Recovery 5/5

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Recovery
by T.L. Odell
Part 5/5
Disclaimers, etc. in Part 0

"Now," said Duncan, changing the subject.  "Tell me about your
'gi.'  You look very nice."

"I'm going to a special Tae Kwon Do.  I have to do my form and
spar with someone.  Want to see?"

"Of course."

They returned to the living room, and Duncan took a seat along
with Methos and Anne.  Mary marched to the center of the room.
Drawing herself up to her full forty-one inches, she stood at
attention and then bowed stiffly to her audience.  Raising her
arms, she performed several blocks, followed by a jumping front
kick.  As she moved through her form, complete with punches and
explosive 'kihaps,' Duncan saw her mouthing her moves under her
breath, a picture of concentration in miniature.  She ended with
a roundhouse kick and two more blocks.  Rising from her final
bow, she looked at the adults expectantly, and they burst into
delighted applause.

"That was great, Mary.  Well done!  Good job!" resounded from
the adults.

"Mommy says you know how to do those kicks, too."

"Yes, but I couldn't do them like that when I was six."

Duncan rose from his seat.  "How would you like some juice after
that wonderful demonstration?  I have some in the kitchen."  He
took Mary by the hand and settled her in at the table with a
glass of cold apple juice and some Graham crackers.  "You sit
here and finish that while I go talk to your mom for a minute,
okay."

Mary was already enjoying her snack, but she looked up and
nodded.

"What was that all about?" Duncan asked Anne.  "You never
mentioned Mary was learning Tae Kwon Do. You hate violence in
any form."

Anne raised her eyebrows and gave a sheepish grin.  "You're
right, and I really wasn't going to enroll her, but she wanted
to take these classes with her best friend in school.
And then I found that the discipline and respect she was picking
up at the same time were really worth more than the exercise
itself.  You know what a fireball she can be.  Now she has an
outlet for some of that energy, and she's learning self control
at the same time.  I don't think she's ever thought of her
skills as fighting; she just has a great time.  I guess I was
too embarrassed to mention that I was letting my daughter learn
how to kick butt.  We'll see how long she wants to stick with
it."

"Well, I think it's great, but you didn't drive all the way here
just so she could show off her talents."

"Actually, I did," replied Anne.  "But not to you.  There's a
junior regional tournament in town this afternoon, and I thought
we'd drop by as long as we were in the neighborhood.  I called
yesterday; Adam said it would be all right."

*So that's why he drugged me... wanted to make sure I was well
rested before the doctor got a look at me.  That little weasel.*

Mary came back into the living room, wiping juice and cookie
crumbs from her mouth.  "Uncle Duncan, can you come watch me?
Jared's still in Indian Apples, so he can't come."

"Mary!  What did I tell you?"

"I know.  That Uncle Duncan was sick, and when you're not quite
all better you still need lots of naps.  But can't he take his
nap after I'm done?"

"Duncan, I'm sorry - I told her she shouldn't ask you.  I'm sure
there are dozens of things you'd rather be doing than watching a
bunch of little kids doing martial arts."

"Actually, it might be fun.  I don't think it will be too
exerting.  All I do is watch, right?  And I'll have the best
doctor in the house right next to me if I start feeling bad."
He turned to Methos.  "What do you think?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea.  Can I come, too?"

"Of course.  Mary, Mr. Pierson would like to watch you, too.
You'll have a great big cheering section, all right?"

Mary whooped with glee and gave Duncan a huge hug.  Then she
walked over to Methos and bowed in front of him.  "I would love
for you to come watch me, Mr. Pierson."

Biting his lip to keep from bursting out laughing, Methos gave
Mary a serious, "You're welcome."  He followed it with a quick
tickle to her ribs, and Duncan knew a friendship was forged.

"Where are we going, and what time do we have to be there?"
asked Duncan.

"The Waterfront Hotel.  Mary needs to be there at eleven."

"That's practically right around the corner.  Plenty of time.
Let me change."

Duncan went into the bathroom and peeled off his sweats.  He
hadn't worn anything else for the last week; it might be nice to
put on 'real' clothes.  He pulled on some gray wool slacks and a
lightweight white turtleneck.  Adding a black cable-knit
pullover sweater that Anne had given him years ago, he looked
into the mirror.  The dark circles under his eyes weren't as
pronounced as they'd been, and he didn't think he looked, as Joe
had put it, 'like shit' anymore.  It was still raining, but
somehow the depressing gloom was gone.  Leave it to a six year
old to bring the sunshine.

