Chapter 9: Grounded

 

 

The clothes that were in there had all been meant for Jake. I dressed in a nice green flannel and rolled the sleeves up to my forearms.

As for pants, I managed to curl each hose up to my calves on a pair of jeans -- to clarify it more, those were pant legs. A belt was cinched tightly beyond their slotted band, but I could reloop it into a frictus-knot.

It paid to have resourceful grandparents.

Padding on bare feet across the floor, I intended to make my way straight to the kitchen. But I heard someone in the game room, and the noises I heard made me stop.

It sounded like solid flesh impacting against something firm. And there were grunts, heavy exhalings, and the squeak of feet shifting across the floor far too quickly.

Turning from the kitchen's path, I chose to satisfy my curiosity about the reason behind all that ruckus.

Wearing gloves, the younger brother, Karl, was beating up a massive bag held up by a weighted balance on the bottom. To be more precise, it was a boxing bag.

From how he was moving, I could tell that this was more than just exercise for him. He was letting off steam.

Karl caught the bag and turned to look at me standing at the entrance.

He huffed before saying, "Hey... Come in."

Being beckoned over, I walked in. He had a look that made me wary of him.

"You... okay, hold on." An exhausted laughter rang out of him and he took a breather to recover and relax against the bag. He was obviously out of breath.

Taking my time, I observed that he wore dress pants and a white buttoned-shirt, now stained with sweat. Not at all sure why he was dressed like that and was polishing his knuckles, I kept my mouth shut about it.

Since he was taking a little more time to recover, I walked to lean back against a wall and waited for him. It took a minute which told me he didn't know how to breathe properly. In that case, either he was putting on a show or he truly was ignorant.

Straightening back up, he looked me over once before he resumed smacking his fists casually into the bag. "You scared the shit out of me last night."

That shocked me. "What did I do?"

"Lied.”

“I did?” I had to wonder about that for a moment until I realized what he might be alluding to… my gender.

“Lied on everything that I investigated. Hell, I don't know how you pulled it off, and I'll tell you, I'm not pissed about it one bit.”

With a loud smack, he winced as his wrist twisted with a bad punch.

“I'm honestly impressed," he grunted, and another punch went straight into the body of the bag. It was knocked away for a split second before it sprang back.

But it was plain as day that he was upset.

I tried to be honest, "I-- I didn't forge anything."

"Not entirely, I suspect. Probably your Chinese parents thought it was best to raise'ya up as a boy?” At that being mentioned, I looked down at the floor and kept quiet. “Did they think that would get ya a better career?"

A much louder smack echoed through the room and I heard the back of the bag brushing floor. I didn’t see it, but there was no way he hit that bag by snapping his fist at it.

"No issue with that,” he stated. “We all do what we can for a better station in life. Anything to survive.” He went on to say, “Even if it means cheating, eh?"

That was what this was about!?

“My scores are genuine!” As I shouted, I averted my gaze from the floor and stared directly at him.

He was tiring out again. Too quickly to put up a fight. I realized that if he was dangerous, I'd know how to bring him down at least.

Stories of strangers filled my head. My parents’ words, that I should beware of people I didn’t know.

From school, I had an idea who Karl was, but not outside in the real world. <i>’Is he dangerous?’</i> I wondered.

Even if he was, I wasn’t backing down from where I came from and what I had to do to get to where I was now. But I didn't want Jake's brother feeling this way about me either.

He probably figured that out and that was why he was venting his anger on that sandbag.

“I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. I studied hard to get where I am.”

“Okay. I’ll bel-- believe ya.” He really needed to learn how to punch and breathe at the same time. In his own time, he probably could learn how to properly breathe, but how he was practicing his punching didn't look right. He kept swinging at odd angles.

And if he twisted his wrist like that one more time, I could imagine something snapping.

"Karl, may I show you something?" Pushing myself away from the wall, I stood and waited for him to relax before I dared to approach him. I didn't want to trigger off an aggressive response while he was all worked up.

He took a step back from the bag and I waited until the tense muscles in his shoulders went down.

"Yeah, what'sup?" He tilted his head back and breathed in deeply before he let out a, <i>“Woo!”</i>

"First, before I show you, what is your aim? I mean, your goal." I nodded to him, but gestured at the boxing bag.

