Something wild happened to me today

Chapter 25

Sunday, April 1st, 2007, 1:15 PM

Confirmation

Confirmed. My doubts have dissipated and an uncertain future awaits me.

We went to meet up yesterday at 6 pm at Xavier’s school, in Mataró. While Rafa was driving there in his old Golf, he told me that Xavier didn’t know anything. He had told him that I was thinking about signing up for martial arts classes again, and that I wanted to see if I had lost it. What a joke, I don’t know how Xavier swallowed that bullshit, and much less so why he agreed. For more or less ten years, besides mountain hiking, I haven’t done any type of exercise, and that’s something that everyone who knows me knows perfectly well.

In any case, we reached the school at the agreed upon time. Xavier was waiting for us by the door, under the black sign with a green serpentine Chinese dragon and huge yellow letters that said, “Dragon Martial Arts. Traditional Martial Arts School.” Apparently, he had closed the school that afternoon so we could be alone. I think he suspected something was up.

When we told him what we really needed was for me to go up into the ring with him, he had a laughing attack that lasted a few minutes that seemed like an eternity. He stopped when he realized we weren’t even smiling.

“Can you tell me why you want me to destroy you this afternoon, Dani?” he asked, trying to contain another laughing attack. I was thinking of what to say when Rafa said,

“Daniel thinks he has powers. I’ve seen him do something that wasn’t normal, but I’m still not convinced. We want you to fight him to see if it’s true.”

Xavier looked at the two of us with a half-smile that seemed to say that he didn’t know if he should laugh again, or start thinking that we had gone crazy or that we were super fucked up on something.

A few seconds passed in silence, while he observed us as if he was suddenly before two strangers, and we looked at him, trying to use our silence and our serious expressions to confirm that we weren’t playing a joke on him.

Finally, unconvinced, he said,

“You’re serious about this…aren’t you?”

We both nodded at the same time. Xavier snorted, shrugged his shoulders and told us to follow him to the locker room.

Ten minutes later, I’m putting on my old, worn-out gloves again, the ones I kept as a reminder, some shin pads and a mouth guard. I felt ridiculous and a bit like an idiot at the same time. Xavier also made me wear a protective helmet. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember using them when we did kickboxing.

Rafa went up to him and I heard him tell him not to hold back.

“Asshole!” I thought. “He really wants to see if I have powers, and if I don’t, he wants to finally smack the idea out of my head.”

We went up to the mats and Xavier got in position. I watched and copied him, unsure. “I don’t remember anything anymore. He’s going to beat me up,” I thought. I was freaking out. Having a guy like him in front of you, almost twice as big, knowing that from one moment to the next is going to rain a shower of punches over you…it’s intimidating. Better said: it makes you shit yourself with fear.

 “Maybe I imagined it all. Maybe I don’t have jackshit…”

Then, cutting off my thoughts with a punch, he came up to me. His fist hit me on the bridge of my nose and stunned me. He hadn’t hit as hard as he could, in spite of Rafa’s words; he was holding back. As was to be expected. He didn’t believe anything we had told him and he was taking it like a joke.

Anyway, that first hit hurt like hell. I went back a few steps, raising my arms to cover myself and then he threw a left-hand hook punch to my stomach that lifted me several inches off the ground.

Behind me, I could hear Rafa whispering curses.

Xavier retreated to give me time to recover, and taking his mouth guard out, asked if I had had enough. He looked at Rafa shrugging his shoulders, and looked at me again, expecting a response. He shouldn’t have smiled. That condescending look hurt me more than all the kicks and punches I might receive.

“Put your fucking protection on,” I said while pointing.

I wasn’t afraid anymore. His height didn’t intimidate me anymore. His muscles didn’t, either. Nor did his endless collection of cups, belts, medals and titles that cluttered up the glass cabinets surrounding us.

He put the mouth guard on again and assumed his stance. Then I attacked. He parried my first attacks easily, and managed to get in two or three hits that I barely felt.

Rafa moved around us, observing with dread.

We moved around the mats at an impressive speed, faster and faster. Xavier couldn’t manage to get hits in anymore, and it was getting harder for him to dodge mine. I don’t know how long it lasted—according to Rafa, we were dancing around for more than five minutes—but it was over as soon as I managed to hit the target with my first and only hit. A right hook went through his guard and caught him square-on in the jaw. His entire body crashed, stunned and exhausted.

I had knocked out one of the champions of Spain and Europe in karate and kickboxing.

Xavier took off his gloves, the helmet and the mouth guard, and looked at me from the floor. Then, a smile appeared on his lips and he raised his arm for me to help him up. Once standing, looking into my eyes, he said:

“I don’t know what happened here today. But I swear that was one of the hardest fights of my entire life. And that wasn’t just luck. You beat me because you’re faster and stronger than me.”

Then the three of us went to dinner and to have a few drinks. Xavier deserved for us to explain what was happening to me. Besides, he was impatient to know everything, chapter and verse. We didn’t make him beg.

When we said goodbye, Xavier—who is a true superhero comic fanatic—told me,

“Don’t forget when Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker. “With great power comes great responsibility.”      

The three of us laughed hard and then we all went home.

I’ve been thinking about that sentence since yesterday, but I don’t think that, in my case, it’s going to turn out as easy as in the comics.