Redemption (6 page)

“Ok, you got me. First, it can't be the fucking wind from that distance. Second, I don't understand what happened so it looks like magic to me... but I don't believe in fucking magic! So what's the trick, what was that!?” said Andy, still a bit dumbstruck.

“You are right, it is not magic... but it is not a trick either. We will have plenty of time to talk about it later. I am happy to see you back Andy... really. It's been a while.”

The two men shook hands, their silent agreement stretching in a long shadow through the light of the sizzling candle.

CHAPTER 6

Quebec City, June 1986.

“Thank you, officer, I’ll tell him…”

“Once more, my condolences, ma’am. I know you’ve known them for several years.”

“Thank you. They’ve been good friends and neighbours for years. It’s horrible, to die that way,” said Lucie.

“They never had a chance to get out. The driver of the truck had fallen asleep. It changed lanes and hit Mr. and Mrs. Namara head-on. Their automobile was a total wreck. We identified them by… their dental records,” said the police officer as gently as possible.

“My god, how am I going to tell Danny? They were the only family he had…”

“Are you saying there are no other family members?”

“No, none. His parents were his only family and now there’s no one. How do you tell a six-year-old child that here’s no one he can count on in his life?”

“I… I don’t know, ma’am. Honestly, it’s horrible for a young man. I wish you well. But you also know that if he in fact has no other family, he must be taken into custody by child protection services to find him a foster home.”

“I know, yes, I understand. I’ll take him in until you can find a family.”

Lucie could hardly believe the policeman’s words. She had seen the Namaras that morning leaving and they had waved their hand. They had left thus daily for many years. And suddenly… they
were
no more. It was a nightmare. And, Danny was still at school. He would return in about two hours. How to announce this tragedy? She didn’t have the strength, she who had had cardiac troubles. Moreover, she knew that the news would hang heavy in Danny’s memory until the end of his days and that, the only thing that he would remember of her, was this hideous moment. She was going to wait for Danny in front of his house. She would announce the news when he arrived home on foot. When she saw Danny walking down the street with his red knapsack, Lucy’s heart began to accelerate. He mounted the stairs to the porch, smiling calmly at Lucie seated on the steps.

“Hi Lucy, Mommy isn’t home yet. She won’t be late.”

“Hi, Danny. We need to talk. Your parents had an accident today…”

“What kind of accident?”

“A car accident. A driver fell asleep on the road and hit your parents.”

Danny was pale and frozen. His eyes opened wide as he searched her face.

“Are they… hurt?”

“They died, Danny, I’m so sorry. They didn’t have a chance. I just got the news.”

Danny didn’t talk. He stayed still without saying a word, without any expression, eyes wide. Suddenly his eyes filled with tears. It was too much for her, he would never be able to forget that face. She felt herself crying as well.

“No, no! You’re lying, I saw them this morning, they’re fine!”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy sobbed.

“No!” he cried.

“Come here, Danny…”

“No! Leave me alone, leave me alone!” he yelled.

He ran from her, his face shiny with tears. She didn’t try to catch him; she didn’t have the will. She arranged the Namara’s funerals and organized a modest burial as had been requested in Mr. Namara’s will. All that they had, which wasn’t much, went to Danny. Few people attended the burial: principally, the work colleagues of both parents. Danny was dressed properly and he watched his parent’s caskets descent to the bottom of the hole. He threw a rose on each coffin, ready to be buried forever. Lucie, who had never seen Danny but smiling and in a good mood, never saw him laugh again. Something in him disappeared forever. This pained her even more, knowing that the Namaras were good people. They had had difficulties, they’d worked hard their whole life to attain the modest comfort they had and they adored Danny. They didn’t deserve what had hit them.
Life wasn’t fair.
She watched little Danny dressed in black before the two tombs that were being covered with earth.

The time came again for Danny to change families. It was the fourth this year. Again this time, he had to gather up his personal possessions and move them. He wasn’t upset to leave. They were nice, but he didn’t feel at home. He missed his parents, a sadness accompanied him all his days.

