by Shinn A. H.
“Thanks. I’m learning the way of the tiger.”
“Tiger?” asked Jake, a little confused.
“Yes. In kung fu, we learn to fight like different animals. Animals have natural instincts and know how to fight…humans don’t. In kung fu, we mimic the fighting qualities of certain animals…and an insect.”
“Aahhh — the pictures of the animals on the walls make sense now. I peeked through the glass doors. I was about to go, but then heard a noise coming from behind the building….You’re really good. I was watching you for awhile,” he confessed. “Your eyes were closed and you didn’t stumble once!” He sounded impressed.
“I’m still trying to figure out the tiger. I still have a lot to learn.”
Kellie was extremely critical of herself and continually tried to obtain unattainable perfection. She quickly remembered what Master Chen once said to her: “Practicing and discipline is good for mind and body, but don’t be so hard on self. Enjoy what you do or progress slow.”
“So, how long have you been doing karate?” asked Jake, breaking her thoughts.
“It’s kung fu — ever since I can remember…since I was about three years old.”
“Wow, that’s a long time!” he said in amazement. “Hey, you go to my school, don’t you? Don’t you live with a Chinaman?”
“Excuse me?” she said defensively. “He is Chinese and yes, we go to the same school.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you, I just —”
“You just what?” Kellie snapped.
“I just wondered if you were adopted because you don’t look…” Jake said softly, as his face became a shade of red.
“I don’t look what?”
Kellie was upset because the truth was, she didn’t know anything about her heritage. She was raised by Chinese monks, and although she loved them all, she often dreamt about who her mother and father were. Whenever she asked Master Chen where she was from, he would simply say she was a gift.
She didn’t want Jake asking any more personal questions, so she abruptly changed the subject. “Class starts at six p.m.”
Taking the hint to drop the topic, he said, “I guess I’ll see you on Monday.” He turned around and sauntered away.
Kellie tightly closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and started the tiger form from the beginning. Her motions were stiff and her steps hard. She skidded over a small branch and opened her eyes in frustration, staring out into the motionless trees. She couldn’t shake Jake’s irritating words.
Kellie quit her morning training early and went back into the house. Stomping into her bedroom, she slammed the door. She threw herself on the bed and buried her face into her pillow, the blood vessels in her neck feeling as if they were going to erupt. It’s none of his business where I’m from and I’m sick and tired of people talking about me! She was aware that the other kids in school gossiped about her and all she could do was ignore it.
After she was able to calm down, Kellie went over to her dresser and examined herself in the mirror. Her hair was jet black and her eyes green. She had naturally light skin, but wore a golden tan, since she often practiced Chinese martial art in the sun. Kellie noted her pointed nose and full lips and wondered if she could be a mixture of different ethnicities. Maybe my parents were from different places and that’s why they couldn’t keep me. A small tear ran down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.
What should she do now? Her morning training was completely ruined, but she wasn’t going to let her whole weekend be affected. She decided to go in search of some food and then prepare for her biology test coming up; after all, that was her favorite subject.
t was Monday morning and Kellie jumped out of bed before the alarm clock went off. She put on her patched blue jeans and a red t-shirt and tied up her long hair in a ponytail. Moseying into the kitchen, she sat down across from Master Chen to eat the bowl of oatmeal he had ready for her. He took a sip of his aromatic tea and laid down the newspaper.
“You ready for test?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s just a quiz in biology. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“You coming home after class? You can spend time with friends….Need money?”
Master Chen looked at her with a funny, worried expression. Kellie knew she didn’t behave like the average teen, always coming straight home after school, but she enjoyed helping him in the studio. She also didn’t exactly have any close friends to hang out with.
“No, I want to play with the new weapons we got in the studio. I also have some cleaning to do there.”
“I do cleaning. You take day off and have fun.”
“It’s fine, Master Chen. I’ll see you after school.”
Kellie finished her breakfast and put her bowl in the sink. She grabbed her black backpack imprinted with a white yin and yang symbol on it Master Chen gave her on the first day of high school. As she went out the door, she heard him let out a deep sigh.
Rolling through the typical ordinary day, Kellie sat at her desk in biology class and waited for the teacher, Mr. Patterson, to pass out the quiz. He handed out the three pages of free response as the students put away their books and notes.
“Take everything off your desks, except a pencil and eraser,” he instructed. “Look down only at your paper and I better not see any roaming eyes.” He had a very low tolerance for cheaters and seemed overly triumphant whenever he caught one.
“I will not answer any questions during the test,” he added.
Mr. Patterson was a heavy set man in his late forties. He was bald on the top of his head and sported a mustache. He regularly wore a stained lab coat with a variety of tools stuffed in his pockets he always fished through. As he often did, he had on one of his science-themed neckties. Today, his tie had the biochemical structure of DNA in its helical form and on it, it read: DNA is the code.
“You may begin.”
A skinny kid, wearing oversized glasses, raised his hand and asked, “May I use the bathroom?”
“No.”
A crumpled up piece of paper hit the boy on the head, causing strands of his light brown hair to stand up. Some of the kids burst out laughing, as he patted down his hair and slumped back into his seat.
