Brad was out for a morning walk. He enjoyed the beautiful green grass of July and August take on some of the summer glare and smell. Brad’s children had given him love and lots of smiles, but had not given him grandchildren, which was a slight disappointment. He still loved them and always would. His morning walks around the park was pretty much the highlight of his day. He was about to call it a morning when he saw a handful of youngsters playing pirates. He sat down on the green bench and took in the joy and excitement the children were having. When one child pulled out a plastic pirate sword Brad couldn’t help but laugh. The pirate king made the others pretend to be walking the plank and jumping into the ocean. The morning dew along with the grass sprinklers contributed a little concern for the wet lawn, but not much. After the young pirates had jumped in the ocean half a dozen times they moved on to other entertainment. Brad noted that the pirate sword was still laying in the wet grass. He went over and picked it up and caught the eye of the young pirate king who came running to get his sword.
Brad pretended to be a pirate and said the old joke about age as he mentioned, “Eye mmmm eighty instead of High Matey.” The kid just looked at him and said, “That’s my sword. Give it back to me!” Brad just handed it to the kid and said, “Sorry . . . I just thought I could get a laugh or two.” The kid nodded and shrugged his shoulder and said, “Adults don’t know much about having fun.” I nodded my head and said, that’s probably true, but I’m an adult and I like to have fun . . . not with a pirate sword of course. The kid said, “Have you ever seen the movie of Robin Hood? I like when he fought off a bunch of guys with swords. That was exciting.” Brad could see a sparkle in the kid’s eyes and said “Fencing?” The kid looked at Brad and said, “Fencing? What the hell is that. Robin killed half a dozen men with his sword.” Brad just lifted his hands and said, “No. Fencing is a competition between two people . . . each armed with a particular “sword” as you say. No one gets hurt, but there are rules. It’s great fun. I live a block away. If you would like to see my swords, I’ll write down my address and you and your dad could come over and see my collection.” Brad said, “My parents are divorced. My mom gets off at five. When she gets home, she makes dinner and then falls asleep early.” Quickly seeing an opportunity Brad said, “How about tomorrow I make hamburgers for dinner with French Fries for the three of us? Pie for dessert?” Simply beaming the kid said, “I think mom might enjoy dinner out. I know she would. I’m Joey by the way.”
A day later, Brad waved to Joey at the park and Joey nodded his head and gave a thumbs up message. Brad met Joey’s mom. She was nice and fell asleep on the couch with Brad and Joey finishing up dinner and the dinner ware. Although, most of what Brad wanted to show to Joey, was in the living room, Brad and Joey talked a bit in the kitchen and then when Joey’s mom began stirring they made a little ice cream and cake serving the food to the table. Barbara, Joe’s mom, was embarrassed about falling asleep, but Brad just brushed it off. The three chatted for what seem like hours before Brad was able to turn the conversation to Fencing. Barbara was familiar with fencing from TV, but had never seen it in person.
After getting a good look at various photos of Brad winning numerous presentations she asked, “How many awards have you won at fencing? she asked. “Too many” was Brad’s response. “My right wrist isn’t as strong as it used to be.” Barbara asked, “Can’t you switch to your left hand?” “Set in my ways,” was Brad’s response. “Set in your winning ways” is my guess. Have you taught others? she asked. Brad quickly responded, “Oh, of course, I’ve helped a number of people.” Barbara saw her opportunity and asked “Interested in teaching children?” Brad said, “Hadn’t really thought about it.” Barbara remarked “Joey seems to be hooked. He told me his buddies were asking about you and fencing.”
Brad remarked, “Just tell me how many.” Barbara tightened her lip and said “Twenty-five.” Brad choked and said, “Twenty five? How old? Barbara said, “I think it’s virtually the entire class plus some other buddies. Brad smiled and said, “Oh, that’s fantastic!” Inward he said, “Crap.” “Have Joey, get his group ready at the park in the tarmac area. Brad thought and thought. How to put something together?
Monday morning, Brad was prepared. He introduced himself to the crowd of parents, children, and even passers-by. . . had them gather at the green picnic tables and then pulled out his foil and put on a fencing glove. He showed everyone how it handled and then explained to all of the children how they were going to make their own practice foils. Each person had a yardstick, and a ruler and a glove (all from Dollar Tree). He showed everyone how to create their own practice foil. People, both adults and children, began gathering around. Somehow word had gotten spread around. Soon a crowd of about fifty people, including a reporter for the Tribune and one from The Suburban Times were looking around and enjoying the craft of the young students and enjoyed their comments, and the gleams in their eyes.
Once every would-be fencer had a fake foil, Brad divided the group in half and sixteen fencers faced another sixteen fencers. He then had half of the group take three steps forward, one, two, three . . . The fencers facing their first croup stepped back for each step forward. Many stumbled. It took a while for everyone to become familiar with the forward and back movement, but once they stopped, the young students were just bubbling over with joy and excitement. For a good twenty minutes of forward and retreat the students sometimes messed up, but kept all trying until they each moved in the right places. At the end of the instructions and the forward and retreat format everyone was just bubbling. Brad announced the next gathering would be a week off and some of the students were dismayed, until Brad explained they would take their fake foils home with them and practice. “Next time, we will try out and explain the particular movements of attack and retreat. Basically, there are only eight positions and we’ll try you out on several next time and the next time and the next time. There were small cheers for each mention. When Brad remarked they would soon have real swords to touch and handle, the little crowd went wild.
Joey sidled up to Brad and said, “My mom thinks you’re crazy. She’s baking blackberry pie for dessert tonight and wants to know if you are interested? I already told her you were . . . and that you loved blackberry pie.” Brad looked at Joey and said, “Touche!” They both laughed.