Back with his friends, Anne spoke up.  "How are you doing,
Duncan?  You look a little pale, but better than a week ago.
No, wait.  Don't answer that."  She turned to Methos.

"How's he been?  I'm going to guess that because you've
obviously been here for a while, someone wasn't following
orders.  Right?"

"He's been doing much better.  He was having some trouble
sleeping, so I came over to bore him to sleep.  It seems to be
working."

Duncan snorted.

"Well then, let's go," said Anne.  "Mary, don't forget to thank
Uncle Duncan for the juice and cookies."

"Thanks, Uncle Duncan," she said as she wriggled into her
raincoat.  "Come on."

They drove on to the hotel and found the tournament registration
desk.  "Mrs. Drummond!" Mary shouted, and ran up to an
attractive young brunette in black belted instructor's garb.
"I'm here. So's my mom and Uncle Duncan, and Mr. Pierson, my new
friend."

Duncan reached out and shook the woman's hand.  Her long hair
was pulled into a French braid, and her eyes were Wedgwood blue
behind wire rimmed glasses.  "It's Mac. You've done quite a job
containing this lightning bolt, Mrs. Drummond," he said,
smiling.

"You can call me Elyse.  Mary's one of our better students.
She's told me about her Uncle Duncan who 'knows how to kick and
punch real good,' on more than one occasion," she said,
laughing.  "Have you been coaching her?"

"Actually, today was the first that I even knew she was learning
this.  I run a small dojo not far from here, but Tae Kwon Do
isn't my field of expertise."

"At this level, we're geared more to the discipline and
coordination angle than to self defense.  But if Mary keeps at
it, she should be safe on the streets when she's older."

"I'd rather she just keep out of places where she'd need to use
the skills, but I think I like what it's doing for her."

Elyse laughed, and Duncan noticed how that made her eyes looked
even bluer.  She broke off.  "Sorry, I have to get to my kids
and make sure they're set.  It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you, too."  Well, it was *Mrs.* Drummond, and she
was on the young side.  But the fact that he felt any attraction
at all made him feel better.  Maybe he was kicking this bug at
last.

Mary's ring was next to compete.  When it was her turn, she
performed her forms almost perfectly, and took second place.
After the forms, Anne helped her into the protective sparring
gear.  She was a terror on two legs, and defeated her opponent
handily.  After the match, she was elated.  She had two
trophies, both nearly as big as she was, to take home.

 "Wow!" she shouted.  "Where's Mr. Pierson?  Did he see me?  I
want to show him my trophies.  Mom, we can take these to the new
house, can't we?  I want to show them to Jared, too."

"Slow down, Mary," interjected her mom.  "I swear, sometimes I
think she doesn't need to breathe when she's talking."  She
turned to her daughter.  "I think he went to see some of the
bigger kids.  But he saw you.  Didn't you hear him cheering for
you?"

"I bet next time I'll get both gold ones.  I always have trouble
with that old roundhouse kick.  I keep almost falling over."

"You just keep practicing, Mary, and I'm sure you'll do it
perfectly next time.  If you want, I can show you how I keep my
balance," suggested Duncan.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Suddenly, a faint prickling resonated through Duncan's body.  He
froze for a moment at the familiar feeling, then slowly scanned
the crowd and saw Methos walking back into the ballroom.  The
older man raised an eyebrow, and Duncan nodded with a grin.
Methos held up his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, but
even a tiny Buzz was a start.  Duncan felt his throat tighten,
and he blinked back hot tears of relief.  He berated himself for
his doubts, but knew, as Anne had pointed out, that he was the
sort of person who had to be shown, not told.  One Buzz was
worth a thousand words.

"Duncan, are you all right? You don't look so good all of a
sudden.  Maybe we should get out to the car," said Anne, concern
apparent in her voice.

Relief turned to joy as his subconscious finally accepted the
fact that he was going to recover.  "Nope - I'm great.
Absolutely, positively, wonderfully great."  He picked up Mary
and swung her around, trophies and all.  How about we all go get
some ice cream to celebrate!"

"Yippee!"  squealed Mary.  I want chocolate chocolate chip."

Duncan looked at Anne.  She tilted her head and smiled that
smile that could light up the room.  "Like mother, like
daughter.  Let's go!"

The End
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