I immediately knew her type when she came into the studio. Shy, scared of loud noises and completely indecisive. A woman who had been kept under someone's thumb and now wanted to learn how to assert herself in her new free world. I would never have guessed that a black woman would have need of a martial arts expert. All my friends who went out with black women had informed the rest of us that they didn't need men; black women were dynamos that told men where to go and how to get there.
So when Patti came into the studio, I sized her up with the eye of someone misinformed and strode over with the bravado of a dumb-ass. She was shorter than I was, barely 5' 4" and not more than 120 pounds, all in the right place and topped with a china doll face. She nervously clutched her purse and tried to hold my stare but chickened out as I got close.
"Can I help you?"
"I don't know. I want to learn how to defend myself."
"You've come to the right place." I launched into the spiel, giving her my best remembered lines about the packages we offered but it all seemed hollow. I couldn't help seeing the furtive look in her eyes or the shaking that would overtake her every few minutes. She needed something more than a lesson. "Listen, Miss … "
"Garner. Samantha Garner."
"Miss Garner, you seem to be very nervous about something." He steered them over to a quiet corner, lightly holding her elbow. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Samantha's eyes filled with tears and her body seemed to collapse in on itself. "He doesn't love me."
"Excuse me?"
"My boyfriend. He doesn't love me. He just fucks me." She spat the words out, surprising me with her anger. "I'm tired of just getting fucked."
"Well, " I moved closer, whispering in her ear. "What are you looking for?"
"I want to be fucked because