.5: an Angel Awaens

Original story, consenting adults... Yada Yada... Text appearing in Italics describes Rita's inner voice and dreams.

I try to give my characters their own voice with it's own slang and attitude. If my grammar and slang hasn't run you off yet, carry on. Thank you.

Rita, Chapter 2.5: An Angel Awakens

Pensacola, Florida. Present time.

When last we saw our three weary travelers, they were taking a couple of days to rest. Rita found herself more tired than usual. She had worked and worried over every detail of getting herself and Phillipe to the States. Rita always found that a good workout was the cure for this feeling. A long beach run and karate with "Little Brother" served nicely.

The remainder of their Sunday was devoted to beach, rest, hydrate, repeat. Rita and Tony disappeared for a few hours for a "romantic siesta." What Phillipe and the girls he met did or didn't do remains a young gentleman's discretion.

....

Monday Morning

Rolling out early was easy for our trio, with their bodies still on euro-central time. Rita and Phillipe both voiced regrets that they didn't have another day on Santa Rosa Island. Tony felt the same way but kept it to himself. Tony's friend was usually prompt but was not at the appointed Waffle Hut at the appointed time.

Tony dropped his phone into the seat. "Pat went to the wrong Waffle Hut. He'll be here in fifteen minutes or so."

"That's OK. It is still early." Rita said, then turned to Phillipe. She could easily see he was getting nervous. "Let's go stretch, little brother. Come on."

Tony sat in the Buick checking e-mails and reporting in with Robert and Isabella Renard via text. He felt good. The day off, on the beach, had been a well needed break. They all had some pink on their cheeks and sand in their clothing. Rita was right, another day would have been grand. The stretch idea was sounding good.

Tony found the others on a grassy area nearby that was obscured from view by a large truck. They were stretching and joking around, in contrast to their usual solemn demeanor. "I see you guys are feeling good today."

Rita hugged Tony grinning. "It is a beautiful morning, and I am with two handsome friends." Rita chuckled and gave Phillipe a playful shove. "Pip seemed to be getting nervous."

"Relax kid. You will be fine. You are here to learn, and it should be a ton of fun."

"I know, Tony. It's very exciting, but it is all strange to me."

"When you meet some more people you will be more comfortable. The people here are very friendly." Rita said. "Well, not as friendly as the beach girls." She said inducing Phillipe's cheeks to become much pinker.

"There is an old saying about 'southern hospitality'. It's a real thing. Southerners are polite and expect others to be polite. You will fit in, kid."

"You need to take him away from all this concrete and steel. Show him a small-town farmer's market or take him fishing. That's the real Florida." Said a man Tony's age, stepping around the truck. He was almost as tall as Tony with a rounder face and graying temples. He was deeply tanned like most Florida residents.

"Pat! Hey old man. How are you?" Tony said and shook his friends hand. "Guys, this is Eldredge Patterson. Pat, this is Rita and Phillipe."

Rita stepped up and took Pat's hand. "Hello, Mr. Patterson. It's nice to meet you in person."

"The pleasure is mine. Your picture barely does you justice."

Phillipe approached Pat with a smile and a handshake. "Phillipe Gaston. Thank you for helping us."

"Good grief, Peanut. Do you source your people through a modeling agency?" Pat asked, laughing.

"It could look that way. I'm glad you are here, Pat. I was getting tired of being the ugly one."

"I see you are taking good care of my car." Pat said.

"How do you figure that is your Roadmaster?"

"When you finally sell it to me." Pat turned to the others. "I offered him twice Blue Book and he laughed."

"Then you can be Clark Griswold. I don't get it. The big car is handy sometime, but I would not seek it out." Rita commented.

"They call it 'a sleeper'. Looks slow but is really fast." Tony was getting defensive about his wagon.

"I would rather have the Porsche 996 he has stored in La Rochelle, if it were running correctly." Phillipe offered up.

"He bought it like that, cheap. He thought he could fix it and make a profit. Turned out its gonna cost a fat stack of Euros to fix."

"Shit! If all three of you are going to gang up on me, I'll go get coffee." Tony shook his head.

....

After a few more friendly jabs between old friends, the group occupied a booth in Waffle Hut. Rita advised Phillipe to load up on some carbs. He passed on waffles and ordered grits with butter and cheese. It was close to the polenta he had eaten most of his life.

"Dang, Peanut. You need to come home more, you are getting a French accent like these two. If you combine that with some southern drawl, you could wind up sounding... Cajun!" Pat said chuckling.

