JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi by Daniel Linden (classic books for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

instant that you could ever in your dreams do what they do. Just respect it and be amazed and carry on.”

“But what about other women?” he asked.

“Son, you’re going to be too tired. Forget about it.”

“So do you want Curtis and Chris to go?” he asked again.

“I do.”

“Okay,” he said.

“You don’t?”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” he said.

“Then you call them and tell them you would like them to join us,” I said.

He stood there looking at me for a moment. Something was up. “What?” I asked.

“Um, well, there is something. Celine wants to go. She says her sister wants to go, too.”

Christ on a crutch! Women? That’s what this was about? That complicates things. I thought a moment. But maybe, not that much. Not really. Women have a wonderfully civilizing effect on men. Men won’t do or say many things they normally would if a woman is present. It might actually make the trip better. And Celine is tough, well educated, an experienced traveler – she comes from Izmir, Turkey and began her training there with my old friend Mustafa Aygun, Sensei. And, she is very attractive. Half the young guys in the dojo have either gone on dates with her or wanted to, but she won’t have a relationship with anyone who trains in aikido. I didn’t need to ask her why. Those kinds of things tend to be self-evident. I thought about it, holding the idea up to the sun, letting the bright light of day sift though the equation. Why not?

“Do you think you can stand being around her for a month?”

He actually blushed. “Sure!”

“I thought you had a girlfriend.”

“She’s been gone for months. I’ve had a couple since.”

“Christian, don’t complicate things. If this is some bright idea that you have and think you are going to seduce her on the trip it might make for a really rocky trip.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, she’s not interested in me, maybe Chris, but other women feel safer when other hot chicks are around. You know?”

I didn’t, and suddenly didn’t want to.

“Do you want her and her sister to go?” I didn’t even know she had a sister. “Where is she?”

“She’s in Turkey.”

“So what, we go to Turkey and get her? We meet her in Kathmandu? We go see my old buddy and do a little seminar in Istanbul?” That sounded like fun.

“Well, Celine doesn’t have any of her stuff here for that kind of traveling, so she has to go home and get it. I guess she’s spent a lot of time trekking in the Alps and the Pyrenees. She likes mountain trekking and got really excited by the idea of the trip to the Himalayas, but didn’t want to ask you. I think she’s afraid of you. But it seems like she’s really been around and she and her sister have gone all over.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“We have to fly right past Istanbul to get to Kathmandu.”

I smiled. He had been studying maps. That’s good.

“So we could fly there together with Celine, and get her sister and all their gear and then go from there.”

“Okay,” I said. “It sounds good to me.”

I really haven’t a clue why he blushed again.

Chapter 6

Patience

Restless and bored I called my old friend Arthur down in St. Petersburg. It was August and the trip was planned for October so we had a lot of time. I get tired of planning and then revisiting my plans, which is why I have so many hobbies and interests to keep my thoughts diversified. Once I make a plan I tend to stick with it unless acted upon by an outside influence. Me and the laws of motion, I guess you’d say. Immutable. I sent him an e-mail that said I was ready for a trip to the Florida Keys to do some serious fishing. He got back to me in a few days and we worked out the details.

He was teaching an aikido seminar down in Miami and we hooked up Sunday night at the house of an old friend after it was through. We left for the Keys from Fort Lauderdale the next morning before the sun rose. Boat, trailer and gear were transferred to my van and by five thirty we were ready to hit the road.

“Art, do you want some coffee?” I asked.

“Sure, get me some decaf,” he said.

I walked across the street to the McDonalds to get the coffee and while I was there bought a breakfast sandwich. We were planning to stop for breakfast once in the Keys, but it would be a couple hours yet and I was hungry. I handed him his coffee when we both got back into the van and he reached for the bag with the sandwich in it. I handed it to him.

“What?” he said as he looked into the bag. “Where are the cream and sugar?”

I looked over at him and shook my head. “My, how the mighty have fallen,” I said.

“You know, Dan…” he began.

“Art,” I interrupted. “Fifteen years ago you embarrassed me in front of a group of hunters out in the woods by remarking that if ‘I wanted a cup of cream and sugar, why’d I ask for coffee,’ remember?” I looked at the road and pulled out onto the highway. “Well it took me years before I was able to drink coffee straight and black like a man, so I guess I’m just a little shocked to hear you ask for decaf in the first place and cream and sugar, in the second. Just a little shocked…” I looked sideways at him and he was laughing.

“Okay,” was all he said.

I drove and we talked. We have been friends long enough that