If You Steal My Sunshine, Making Sure I'm Not In Too Deep, If You Steal My Sunshine, Keeping Versed And On My Feet, If You Steal My Sunshine
--"Steal My Sunshine", LEN
It was after I had thrown the girl into the pool and she not only landed on her foot but started running across the water's surface that I knew I was in trouble. Maybe I'd taken on more than I can handle in picking a fight with this one, I thought. As she came speeding at me, defying gravity, I saw the look of a ferocious tiger. She was determined to insure that I would pay for my insulting behavior as well as kill me where I stood. As she stepped off the water onto the pavement her fist flew at me like a spear being thrown directly at my head.
I was barely fourteen.
The girl was no more than eleven.
Yet as the first impact was felt by unprepared face, I knew this wouldn't be any ordinary fight. This would be a fight that could ultimately cost me everything. With that notion in my mind, I readied myself for the second incoming fist. This time I was ready to counter the blow with my forearm, forcing it to glance harmlessly away from the side of my head. I immediately threw an elbow to her throat to take advantage of what small opening I had. But she too had been expecting me to counter-attack and somersaulted back, away from reach.
"You. You're good," I told her as I looked to see how the other fight fared.
My cousin V.J. was still in the midst of fighting my opponent's older brother. It had started out on the diving board on the far end of the pool, but in the intermittent minutes it had progressed to second floor, and finally to the rooftop of the motel we were staying at. As her brother had leaped from poolside to the second floor railing, so had my cousin followed suit, kicking and grabbing, blocking and throwing as he went. Now they proceeded to change blow for blow on top of the two story building. I said a little prayer that he'd be okay and focused my attention once more on my foe.
It had started out as a simple family vacation with my parents, my brother, my two cousins, and their parents to Lake Tahoe in July. Yet along the way we had crossed paths with the wrong pair of vile outlaws to ever roam that particular motel's pool area. The two of them claimed to be the grandchildren of the motel's owner and they were quite explicit that they didn't like our kind invading their territory. They made it clear they wanted us gone and that they were prepared to defend their territory to their last breath.
For days peace had been the law of the land as their threats were never backed up. We stole evil glances, even bumped into them on the walkways, but the tension remained below the surface. It was almost enough to make me believe that nothing of consequence would happen on this trip and I would be able to make it to the end without bloodshed.
I was wrong, though.
The next morning we found some of the villagers that were under our protection in the room below ours murdered in their beds. When we witnessed the slaughter, the four of us immediately knew who was to blame.
They hadn't even tried to hide their culpability. They dangled the necklace of the villager's leader before our faces, daring us to make the first move. I didn't want to fall for their obvious ploy, but the spirit of vengeance had overtaken me.
My cousin, being the eldest, called out the boy, leaving me the deceptively weak-looking girl to challenge.
"You," I pointed to her, "and me right now." Without even waiting I performed a reverse spin kick to her sternum, sending her into the pool. Or so I thought. That's when she had managed to skim the water like a skipping stone.
After pursuing her behind the pool, I watched as cleared the fence that surrounded the swimming area in one leap. I followed suit and landed on the pick-up just outside the fence. I was met by the wrong end of a tiger claw to the throat and by another lightning-fast short kick to the groin. I flew back into the fence, tumbling twice, before my back almost broke from the impact. Forcing my feet to stand, I whipped my upper body into an upright position after that, getting situated into a fighting stance in less than a second. She leapt off the bed of the truck, Superman style, fists in front of her, straight at my chest. I caught her by the arm and whipped her around, releasing her just as she had completed one full revolution. Her body flew into the window of a second-story room. I immediately came flying after her.
Meanwhile, my cousin and his foe had managed to pummel a hole through the roof of the hotel. They had fallen through and were now fighting in hotel room to hotel room, punching out holes in the walls to pass through as they went. It was through one of these holes that I saw her escape into just as I had made it up into where she had landed.
I ran after her.
As I entered into the bathroom, the first thing I saw was the toilet seat cover, which she had ripped off, hurtling at my face. I ducked it easily, but, in my prone position, I hadn't noticed she had also ripped out the rest of the toilet as well, which she now slid at my hunched over body. I barely had time to flip over the scurrying toilet and kick her in the face. She laughed it off.
"Hey, you're pretty good," she gestured with her hand emphatically, pointing to me with a snap of arm. "I'll get my brother... He's the best in the world!" she finished, waving her arms as if to demonstrate just how much of the world her brother was master of.