“Quiet!” shouted the annoyed teacher.
Jory Stevens was known as the school nerd and was often teased by the other students. Once he was strung up on the school flagpole and left there dangling by his belt. It took the teachers hours to get him down safely. Another time, after entering the school cafeteria, all the boys at one table got up and threw food at him. He was covered in pudding, spaghetti, chowder, and any other messy thing they had on their trays.
Resting his face on one hand to hide his embarrassment, Jory picked up his pencil and began scribbling on his test.
Kellie looked through the papers, flipping it to the second page. As she scanned through the questions, the letters became blurry. She glanced elsewhere, blinked a couple of times, and looked back down. The words suddenly became gigantic! After rubbing her eyes with her fists, she looked down again, and the letters were back to normal. Kellie immediately decided she needed to get her eyes checked.
She started filling in her answers; while on the third page, she could have sworn the words moved, and snapped off the tip of the pencil in surprise. Not again! What was happening? Sweating and her pulse racing, there was a second dilemma: she didn’t have another pencil. She couldn’t get into her bag because Mr. Patterson would think she was cheating. He also refused to answer questions, so raising her hand wasn’t an option. Kellie tried to write with the broken piece of graphite, but it was taking too long. She had a whole page of questions left to answer and there was no way she was going to finish in time.
Just then, a brand new, freshly sharpened pencil slid in front of her. Jory slipped it to her when Mr. Patterson’s back was turned. Kellie scrawled through the last page furiously.
“Time’s up!” announced Mr. Patterson. “Put down your writing utensil and pass you
r quiz to the front.”
Kellie sighed and handed her test in as the silent room suddenly became noisy from papers being shuffled and loud talking.
Mr. Patterson grabbed all the quizzes and threw them on his desk. He searched for something inside one of his mammoth pockets as he shouted with some irritation, “Quiet, please!”
Once the students settled down, he held up a blue and white instrument that looked like a large pen with a dial on the side and a button sticking up at the end.
“This is a pipetman. It measures very minute amounts of sample. It is very accurate — and very expensive, so be careful with it.”
He pulled out a vial from the same pocket and waddled over to one of the lab benches and stuck a long plastic tip onto the end of the pipetman. He turned the dial and pushed on the button a couple of times, while he ignored the loud yawn coming from the back row.
“Press the button down before you insert the tip in the tube, then release slowly to draw up the sample. Carefully stick the tip into one of the wells of the agarose gel. Press down on the button again to release your sample.”
The agarose gel was a jelly-like rectangular material, bathing in a clear solution, sitting in a plastic electrical unit with red and black wiring through it.
“When plugged in, a current runs through the solution, moving the DNA down the gel.”
Some of the students drifted out of their seats to get a better view; others passed notes, not caring what was being taught.
“You will load different samples of DNA with varying molecular weights and record your answers. The heavier DNA will stay up higher in the gel and the lighter DNA will move faster and be farther down the gel — Pair up and turn in your results before you leave.”
All the students got up from their desk and scrambled to a lab bench. As Jory walked over to a station, someone smacked him behind the head, and ruthless laughing ensued. Jory sulked down onto a stool, but before he could sit, Derek Dodger and Peter Stankovich grabbed the spot and bumped him aside.
“These seats are taken!” rudely remarked the blond-haired kid. Derek was the classic school bully, tormenting whomever had the misfortune to cross his path. He was tall and athletically built, which he used to his advantage to intimidate others. His friends in school followed him around and acted like his puppets, doing whatever he told them.
Peter was part of Derek’s gang and followed along with the pranks, probably in order to avoid being picked on himself. He was a chubby redhead with freckles and had a laugh that resembled a seal’s bark.
As Kellie passed by, she witnessed the pestering and blurted, “Why don’t you guys just leave him alone?”
“Oh, is he your boyfriend?” snarled Derek.
Kellie ignored him as she walked off to an available bench.
Jory already found another spot at the back of the room and the last open seat was next to him.
“Can I work with you?” asked Kellie with a warm smile.
A huge grin appeared on his face when he looked up. “Of course!” he said with glee. Although they had been going to the same school, this was the first time Kellie had spoken to him.
“I’m Kellie.”
“I know.”
“Thanks for the pencil.”
“Sure,” he said, his face flushing. Handing her the pipetman, he asked, “Would you like to load the samples?”
Kellie accepted the large pen-looking thing and they both put on goggles that were sitting with the lab supplies.
“These must be the microfuge tubes with the DNA,” said Jory, as he read off the instruction sheet. He picked up a tray of small conical-shaped vials, labeled one through six. He handed them to Kellie as she loaded the samples into the wells of the agarose gel, just like the way Mr. Patterson demonstrated.
“Y-you don’t have to say anything to D-Derek for me,” stuttered Jory. “He’s just messing around.”
Kellie gave him a disapproving stare, pointing the end of the pipetman at him. “You can’t let people treat you like that, Jory.”
Jory smiled when she said his name.
