Braving the Boneyard

Chapter 2-1

2

My teenaged neighbor Ben dropped me by the dojo the next morning on his way to school (legally, since he’d finally traded his learner’s permit for a real driver’s license).

“Doesn’t look like a dojo,” he said, taking in the brick and glass building and the rest of the block. “Just looks like another office.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I said. Even after I’d started classes, I’d still considered it a big empty office with floor mats in the corner, next to the Indian travel agency that was probably a front for something else. But I’d remember it was a dojo now.

The warped passenger door of Ben’s car gave a metallic squawk when I pushed it open. I winced, then face-bruise winced, before slowly making my way out of the car while moving as little as possible … a red-headed sloth in action.

Ben stretched across the seat, and I could see a shadow of light brown stubble on his cheeks where he’d skipped shaving. Shaving. Was it selfish to wish he’d stayed fifteen?

“Can I come watch next time you get your ass kicked?” he asked.

“Only if you’re next in line.”

“Never. I am a ninja.” Ben followed his assertion with a series of complex but totally fabricated arm movements that culminated in him knocking off his rearview mirror. I tried not to laugh.

“Happens all the time,” he said, pressing the mirror hard against the windshield until it stayed put, then taking a moment to tame a tuft of his short hair. “Later, Syd!”

My sweet Cecil was unharmed, not because he was parked outside a dojo, but because he was parked in Tallahassee, a city not generally known for its random car vandalism. I slid behind the wheel of my Cabrio almost as slowly as I’d gotten out of Ben’s beater. There were few cars on the street, and no sign of life in the building. I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I was glad I didn’t have to decide whether to check in with Vince, since I really wasn’t in a decision-making mood. In fact, I planned to hide in my office all day and avoid all other humans and any choices more involved than which frozen lunch to nuke. Of course, the universe had other plans.