Taj's Early Years

  “Old fogey! You’re confusing me with Julius.”

  “I’m not the one approaching senility here.”

  “Senility! Senility! I’m not yet twenty-five!”

  “That’s still four times older than me. You must have the early onset variety then. But don’t worry; take Turmeric every day and do lots of crosswords to keep your brain active, and you could still beat it.”

  Dareau looked shocked and confused at our teasing and my disrespect for the French champion.

  “Emil, we’re being disruptive. Dareau can’t concentrate on his work and he’s too polite to interrupt us, so let’s save the comments till later.”

  We had gathered a large group of interested spectators.

  Paul had noticed the problem. “Taj, why don’t you take Dareau somewhere more private to work out his routine?”

  “Good idea. Thanks Paul.”

  * * *

  We went to one of the empty small rooms. Dareau suggested a few apparently minor changes to my moves, and suddenly had concocted an entirely new series of five innovative moves which perfectly fitted with the ideas he had originally planned to use.

  “That’s very clever, Dareau. But I think we should trade roles. You’re supposed to be the star of this piece, not me. You should be the one doing the more spectacular flying attacks while I do the groundwork.”

  “I didn’t think you’d be interested in the duller work, and I do need you to be my partner as no else fits or knows your moves.”

  “Dareau, I don’t need to be the star of the show all the time. Your partner, should just be a prop. This is your test, your choreography, and you should shine as much as possible. I bet you already know all my moves too.”

  He nodded shyly. “Okay, let’s reverse.”

  We did and went through the routine several times. The beginning was dull, but Dareau fixed it with a vault onto my shoulders and a somersault off my head, to attack from behind as I spun around to face him. Immediately he went into the five innovative attacks, to which I gave his five equally innovative defenses.

  Then he came up with another invention for the finale. At least eleven innovations in all, plus his versions of the set work. I wasn’t certain whether the original vault and somersault would count or not, though I had never seen them used in savate before.

  “Your work is brilliant, Dareau. You were already a silver glove before you came to class, weren’t you?”

  “I thought I should have been, but my dad wouldn’t promote me. He decided I needed a few more years’ experience first.”

  “He was wrong to hold you back. He may have feared being accused of favoritism by his other students. Have more confidence in your ability and tell him when you are ready. Have you done any teaching?”

  “He allowed me to give a few classes to the beginners, but was annoyed that I was teaching them too much, too quickly for them to absorb it all.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Look how quickly everyone has learnt with me. We’ll be graduating 53,000 high silvers today after only one day’s tuition. I wouldn’t have believed that possible a month ago. Just shows what enthusiasm and encouragement can achieve.”

  “I’m not as good a teacher as you. I knew nothing about perfect form.”

  “Very few people do, Dareau. My sensei, Master Prospero, had good proprioception and worked hard his entire life to develop perfect form in each of his martial arts, without anyone else to help him. He searched out people who had made a breakthrough and copied their movements in that kata until he broke through too. He noticed very early that I also had great proprioception and worked with it, developing it further so I soon achieved perfect form too.

  “My big break was finding Paul and Ron. Paul has perfect proprioception; Ron and their siblings have a close to perfect type which needed to be instructed at first. The two women who broke through before you also have it. Each of their bodies recognizes perfect form and strives to copy it. They’re the reason for my sudden teaching success.

  “As you’re not working with your dad, I’d like you to come and work here whenever you can as one of my assistants, at the same rate of pay as the adults. You could also transfer to the Galen school next door and continue with schooling at your own pace.

  “Like me, you’re very bright. I never attended school. I was tutored at home till I reached University entrance level, and have been studying university degree courses by computer ever since, usually four or more at a time as they won’t telescope most of the subjects. You could do the same and not waste your early years being just a child playing at life.”

  Dareau’s face lit up. He was so hungry to learn more.

  “I will need to have my father’s permission. He may not approve.”

  “He’s here, doing the class now, isn’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  Well, introduce him to Emil and Paul. They should be able to persuade him. And if they can’t, there’s nothing to stop your joining Galen by yourself and coming to work here.

  “Galen will provide you with a second set of parents who will be interested in your progress and won’t hold you back in any way. Emil and others will also take a paternal interest in you. In fact Emil already seems to believe that he personally discovered you.”

  “Now, what is your theme?”

  “‘Surprises’.”

  “Very appropriate. Have you thought of a costume style?”

  “I’d like us both dressed alike in a bright diamond-patterned Harlequin-type body suit with a hood and facemask so nobody could tell us apart except by color.”

  “Sounds great. Do you want multicolored diamonds or just two colors? And how big?”

  He chose eight shades each of blue or red in eight-centimeter high diamonds and Maggie produced them immediately. I often wear red, so chose the blue this time, stripped and changed. Dareau was more self-conscious—he turned his back to change.

  When he was ready, I called to Maggie, who was wired into every room as well as being connected to my ear piece: “Maggie, ask Paul and Emil to prepare the judges for us, please.”

