10. Shorinji Kempo
890 Words
When Summer decided to take a walk in the park, she still had the phone call in her head. She was replaying the conversation over and over again in her head, always reaching the same conclusion: her parents would never change. They would never accept her child nor would they do anything other than trying to get rid of her.
As if…
She was so far into her head that when Cissy screamed, she snapped to reality so hard that she almost fell backwards. She had been holding hands with her, but Cissy was running to a man. Tall and fully dressed in white, with a black belt around his waist and a symbol on his shoulder, Aidan was impossible to miss. She stepped up the pace, afraid of losing her four-year-old in the midst of the crowd, but to her surprise, Cissy stopped just in front.
Aidan wasn’t alone. In front of him, three other men dressed in white were facing one another, and when Aidan said something she couldn’t understand, they put themselves in a fighting position.
At another incomprehensible shout from Aidan, the foursome engaged in a fight that if it had been choreographed, it wouldn’t be so perfect. There was something… violent but absolutely stunning in their moves. It was better than a movie, she was absolutely thunderstruck. The foursome was so engaged that when Aidan shouted another incomprehensible word, they all stopped, faced one another and bowed deeply. Then, they faced the public, bowed again and executed a series of movements so perfectly in sync, that they could have been mistaken by one man surrounded by mirrors. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
When they bowed one last time, the crowd erupted in sheers.
“Aidan!”
The excited shout was all the warning Aidan had before an overly thrilled amount of child was jumping into his arms.
“Hey, sprite.”
“That was awesome!”
“It was, wasn’t it?”
His smile was huge, mirroring hers. Summer felt a pang in the stomach. Cissy was never going to meet her father, and clearly, she needed a father figure in her life. It seemed she was “using” Aidan as a replacement, and that bothered her. After her own parent’s rejection, as well as Cissy’s biological one, the last thing she needed was for her daughter to became emotional attached to a guy that held the power of breaking them both in half.
He seemed to be looking for someone in the middle of the crowd, and when his eyes locked upon her, he smiled. Even from the distance she could see his smile. She approached, although not on time to listen to what he said to Cissy, whose face was bright with a smile. She whispered something on his hear that made him frown, but then he smiled and she shrieked with joy. She kicked the air until he put her down, and then she ran to Summer. Aidan winked to her and then resume the demonstration.
“Guess what, mommy.”
“What?”
“Aidan said we could eat pizza afterwards.”
“Great… Glad he allows us…”
The irony was wasted on Cissy’s joy, and Summer wanted to slap herself. Just because her day was going down the drain, she didn’t need to take Cissy’s down with her. So, for her daughter’s sake, and feeling more and more divided, she stayed until the end of the demonstration.
There were a few barracks around, selling food and whatnots. Summer didn’t know that there was a fair around, and for what little did she know, it was early in the year for their annual fair, however, it seemed the whole town was concentrating around those few barracks.
She returned the compliments when someone spoke to her, however, the bad mood stuck to her like a second skin. Now a cold glass of white wine and a few strawberries seemed like a very good idea.
“Mommy, look.”
The presentation had ended and Aidan was walking through the crowd, stopping only to speak with a few townspeople. He was making a bee line towards her and she had to grab Cissy’s hand to prevent her from running again.
“I could lose you in the crowd.” She hissed. Cissy was pouting when Aidan arrived, all smiley.
“Hey, sprite… again. Hey, sprite’s mommy.”
“Hey…”
“Try to contain your enthusiasm, Sunshine. Is your mommy in a mood, sprite?”
“Yeah…”
“And I’m right here if you don’t mind… I’d appreciate if you stopped talking with my daughter as if I’m not here…”
Time seemed to stop when he slowly looked away from Cissy to her. His smile faded and he frowned.
“Is there a problem, Sunshine?”
She snorted, but looked away. Took a deep breath and decided to apologize.
“I’m sorry. I’m having one of those days…”
“You know… I could help you with that…”
The indolent and arrogant smile that usually appeared when he was promising troubles made a small apparition.
“I know something that can help you…”
“I already told you that I can barely touch my toes…”
“I wasn’t thinking in kempo, although it’s a brilliant idea. Let’s save it for later.”
“Very funny…”
“No, really. Let’s.”
“Let’s not.”
“I was really thinking in pizza. Nothing beats a good old pizza. Interested?”
“Can we, mommy? Can we, can we, can we?”
“I’ll even add pineapple…”
“You can eat it all…”
“Who doesn’t like pineapple in the pizza?”
“Are you counting the elderly or just the working-age people?”
He smiled and Summer thought to herself that at least the afternoon seemed a whole lot merrier than a few moments ago…
- Writer
