Chapter 6: Return to form

Jeffrey Zhang decided it was time to head back, so with his words and memories he "returned" to the past. Not in a physical sense, but a more metaphorical one of fantasy that writing could provide.

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Returning to 2007

##MA training studio.

It's Monday, a few writing assignments by Mr. Southerland, Mrs. McGowan taught math from the textbook, and the history lesson was entirely forgotten. Oh and the art teacher Mrs. Babbington wants them to draw a picture due on Thursday. The homework packet was slightly bigger this week.

The day is over and the martial arts after school program kids are waiting to be picked up by the bus.

"Hey Raine", Jeffrey calls out to his sister.

"Jeffrey!", she says with a smile on her face. Her small backpack carrying her school supplies runs to his side.

They see the small red bus driving up to pick them up.

Soon they drive to a nearby elementary school and pick up some other kids.

Aleena, Jack, Cody, John, Priyesh and a few others. Bus driver Dave has music playing out of the car radio. All the while everyone sits next to their friends, backpacks on the floor. Raine looks out the window and sitting next to her is Jeffrey.

Soon they arrive at the building and go inside. This time, Raine and Jeffrey share some m&ms. a special treat he got during lunch time trades.

"Thanks Jeffrey", Raine says to her brother.

Then one by one they all get changed into their martial arts uniform.

Mondays are unique, because Instructor Samantha and Instructor Mariam are teaching.

Instructor Samantha is a young female black belt instructor with short black hair. She's really flexible and has a good form punching and kicking.

Instructor Mariam is an older white gentleman, although he walks slowly he pays attention to detail. He always wears these feet shaped shoes and he's teaching martial arts forms.

Meanwhile the kids are practicing punches.

"Kiyah", they shout together

"Kiyah", they punch again.

In a horse stance, the central stance that instructor Tarik taught them. They punch with close fists twisting their waists to generate power. The knot on their belts always facing forward.

Instructor Tarik isn't here today, however he's a scary black belt martial artist. He talks a lot about eastern philosophy and has a lot of power. When he punches, his uniform is always making this snapping sound.

Ethan, Jeffrey, and Priyesh are trying to imitate that power. heh heh~

Mariam is showing them the various stances in the yellow and orange belt forms. It's an I shaped form.

"Low block, punch, punch" Instructor Mariam tells the students.

The students copy his movements.

"Low block 180 degrees, punch punch", moving in the opposite direction Mariam turns around.

They all move to the right.

"Middle block, punch, punch" and on this part he throws a unique open palm middle block and repeats the sequence.

Everyone is still following him, going back down the middle they turn 90 degrees and punch three times ending it with a middle kick.

Ethan does a sidekick, so instructor Samantha helps correct their postures and tells Ethan to do the right move.

In the side office a tall bald man is wearing a black uniform with glasses on looking at sheets of paper. He's on the computer as well, probably running through the studio accounts.

Master Jones gets up from his desk and heads onto the foam mats. He takes a deep breath in through his nose and smells the feet and sweat coming up off the floor.

The Bob punching bag and kicking bags are placed on the side. Tall mirrors are propped all along the wall showing everyone's reflection. The sun is shining through the open back door to let in fresh air.

Jeffrey is thoroughly immersed in the moment, the present of the past. Concentrating on every punch to be straight and perfect, twisting his waist to generate torque, his posture and stance planted to the floor.

Priyesh does the same, sweat dripping down his brow.

"Tung" "Su" "Do", Priyesh says yelling out the motto of this taekwondo martial arts studio.

Master Jones walks to the center of the floor. For these young kids, he wants to give them some advice. He knows not of what these martial arts learn from it or if they will even remember it at all. However, as an instructor he wants to inspire them, to teach themselves disciple and to grow as the karate kids in the martial arts program he created.

"Hey", Master Jones says in a quieter tone.

Everyone is silently watching him.

"Everyone here is doing a good job", Master Jones is praising them.

Instructor Mariam and Samantha are off to the side.

"However I think everyone can do a great job.", he changes tone.

"Does anyone know the difference between good and great."

at first no one raised their hand to respond to Master Jones.

Then Priyesh raised up his hand.

Master Jones calls on Priyesh, "Priyesh what does being great mean?"

Priyesh replies, "It means having self-discipline!"

"Okay", Master Jones replies

"Anyone else?", he asks the group.

a few start to raise their hands.

"How about you Cody?", Master Jones picks another student.

"Being great means going above and beyond."

Their answers are all short and simple. Jeffrey remembers being one of the kids who didn't raise his hand because he felt everyone already said something and there was nothing more to add. However, it wasn't always necessarily what you said that was important, but that you contributed and spoke up.

So Jeffrey raised his hand, however in the end Master Jones started to continue his speech.

The only one who noticed was his younger sister Raine. "Next time she'd raise her hand to, just like her brother Jeffrey did", she thought to herself.

Soon Master Jones talked about water.

"Water boils at what temperature?", he asked some kids.

Jeffrey knew this one, he raised his hand really high.

"212 degrees Farenheight", he said to Master Jones.

"That's correct Jeffrey", Master Jones responded.

"Water boils at 212 degrees", Master Jones said loudly.

"Not 200 degrees, not 210 degrees, not 211 degrees. 212 degrees!", Master Jones emphasized.

"Now 200 degrees is really hot, it's a high temperature. Being good is like being at 200 degrees. However 200 degrees is not hot enough to boil water. Being great is all about making sure every small thing is done perfectly. Every punch has power, your stance is wide enough, you're facing the right way."

Master Jones got into his stance and threw out a punch. His large frame looked sturdy and his uniform made a large snapping noise

*ffwoosh* *crack*

Master Jones stood in front of the young martial artists

"Sometimes the difference between being good and great is just these very small details. the gap between 211 degrees and 212 degrees. However water doesn't boil at 211 degrees, not even at 211.5 or 211.6 degrees, it only boils at 212 degrees. So I said everyone was doing a good job. But I think everyone can do a great job."

Master Jones walked off the dojo studio floor back to his office.

For the next 10 minutes many of they kids put more power in their punches, focused more on their stances, and yelled a little louder when they kicked.

As the practice lesson ended, Instructor Mariam and Samantha had them bow and them dismissed them back to the after school room.

Jeffrey and his group walked in a straight line and barefoot they walked back to the after school building. He saw his sister Raine lined up again to head back to the dojo.

They had just finished their after school session, but now it was the various colored belt training sessions. They looked at each other before they were separated. It was the white belt session and Raine hadn't been promoted to yellow belt yet.

Now sitting at the folding table Jeffrey made plans in his head of what he was going to spend his time on for the next 3-4 hours.

No computer, a bunch of young kids, various legos and board games, and a bin of books. Additionally a stack of homework sitting in his backpack.

Jeffrey sighed, "What things do I want to change and what things do I want to stay the same?"