Day of the Dragon Read Free

students. He wished the mat would swallow him up. Instead, Sifu Hale pulled him to his feet.
    “When you fall, you must get up again,” the teacher said quietly. “Otherwise, you will lose the fight. Now, try the kick again, slowly this time. It might help if you separate the kick into four parts. One, knee up. Two, leg out. Three, leg in. Four, foot down.”
    Still burning with shame, Mark crouched into the horse-riding stance again. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do the kick. But when he broke it into four parts, he found it was easy to do.
    He was just getting good at side kicking when Sifu Hale changed the exercise again. “This time, I’ll call out different combinations of punches and kicks. Start each combination from the horse-riding stance, and do the best you can. Ready?”
    “Yes,
sifu
!”
    “Right punch! Right kick!”
    Which is my right? Which is my right?
Mark thought frantically. He flailed an arm and a leg on the same side of his body, hoping he’d picked the correct ones.
    Sifu Hale continued to call out different combinations. First, he paired punches and kicks. But soon he started calling for three moves in a row, then four. By the end, Mark and the others were doing five moves. Mark barely had time to think about what his body was doing before it was time to begin the next set.
    Finally, Sifu Hale clapped his hands. “You’ve all done a fine job today,” he said. He led them through some stretches again, then asked them to sit on the floor. “Each class ends with a short session of meditation. Close your eyes, cross your legs, take deep breaths, and relax.”
    Mark did as he was told.
    “Before our next class, practice what we learned today,” Sifu Hale said. “And think about something.” He paused before going on. “In class today, some of you thought it was funny when a fellow student made a mistake.”
    Mark’s heart started to pound.
He’s talking about when I fell!
    “But let me ask you,” Sifu Hale said quietly. “How would you have felt if you were the one being laughed at?”
    The
kwoon
was silent except for the sounds of breathing.
    “Respect for your fellow students’ feelings is very important. Show them respect, and they’ll show you respect. Remember,” Sifu Hale added, “you may be the next one to make a mistake.”

    After class, Mark found it hard to look the other students in the eye.
They probably hate me for getting them in trouble,
he thought. But as he was about to leave, one of the students, a girl named Angie, tugged on his sleeve.
    “Mark,” she said. “I’m really sorry I laughed.” “That’s okay,” Mark replied. “I’m used to it. My friends laugh at my clumsiness all the time.”
    Angie frowned. “Doesn’t that bug you?” “Sometimes,” Mark answered truthfully.
    “Maybe you should tell them,” Angie said.
    Mark knew she was right. But he also knew he wouldn’t follow her advice. Standing up to his friends just wasn’t something he was very good at.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    When he got home that afternoon, his mother told him X had called. “He’d like you to call him back. It’s about Halloween,” she said.
    “Oh, shoot!” Mark said. He’d been so busy with kung fu, he’d forgotten all about the Halloween parade. He dialed X’s number.
    “Hey, bud,” X said. “Big meeting at my house tonight to talk about the costume. Jonas thinks he’s found the perfect thing. Be here at seven, okay?”
    Mark agreed and hung up. He was relieved that Jonas, not X, had come up with the costume idea.
    But at 7:05, his relief turned to dismay.
    The kids were all seated around the kitchen table, munching popcorn. With a grand gesture, Jonas laid a book down and flipped it open to a page he’d marked. “Here it is, this year’s winner!” he announced.
    X pulled the book toward him. From where he was sitting, Mark couldn’t see the picture.
    “C-o-o-o-l,” X said admiringly. “What is it?” “Says here it’s a dragon,” Bizz replied,