“When you leave the house at night, you tell me where you’re going and how long you’ll be.”

“Yessir.”

His hand snakes out, cracks me on the side of the head. Pain, fierce and fast as a flash of lightning. I grunt, knocked off balance. But as my left arm sweeps across my body, gedan barai, I halt it, mid-move. Karate’s my secret. I can’t tip him off, not until I’m ready.

From their bedroom, Opal calls irritably, “Floyd, come back to bed.”

He steps nearer, thrusting his face into mine. “I don’t like the way you’re behaving these days. I think it’s time to teach you a lesson.”

I step backward and it’s not into back stance. “Sorry, sorry,” I gabble, “I won’t do it again.”

Won’t do what?

“Yes,” he says, “that’s what you need. Time and place? You’ll find out.”

He turns his back. The bedroom door shuts behind him.

11.2 [guerrilla warfare]

THE NEXT morning, I’m headed for the bathroom thinking Floyd’s already left for work. He comes out of his bedroom, crowds me against the wall, and steps on my bare foot with his shoe. Leans all his weight on it.

I suck in my breath. It feels like every bone in my foot is about to crack.

I won’t be able to run.

He steps back, laughs. “Sorry,” he says, “didn’t see you standing there.”

I could’ve brought my arms up and shoved him in the chest. Next time, I will.

A few minutes later, I go downstairs to make Cassie’s breakfast. The kettle’s boiling for Opal’s chamomile tea. Floyd lifts it off the stove and pours water into her Japanese teapot. Before I realize what he’s up to, he dumps the rest of the water in the sink near where I’m standing. Scalding water splashes my hand.

“You should be more careful around boiling water,” he says with that empty smile of his. “Didn’t your parents teach you anything?”

So for my first lesson back at the dojo, I have three scabs on my collarbone, blisters on the back of my hand, and bruises on the top of my foot. Docker takes all this in. He looks at me. I look at him. Neither of us says anything. We begin warming up.

Before I leave, we work out a training schedule:

Three days a week: jog to warm up, then run. Jog to cool down. Stretch. Practice all stances, blocks, kicks, punches, and the moves of Heian Shodan, the kata Docker is teaching me. He’s also added a side-thrust kick and five-step sparring, head and stomach level, along with more self-defense moves using elbows and knees.

Remaining three days: warm-up, jog, and skip on the spot. Do weights and stretch. Practice karate. Practice knee and elbow strikes.