"I'm leaving the country and need to get in shape for... whatever, and whoever, gets in my way."

“In your way…?”

“Yeah. I’m about to meet a bunch of unhappy campers in my university.” In disbelief, I gawked at him when he stated that he owned a university.

After absorbing that information, I knew what to show him and how he should be practicing. To start, he was aiming for sport when he really needed to know how to fight.

"Boxing is a fair game. But you want to take someone down." I held out my arm and opened my palm to face him. "Press your shoulder into my palm."

"Kung-fu?” He smirked at me and tried to explain to me, “I don't think I've got the time for that. One solid punch --"

"Will land your back in the dirt after being tackled. Football players practice that, being less than a foot from their opponent, and they can lift all hundreds of those pounds clear over their shoulders.” I smiled and shrugged. “Sumo wrestlers do the same thing.” Then I shook my head, regretting my hangover headache. So I had cut to the chase and said, “An average man can really knock you flat on your back."

Again, I waved my palm to beckon him over to me.

When he looked at me funny, like I was wasting his time, I had to smile and say, “In your case, I bet a small girl could do it, too.”

That did the trick. Karl walked over with a shrug and appeared to stand taller for me. I supposed he wanted to look indomitable, but then he leaned his shoulder into my palm and said, "Now what?"

I started the lesson by stating: "Push against me."

He did and I had to take a step back on one foot, but with me bracing against his shoulder, I could use my other foot to swing and sweep him off his feet.

He landed on the ground with a -THWACK- and a grunt. I didn't know if he was glaring up at me or if that was how he expressed pain. As he just laid there, neither of us said anything. We just stared at each other silently until his attention on me was broken momentarily to when he tried to get up.

Within the moment, before he could get up, I kicked again and he fell right back down on his ass. He stared up at me in disbelief at to what I had just done.

I offered him a hand this time, and he looked away from me to focus on that hand.

...Again, as he was about to get up with a helping hand, I let go just as I once more swept him off his feet.

"Fine, fair... I get it. Play dirty." He grinned, kept his eyes on me, and got back on his feet. "How?"

"Where there is conflict, there is a way to avoid it.” I shrugged and stated: “That works both peacefully and not. If I trick you and take the advantage, you are less likely to get up and fight."

“Okay, what if’yer on the other end?”

That was a good question, so I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Try."

It was my turn to take a fall.

As I Pushed against him, he did the exact same thing that I did and I fell, but not without catching his ankle in mid-swing and tugging in the direction he was kicking.

He lost balance and fell back again, but I still held his leg and gave him a little twist on his ankle to show him what I could do. It was one thing to fall and know it was coming versus falling in surprise and never being able to get up. And I got up before he did, which still gave me an advantage over him.

Compared to what my grandparents taught me, I was going light on him.

"Oppose the conflict by avoiding it. That also means, go where they least expect.” I tapped the side of my temple and said, “Just think. You’re bigger than me, and I took you down twice." And as a finale, I gave him the point of this lesson. “No fancy moves, stances, or techniques. Use common sense, take advantage of every situation, use all that you have at your disposal, and waste no time.”

“Really?” Despite what I had said and done to him, he didn’t sound convinced.

I made sure he saw the clenched fist I was making above his head. “This shows I want to fight. But if I want to take you down, I can’t fight fairly.” I knelt down by him and directly asked: “Do you think a group of people will line up and fight you one-on-one?”

He had a quick response. “Hey, I’m not a sitting duck waiting for them to come to me --”

“Even if you struck first, a golden goose wouldn't fairly survive the encounter with a fox.” Interrupting him, I stood back up. “Unless you can fly off, or you're still sticking with your flock, I’d request you to think hard before you act out on whatever you plan to do in that country.” With a smirk right back at him, I mentioned, “Or you might have a little fox leaving you permanently grounded.”

Karl didn't appear to be at all that angry at me taking him down a notch. In fact, he was grinning ear-to-ear.

"Sure thing, sensei." After a laugh came from him, he continued, "I'll be sure to teach the locals a few lessons in ‘Way of the Slums.’"

...He was a rich, entitled, prick afterall.

When he got to his feet, I saw that Jake had been watching us from the doorway.

"Jiang, are you ready to eat?" As the older brother asked me that, he had his eyes casted down on the younger brother.

