Part 5 (1/2)
In reality, it was the new eels Offhandedly, the er wanted the bikers' patronage, and it was left to Declan Byrne to turn two of the froot back onto their rily shouted that they would return and that they would get in, one way or another
The roar of the ines which heralded the arrival of the hell's Angels had our fingers, arues dabbed at lips that dried instantly, jaws became set and eyes hardened There was a loud thud at the door, and Eddie nodded in the direction of Declan, who opened it slightly A huge ht, rowled the giant, as he tried to push the door open, but two of us were already braced against it
”Personally, I don't give a dae biker then invited Declan to step outside, but he replied that he was happy where he was
This only provoked the hell's Angel to put his shoulder to the door again, this ti for us to coainst the door Declan opened it slightly ”Look, mate,” he said in a conciliatory tone, as the e, ”we don't have any arguer in theand see if you can sort it out with hi e the door, nor yell back any threats, and there were athered outside the narrow entrance
”You want to be grateful we're not co called over Declan's shoulder A split-second before booted feet thudded against it, the door was slaain, but it seees at anythrough My pulse quickened with anticipation as the door shook, but so halted abruptly and Declan said, ”Hey Eddie, I think these fellas are thinking about ra the door with one of their bikes” Eddie cox shot a spiteful glance at Trog and ordered us to stay where ere as he tore open the door to confront the men He stepped forward and the bikers at the entrance backed off I could hardly believe that not only had Eddie walked into the midst of twenty bikers but also that they had all made space for him in the middle of the road We watched froan to talk to the bikers It could have been bravado but fros I had ever seen We exchanged disbelieving glances inside the club as, withinup to shake hands with Eddie before getting on their bikes and riding away
”That's that sorted,” said Eddie cox, suys know me and they've promised they'll never cause any trouble in here And I've told theht once a week”
Once Eddie cox had headed for home, I res out Declan laughed and said that violence had sorted matters, it just so happened that the violence had occurred seven or eight years before It was then I reht that had taken place in a bar after the hell's Angels had taken exception to Eddie cox and a friend having a drink on their way ho I had heard that several bikers had been rendered unconscious, and right then I felt exhilarated that the story had not been a figination
Happily, I told Don Hamilton that he could now put away the bat ”What?” he asked abstractedly
”The bat,” I said, ”you can put it away now that they're gone”
Don let the baseball bat slide across his palm and said it was not the bikers that haded unscathed and that I would soon be going hoidnesshand
Miyamoto Musashi+ The Water Book
PERHAPS WINNING IS not always a good thing It can change people and not for the better Britain had triuentina in the Falklands/Malvinas and the victory had brought with it flags hanging out of many s in the tower block in which I lived and on the la of skinheads held noisy celebrations soh they the an eye on the about it to Hilda, as I had put the of uilty so I could vent er on them I had watched theer I had not seen before There were reports of the their revelry because they looked like 'Argies' more likely they were a pair of unfortunate Asianto understand just as behind their hatred of people they did not even know It was as I was packing ht up in an atmosphere that must have been similar to that which pervaded japan in the 1930s Could it be that Hironori Ohtsuka and the other on Society and who had been revered by so enerations of followers had a si of skinheads who lived above ht, and one I chose not to dwell upon
The events during and in the immediate aftermath of the short war in the Falklands had only served to alienate st When the Argentinian battleshi+p 'The Belgrano' was sunk, with the cost of hundreds of lives, a sizeable proportion of my workmates celebrated the news as if they had learnt of a football result A plethora of Union Jack flags hung froirders in the factory and made me wish that my life was as it had been onlyour baby: that way I would have resigned or got e that as a person who studied an art that was borne out of warlike impulses I was opposed to the war, but in my twenty-year-old head the matter was a simple one: the people who I did not like also happened to be the people ere all too readily caught up in the jingoisard, whi le they may not have been as open as I was in their opposition, were at least quietly questioning the morality of the war The people who offended me the most were the likes of Fat Bert, who I had down as a member of the National Front, who came to ith a plastic bowler hat which was painted red, white and blue, and the ss etched onto their arms with 'Falklands '82' underneath Thankfullyinvolved in the fevered nationalish sense of achievelory of a victory lory, or victory, in what I perceived as an unjustified waste of hu too vocal inwould drop on h the factory, but on passing a queue ofa fist and shouting ”Viva Malvinas!” A torrent of abuse came back at me Mick shook his head and muttered that he wished I had kepttrouble on ht, but rather than ad to the dojo as planned ”You lot have kept h, and it's about time someone went down there and showed you some real karate,” he joked
Supervised by Eddie cox, I was putting the beginners' class through a si, ”Ichinisanshi+” when I peered through aand caught sight of Mick He was standing by the wrought iron gates at the front of the building and taking in the sights I tried not to laugh, but I could see hiiven him as he scratched his head and looked at the line of woreatly relieved to see is and tracksuits and followed the to come and train at the YMCA ever since he had started a club of his own I had cleared his visit with my sensei and made sure to put the word around that a friend of reat danger: since the club's second win at the British cha of attitudes A karateka co from another club to train with us was now seen as a coauntlet that was to be picked up and slapped forcefully across his face The Saturday fighting class would have been a differentsessions challenging and rewarding Although he practised Shotokan, the fighting aspect is common to nearly all the schools of karate (with the notable exception of Shotokai, which continues to adhere to Funakoshi+'s dictate that forbade sparring) and he hoped to pick up a few useful tips to pass on to the eted nervously as he felt hi scrutinised by curious eyes I wandered over to hi,” he said ”It's just so strange being ahters?”