More than hating his family situation, he had begun to be bullied by a band of youths his age who chased him for the fun of drawing out fear. At the end of the school day, they were waiting for him to shove him. The four kids laughed at him and called him names because they saw that he was always alone. For them, he was different. They had it in their heads that Danny was a studious pupil and that merited his being the butt of their jokes. A kid who was popular was in all evidence one who didn’t like to learn. When they laughed at him, Danny didn’t respond. He told himself that they were imbeciles and they would eventually get tired and leave him alone. However, ignoring them increased his problems. The jokes transformed to hatred toward him and words changed to pushes over time. For a while, he was followed at the end of the day and again, beaten up by the quartet.

“Take it, Namara!” shouted a kid throwing a right hook across his jaw.

“Come on, wimp, show us what you can do!” said another, giving him a shove.

“Leave me alone,” said Danny, trying to put distance between them.

The other kids held him to stop him from leaving. Another kid sent him a punch directly on the nose, throwing him to the ground. All burst out laughing.

“Awwww… poor baby. He’s going to call his mama to help him!”

“Look, he’s going to cry like a baby!”

Everyone laughed, happy with their result. They left, leaving Danny on the ground with a bloody nose and with a black eye. But he wasn’t crying. He stood, gathering up his backpack and he headed home, blood on his sweater. He changed at home and camouflaged the shiner as much as possible without saying anything. They asked him about his black eye, but he responded only that he had fallen off his bike. No one pressed to know more.

*     *     *

Danny didn’t really know how to fix the situation until the day he passed in front of a kung fu school several blocks from where he stayed. He read the sign: “Wing Chun Kung Fu”. Not knowing anything about martial arts, he decided to enter out of curiosity. Inside, it was an atmosphere of peace with the aroma of incense coming upon his nose. He gazed at the Chinese scrolled hung on the walls which he couldn’t read. He looked at the walls and saw there were weapons of all kinds, mostly staffs and knives. The place was vast and surrounded by mirrors. What attracted the most attention was the wooden dummy at the back of the space. One might have called it a wooden torso attached to the floor. However, the torso appeared to have four pieces of wood jutting out, three symbolizing arms, and the other, legs. Danny found the implement curious.
Must be training equipment
. The place was empty with the exception of a little Asian man who was up front with eyes closed as though he was sleeping. He was meditating, Danny noticed. The man was dressed in black with a Mao-collared Chinese shirt. Danny thought he couldn’t hear him, but the man opened his eyes and smiled at him. He’d known the whole time he was here.

“Hello, my name is
Sifu
Kwan, welcome to the
Kwoon
. What can I do for you?”

“Uhhhh… what?”

Master Kwan smiled.

“To the
Kwoon
. In Chinese, that means the training space for martial arts.”

“Ok. I want to learn martial arts!”

Master Kwan approached Danny and saw the bruise on his cheek. He understood what it meant.

“I see. Well, you knocked on the right door, my dear boy. What’s your name?”

“Danny.”

“It’s a pleasure.”

“
Sifu
is your first name?”

“No, that’s simply Chinese for master or instructor. Kung fu is a Chinese martial art. There are different kinds, but Wing Chun is the one we teach here. Have you ever practised martial arts?”

“No, never.”

“Well, maybe now’s the time for you to see if this likes you. Are you interested?”

“Yes.”

“Very good.”

“When can I try it?”

“Why not now?”

“I… uhhhh… ok.”

“Perfect!”

Master Kwan always wore a smile. It gave him a serenity and tranquillity that Danny liked. He invited Danny to enter the room and they placed themselves in the centre. He took a position in front of Danny.

