Mum

Chapter Two: Everyone needs a strong positive role-model

 

Mum

 

Maria watched her son literally go through the motions. His form was okay; his breathing slow and rhythmic, but he could not clear his mind. Like most young men in his position, he was filled with hate and misdirected rage. They did not however have to suffer as he did. To watch his own father publically lampooned and lambasted; most young men did not have to suffer public days of mockery, held in shame of their first ever idol. And so he was angry, so very angry, so much of the time. And she felt the same way, if not worse; she understood, or at least she tried to. She brought today’s Kata to an end, beginning her warm-down.

 ‘Mum?’ Xanti moaned, impatiently. He elected once again to forego his own warm-down, throwing himself down to the ground in a huff. She took a moment before answering.

‘Son?’ she answered calmly.

‘When are you going to show me some real moves?’ With every passing day his face took on more and more traits of his late father’s. His demeanour however was a different story...

‘You haven’t yet shown me you can handle the Katas...’ Xanti punched the floor, recoiling at the self-harm. His mother ignored him, continuing her routine.

‘The Katas are a piece of...’

‘Xanti Senior!’ The tone of her voice made him rethink his words. He rose to his feet, head bowed with his hands held behind his back.

‘The Katas are easy...’ He checked his mothers face for a reaction. It betrayed nothing, so he continued. ‘...I could do the Katas standing on my head. I could do them blind-folded, in my sleep...’

‘If you were asleep, my boy, we wouldn’t need the blind-fold.’ She reasoned. She finished her Kata and sat down cross-legged. She beckoned for him to do the same. ‘And if you can do them standing on your head, you must be far greater an artist than I, and thus in no need of my tutelage...’ The evasion irritated him as much as it amused. She could run rings around him; there was no question of that.

‘You know what I mean...’ he trailed off. She beckoned her son even closer still and embraced him, safe within her arms.

‘I know exactly what you mean...’ She rocked from side to side, emphasizing key words as she did. ‘You want to know when you’ll be able to exact your revenge on those local boys...What were their names again?’ Xanti tried and failed to wriggle loose. He gave up and answered with a sigh.

‘Does it even matter?’ She thought on this for a moment and then loosened her grip. He was free to leave any time he wanted.

‘I suppose not...’ she thought out loud. ‘Bullies come and go but the damage they do... that’ll last forever, if you let it.’ They both sat and pondered this for a while; the unintentional depth of the message striking them both. Now it was he who rocked gently; trying to restart the rhythm she had unintentionally ceased. He waited for his mother to fill the silence, until he realised that she could not.

‘So...’ He asked. ‘Those real moves you were...’ She snorted, unsurprised by his persistence. She resumed the rocking, following his lead.

‘Do you know why the Kata is so important?’ she asked. ‘Why we bother at all?’

‘Muscle memory...’ Xanti’s answer was immediate. ‘The moves become instinct, a natural reflex, like breathing, or...’ She nuzzled her chin against his scalp, drawing a line left and right.

‘And...’

‘And... We do it to relax...’ he admitted. ‘...to clear our thoughts of material things, to distract the front of our minds with boring, menial tasks...’ Out of habit, he looked around so as to make sure no one else was in earshot, just as his mother so often did. She was both reassured and saddened; the former that he had adopted the habit at all, the latter that he should even have to. ‘...So that the rest of the mind can be at peace.’ He felt his mother nod, which filled him with pride.

‘Because to be at peace...’ she prompted.

‘...Is to be as Xenon is.’ he finished.

‘Indeed.’ She said, satisfied. Her son could listen at least. She let go of him and rose to her feet, beckoning for him to do the same. ‘If you can master peace, anger is only as far away as you put it.’ He slowly nodded, seeming to understand. She folded her arms, cocking her head in disbelief. ‘So show me peace. ‘Where we go from there...is up to you.’ Xanti exhaled deeply, retaking his stance. With his feet planted shoulder width apart, he shut his eyes and loosened his body from top to bottom. He regulated his breathing and then held his arms out in front of him, palms down as he began the Kata. Again and again he went through the motions and after a time, the fog did begin to clear... until he heard the sound of footsteps and that of a young child in tears.

A female voice shouted from afar.

‘Mama Maria? Mama Maria!’ It was Fallon, one of the younger girls from their community. Xanti recognised the crying as that of his little brother; there was an unmistakably needy whining in its pitch, no other baby his age could replicate. Xanti carried on regardless. He needed this so much more than he needed to know what the problem was this time. He heard his mother speak:

‘Don’t stop. I’ll be watching...’ He worked a subtle nod into his movements and continued unabated. He didn’t need her prompting this time; it was working, he was doing it! In the background of his mind, he heard his mother “hush Tobias” as she took him from the girl. He paid it no mind and barely noticed Fallon’s retreat, as she took his younger, more attention starved sibling back inside. ‘Good...’ His mother said. He could hear the pride in her voice. ‘Now open your eyes.’ When he did, he saw his mother smiling down at him. It felt as if he had just awoken from the most wonderful of dreams... This made him feel good. It made him feel peaceful.

‘Now; repeat the Kata again, twice as fast this time...’ He nodded, closing his eyes once more. ‘Eyes open please...’ He cocked his head and then with a shrug; did as he was told. After a few minutes he grew restless; it was hard to concentrate with so many distractions in the world around him and the increased speed upset his rhythm.

Bang! His mother shocked him like a viper; directing a lightening quick jab right at him. Without thinking – without even time to think – he deflected the blow, finding himself already in position to defend against the next one, and the next one, and the one after that. Ending his Kata with a definitive stamp, he bowed before his mother - who returned the gesture, grinning as she did so - and ran into her arms. She let the weight of him tip her off balance and they fell together with a gentle thud, laughing as they did.

‘I knew you could do, my boy!’

‘Yeah; I knew I’d get it too...’ Maria threw back her head and laughed at her boy, not so little anymore.

‘Be careful, young man’ she said, a wry twinkle in the corner of her mouth.. ‘They say that pride begets the fall, know you?’ Xanti thought on this for a moment and then shook his head.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘Then they are wrong, mother...’ She cocked her head, confused.

‘Are they indeed?’

‘They are indeed, mother...’ Xanti nodded, sure of himself. ‘You see...’ he began, as if addressing a child even younger than himself; ‘We fell, and then I was prideful!’

 

 

The breaking dawn shone fresh sunlight directly into the brothers’ curtain-less cave. Xanti awoke as he often did; with the memory of his mother’s sweet laugher ringing in his mind. He checked on Tobias and then began his morning Kata. He had a big day ahead of him, but he knew he was ready; his mother had made him so.