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

them. The scars commonly seen on the faces of these travelers attested to their willingness to use them.

We waited. I started breathing deeply to generate heat and to calm down. We waited and watched.

Over the last fifteen years or so I have occasionally taught basic karate or judo for a week and then held a two hour dojo tournament. I think it is important that everyone who studies aikido also have the ability to use force and the comfort and knowledge that experience at fighting brings. We don’t do it often, but I do it when it occurs to me. Over the last fifteen years, it has not mattered one whit who was participating, black belts or beginners, Curtis has won each and every time.

He is not fast. He does not have quick feet or hands. He is not a big man or powerfully muscled. Frankly, he is a nerd. He is a rocket scientist, after all. But he possesses a will to win and to overcome all odds second to none I have ever seen. It is humbling that one so seemingly meek can suddenly possess the ferocity of a jungle cat when called upon. Yes, Curtis would be the one.

We waited. I have seen so many big guys come into the dojo over the years, tough, strong, young and full of juice, and seen each one find themselves being pinned, thrown, countered or simply stopped cold that I have realized there is nothing inherent in physical characteristics that determine a good fighter. The only thing that matters is heart. If you don’t have the will, the determination, no matter what your gifts, you cannot survive when the final die is cast. There is an old saying… Nothing is more common than unfulfilled genius. I have always understood that to mean that talent means little compared to perseverance.

We waited.

And suddenly a match flared 90 feet up the trail. Curtis disappeared. I gave it a five count and then went after him with the guys on my heels. He would have a ten second window when the guard’s night vision simply did not exist after staring into a flaring match. I heard a grunt of surprise and then the sound of two bodies hitting the ground.

“Get your flashlight,” I hissed at Christian and a second later a small circle of light illuminated the combat between Curtis and the smuggler. Curtis had him in a half ikkyo pin and suddenly the Tibetan lunged and tried to reach him over his back. Curtis reached out with his left arm and encircled the smugglers throat, let go his right wrist and dropped his weight forward into a vicious choke hold. Five seconds later the struggle ended. The Tibetan smuggler went limp. Curtis held the choke for another five count and then let go.

“Let me see that light for a second,” said Chris. Christian turned around and pointed it at Chris as he picked up the machine gun. Chris ejected the magazine and looked at the end. “Seems light,” he said. He thumbed the cartridges out into his palm. There were only seven. “Some army. Send out a guard with only seven bullets.” He pushed the rounds back into the magazine and expertly jacked the magazine back into the gun. Then he pulled the slide back and loaded a bullet into the chamber.

“Locked, cocked, and my finger on the safety. I’m ready to go.”

“I take it you’ve seen one of those before?” I asked.

On the ground behind us Curtis said, “I think he owns one, Sensei.”

I looked at Chris and saw him smile. It was a genuine smile, nothing like I’d been seeing for the last week.

“Sensei, what are we going to do with this guy? He’s coming around.” Christian turned the tiny light back to the man on the ground.

“Roll him over. Isn’t he the bastard that blindsided me? I can’t really tell them apart.” I looked in Bim’s direction; he had been standing there the whole time quietly watching us. “No offense intended.”

Bim looked closer and shook his head, no. Then he shrugged.

The smuggler roused himself and sat up. I turned to Bim and told him to tell the man that we were going to take him to the other side of the river and let him go, but that he must run far away.

The man shrugged and nodded. A sneer crossed his face. Some things are simply universal.

“Okay, then. Pick him up.” I turned to Christian and said, “When you get about half way across throw him off the bridge and into the river. He’ll swim out a mile downstream and we won’t be bothered by him again.”

Christian laughed out loud and said “Okay! Let’s go.”

We waited and in a few moments we heard a muffled shout followed by a quick shriek and a splash. A minute later they were back.

“Any trouble?”

“Nah, I just pretended to stop and tie my shoe and I grabbed him by the ankles and lifted and Curtis pushed. Nothing to it.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I don’t honestly know, Chris. We need to get back up to the lodge without being seen, steal the other guns, get our gear and make it out of there before they grab us or shoot us or we get into a pitched battle.”

“We aren’t going to have much of a pitched battle with seven bullets.”

“Well, you know what I mean. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m freezing. Let’s go get our coats.” I led the way up the trail.

***

When we had slipped into the narrow alley that ran down the side of the lodge we huddled together and I explained that I was going to go around to the back of the lodge and slip in the back way. “I’ll move up to the rear of the public room and see where everyone is. If it looks like we can pull it off I’ll holler and