“Wing Chun is in fact the name of a woman. The legend says that the style was invented by a Buddhist nun in a Shaolin temple called Ng Mui. History says that Wing Chun and her father were pursued by Manchus who accused her father of crime. They took refuge on Mount Tai Leung where she met Ng Mui who taught her the art. Wing Chun taught the style to her husband who, in return, passed down the art to other disciples and christened it Wing Chun in her honour. It’s difficult to know if that’s the exact truth from facts from a very long time ago, but in any case, that’s what is told. What’s peculiar about our style is that we use the force of the adversaries against them. More force they use against you, more force can be countered against them. The best attack is one that leaves the point closest to your target. You will learn to feel what your adversary will do and not guess, because the hand is quicker than the eye. The secret rests in relaxation, you will adhere to the movements of your opponent to feel their attack. When the force will be greatest, you will give way to reposition and attack. Our hits are as explosive as a gunshot and not as a hammer that strikes an object. Take a reed for example, versus an oak. To you, which is more solid?”

“The oak.”

“Ok. Because of its robustness, its size, the roots buried deep in the soil, right?”

“Yes.”

“And if I tell you that an immense hurricane came along, what would fall first?”

“I don’t know.”

“The oak is fixed, buried. Against a force as powerful as that, if he doesn’t bend, he will break or even become uprooted despite his imposing stature. The reed, as for him, mends at the lightest touch of wind. He adapts to the lesser force that touches him, small or large. Certainly, he becomes tilted, maybe damaged a bit. However, he stays rooted, because he has adapted to forces that he meets that are greater than he. Be like the reed, Danny, and you will win.

He was fascinated by what
Sifu
Kwan explained. He wasn’t certain that he really understood his explanations, but he definitely wanted to learn.

“A martial art isn’t only a question of hitting with a fist. You must be calm and drain your mind to react against an aggression. Wing Chun will teach you to enter yourself also, in short, to know yourself better as a person.”

“I want to learn.”

“Wonderful, so let’s begin. I’m going to teach you the first basic form, called
Sil Lum Tao
. It means “The Little Idea”. You have all the basic movements of Wing Chun in this form. You will learn to solidify your position and relax yourself.”

Master Kwan began the form in placing his legs in position, feet toward each other and low centre of gravity. Danny was beside him and imitated all his gestures. He found the means of moving strange and it hurt him. After five minutes, his legs were on fire. He was however fascinated by that which he learned. He realized that he’d spent hours with
Sifu
Kwan and he hadn’t even noticed. For the first time in a long time, he felt great.

CHAPTER 7

He passed through the woods like he usually did to shorten his route. Passing by this way, he saved a few minutes of walking, because he passed several streets in the area when he arrived at the other end of the woods. Suddenly, he felt something pull on his backpack. Before he could fall backwards, Danny lowered his centre of gravity, turned and with an open-handed hit brushed off the hand that grabbed him. At that moment, he saw the quartet who was again present to humiliate him. He didn’t say a word this time. He saw the chief of the group move to punch him in the face. Danny advanced with a step in his direction at the same time, deflecting his punch with a blow of his left hand on the forearm of his assailant. He took the opportunity to link a punch directly to his aggressor’s face with his right fist. The impact was furious and direct. The chief fell on his back and instantly lost consciousness at the moment of impact. A thud of bones that knocked against each other was heard. The three others who saw the spectacle that unfolded under their eyes had wide eyes, already blank at what had happened at that moment.

A kid among the three, who was more daring than the others, tried to throw a punch at Danny. He blocked the hit with his arm and pivoted slightly to break the impact. At the same time, Danny seized the arm of his attacker with which he had tried to hit him, pulled it toward himself and swung a kick in the legs at the same time. Totally unbalanced, his adversary tried to retreat, but Danny jerked toward him, sending him a punch directly to his face, followed by three others in a fraction of a second. The four hits hit his face like a flurry of machinegun fire. From the first punch, he also had lost consciousness, but he got three others before hitting the ground. The two kids watched stunned in horror. In the space of a few seconds, two of their friends were knocked out. The fear reared to them and none of them wanted to submit to that. One of the two said to Danny:

“Ok… just… relax. It wasn’t our idea anyway… uhhh… we’re re-really sorry.”

“You have ten seconds to pick them up and get them out. If I ever see one of you again, I’m going to break everything, understand?”

“Yeah, yeah… .”