her punches and now men heavier than her would still be ruined by any of her punches. She thought she could hear the bag crying for mercy after several rounds of her punches. However, she had no mercy. She proceeded to then pound it with palm strikes, elbow strikes, and finally a variety of kicks, which made the bag move the most of all. She ended by imagining several scenarios from hair grabs, bear hugs, headlocks, and wrist grabs. By the end, she had worked up a sweat, and needed some fresh air. She decided to go for a walk. She put on her black leather jacket and headed outside. She had fought the battles with herself to get where she needed to be physically and emotionally. Now, little did she know, more battles were to begin. THE END |