“People won’t respect you if you let them walk all over you,” she said. “Why don’t you come down to Chen’s Kung Fu Studio, so we can teach you self-defense?”
Jory chuckled. “I don’t know…I don’t think it’s for me. I believe you can talk your way out of any situation… although it never worked on Derek,” he said, his voice trailing off.
Kellie watched him while he was lost in thought.
He shook his head, making his decision firm. “Thanks, anyway.”
Jory glanced at Kellie as she continued to fill the wells with their samples. His mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but then it closed. After a few minutes, he seemed to form the courage to ask her a question.
“I-I heard that you’re a kung fu master and you live with an old Chinese man….Is that true?”
Still pipetting, she said, “No, I’m not a kung fu master and yes, I came from China about eight years ago with a Chinese man.” Kellie was silently surprised by her own words. She had never revealed anything personal about herself before, but for some reason she felt she could trust him.
“Is he your grandfather?”
“I was adopted.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I was adopted by fifty-five Chinese monks and grew up in the most amazing monastery in China.”
“Wow!” Jory exclaimed. “You were adopted by Chinese monks? That must’ve been the coolest thing ever to grow up in a monastery!”
“It was pretty neat,” said Kellie, as she reminisced back to the carefree years when she played around the ancient buildings. “I really miss everyone. It’s hard to describe the place….You can’t help but feel at peace there.”
“Why did you come to America then?”
Kellie finished setting up their experiment and set the pipetman down. Jory put the lid on top of the electrical unit and plugged it in.
“Master Chen said I have better opportunities here.” This reminded her of their trip that was put off and the disappointment afflicted her all over again.
Kellie’s mood change didn’t go unnoticed. Jory didn’t ask any more questions.
They both stared at the blue dye as the DNA traveled through the gel. When the band moved down far enough, they compared it to the ladder and recorded their results. The ladder, Mr. Patterson explained, contained different known sizes of DNA, so the molecular weights of the samples could be determined.
“You only have a few more minutes to finish up,” their teacher announced with a deep, boisterous tone. “Make sure your lab station is cleaned up!”
“Well,” said Kellie, “if you change your mind…class starts at six p.m. every weekday.”
Along with all the other students, they hustled to tidy their area. The school bell rang and almost in an instant, the classroom had cleared.
Kellie had her backpack over her right shoulder and was the last one to leave. Jory was a few yards in front of her, and as he was walking, Derek stuck his foot out and tripped him. His books flew into the air and crashed all over the floor, while his face hit the ground. Derek and Peter snorted as they howled with laughter.
Outraged, Kellie was in Derek’s face and yelled, “I told you to leave him alone!” She could feel her temperature rise and her hands shake by her sides.
The crowd forming around them went silent. Kellie’s boldness stunned everyone. All eyes were on Derek for his retort.
The towering bully was initially startled by Kellie’s aggressiveness, but then stared her down as he sneered, “You have your girlfriend fight your battles for you, Stevens?”
After Jory pulled himself up and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he tugged at Kellie’s arm and urged, “It’s okay, Kellie…it’s not —”
At that moment, Derek shoved Kellie’s backpack off her shoulder, causing her to take a double step back. When she regained her balance, fury drenched her soul and
her narrowed eyes pierced right through him. He looked as if he was frightened by what he saw in her pupils, and before he knew it, Kellie pounced on him like a feline and struck him across his face with her hands in a paw-like clench. He flew a few yards and fell with a hard thud on his back. He cradled his bloody face as he let out a snivel.
Realizing what she had done, Kellie picked up her bag and ran off as the crowd giggled at Derek’s high-pitched scream.
Jory shouted behind her. “Kellie, wait up!”
She stopped running, trying to figure out what she should do next. Her heart was racing and she was breathing hard. Her hands still shaking, she wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.
Jory caught up with her and walked around to face her.
“That was awesome! It’s about time Derek got what he deserved. Did you hear him cry like a little baby?”
“I shouldn’t have done that….I don’t know what got over me….I just got so angry….I don’t understand it… but I couldn’t control myself.” She held her stomach, feeling nauseated; she couldn’t believe she struck another student. Derek didn’t even try to hit her and she attacked him. She was sure that Master Chen was going to be thoroughly disappointed. At the studio, they taught self-defense, not aggression. She was upset with herself for making the wrong decision and not walking away from the situation.
“Thank you,” said Jory, still reveling in the satisfaction. “No one has ever stuck up for me like that.”
“Hey, champ!” called a chipper voice behind them. “I just heard what happened.”
Kellie turned around and saw Jake standing behind her.
“Already?” Kellie mumbled behind her hands, covering her face.
“Juicy rumors travel fast. So, I heard you flattened Derek’s nose!”
“No…I just scratched him — he fell — I didn’t mean —”
“Scratched his face?” asked Jake, looking confused. “You didn’t use any of that fancy karate chops I saw you do?” He made slicing motions in the air with both hands and kicked up his right leg.
“It wasn’t a scratch,” Jory said with excitement. “She belted him across his unsuspecting mug and tossed him like last week’s garbage.”