Junior Year Box Set

With his snake-like quickness, he reached out and grabbed my right wrist. I twisted my arm and punched the top of his hand as hard as I could. There’s a bundle of nerves in the back of your hand that Shiggy had taught us was a pressure point. Chuck released my wrist. I followed up with two hard body blows that Fritz and Coach Hope had taught me, boxing.

I danced back because it felt like I’d punched concrete.

Chuck gave me a hard look and flexed his hand to get it working right again. I knew better than to believe he was hurt. Cassidy had played possum too many times for me to fall for that, but he didn’t know that.

He grabbed my wrist again, and I realized he planned to throw me. So, I fell back, and that straightened his arm as my weight dropped towards the floor. When it was straight, I punched him in the triceps, another pressure point. He let go of me, and I could see it had deadened his arm. Even with one arm, Chuck was dangerous.

What he didn’t expect was for me to pop up and explode towards him. This was one of my speed drills. I tackled Chuck and soon had him under me as I rained down punches.

“Release!” Cassidy shouted.

I looked back at her smiling face.

“He abused me by tossing my butt all over the mat. He never hurt me,” Cassidy admitted.

“Oh, shit,” was my brilliant response. “Are you okay?”

Chuck had a bloody lip and a mouse under his left eye. Miiko came out with a wet towel and a bag of ice.

“I see you had no confidence in me,” Chuck told his wife.

“He is Cassidy’s trainee. You didn’t expect he couldn’t hurt an old man like you, now did you?” she asked.

He sat up and let her attend to his wounds.

“Tony warned me. I just figured he’d gotten soft,” Chuck admitted.

“I hate to whoop your butt and run, but I have to get to work,” I said as I looked at the clock on the wall.

Chuck mumbled something that had Miiko grinning. I figured it best I not know what he said.

◊◊◊

Today’s commercial was for Kasia watches. They sold a watch made from wood with a digital face. On the face, you could either have a maze or time display. The maze was what most of the younger people wanted, including me. You had to study the maze to figure out what time it was. I liked the wooden case.

The location was also great. We were shooting the ad at Iwakuni Castle, which overlooked the famous Kintai Bridge.

The bridge was built in 1673 and spanned the Nishiki River in a series of five wooden arches. From the bridge, it was about a five-minute walk to the ropeway, or lift, that took you up to the castle. Iwakuni Castle was built in 1608 on top of Mount Shiroyama, and the site was picked for its defensive advantages. The castle keep is four stories high and looks out onto the city 600 feet below. Both the bridge and the castle were tourist hot spots in Japan.

Today was much more of a photo-shoot type of job where I changed clothes and watches for their print and magazine advertising. I did shoot a commercial. Since the product was the watch, my part was relatively short because they wanted to focus the close-ups without me in them.

◊◊◊

Once we finished the shoot, I found out Cassidy had volunteered me to go to dinner at the Marine air base. I knew that Coach Hope would want me to go if they invited me, so I didn’t have a problem with it. I gave everyone but Cassidy the night off. If she set it up, she was going with me. I figured I would be safe on a military base.

The Marines had arranged transport, and we were whisked in through the gate as if we were VIPs. We were taken to an office building and shown to a conference room. In walked a man who I could tell bothered Cassidy. He introduced himself as Major Duckworth, US Army, from the Public Affairs Office. He’d been brought in just for me. They called him away for a moment, which gave me a chance to talk to Cassidy.

“I take it you don’t like him?”

“He’s the typical idiot my dad hated. He’ll never see any action and is more a political animal than military. It’s a Marine thing,” she said in explanation.

“How do I act? Do I salute?” I teased her.

“That’s only with me. Just treat them like you do my dad; you’re a civilian.”

“So, I yell at him,” I said, nodding.

It’s good that I have catlike reflexes. I suspected Cassidy was worried I’d embarrass her twice in one day.

◊◊◊

Before dinner, Stars and Stripes interviewed me. The interview was primarily focused on my films and why I was in Japan. They also wanted to talk about football and baseball. But I told them I had to separate sports interviews from movie and modeling interviews to stay on the NCAA’s good side. We agreed to talk about sports after dinner.

I was then taken to Matthew C. Perry High School, where they were holding an assembly and expecting me to give a speech. I glared at Cassidy, who played innocent. It was a good thing I wasn’t shy.

“I was told about an hour ago I had the privilege of visiting you all today. I bet you had just about as much notice that I’d be here.”