After she had finished speaking, I came charging at her bull-like, intending to wrap her up in my arms and shove her straight through the wall. She leap-frogged my rush and flew through the air into the adjacent bedroom. I flipped my head around to see where she had gone. I saw her egging me on with her hands, motioning me to come closer so we could finish our fight. I obliged her wholeheartedly.
I came at her with a flying jump kick that she caught. She threw me down to the ground. I tried to sweep her as I was getting up, but she merely stood her ground and my leg felt like it was meeting an iron pole. She then allowed her body to fall, elbows out, to take aim at my face. I blocked with the only thing I had available to me, my forehead. I felt the crash on my forehead throughout my whole body. It felt like an earthquake and reverberated even through the floor of the room.
Then the floor gave way and I saw both of us hurtling down to the first floor, then through that to the basement.
I got up immediately and saw she was ready to continue as well. I tracked her lithe body as she came running on the side of the wall, reached the edge closest to me, and leapt off feet-first in attempt to nail me in the stomach. I slid underneath her attack and poised myself for her follow-up. I didn't have to wait long. She came leaping back in my direction almost instantaneously after she had touched down. This time I merely ducked the assault and grabbed her head just as it passed by me. With her head in hand, I leap in the opposite direction and let physics do the rest. Her body landed with a thud as the familiar sounds of a snapping neck filled the air.
I didn't even have time to bow to my fallen opponent when I heard more than saw my cousin push into the hole the girl's brother, who apparently had been somehow cut in half. I didn't even bother asking how he had managed that as the broken arm told me my cousin was in no mood for a replay.
Myself, I knew I had a concussion and the girl had probably contorted my back beyond repair when she had thrown me into the fence, but I had managed to survive somehow. I grabbed my cousin's hand, threw him up out of the hole, and leapt up and out after him.
We collected our brothers, who had been busy taking care of the motel owner, apparently in the process caving the roof in of the office of the motel. The familiar sight of smoke also clued me into the fact that our plan of action was to blame the wanton destruction all around us on fire and to blame the broken bodies of the owner's grandchildren on falling debris.
We all made it back to the motel room safely. Ten minutes later our parents made it back from buying us lunch and asked us what we did all morning.
"Nothing," we, of course, replied. "This place is so boring."
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
It was after I had thrown the girl into the pool and she not only landed on her foot but started running across the water's surface that I knew I was in trouble. Maybe I'd taken on more than I can handle in picking a fight with this one, I thought. As she came speeding at me, defying gravity, I saw the look of a ferocious tiger. She was determined to insure that I would pay for my insulting behavior as well as kill me where I stood. As she stepped off the water onto the pavement her fist flew at me like a spear being thrown directly at my head.I was barely fourteen.
The girl was no more than eleven.
Yet as the first impact was felt by unprepared face, I knew this wouldn't be any ordinary fight. This would be a fight that could ultimately cost me everything. With that notion in my mind, I readied myself for the second incoming fist. This time I was ready to counter the blow with my forearm, forcing it to glance harmlessly away from the side of my head. I immediately threw an elbow to her throat to take advantage of what small opening I had. But she too had been expecting me to counter-attack and somersaulted back, away from reach.
"You. You're good," I told her as I looked to see how the other fight fared.
My cousin V.J. was still in the midst of fighting my opponent's older brother. It had started out on the diving board on the far end of the pool, but in the intermittent minutes it had progressed to second floor, and finally to the rooftop of the motel we were staying at. As her brother had leaped from poolside to the second floor railing, so had my cousin followed suit, kicking and grabbing, blocking and throwing as he went. Now they proceeded to change blow for blow on top of the two story building. I said a little prayer that he'd be okay and focused my attention once more on my foe.
It had started out as a simple family vacation with my parents, my brother, my two cousins, and their parents to Lake Tahoe in July. Yet along the way we had crossed paths with the wrong pair of vile outlaws to ever roam that particular motel's pool area. The two of them claimed to be the grandchildren of the motel's owner and they were quite explicit that they didn't like our kind invading their territory. They made it clear they wanted us gone and that they were prepared to defend their territory to their last breath.
For days peace had been the law of the land as their threats were never backed up. We stole evil glances, even bumped into them on the walkways, but the tension remained below the surface. It was almost enough to make me believe that nothing of consequence would happen on this trip and I would be able to make it to the end without bloodshed.
