Renegade World: Future Past (18 page)

Father Cassidy just smiled at her and then asked her dad,
“When will you be signing her up for our children’s program?”

As her dad shrugged, Father Collins said, “Naami’s an
extraordinary child. From our chats, I’d say she understands our services as
well as many of our adult parishioners.”

As the younger priest opened his mouth to speak, Father
Collins held up his hand. “Spend twenty minutes with her sometime before you
try to convince her.” He laughed. “Be prepared to argue theology in Latin.”

Naami waved to Father Collins as she backed away; she’d had
enough of the conversation. As she looked around for Raul, she felt a tap on
her back.

 Raul grinned at her. “I’ve already finished my homework. Can
you play this afternoon?”

“I’m going out to lunch with my dad, but I can play after
that. What do you want to do?”

“How about going for a bike ride? It might be the last
chance we get before it snows.”

“Sure. I’ll message you when we finish eating, and we can
figure out when to meet.”

Raul glanced up at something behind her. She turned and saw
a drone.
Abraham?

Got it.

A
fter she got home from having lunch with her dad, she
changed and rode her bike over to Raul’s. He and his mom were still living with
his mom’s sister whose husband was a Marine like Raul’s dad. As she got closer,
she messaged Raul that she was almost there.

Raul was waiting with his mom in the gravel driveway near
the front of the detached three car garage. Sitting at the edge of town next to
a cornfield, the old, white house and two-story garage looked well preserved.
She hadn’t been out here before, but Raul had showed her pictures of the house
before and after his uncle Joe had fixed it up.

“Hi, Raul. Hi, Camila. This is a cool house, not boring
like most of the newer homes. I like the long porch.”

Raul pointed to a hammock at the far end of the porch.
“Sometimes Mom lets me sleep outside in the hammock.”

Camila rubbed her arms. “You’ll have to wait for spring to
do that again. I’m going back in the house. Have fun, but be careful. I’ll see
you tomorrow morning, Naami. Eggs over easy and sausage, right?”

“Right. Bye, Camila.”  She started down the driveway.

“Bye, Mom.” He pedaled after Naami. “Where are we going?’

“Let’s go out of town. I know this road. It’s got a good
shoulder for riding.”

Raul pulled up alongside her. “Is it true that you always
have the same thing for breakfast? I mean based on the day of the week.”

“Not always, but I usually have eggs over easy with sausage
on Monday. Tuesdays, I have French toast. Thursdays, and Saturdays, I have
yogurt, cereal, and fruit. Wednesdays and Fridays, I have omelets. Sundays, I
have hot cereal and yogurt.”

“Doesn’t that get boring? Don’t you wake up sometimes and
like want something else?”

“Never. I eat because I’m hungry, not because I want
something. Well, I guess sometimes I want hot peppers.” She giggled. “Mom says
I’ve burned out my taste buds because I eat so many hot peppers.”

“I like hot peppers too, just like my dad.”

They rode out to Rebeka Lee’s farm. Raul pointed to the
windmills. “Those are some big windmills.”

“My cousin, Rebeka Lee, and some other people I know own
those.” She pointed at the farm house. “And that’s where she lives. I’ve been
to her house because we are cousins.” She pointed at the archery range. “And
next year I’m going to convince her to teach me how to shoot a bow.”

“Can she teach me too?”

“Sure. We can learn together.”

“My Uncle Joe gave me a couple of lessons on how to shoot a
gun. All he let me do is dry fire. That’s when you shoot a gun without any
bullets in it. He left me a pistol and a carbine to practice with, but it’s
kind of boring. He promised he’d take me shooting for real when I turn ten.”

“I’d like to see your carbine and pistol.”

“I’ll show it to you when we get back to my house. Brrr.
It’s getting colder. Let’s head back now.”

Abraham, gather tutorials on the best techniques for
shooting a gun and on dry firing.

As they rode back past rows and rows of brown dried out
corn, Naami wondered about Raul’s family.
I’d miss Dad if he were gone as
long as Raul’s dad. I wonder how much Raul misses his dad.
” She debated
about asking him.

“Raul? Do you miss your dad?”

