(Another) Study in Unsatisfactory Endings (which means... Part II)

I sat on the squishy, but still hard mat while dreading Randori and worrying about Seth. Everyone went through their rounds, and then it was my turn to get up there in the middle of everybody to try and make some random kid fall over. Oh yay, I just can’t wait.

My stomach started to feel sickly nervous, and then it was time for me to stand up. I made my way to the middle to face a boy shorter and smaller then me. But he had a green belt so I figured I would lose.

And I did. Within about five seconds. I turned an un-ripe strawberry color, and my opponent looked surprised and excited when Mike announced the winner. Mentally shrugging, I sat back down and looked straight ahead to watch my other siblings in their endeavors. At least I’ll probably never have to do that again. I hope. Next time maybe I would find an excuse in time.

Jessica stepped up with one of the newer Asian students, and they went at it. Then they were both fighting for control on the ground, and Jessica was trying to hold down his shoulders with her forearm. Some of her stray damp hair fell in front of her face from out of her ponytail.

Then the sides switched, but only for a few brief seconds, and Jessica again pinned him down. A chorus of the bystanders chanted from ten to one. Mike called out and they stood, breathing stiffly and heavily, but Jessica had a slight smile. Mike’s right arm shot in the air in front of her to signify the winner, and we gave some cheers.

Sister faced brother next as Michael  met her in the center of the floor, and he conquered soon enough. I would way rather have lost to a sibling.

Jessica seated herself on the mat, and I glanced over. A second of surprise caught my mind - she looked really bothered. Okay. So it’s not that surprising, I reasoned. Emotions are running high in our whole family- Jessica’s stressed out over wedding plans, and Seth just went to the ER.

And by the time David came back from beating two people and losing to a brown belt, I was about feeling sick from stress myself. I could picture Seth in the Emergency Room, and my mind imagined grave looking doctors and their tools. Serious as they talked in low tones to Dad and Mom.

Seriously! He’ll be fine! All he did was knock his head on the ground! But I couldn’t banish the nagging feelings. After all, he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember anything from the past few months they said.

My eyes were magnetically drawn every five minutes to the clock on the wall, and I was the first person off the mat after we bowed. I grabbed up my belongings and bit my lip in impatience while waiting. Come on. Let’s leave. Please! Nobody else even seemed to remember that my brother was in the hospital because of this awful sport. How was he?? How was he doing?

A Study in Unsatisfactory Endings *

    “Kata Garuma is the name of this next move we’re going to teach you.” A line of Judo students clad in blue uniforms looked ahead to Mike as he spoke. “Another name for it is the Fireman’s carry. Ready? Dave.” A smaller man hopped from kneeling position to be used in Mike’s example. As he was thrown onto the ground I could hear the clap of his hand on the mat.

    After a little more demonstration, we were split into groups of two. My sister Jessica hauled me onto her back before letting drop to the plastic mats below. Oh, how I dislike Judo lessons. I felt unsure or my self and bored most of the time. I hit the blue mat again. The only thing Judo was good for was bragging rights; and having the third out of eight rankings wasn’t that impressive, especially if I couldn’t do much with it. I wiped the hair out of my eyes.

    “Do you want to try it now?” Jessica gave me the option.

    I shook my head, “No, that’s okay. This is fine.”

     Two claps in a row and everyone sat on the mat. “Alright!” Mike’s voice reached the corners of the room. “Let’s have a demonstration from... Alex. And how about you- what’s your name?”

    Michael shook his head. “I was riding the four-wheeler and landed it wrong, so my back is too sore to really do that. Sorry.”

    “Ah, okay. Seth? How about you.” Seth stood up and walked over. The orange belt showed vividly against the white uniform. Alex hefted Seth onto his back slowly and then flipped him off.

    There was a heavy thud and then- it was quiet. The air itself seemed to be waiting. Why wasn’t Seth moving? My breath skipped and I tensed as Mike walked over to the still white figure and bent over him. The room was still unnervingly quiet. “Seth, are you all right? Seth!”

My eyes stayed fixed on the form sprawled on the floor, but I could sense the tension in everyone around me. Unsure. Waiting. And then he moved. Relief rushed in as he sat up and pushed himself to the edge of the mat. Something still didn’t feel quite right when I watched the way he was moving, but I mentally assured myself that he’d be okay.

“All right, line up according to size and weight, we’re going to do Randori.” What?! Was this mandatory? We had never been required to do Randori before. You just volunteered if you wanted to.

    “Everyone’s going to do it this time.” Oh no. I ran through options in my head: maybe I could leave? No. Maybe I could just go stand in the bathroom until it was over. Um, no. Dad and Mom would tell me I had to do it, and besides; we were all sitting down already and it would be too obvious if I got up now.

    There was movement on the other side of the room. Dad and Mom- and Seth. They were leaving. What? Why were they leaving??

I hopped around the other sitting students and headed toward Dad and Mom. “Where are you going??”

Then Jessica was beside me, “Becky, go sit down, okay?”

“I need to know where they’re taking Seth!” Worry flooded my voice.

“We’re going to the Emergency Room,” Mom explained to me in a hurry. “Seth doesn’t remember anything that’s happened in the past few months.”

A tide of shock and worry spread in my mind. He didn’t - remember?? “Can I go too? Please??”

“No, you better stay her with the rest of the kids. Most likely it won’t take us too long.” I bit back my urge to beg to go along again, and turned back to sit down again as Jessica had told me to. I turned my head to look out the window, and I watched as Seth made his way down the sidewalk with Dad and Mom on either side of him.

*[Much thanks to Tierney for the brilliant title.] ;-)