“Damn,” I said.
“Well, clearly he’s a fan of yours and idolizes you, Hollis,” Patrick said.
“I think he follows you quite closely,” the principal added.
“He takes karate and from what I understand, he’s done well with it. He attends free classes at the rec center down the street. I think his father drops him off and then goes to the casino.”
I couldn’t even imagine a life like that for someone so young. I looked at Nate’s artwork again and reached out to touch my record that the cartoon version of me was standing on. I looked at his grinning face on the drawing.
Nate ‘The Great’ Barnes.
* * *
As soon aswe got back into the SUV, I pulled out a bottle of water from the ice chest and began to guzzle. After talking and doing demos with the kids for the past hour, I was so thirsty that I drank half the bottle of water before coming up for air.
“Thirsty?” Patrick asked.
“Very. What did you think of the kids?”
“They were all great and overly excited. It was like watching a room full of hyper Chases cheering.”
I laughed as I thought back to the one little kid who kind of grabbed ahold of my heart; Nathan Barnes. I thought it was because not only did he idolize me, but he had an interest, at least now, to become a TCF fighter.
“That Nate Barnes was something, huh?” I asked.
“That kid was hyper,” Patrick said. “He was a mix between you and Chase.”
“What?”
“Mmhmm. Didn’t you hear him talk excitedly about karate and how he hopes to take jiu-jitsu classes?”
“Little guy knows what he wants,” I said.
“Your mom and dad said you were the same as a little kid.”
“His home life sounds terrible. He’s just seven and has too much exposure to casinos and gambling.”
“Did you see his face when you called him ‘Nate The Great?’”
“He was so excited over that. He’ll probably always remember that moment,” I said. Patrick laughed and shook his head. “What? What’s so funny?”
“I think you’re about to take on another ‘throwaway.’”
I joined in with Patrick’s laughter and shook him off. As soon as we got home, I called my agent to find out where Nate Barnes was taking karate class and asked him to use funds from the Team Dragon Scholarship fund to make sure Nate was taken care of for karate classes. If he truly showed drive and determination, then we could get him on as a Junior Team Dragon member once he’d hit fourteen.
Hollis
Thirty-seven years old | January
Isat up and let my feet touch the soft, plush rug beside the bed. I kept my head down and my eyes closed as the throbbing and pulsating assault in my head took over. My hands gripped the sheet on the side of the bed as I slowly rolled my shoulders.
“Is it bad?” Patrick asked. I soon felt his hands curl around the top of my shoulders.
“About the same,” I mumbled.
Over the years I’d get the occasional throbbing headache after fights. But since the fight I had during the summer, the headaches became more frequent and nearly each time I woke up. I’d talked to my team doctor about it because I knew how rough fighting could be on a body, and I didn’t want to end up to the point where I couldn’t enjoy life anymore. He suggested I see my regular doctor so a full gamut of tests could be run to make sure there wasn’t something more serious going on.
I’d talked to my family about it, and as expected, my mom was most concerned.