I was wrong, though.
The next morning we found some of the villagers that were under our protection in the room below ours murdered in their beds. When we witnessed the slaughter, the four of us immediately knew who was to blame.
They hadn't even tried to hide their culpability. They dangled the necklace of the villager's leader before our faces, daring us to make the first move. I didn't want to fall for their obvious ploy, but the spirit of vengeance had overtaken me.
My cousin, being the eldest, called out the boy, leaving me the deceptively weak-looking girl to challenge.
"You," I pointed to her, "and me right now." Without even waiting I performed a reverse spin kick to her sternum, sending her into the pool. Or so I thought. That's when she had managed to skim the water like a skipping stone.
After pursuing her behind the pool, I watched as cleared the fence that surrounded the swimming area in one leap. I followed suit and landed on the pick-up just outside the fence. I was met by the wrong end of a tiger claw to the throat and by another lightning-fast short kick to the groin. I flew back into the fence, tumbling twice, before my back almost broke from the impact. Forcing my feet to stand, I whipped my upper body into an upright position after that, getting situated into a fighting stance in less than a second. She leapt off the bed of the truck, Superman style, fists in front of her, straight at my chest. I caught her by the arm and whipped her around, releasing her just as she had completed one full revolution. Her body flew into the window of a second-story room. I immediately came flying after her.
Meanwhile, my cousin and his foe had managed to pummel a hole through the roof of the hotel. They had fallen through and were now fighting in hotel room to hotel room, punching out holes in the walls to pass through as they went. It was through one of these holes that I saw her escape into just as I had made it up into where she had landed.
I ran after her.
As I entered into the bathroom, the first thing I saw was the toilet seat cover, which she had ripped off, hurtling at my face. I ducked it easily, but, in my prone position, I hadn't noticed she had also ripped out the rest of the toilet as well, which she now slid at my hunched over body. I barely had time to flip over the scurrying toilet and kick her in the face. She laughed it off.
"Hey, you're pretty good," she gestured with her hand emphatically, pointing to me with a snap of arm. "I'll get my brother... He's the best in the world!" she finished, waving her arms as if to demonstrate just how much of the world her brother was master of.
After she had finished speaking, I came charging at her bull-like, intending to wrap her up in my arms and shove her straight through the wall. She leap-frogged my rush and flew through the air into the adjacent bedroom. I flipped my head around to see where she had gone. I saw her egging me on with her hands, motioning me to come closer so we could finish our fight. I obliged her wholeheartedly.
I came at her with a flying jump kick that she caught. She threw me down to the ground. I tried to sweep her as I was getting up, but she merely stood her ground and my leg felt like it was meeting an iron pole. She then allowed her body to fall, elbows out, to take aim at my face. I blocked with the only thing I had available to me, my forehead. I felt the crash on my forehead throughout my whole body. It felt like an earthquake and reverberated even through the floor of the room.
Then the floor gave way and I saw both of us hurtling down to the first floor, then through that to the basement.
I got up immediately and saw she was ready to continue as well. I tracked her lithe body as she came running on the side of the wall, reached the edge closest to me, and leapt off feet-first in attempt to nail me in the stomach. I slid underneath her attack and poised myself for her follow-up. I didn't have to wait long. She came leaping back in my direction almost instantaneously after she had touched down. This time I merely ducked the assault and grabbed her head just as it passed by me. With her head in hand, I leap in the opposite direction and let physics do the rest. Her body landed with a thud as the familiar sounds of a snapping neck filled the air.
I didn't even have time to bow to my fallen opponent when I heard more than saw my cousin push into the hole the girl's brother, who apparently had been somehow cut in half. I didn't even bother asking how he had managed that as the broken arm told me my cousin was in no mood for a replay.
Myself, I knew I had a concussion and the girl had probably contorted my back beyond repair when she had thrown me into the fence, but I had managed to survive somehow. I grabbed my cousin's hand, threw him up out of the hole, and leapt up and out after him.
We collected our brothers, who had been busy taking care of the motel owner, apparently in the process caving the roof in of the office of the motel. The familiar sight of smoke also clued me into the fact that our plan of action was to blame the wanton destruction all around us on fire and to blame the broken bodies of the owner's grandchildren on falling debris.
We all made it back to the motel room safely. Ten minutes later our parents made it back from buying us lunch and asked us what we did all morning.
"Nothing," we, of course, replied. "This place is so boring."
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 12:49 AM
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