Karate Kick Read Online Free Page B

curl from her face and said, “Ready stance.”
    Cole balled his hands into loose fists and held them out in front of him. His gaze was focused straight ahead, his feet were
     slightly apart, and his knees were bent.
    “Bow,” Monique commanded.
    Cole slid one foot to the other, flattened his hands against his thighs, and bent from the waist. Then he returned to the
     ready position.
    “Two moves at a time,” Monique reminded him. “On my command.” She waited a beat and then said, “Step!”
    Cole snapped his left fist up to his right ear, stretched his right arm down in front of him, spun a quarter turn to the left,
     and shifted his feet into a cat stance — feet side by side, knees bent, left heel raised, and right leg supporting most of
     his weight. Everything moved at the same time, in one fluid motion.
    He paused in this position for a split second. Then he whipped his fist down and across his body — a downward block — while
     sliding his left foot forward. Now he was in a front stance. His legs were shoulder-width apart, weight forward, and both
     knees were bent.
    Again, Cole paused for a fraction of a beat. Then, moving foot and fist at the same time, he swept his right foot in an arc
     — in to his left and then out into a front stance — and punched with his right hand. Just before he finished the punch, he
     twisted his fist over. If his knuckles had actually made contact with a body, the end twist would have stretched the skin
     and the nerves beneath it uncomfortably tight, adding to the pain of the punch itself.
    “Ki-ai!” he shouted.
    “Step!” Monique called.
    Now Cole brought his right fist up to his left ear. He spun around to the right 180 degrees and stepped forward with another
     strong downward block.
    He started to pull back into a cat stance for the next move, a right straight-in shuto, when Monique barked, “Stop!”
    Cole dropped his hands and stared at her. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
    “It’s not what you
did,
it’s what you
forgot
to do,” she admonished. “Go back to the straight-in punch.”
    He turned around and got into position: right front stance, right arm out as if he had just punched.
    “Step!”
    He repeated the turn-around/downward block. She stopped him once more.
    “You forgot again,” she said in a singsong voice.
    “Forgot
what
?”
    “You have to square off with the stretch and cat stance
before
you go into the second downward block.” She shook her head. “If you leave out that transition during the test, the senseis
     will be all over you.”
    “Big deal!” Cole retorted, “I’m used to that kind of treatment, thanks to you!”

10
    C ole regretted the words the moment he said them. Sure, he was mad at Monique for correcting him. But she was right. He
had
left out the transition — and the senseis
would
notice. Maybe it would affect the outcome of the test, maybe it wouldn’t. Regardless, he couldn’t fix the mistake if he didn’t
     know about it.
    But there was another reason he regretted his angry retort. From the look on Monique’s face, he knew his words had stung badly.
    She slipped out of her chair and grabbed her gear bag. “I was only trying to help,” she mumbled. “But maybe I should go.”
    Cole was about to tell her to stay when Marty beat him to the punch. “Come on, Monique, don’t go! We’ve barely started.”
    She hesitated but didn’t put her bag down.
    “I’ll give you ice cream later if you stay!” Marty coaxed, his voice laced with laughter.
    A smile twitched at the corners of Monique’s lips. “What flavor?”
    “Your favorite: mint chocolate chip!”
    “That’s not her favorite,” Cole cut in. “Rocky road is.”
    Monique looked at him with surprise. Then she broke into a wide grin. “I can’t believe you remember that!”
    Cole shrugged, suddenly embarrassed. “I might forget some things, like a transition in a kata,” he said, “but other things
     I remember.”
    Marty smiled at