The Karate Kid

Chapter 2

We had been unpacking things for over three hours now, and we were almost done. His apartment looks really nice. (with some of my decorating tips, of course)Daniel gave me a little tour of his apartment when we were done unpacking stuff. His apartment looks almost exactly like mine, but with different decor. He has a nice, open living room with huge windows that connects to the kitchen. My kitchen is almost identical to his.

Then he showed me his bedroom, which is about the same size as mine, small with large windows to let the natural light in. While we were in his room I noticed a variety of karate posters, books, and movies. They all showcased different karate all-stars that i have never heard of before.

"So I see you are into karate.." I said, looking all over the posters on his walls.

"Yeah, but I haven't had a teacher in a while. I would love to learn more." He said, and by the way his eyes were glowing, I could tell he really loves the sport.

“Well the maintenence man does some, I’m guessing karate around the building sometimes.” I can remember a few times when I was alone around the building I would hear something banging over and over. I can recall moving towards the sound and finding the maintenance guy like, karate chopping a punching bag. He was kicking it, too. he is really fast and agile for his age. I’m guessing he is about sixty or seventy years old. Nobody knows what his name is, he kind of secretive.

“huh… Do you think he might teach me some moves?” He asked, kind of dazed.

Now I really want to help him get closer to karate. That sparkle that forms in his eyes when he even thinks about the sport is irresistable.“Maybe, I dont know..” I replied.

“Do you know where his office is?” He asked, and he looked kind of excited that he might be learning karate again.

I could tell he really has a passion for karate, it seems like he loves it. I can relate to that with my art. I love expressing my emotions and what I’m feeling on a canvas, or a blank piece of paper. Daniel may be the same way with karate.

“ Yeah, we can go see him right now, actually.”

Even though it is a little past 10 p.m., Daniel agrees to go talk to the maintenance guy.

When we are making our way to his office, I notice that Daniel is studying the building more closely. Each hallway we go down, or each room we enter, he stops for a few moments, taking in the scenery. Quite honestly, there isn’t much to see here. The building is pretty old, and obviously nobody has bothered to repair some things.

I like the atmosphere here, though. I was never a big, fancy person, so the state of the apartment building fits pretty well for me.

As I snap out of my deep train of thought, I realized that we are about to pass the door to his office. I grab Daniel’s hand and pull him to a stop at the worn out, dusty screen door.

“This is his office. I wonder is he is even awake right now…” I wonder out loud.

“ Well there’s only one way to find out” He softly knocks on the door.

I hear an old, raspy voice say ‘Come In’ and if we were talking Daniel and I probably would’t have been able to hear him.

Daniel pushes the door open, and when we step inside, there is an odd smell in the air. I put that aside, and when i look around I see a bunch of tools and a workbench in one corner. In the other corner, there is a shelf with a few neatly trimmed little trees. I can see the punching bag laying on the floor under the shelf with a few little leaf branches surrounding it.

There is a man sitting on the ground, his back is to us so we can’t really see much of him.

“Um.. Hello?” Daniel says, and i can tell he doesn’t really know what to do right now.”