“Good thing I forgot my laptop this morning, kiddo,” he says. “I’ve told you before, we keep ourselves separate from the neighbors. I thought you had a brain under all that hair. Obedience isn’t a difficult concept.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s just as well your grandfather died before you were born. It saved him a lot of disappointment.”

He does his hair-tugging, face-slapping gig, followed by one hard punch to the solar plexus. I go down, gasping for air. Face wet and it ain’t sweat.

No front stance. No blocks. I’ll call Docker later today, tell him I’m wasting his time and mine.

Floyd goes into his study, fetches his laptop, and he’s gone. I contemplate staying where I am for the rest of the day. Would Opal even notice?

What’s the solar plexus got to do with the sun? Why, out of the entire gene pool, was I picked to be Floyd’s son?

Before she embraced the New Age, Opal used to drag me to church, where the pastor preached about suffering and how it ennobled the soul. Then there’s Mr. Beamer, our social studies teacher, who’s apt to make pronouncements. According to him, adversity builds character.

Mine should be a skyscraper by now.

But for five minutes this morning, I ran like I knew what I was doing. Like my body knew what it was doing.

*

AT THREE that afternoon, after I cut the grass as ordered by you-know-who, I’m standing in the shade of the pine trees near the woodpile, standing in front stance, trying to root my feet to the ground the way Docker said.

Doesn’t take long to realize my thigh muscles are stronger than they were a week ago.

I’ve filled Cassie’s plastic pool, so she’s splashing away nearby, her back to me as she croons a mishmash of Dr. Seuss phrases to her inflatable frog. When I warned her not to tell anyone what I’m doing in the backyard, she just nodded. She hasn’t spoken to me since this morning.

She won’t forgive me until she’s good and ready, I know that from experience.

I try the stepping punch, every now and then consulting the book Docker loaned me to see if I’m doing it right. To make a fist you have to fold your fingers and thumb a certain way, start the punch palm up, and switch at the last minute. Gives you power, that’s what Docker said. I work on feeling that power. Helps me forget my sore chest.

The downward block, gedan barai, isn’t too difficult. With all the blocks, you twist at the hip so you’re less of a target. I like that idea.