Kung Fu Kellie and the Legend of Anguo
Page 28
Derek glared at her for the mockery. “That’s so funny,” he said without much bluster. “Next time, buy a one-way ticket —”
“Derek!” shouted an authoritative voice. When the five of them saw who it was, they all straightened up nervously. Principal Lemore was standing right behind them, and Kellie wondered how much he heard.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from Miss Wei?”
“Yes, sir,” he mumbled, avoiding eye contact, and fumbling his hands in his coat pockets.
“What was that?” asked Principal Lemore with his hands on his hips.
“Yes, sir!” he said louder and clearer.
Principal Lemore batted his eyes at his expensive gold, diamond encrusted watch. “You two, get an early start to class.”
Derek and Peter scuttled away without a word.
“It’s good to have you back,” said Principal Lemore, warmly to Kellie, and with a completely different demeanor than he had with Derek.
“It’s nice to be back,” said Kellie.
“Did you both enjoy China as well?” he asked Jory and Jake.
Taken by surprise by the question, they stammered, “Er — um — yeah.” None of them had any idea that Principal Lemore had knowledge of their excursion.
“Jory, your parents contacted me about the school trip to ask me some questions.”
“They — they did?” he barely let out. “What did you tell them?”
“Well,” he said, looking questionably at him and Jake, “after I spoke to Mr. Chen and learned the three of you went to China, for reasons he did not divulge, I told both your parents that the two of you were properly chaperoned by Miss Wei. Mr. Chen assured me that the monks would look after all of you.”
RING!
Principal Lemore examined his watch again at the sound of the bell and hurriedly turned to Kellie. With a crooked smile, he said, “Again, it is good to have you back,” and rushed off.
After getting their stuff together, Kellie, Jake, and Jory left their lunch area and headed to their classes.
“Why didn’t he tell my parents the truth?” asked Jory.
“Who knows,” said Jake, “but that was pretty cool of him!”
“Hm,” murmured Kellie, “I guess it was.”
“Oh yeah,” said Jake, “did you hear about the announcement he made about the practical jokers who broke into his office and stole a stone from an art piece and then left it at his doorstep of his house? He seemed pretty peeved and declared he was going to beef up security and catch the delinquents.” Lowering his voice, he said, “So, how did Master Chen do it?”
Kellie couldn’t hold back her smile. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“That was very risky,” Jory said with a grave expression. “He could go to jail.”
“Well,” Kellie said to Jory as she hustled toward her next class, “thank you for standing up for me.” She knew his face-off with Derek took a lot of courage.
Blushing, he said, “After all the monkeys we fought at the monastery, Derek is really nothing scarier. He actually reminded me of one of them.”
They all laughed as they split in separate directions, waving to each other.
It was a Friday and spring officially arrived, all signs of winter well forgotten. Today was the warmest day of the year, thus far, and as Kellie shut the front door of the yellow house behind her, she hoped the weekend was going to be just as pleasant.
The sweet scent of the flowers was intoxicating and the humming birds were already out to feed. The roses were beginning to bloom and Master Chen’s painstaking hard work tending the garden was paying off. The carrots, radishes, and lettuce were peering through the dirt, but weren’t quite ready to enjoy yet.
Passing the colorful yard, she hoped the school day would fly by, but it went by slower than a bored turtle with nothing to do. Tonight was a much anticipated evening that she, Jake, and Jory had been waiting for, ever since they returned home to Milldale.
Finally, when P.E. was over and Kellie was free to go home, she raced out of the gate, was in her bedroom in no time, and changed in to her black gi. She headed immediately to the studio, sprucing it up for the big night. Master Chen eyed her oddly as he walked in and out of the training room, catching her vacuum, wipe the mirrors, dust the hanging belts on the wall, sterilize the punching bags, water the bamboo plant, and polish every surface.
The students started to trickle in and pretty soon the room was crowded with passionate martial artists. Just before the class began, Jake rushed in, with Jory right behind him, looking nervous and excited. Jake had continued his lessons after their trip to China and Jory signed up without much more convincing from Kellie. After what he went through in Shenmi Forest and Taiping Monastery, he didn’t need someone to tell him twice that learning how to defend himself could come in handy.
Kellie and the other black belts assisted Master Chen as he led the class. During the middle of the hour, Master Chen took a couple of the white belt students to a back room as his black belts took over the lesson. A few minutes before the class ended, he returned and interrupted the multiple-opponent fighting that was going on and announced, “We have new yellow belts in class.” The students he pulled out were Jake and Jory and he had just tested them for their next level.
“Mr. Stevens and Mr. Russo, please step to front of class.” Jory and Jake promptly moved toward the mirrored wall. “Take off white belt.” They quickly obeyed and set it down as Master Chen handed them their new ones. “Put on yellow belt.”
Jake and Jory fumbled nervously as they tied their new colored belt around their waists. Kellie beamed with joy, watching her two best friends earn their first promotion in kung fu. Once they managed to get the double knot secured, they stood there with shining faces and shoulders back.
“Everybody, bow,” ordered Master Chen. The whole class bowed in respect and a round of applause spread across the room.
At the end of the hour, Kellie rushed over to congratulate them.
Jory never looked more proud and he couldn’t take his eyes off the mirror.
“Now we can back you up, Kel,” said Jake, smiling and patting his belt.
“I have a celebration waiting at my house,” Kellie said. “I spent all last night in the kitchen. I knew you guys would pass!”
“Did you make any of that intestine soup?” Jory asked. “I’ve kinda been craving it.”
“Ooh…or red bean buns?” added Jake.
Kellie couldn’t help but to chuckle at her friends.
Phil Powers has been drawing ever since he could remember and knew as a child he wanted to be an artist. He began his career as a mural painter and now enjoys his days as a freelance graphic designer. Phil’s other passion is martial arts. He has been training in shou shu kung fu for twenty years and ranks as a third degree black belt. He has gained proficiency in bear, tiger, and mongoose kung fu, and is currently studying white crane.
He lives in the San Francisco bay area with his wife Julie and his three children, Marcus, Ethan, and Logan.
Photo by Billy Winters
A.H. Shinn received a B.A. in Creative Studies from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Pharm.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of the Pacific. Although her interest has been in the sciences, her excitement has always been in the world of fiction. She grew up loving stories of the imagination, which included fairy tales and adventures. In college, she began training in taekwondo and later went on to learn kung fu. Chinese martial art became an important part of her life and sparked her fascination with the animals of kung fu.
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