"Oh no, I say. I ain't gone be talking like dat!" Tony retorted with a perfect Southern Louisiana accent. He cracked up everyone including two guys at the next table.

"Mr. Patterson. Why do you call Tony, 'Peanut'?" Phillipe asked.

"It was a Navy nickname. Not everyone gets one like in the movies. I was 'Corndog' for a while, but my name has a built-in nickname. Tony is 'Peanut' because he's from Georgia, famous for peanuts and peaches. We already had a "Peaches."

"I was glad that a cute girl got 'Peaches'. You worked with Katy stateside. How is she?" Tony asked.

"She is doing really well. Still in the Navy. She married some clown and had two kids, one of each. That clown left her, now she's with another clown. She seems happy."

"We are trying to call this young fellow, 'Phillip' while we are here to sound more English." Rita said.

"Phillip, then, OK. Your English is good. Try to slow your pace and drop your pitch a little. Most people here only speak English." Pat sipped his coffee and checked his watch. "There is some pop-psychology thing going round the internet that says that multilingual people have a different personality for each language."

"I have heard of this. It is rubbish!" Rita said.

Phillipe snickered into his napkin, looking across at Rita.

Tony chuckled and put his arm around her. "My love, you could be the subject of a paper on that, and Isabella would write it."

"You are a silly man, Tony." Rita protested.

"Oh, really? Your Spanish personality is very serious and humorless. Your French personality is light, feminine and very sweet."

Rita cut glances at Tony and Phillipe. "What about my English personality, Peanut-man?"

Phillipe butted in. "Your English personality is sweet and funny, Rita. But..."

"...But English brings the sarcasm out in you sometime." Tony didn't want to say anything critical, but he was sure it was what Phillipe was about to say.

The comment would have shut most people up. Rita reached across the table to hold Phillipe's hand and looked at Tony. "I'm sorry, guys. I am trying to work on my smarty-mouth. Most of the time, I am just trying to be funny. Other times, it is my duty to point out how silly you are."

"You are right my love, part of your job description." Tony smiled and side-hugged Rita. "Nice tan, old man. Have you got a boat?"

"I have something much better than a boat. I have a girlfriend that owns a boat, a nice boat." Pat looked at his watch again. "OK, folks, let's go find some guys to beat up Phillip."

.....

The trio followed Pat to a glass fronted building down the strip. There was no doubt what the building was from the graphics. Bright lettering proclaimed, "Martial Arts School" across the front. There was smaller lettering listing disciplines taught. "Welcome all Services and Law Enforcement" Was carefully lettered on the front door. Tony was relieved to see a notice reading, "No Photos or Videos without Permission."

Pat led the way onto the main floor of the dojo, to the smiling face of the master and owner. He shook the man's hand firmly. "Chris, it's good to see you. The place looks great. These are the people I called about." Pat said.

"It's about time you came in. You need to come workout here." Chris said.

"Too far from the house. I'll come up soon." Pat turned to the others. "Everyone, this is Capt. Chris Doyle. USMC retired. He is the master of this dojo. Chris, this is Lt. Peanut de Palma, former Navy."

Tony stepped up to shake the man's thick hand. "Technically, the Navy fired me. Thank you for seeing us, Sir. And it's Tony. This is Phillip. He is the young man we would like you to consider training.

Phillipe stepped forward. "Hello, sir, thank you." Phillipe hid his nerves and motioned to Rita. "Sir, this is my teacher, Alysha Valadez. She has only had a few weeks to teach me, but she is very good."

Rita remained silent. She was taking in every detail of the room and the man. She gave her little satisfied smile at how Phillipe was conducting himself among the three older men.

"Relax Phillip, I'm taking you as a student. I already decided that. You say "sir" a lot and we can use the money." Chris said and laughed. "Ms. Valadez, will you take your student over to the corner of the room and get him a stretch and warm-up? We need to see where he is in his training. Bare feet on the mat please. If you need to work in shoes, we'll use the other room."

Rita and Phillipe stepped over to the corner of the room. "Rita, this place is out of a movie. Did you see the trophies and photos?"

"Yes, but I told you that we aren't looking for trophies. We want you to get the best training for the real world." Rita slipped off her shoes and light jacket. "I hope you trimmed your toe-nails, little brother." This got a chuckle out of Phillipe. They began the quick stretch routine that they had developed beginning with some yoga stretches.