“I miss him a lot. It’s been worse these last two weeks because
we haven’t been able to talk with him or my uncle.”

“How come?”

“He told us that he might be out of touch for a while, but
he couldn’t say why. I think he’s on some kind of secret mission.”

“I thought most of the troops were being withdrawn.”

“My dad believes that most troops will be out by the end of
the year. He and Uncle Joe still hope to be home by Christmas.”

She wondered once again why Raul and his mom used her
maiden name. She hesitated but decided to ask. “Raul? Why didn’t your mom take
your dad’s last name?”

“Um.” He slowed to a stop and looked around.

Curious, Naami looked too. She looked to her left and
didn’t see anything, but as she looked to her right, her peripheral vision
picked up a flicker of movement down one of the rows of corn.
Abraham, slow
down the last twenty seconds of video.
She watched the replay in slow
motion.
Freeze and enhance.
She put her finger to her lips as she
pretended to stare down a row of corn.

“You spooked me, Raul. I thought I saw someone spying on
us.” What she had seen wasn’t a person but a dragonfly. The dragonfly didn’t
look real to her.
Abraham, could that be spying on us?

Artificial dragonflies do exist. I have video of one
developed by ANT.

ANT?
She suddenly wondered if all of the drone
activity was her parents keeping track of her.
I’m going to ask Dad.
She
doubted that it was her dad’s doing, but he couldn’t hide anything from her.
Now her mom was a different story. Naami couldn’t read her.

E
rica's mom looked over and watched Erica sleep in the
seat next to her. They were coming home from the Junior Olympic Qualifiers. The
flight from LA had been on time, but their Denver connecting flight was over
two hours late taking off for Bismarck. Erica had been sleeping soundly since
before they took off.

Ann could never sleep when she flew. She smiled as she
watched her daughter, proud of all that Erica had learned from her.  She had
coached several world class fencers over the years, and to her surprise, Erica
was as coachable as any of them. Although she had shared most of what she knew
with her other students, there were a few tricks that she had saved in case
Erica took up the saber.

Ann had never pushed Erica to take it up. She had let Erica
watch as she gave private lessons to other students, and she also let Erica
watch video of her saber competitions, including several world championships.
Her one disappointment was that she had never won the gold in the Olympics.
While Ann would have given up her two silvers for one gold, Erica's goal to win
an Olympic gold in saber was Erica's alone.

Ann considered the saber a small part of her life, never
promoting herself or seeking out students. She had a small clinic that worked
with individuals who had been injured or had other disabling conditions,
helping them regain or at least improve their physical function. She also
taught Yoga and Yang-Style Tai Chi.

On this trip, Erica had taken first place in the Cadet
Under 17 Women’s saber. She had also qualified in the Junior Under 20 division,
finishing second. The Junior Olympic Championships were to be held in Charlotte
in February.

Within the next four years, Ann knew she would be finished
coaching her daughter.  She had planned on retiring from coaching, but she
might make an exception for Anita Evangelista-Schmidt's daughter Naami.

Ann had convinced Anita to take up Yoga many years ago to
help her relax. After the Schmidts had moved back here at the beginning of last
summer, Anita had called her and asked if she and her daughter could take Ann's
Yoga class together. Ann told her that she could give it a try, privately
doubting that her daughter would have the patience for a yoga class.

Ann was shocked not only by the little girl's patience but
by her strength and precise postures.  “Where did you learn Yoga?” she had
asked.

“I watched you and my mom, and then I did just what you
did.”

Ann had looked at Anita who just shrugged as if it was no
big deal.

After the Yoga class, Ann taught a Tai Chi class. Naami had
asked if they could stay and watch. Naami had more patience than her Mom. After
letting her watch the class do the thirty-seven posture seventy-move Yang Style
Form and the Yang Style Saber Form, Anita had insisted they had to leave. Ann had
heard Naami tell her mom that the saber was the coolest.

Naami watched the Tai Chi classes after the next two Yoga
classes too. Her mom left, and her nanny came and stayed with her. After the
third Tai Chi class, Ann asked Naami if she thought she would be able to learn
the Tai Chi form someday.

