Stephen's Secure Blog #179
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 16 in this story, in the Summer after year 6 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #179 "Chiang Mai Muay Thai"
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I woke up Srinoy the usual way, which he loved, and we had a great
squirt. We cleaned up and went outside to practice. Some little kids
were watching us through the fence. We smiled and waved at them, and
they grinned and giggled in return. After breakfast, we ported to their
house in Chiang Mai. It was bigger, and more ornate in the Thai style.
I liked it, and telling them that got me a lot of hugs and kisses. The
fighting school was outside of the city. We took their car which they
keep there. The owner of the school came to greet us, and bowed very
low to me. That time, the parents weren't surprised. We were led to the
practice areas, and introduced. I said to the owner, in Thai, "I think
some here don't think well of me." He said "I agree. It is not expected
that you can speak our language." I grinned and said, "I like to
communicate." He looked me up and down and said, "You look very
healthy, but do not show hardness." I said "Well, I could ask my
girlfriend to help with that." He laughed and said, "I'm sure." I said
"We do not like to damage ourselves while we are still growing. We use
Chi instead, to protect our striking surfaces." He said "Would you
demonstrate?" I said, looking at the fighters, "Would it be wise for
them to see that which they can never do?" He grinned and said, "You
are wise. It would be good for some to know they are not yet the best."
I said "We accept. Please consider that what we strike will be
destroyed, and we do not want to damage living things." He grinned and
said, "Understood." Srinoy and I stripped to our fighting shorts, which
we had on under our pants. I got some admiring looks from the students,
for my build, which amused Srinoy.
I was asked to demonstrate a roundhouse shin kick to a 18cm diameter
wood post, stuck in the ground. I asked "Full power?" He said "Please."
I said "It will explode. Please make sure there are no people where the
parts would fly." He nodded. When the audience was all there, he
signaled me to kick. I did, with no windup or telegraphing. The post
broke in half with a loud explosion, and pieces went flying away from
me. I hadn't done any followthrough, and was back in my ready position
in an instant. There were gasps of surprise, and a then a murmur of
whispered conversation.
I said to Srinoy, "Do you think you could do what I did to Murphy's
nose, to a piece of wood?" All the school knew about that kick. He said
with a grin, "I would like to find out." I picked up a stick, and held
it out high in the air, parallel to the ground. When I was 12, I had
made a very loud karate scream to get everybody's attention, and
stepped toward Murphy and jumped up in the air to just above his head
and laid out flat in the air. Then while I was up there, I twisted my
shoulders, and then brought my feet around a split second after that on
the way down, like a high speed corkscrew propellor, so my heal whipped
sideways across his face so fast it would smash to bloody bits anything
it hit. His nose was in the way, just like I planned. It didn't stay.
It exploded sideways across his face in a bloody mess. Then I landed
flat on my feet in a ready position, like I was ready to do him some
more damage if he asked for it. The hardest part of my attack wasn't
the kick, it was the landing. Usually, you fall pretty badly from that
kind of jump kick. The best you can do most times is a break-fall, or
try to roll out of it. I knew he wouldn't be able to see it, but that
wasn't a problem. It was for his men. They knew some fighting stuff. I
wanted them to know I was better, and not to mess with us and defend
their boss, so I did the most difficult landing possible, a ready
position foot plant, like they do in gymnastics with what they call a
"perfect dismount". Srinoy did it just as well as I had, and with a
perfect dismount. The stick had exploded. I had to use the shield to
protect myself from the splinters.
Everybody knew that kick was a killer, and that being so fast, they
couldn't have avoided it in a fight. I hugged and kissed Srinoy. That
caused some comments, which made us laugh. One of the young men said
loudly, "Good for demonstrations only. Can't fight. Stupid foreigner."
He said all that in Thai, not thinking I would understand it. I looked
at the teacher, and he nodded. I called out to the fighter, in Thai,
"How much of a foreigner am I?" They all were surprised. He said "But
you still can't fight." I said "I haven't seen YOU fight, but I know
you can talk. A little." More surprise, and some laughter. He screamed,
"I will fight you, and all will see you defeated!" I said "I will allow
you to strike me." He looked really surprised. I did a fancy jump into
the ring where he was, and stood in front of him, and slapped my left
side under my arm. I said "Round kick. As hard as you can. DO IT!" He
did. Hard. He expected me to cave around it, and go flying sideways
across the ring. None of that happened. I just stood there like nothing
had changed. He was really surprised. I said "You call that a kick? I
hardly felt it. Kick me for real now. DO IT!" He did, and achieved the
same thing. Nothing. I shook my head in disgust, and turned my back on
him, and started to walk away. I ignored the warnings. He came at me
from behind, and jumped up, and was shaping to strike me with his elbow
on the top of my head, in the famous Thai killer strike. I sidestepped
and twisted, just in time, and he fell to his knees, in surprise. I
said "That was not polite. Didn't your mother ever teach you
politeness?" I bowed. He tried a foot sweep. I hopped over it.
My opponent stood, and punched me hard in my stomach. His fist
bounced, and I didn't react at all. Then he punched three more times in
rapid succession. Same lack of effect. Then he tried a round shin kick
to the side of my head. I ducked. I whispered to him, "If you had hit
my head, you would have broken your leg. We can play some more, but be
careful. I don't want to you to get hurt." That woke him up. His eyes
went wide, and he whispered to me, "Teacher wanted this?" I said "Yes.
You can't improve if you think you are already the best. There is no
end to improvement. Remember that." He looked at me with a lot of
respect, and some love. He stepped back and bowed low to me, and I
bowed to him in return. I held out my hand and he shook it, and I
pulled him into a back-pounding hug. He grinned and returned that. We
exchanged names. We jumped down from the ring, and a crowd of boys
surrounded us, and wanted to shake my hand. They did, and I indicated
they should do that with my opponent, too, and they did, which he
appreciated. I left him with them, and walked over to the teacher, and
told him what I had whispered to the fighter. He said "Well done! Thank
you very much!" I said "I am honored to be permitted to help." He said
"Will you return?" I said "I would not want to take away some of your
authority." I grinned and said, "You were hoping I would say that." He
laughed and hugged me. We bowed to each other, and said our farewells.
Srinoy waved to the kids before we left to go to the car, where we put
our clothes back on.
In the car, I told them what I had said. The father said, "I expected
something like that. I agree. Well done. But did any of that hurt?" I
said "Not a bit. Srinoy's jump kick was something the whole school has
been wanting to do since I bashed a man's nose across his face with
that in my last life when I was 12. Srinoy is the first to do it
perfectly. A little better than I did it, actually. I love that!" In
the back seat, I was smothered by Srinoy's hugged and kisses. I said
"Maybe I should say that more often." They laughed.
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Grant
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