Eldridge Patterson looked over his shoulder just in time to see Rita go "down-dog" facing away from him. He turned back to the two other men. "Damn, Peanut! You are a slick bastard. She is incredible. Chris, that's Tony's girlfriend."

Chris turned to Tony and gave a karate bow. "Now, you have my respect. She moves like a cat." Chris turned to Pat. "Is Phillip one of your 'spooks in training'?"

"They work for a wine company." Pat said, smiling. "You know, import/export."

....

Rita saw Chris walking to the other side of the mat. "Just relax, Phillipe. Do all the Isshin Ryu basics, stepping into your strikes and blocks. Work your way toward him then return and do a pass of anything you can do. Show your speed with the basic kicks. Keep a solid base and stay balanced. That's a thing he will be looking for." Rita kissed him on the cheek and walked to the head of the mat.

"My teachers never kissed me." Chris whispered to Rita. "Some guys come in here with a few moves they learned on YouTube."

She was proud and nervous for Phillipe. Was this a taste of what being a parent? Rita watched for her student to face her across the floor. Phillipe turned to face Rita and bowed. He held that bow until Rita bowed, and they came up together. Phillipe assumed the ready position that Rita had taught him. After a few seconds, Rita returned his ready stance and shrugged.

Phillipe began working toward the teacher. Block, punch, block, punch, stepping into his moves. He alternated high and low blocks. He alternated his stance from left to right-handed. Phillipe ended the pass with a pair of high blocks and a crisp snap kick. He jogged to the back of the mat where he stopped suddenly and spun around. He went low and punched, coming up with an upward punch. He had acted out Rita's first moves in the kitchen of Club Phantom. Then Phillipe went into a boxer's stance and simulated blocks and punches back up toward Rita and Master Chris. Rita fought a smile as Phillipe gave two quick turns still in form. He demonstrated traditional karate punches and kicks. He ended his run with two high blocks and a high kick dropping into warrior stance. He turned and bowed to Rita and Chris in turn.

Chris turned to Rita and bowed. "It will be my pleasure to help your student along his path." He turned to the student. "Phillip, that was good. Don't do kicks that high. You will wind up on your ass. We can jump right to the good stuff. Grab a water while I talk with your teacher."

"Phillip, where did you learn that quick turn?" Rita asked smiling.

"Ah, I saw it on a YouTube video." Phillipe said smiling.

Chris rolled his eyes and chuckled as he and Rita rejoined Pat and Tony. "What do you think?" Tony asked.

"He is fast, and his basics are solid. Is he holding a belt rating?" Tracy asked.

"No, my teachers didn't use belts, so I never think about it." Rita said.

"Progressing through the belt system helps assure that the student doesn't miss anything. The kids like it and with a bunch of people in here we can keep skill levels separated. He can work with my young black belt guys. He will get better faster if he spars with other students. Is he ready to fight?" Chris asked.

"Yes, we have disgusted it. I'll go talk to him about it. Where did he go?" Rita went to find Phillipe.

"So, three days of total emersion hand to hand. We need him to get some Army style Jiu Jitsu and advanced street fighting. Weapons mitigation is a must." Tony said.

"You should have started the Jiu Jitsu already, Lt. de Palma. I have some rubber guns for that type of training. We have a form of MMA street fighting that we teach law enforcement. He's getting a bunch of that. We will polish his karate skills. I need to pay my instructors that help." Chris said.

"Will fifteen-hundred cover it?" Tony said. "Can you keep an eye on him? We are leaving him here. We'll be in Ridgeview if he needs us."

"I need one more thing." Chris smiled. "I want to see what Phillip's teacher can do."

"She's really private about that." Tony looked around to see Rita and Phillipe looking over the weapons rack. He saw Rita pick a Sai and do some extend/retract switches. Tony smiled and started walking toward Rita and Phillipe. "I'll see what I can do."

....

Rita stood at the back of the room with a pair of Sai. With both Sai retracted, she crossed the pummels right over left and bowed to Master Chris. On his bow and return, Rita extended both of the Sai and snapped into a high cross block and settled into a warrior stance. She demonstrated slashing and bashing and moved up the lane doing Isshin Ryu basic moves but with the Sai. Block, punch, block, punch. High block, low block, mid-block. Looking past Chris, Rita saw Tony and Phillipe behind him. They were shaking their heads and pretending to yawn. She stopped in a ready position.