Naami’s answer had brought a disbelieving smile to her
face. “I can do them now. Not as good as you, though.”

Naami's nanny had rolled her eyes and then nodded.

Ann had asked her to show her what she could do. She
watched with disbelief as Naami went through all seventy moves, disbelief not
that the girl could remember more than a few of the seventy moves, but rather
that anyone could learn all seventy moves in just over a week. Then her nanny
had handed her a small play sword, and she demonstrated the sword form as well.

Naami had attended Yoga and Tai Chi for the rest of the
summer. Ann had also taught Naami a staff form that she didn't usually teach
her students.

The week before school, Naami had convinced Erica to let
her watch Erica's saber lessons. After the
third lesson, Ann had been discussing strategy with Erica when she saw Naami
pick up a saber and pantomime the techniques that they had been working on. Her execution was
precise and explosive.

Naami had not watched Erica or come to Tai Chi since school
started, and Ann never heard her say anything about wanting to take up fencing,
but if she ever did, Ann would make an exception.

N
aami convinced Eddie and Raul to join the studio at the
beginning of February.  She thought she had convinced Kim too, but Kim’s mom
said she would have to wait for the summer.

Mr. Hyon watched Raul and Eddie closely as he drilled the
class on kicks and punches. “Your technique is very good for your first class.”
He looked at the twins. “Have you been teaching your brother?”

“Not us,” they answered together.

Naami saw Mr. Hyon look towards her, and she put on her
best innocent face.

The class worked on forms for the last twenty minutes of
class. Mr. Hyon went through the white belt form with the boys twice while the
rest of the class worked individually on their own forms. Then he had Naami and
the twins each take a turn working with them as he observed the other students.

At the end of class, Mr. Hyon bowed the students out. “Remember
there is a test on Saturday.”

Naami turned and saw Kim waving at them from the
observation area. “It’s not fair that I have to wait until summer.”

Naami and the boys walked out to her. “Well, we can still
play Ultimate Martial Arts.” She lowered her voice. “If you want, I can teach
you some more stuff before the summer.”

She turned to Eddie and Raul. “Kim and I have gymnastics
when you guys have your next class so I won't see you in class until next week.
Once you earn your green belts we can come to more classes together.”

K
im and the boys sat down in the front row of the
audience for Saturday's test as Mr. Hyon announced, “Line up in three rows of
four by rank facing us, please. Most of you know Ms. Johnson and Mr. Rude. We will
be the judges for this test.” He waited for the students to line up. “Feet
together! Bow!” The students and judges bowed. “Line up across from a partner
in two rows, one row facing the mirror. Those facing the mirror, please get a
target, line back up, and prepare to hold.”

He watched his students line up across from a partner.
Naami's partner was Billy, an eleven-year-old, who was testing for his second-degree
brown belt. He held the bright red, nylon-covered foam target in front of him.
Unlike most of the students, Billy apparently did not feel the need to take a
deep, strong stance while holding.

Mr. Hyon walked up and down the row, stopping a couple of
feet behind Billy. “Right foot back fighting stance! First kick, rear leg front
thrust kick on my count.” He waited briefly and noted that several holders
deepened their stances but not Billy. Mr. Hyon smiled as he yelled, “One!” He
watched Naami accelerate her rear leg and almost instantaneously explode the
ball of her foot into the target. Billy fell backward, and Mr. Hyon grabbed him
by the arm, keeping him from hitting the floor.

Billy's face turned red. He got back in position to receive
Naami's next kick. This time, he was in a deep front stance. Mr. Hyon resumed
calling out the kicks. The target popped with the impact of each of her other
kicks and slid him back slightly each time, but he kept his balance.

Mr. Hyon called out, “Switch holders!” As all of the
holders readied themselves, he walked over behind Naami, watching Billy's
expression and body language. Billy definitely wanted revenge. “One!” Billy
launched his kick. In spite of his larger size, the lower acceleration of his
foot as it impacted the target barely moved Naami back. As Mr. Hyon continued
to call out the kicks, Billy tried to kick even harder, but his kicks actually
got slower. On his last kick, he almost lost his balance.