”NoYou know”
The skin on Mick's face had becouess ”Black people?”
”Keep your voice down,” he replied, looking over his shoulder ”Is this what it feels like when you're ast white people?”
”It's had its unco by your face, no, not really”
He responded with a nervous smile as the sensei ordered us into lines At first I did not knohether to admire Mick's honesty or be irritated with him: he had known of the racial make-up of the club, and I wanted to ask him why it had suddenly become an issue It was neither the time nor the place for this sort of conversation but it did make me wonder about Declan Byrne's experiences when he had first entered the YMCA dojo, as, like Mick, he too had grown up in an area that was ninety-nine percent white Prejudice is not a one-way street, and when Declan first arrived he had been given a hard time by the black patrons of the YMCA ere not even meroups of young guys had entered the dojo as he liht A third confrontation never er received a broken nose, and the second was knocked out His continued presence at the YMCA dojo served to confront many preconceptions
On the command 'seiza' we knelt down Before the ts, the sensei called out 'moksu' and we dutifully closed our eyes as we supposedly cleared our ht about was Mick: his initial reaction, and the chances that he would get through the session unscathed
When the lesson started, I found myself distracted by Mick's presence Froh he was standing a good deal lower than the rest of us, he was coping with the repetitions of combination techniques But his real test would co up and down the dojo and started to practise with a partner I 's nifty sidestep that put hih he o grades below me he still seemed to believe that (in his head) the positions were reversed and that he was uessed that he also wanted to prove that he was Mick's superior It was not long before he tried to intimidate the outsider in his usual buround and fired back Luckily forDanny Moore, and he knew that Mick was a friend offully on ere doing Despite tarnings fro continued to dole out heavy blows, but while Mick's spirit kept hiry Besides ad as he paced around the dojo scrutinising his students ”Yame,” he shouted ”Fifty press-ups, fifty sit-ups and then change partners” Everyone dropped to the ground and we pu over onto our backs to co a beat, ere back onto our feet, facing our new partner The pair-work lasted the best part of an hour, and luckily for Mick the two changes of partners enabled hi that time he had at least been able to learn e of his own pain threshold
The sensei then told us to put on our pads for the sparring session As I pulled onup Mick as he put on his own leg and instep pads Trog only had eyes for his quarry as he walked across the dojo and did not see my own nifty footwork until I was in front of hiet to Mick but after seeing so smirked at me and pushed back his shoulders ”Looks like it's me and you then,” he said
The sensei called out that he wanted us to spar softly as relaxation was the key to good karate Relaxation was a difficult state to attain, especially in a real fight when either anger or anxiety tightens the sinews Relaxation was the secret of all the great karate masters Eddie cox had trained with Ohtsuka and remarked that there had been no tension in his body as he threw a punch until a et I had watched the Shotokan ive a de a softer elearessed in karate, the shorter our techniques would becohting, and the short devastating techniques, such as the fa fusoftly, rather than punching hard
But I knew Trog would not be sparring softly with ht that htfully his Fro heavy and hurtful attacks that rendered the light sparring exercise useless
He began by firing a coerously close to ed past ression was a measure of his resentant as he see os I had purposely stoked the anger he now needed to vent and I needed to extinguish it before I got badly hurt
”Ya to an ilared at the two of us and said, ”It seems you two don't want to participate in the class as I've instructed” He told the rest of the class to sit down before he added, ”But you two stay on your feet”
The rest shuffled backwards and knelt down on the peri area ”For those who don't know,” the sensei continued, addressing everyone but Trog and hta chance to i without the risk of injury” To us he said, ”Okay, get whatever this is all about out of your systems and then perhaps you'll obey an by throwing a high and powerful eri (roundhouse kick) in an atte backwards, I evaded his kick and felt the rush of wind froon his attack, I punched hiered back as I tried to drop a kakatogeri (axe kick) on his head The axe kick was later to be banned froan its descent It had been responsible for seriously injuring several co to establish as the better fighter once and for all The axe kicka few hairs by the roots As if he hadn't felt a thing, he retaliated with a punch that caught ave h time and space to recover There were several es,in air; but it was a strategy we both e a pre's eyes that his fight plan was similar to mine: inflict as much pain as possible to your opponent's body and then wait for an opening to bringet ain attempted a kick to my head But I was 'in the zone' in which there is no conscious thought I cannot say how I reacted to Trog's punch to my stomach only that it did not hit me and this time I did not step backwards or to the side, I stepped in to deliver a punch to his chin before sweeping his supporting leg fros and ar on his stoh to hurt, but not enough to injure
”Yame!” cried Eddie cox, with more than a hint of approval in his voice
The look on Mick's face was one of sheer astonishment, and for ht as the ain trained at the YMCA
After the lesson I got changed into the ubiquitous black ' out toface When he had been offered work on nightclub doors he had laughed and said that unless he was prepared to wear half a dozen sweaters underneath his shi+rt he would come across as far too scrawny He also added that he may have been Ewart's brother but there was no way that he was going to beco weekends,” he said, as we strode across the car park
”I'et out of that flat”
Clinton crinkled his lips ”So, what tiet ho all this for Hilda and the baby?”
”Yeah,” I said, ”is there a problem with that?”
”Nah,” he said airily, ”only with the baby due and Hilda being scared stiff at night, I would have thought you'd be better off at ho,” he said
Chapter Fifteen
Great and sether