Chris caught their mocking in the corner of his vision. "Ms. Valadez, I think your friends believe that you can do better. I think they are right. Would you mind starting over?"

"My apologies, Master Chris." Rita bowed and turned around to return to the starting position. Her jaw was set in aggravation.

"What was that shit, Sara-Dina? That was baby steps. Let it go, my child. You need the workout. Tony and "little brother" deserve to see you dance. Phillipe did very well. Go to the place that I showed you. Sharpen your mind, think fast, move faster."

"Hello mother. I should have left you in Paris."

Rita took some deep breaths on her way to the back of the room. She switched hands with the Sai and snaked off her tee-shirt. She could move better in just the sports bra and yoga pants. "Mother, if they don't like my kata, maybe they will like my tits." She said aloud and flexed her left hand a few times. She turned to face Chris with her braid lying down the center of her perfect chest. She saw that some of his students had arrived. They looked like a recruiting poster, a white guy, a black guy and a woman of color. Rita used a Sai to flip her braid over her shoulder. She simultaneously twirled the Sai to extension and snapped them back retracted. She again bowed with the Sai and went to a ready position.

With a nod from Chris, Rita extended both Sai and snapped into high cross block. She brought the Sai down in broad slashing sweeps to the sides, with a high snap kick up the centerline. From there, she retracted both and went into a series of extend-bash-retract over and over, left and right, extend-bash-retract, stepping into every punch. Double mid-block, snap kick, punch. Rita went into a complicated series of slashing, blocking, and thrusting, moving with fluid grace and speed. The Sai were just a blur to the onlookers. She moved in silence. There were no vocalizations. She never let the Sai hit each other and ring. Only the friction of her feet on the floor and air processed by the girl belied her movements. The Sai made whirring sounds, cutting the air.

Rita snapped turns right and left and returned to center. She simulated catching a Bo and smashing the hand. Catch a sword and break it, backhand slash, punch-punch. Her braid danced behind her and trailed as she did a leaping high block pulling the Sai down and kicking head high. She came to a stop in front of Chris. Rita moved the Sai to the carry position and bowed.

Chris returned her bow and said, "Don't kick so high. You'll wind up on your ass." He smiled and the spectators laughed and applauded.

Rita stood, staring daggers at Tony. But no one noticed. The exertion had her muscles popping. All of her softness had faded, and the hard, lean muscle underneath was on full display. Rita's pectoral muscles were drawn tight, flattening her small breasts. Traps, delts and washboard abs were a backdrop for biceps, triceps and sinewy forearms. Tony's smile along with the pride on Phillipe's face brought the softness back to her as she relaxed. She put away the Sai and retrieved her shirt to the disappointment of some.

"May I see your hand, Ms. Valadez?" Chris looked at her scars. "I caught those 'Hollywood twirls' before you started. I'm surrounded by people wanting to be warriors, but you are the real thing, aren't you?" Chris asked under his breath, chuckling, where only Rita could hear. Then, to the crowd, "Master Alysha, thank you. We are honored." Chris turned to Tony. "Ok. I want Phillip the rest of today and all of the next two days. I will teach him, and he will work with every group that comes in and with my students." Chris pointed to the men and women that had come in before Rita's demo.

"Do we need to buy him a gee, Chris?" Tony asked.

"We have plenty of student clothes he can use. Keeping a few sets for guests and people trying classes was the best investment I've made. Jake, will you help Phillip with a gee and a locker. Give him a white and black striped belt." Chris turned back to Tony. "We use that striped belt to indicate a black belt candidate. We say that the stripe is for the little bit of black belt you have. The rest of the belt is still white. I think that is where his skills are right now."

Rita beamed with pride. It was that parental thing again. The pure joy and pride in seeing Phillipe do well was new to the troubled angel.

Chris decided to address the guys. "So, here we have two former NIS agents and a girl with crazy skills. You need me to train a kid that speaks three or four languages to help guard some wine. Sounds a little thin." He laughed. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know."

"Phillip works at the docks. It can be a rough place." Tony said.

"And the girl?"

"Company nurse." Tony said. Although true, it sounded ridiculous after what they had seen.

....

Pat walked with Tony and Rita to the Roadmaster. "You are going to leave the kid here?"

"Well, yeah. He's a big boy. We are going to get him a room over at that hotel and he can eat around here. He likes Waffle Hut and Burger Boys. We expect you at the tasting Friday, with a date would be nice, Eldridge." Tony said.