Looking back at Karl, I saw he smiled and nodded at me, which I took as the end of our little meeting. I decided to back up as I headed my way to Jake, not entirely sure if Karl would try to one-up me with my back turned.

Karl, laughing and giving me a wink, had silently told me that was exactly on his mind, but he waved an open palm at me and then pointed at the bigger man behind me. I supposed that if he did decide to take me down in front of his big brother, that would cause health problems for him.

An arm slipped around my shoulders and carefully pulled me to him, to be guided out of the game room.

We headed for the kitchen, but before we reached there, Jake directed me to a section in the living room that I had overlooked. That section had a dining table, which was at the far corner and beside the archway to the kitchen.

Reflecting back on what I remembered last night, I supposed there must have been a crowd blocking that area.

On the round table sat two dishes, both with a plate covering their contents to keep them to be hot and steamy. When the plates were lifted up, the meals appeared to be colorful; cut green beans, a still steamy orange colored sweet potato that was halved and kept within the foil, and a yellow spiced fillet of fish with just a hint of brown fried coat on top.

After prodding the flaking fish with my silverware, I found rice beneath it. And I also discovered how deliciously the spice complimented the fish after just one bite.

"Not to be rude, but I don't think it was a good idea to teach Karl something like that." Of course, Jake decided to talk to me while I had my mouth full.

But he might have been right. After witnessing his younger brother's delighted response to my teaching, I would have to agree.

After swallowing, I said, "I know now, but him leaving the country and encountering trouble, especially looking for it…” That was coming out wrong, so I corrected myself. “Look, he showed a huge lack of skill, and that would get him more hurt by simply continuing to practice that way before he ever left the country."

He snorted a restrained laugh before he found his resolve to ask, "Where did you learn to fight?"

It took me a moment to respond, "...After the Second World War, my grandparents lived in a region of Tibet called Chuanbian. It isn't called that anymore.” I placed my silverware down to properly address this bit of history. “The Chinese government, through violence, took over and turned it into an entirely different province. My grandparents had to learn to defend themselves, but they escaped when there was no hope of retaking their home.” As I looked down at myself, thinking about the person I used to be, I said, “I learned what they taught me."

"So, that makes you second generation?"

"First, my mother still has a Visa, but my dad had been born just before my parents left the country. He's been here long enough."

"I guess this is my first time meeting a Tibetan American."

I shrugged and spoke softer, "Easier saying Chinese American. Less explaining and less complications."

And I was about to resume eating, but I paused before I stuffed anymore of this outstanding food in my mouth. Jake looked like he had more to say, and I wanted to be able to respond when he did.

"Jiang?" I knew it, and setting down my fork before I took another bite, I paid closer attention to him. "Forgive me, but Karl said you were struggling to live on your own."

...How should I respond to that!?

After considering that Karl intended to reward our lot from last night’s game, it did become his business to know our financial and domestic circumstances. I supposed he wanted to improve our situation for a better investment.

Once I reasoned that out, I silently nodded so as to tell Jake that he was correct. He sighed and nodded, and silently waited as if he was working up the courage to make a decision.

And he finally said it. "Would it bother you to stay with me? At least, until you are better off?"

A spark of hope, electric, best described as a surge of excitement had shocked through my entire body when he said that.

I had to consider that this would be going backwards. To be clear, I was moving away from my goal of gaining independence, but the more I thought of it that way, the more I lost the feeling of excitement. Instead, I thought of how it would be if I stayed with him.

If I did, I had to be careful not to fall into an enabling trap. I still had to learn how to take care of myself. But having him at my side would make me happy.

Then there was my biggest problem. I had lost a part of my identity. Technically, I no longer existed, but he knew who I was. So did his brother.

They were both here and could help me. Not only that, but I knew if this issue inflated, I didn’t want to handle it alone. I possibly could manage whatever came my way on my own, but I didn’t know how well I’d cope with the aftermath of it.

Just looking at him purged the paranoia from my mind and filled me with a treasured warmth.

As I focused on that, on him, I couldn't sit still anymore.

"May I?" I was shaking, and feeling antsy as I stood up and out of my chair, walked to his side and waited for his answer. A strong arm curled around my waist and pulled me in, taking me by surprise, and I fell forward, but he caught me.

As I leaned with my burden upon his chest and shoulder, I realized Jake's smile was all the answer I needed...