  “Can we run on, as if I’m chasing you, Taj? Then, when you stop, I’ll jump you, you’ll spin and we go straight into the routine.”

  “Great idea, we’ll do that.”

  * * *

  My dais had sunk into the floor and about 200 judges sat around the large circle. The other students, press and some visitors were seated on amphitheatered steps to watch, while the remaining students continued to work on finessing their routines further back near the walls.

  There was a wide clear passage to the stage. I ran down it, ducking and weaving, with Dareau in hot pursuit, then stopped and looked around as if confused. He leapt and landed on me and we worked through our little dance. The room was quiet for a minute before the applause broke out.

  Dareau and I stood silent, still masked, waiting for the judgment. As marks were input straight to a computer interface, it didn’t take long. Maggie had entered us simply as Blue and Red.

  Red won a perfect score from every judge, with high commendations for spectacle, originality and so many innovations, whereas Blue was marked down and told to try harder next time.

  Maggie raised my dais and I bowed in a sweeping circle to the judges. Emil, Paul, his sisters and others who knew me well were grinning widely, waiting to hear my comments.

  I removed my hood and mask. “Thank you gentlemen and ladies. I am so glad that you enjoyed Dareau’s excellent choreography and appreciated his numerous wonderful innovations. I am surprised though that you marked me as if I was a competing student.

  “There are always two persons in each routine, but only one is responsible for choreography. The partner is simply a prop. It may have been appropriate for you to comment on how well we worked together as we had only just met, but that is all. I’d be interested to learn in which areas you think I should try harder. There is no justification for such a remark.

  “I’ve heard of ageist prejudice. But
this is the first time I have encountered bias against a very talented young boy. All who down-marked Blue, will have their judgments discounted. Maggie will keep note if you judge unfairly again and you will be removed from the panel. I will not tolerate prejudice or favoritism in my dojo. Please try to remain impartial.”

  Emil and Paul both approached us then and I could return to being just a kid again as Emil grabbed me up and went into his exuberant attempting-to-kiss-every-centimeter-of-my-face routine as I tried to return the favor. He then did the same to a surprised but pleased Dareau.

  Others came to congratulate Dareau and give him his certificate while my guys and I retired to a private sitting room. Maggie ’ported in a very startled Sevan Thibault.

  “Monsieur Thibault, you just appeared on the judging panel did you not?” asked Paul.

  “You know I did.”

  “Despite knowing your son would be showing his choreography?”

  “Yes.”

  You hold high positions in several savate organizations, so you would know all the relevant rules, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “The conflict of interest you created by judging in your son’s case disqualifies you from ever judging in any savate competition again.”

  The man actually sneered. “Little rules like that do not matter.”

  “Because you are such an important man?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Actually, no. You will immediately resign from every position you hold in any savate organization.”

  “Why should I?”

  “To save yourself a long jail sentence for embezzlement, blackmail and concealing various crimes.”

  “I deny every charge.”

  “Actually, Monsieur Thibault, you have already admitted to those crimes and your blackmail material has been removed from your hiding places. So your cohorts have nothing further to fear from you and will no longer obey you.”

  He glared at me. “What are you talking about child?”

  “Our doorway security. The Galen computer runs that by reading people’s souls and sometimes their minds. Your soul is very ugly, but you are not innately violent, so were allowed in. But Maggie read your mind and decided that she couldn’t allow you to continue to pollute a martial art that was important to me and the battered ladies who learn it as their first step into a new life.

  “There is a saying: ‘a girl becomes a woman when she has a child; a boy becomes a man when he defeats his father.’ The corollary of that is that a father who is so weak as to restrict his son’s development for fear of being surpassed, has already unmanned himself.

  “Dareau still loves and respects you, but he is very resentful of your holding him back. I have offered him a job here where he can also continue his schooling and he is eager to do that. With his newfound confidence, you will be able to restrain him no longer. You also cannot forcibly remove him from a Galen building. If you try Maggie will simply move you outside and not permit re-entry.

  “I want your written resignations within a half hour or I will give the story to the media. We have a load of reporters inside, all hungry for a juicy scandal. When Dareau comes to you, congratulate him and wish him well and I’ll allow you to complete my course and leave. You have made so many enemies that I doubt anyone will ever vote you into office again.”

  * * *

  Like most bullies, Sevan Thibault was a coward. He complied with our demands and Dareau moved out of the room he shared with his father into an apartment with several young Evans boys who were also working as assistants.

  I received apologies from each judge who had under-marked Blue and his thanks both for returning and thus negating blackmail material and removing Sevan from power. We had so many Savate officials present that they made a quorum and were able to vote in someone more progressive into each of the vacated positions.

  Apparently Dareau’s mother Violaine had left her verbally abusive husband years ago. He had charged her with abandonment and gained full custody of their son. She had been too afraid to fight him.

  Now she was in Galen after escaping a second abusive husband, taking her twin daughters with her. She’d had therapy, had put her life in order, and was eager to resume a relationship with her son.

  Dareau was less sure about that, but soon warmed to her and especially to his new sisters. But that was all further down the track.

  * * *

  There were a lot more student innovations made in savate and the rest of the judging proceeded without incident. I was happy to get 86 new assistants from that first class and almost 120 innovations, mostly fairly minor, but also a few that were quite impressive.

  With Lorna now spending most of her free time with Emil, we had moved another Evans sister, Colleen, into my suite as chaperone because I needed both my P.A.s Ron and Paul with me.

  Chapter 29

  A Snub & Honors

  My courses were getting a lot of publicity worldwide. Julius called and advised that I had been proposed as a BJJ master candidate and that each current master outside of the ruling family had concurred in my appointment. There was a lot of speculation in the press as to whether I would be accepted.

  Maggie said that two younger members of the ruling family had attended my courses but the media had not picked up on this. I wasn’t contacted by any BJJ official and had no idea how their elimination or confirmation process worked.

  Of course I wanted my expertise to be recognized. And I especially wanted my innovations to be officially acknowledged and accepted into the BJJ lexicon.

  * * *

  Then each of the French Savate associations conspired to award me a combined honor for services to the art—golden gloves, a specially commissioned gold medal and a certificate. These were presented before the choreography tests one day without any advance warning, though Emil had known. I figured that this was the reason he had been avoiding me the previous week.

  I was pleased and happy to have my contribution to the art recognized.

  The following week I received a letter in the mail from the BJJ authorities thanking me for my contributions to their art. And that was all. Two days later they announced this to the media in a press conference. One reporter asked when I might receive my master’s belt.

  “When she has fulfilled all the requirements, we may review her case, but at present little girls are not eligible for mastership.”

  * * *

  I was very disappointed, but all my friends and apparently most of the world’s martial arts societies were really angry that I had been snubbed and robbed of a deserved honor.

  I received eighteen mastership awards and belts over the following month for martial arts which had never before had a master status. There were also a combined Karate Master’s award and a combined Jiu Jutsu Mastery Achievement award. I don’t think any martial art society failed to honor me. It was overwhelming.

  All the individual non-family BJJ masters, including two very elderly men who had not taken my course, sent me their masters’ belts and vowed for the next year, to wear instead the child’s gray belt to show me their support. That gesture touched me deeply.

  * * *

  We had been in France for over two months. Feeling burnt out and wired tight, I was eager to return home to recuperate and unwind quietly. Most of our assistants had already returned to the US. A few were traveling around Europe.

  Paul accompanied me while I shopped in our stores, looking for more baby yarn as I had completed four layettes and two ring shawls. Knitting soothes me. I found what I wanted, then looked at the hand-crafted jewelry, searching for a present for Fermina.

  I bought some stunning gold chains, with matching bracelets, pins and earrings, a few having pavé diamond accents. My attention was caught by a man’s gold ring. It featured a black onyx oval on a raised rectangular platform with pavé diamonds—a single row all around the oval with three extras in each corner. It was Paul’s size, so I bought that too.

  Back
at the apartment I climbed onto his lap, took his left hand and slipped the ring onto his engagement finger.

  “For you, Paul.”

  His face melted. Paul reached up and removed a long simple gold chain from his neck. I had noticed it weeks before and thought it might carry a St Christopher’s medallion.

  Instead, there was a small ring threaded onto the chain, too small for him, but too large for me. He placed the chain over my head. It almost reached my knees.

  “This should fit you when you’re old enough, Taj.”

  It was a very narrow convex gold ring, with just three lines of teensy pavé diamonds all around. Very simple, very beautiful. Inside it was engraved: ‘waiting for you’. I think I melted too.

  Paul brought a blue jeweler’s box from his pocket. “These you can wear now.”

  Inside were a pair of earrings made to curve around the ear lobe and attach with a little pressure front and back. They were hollow to keep weight down and also set with swirls of pavé diamonds. Paul knew I could not have my ears pierced.

  “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

  We had a hug and I kissed his cheek again. Paul kissed my forehead as usual. Then both feeling rather self-conscious, we went to the cafeteria for a snack. I wore the chain doubled around my neck, with a little clip to keep the two strands in place, but left the earrings for a dress-up occasion.

  * * *

  We had discovered and trained over 2500 new assistants and teachers for Emil. More innovative students were being found at every course.

  Manon had indeed proved to be distantly related to Don’s mother. Although she’d had only two children herself, Manon had seven siblings, each with large families. Iseline already had five children of her own, which was why Manon had been helping out. Emil had been informed of the pheromone problem and given access to the curative toiletry range. He could trace down the other family members at leisure.

  * * *

  Tomorrow we would visit the Paris galleries to see my favorite art pieces one last time before flying home. We had already taken a few breaks in Paris, always wearing the Galen breathers, as after being accustomed to our beautiful clean environs, outside air now tasted like rancid sewage. Paul and others of our party had visited the famous cabarets; I was interested only in the art.