Day of the Dragon Read Free Page B

punches were faster and smoother than before. When Sifu Hale taught them a new punch, kick, and stance, Mark picked them up with no trouble at all.
    The next class, Sifu Hale taught them two new moves. The first was an arm block. When done right, the block keeps an opponent’s punch from reaching its target. The second was a leg sweep. “The sweep knocks your enemy off his feet,” Sifu Hale told them. “It’s much harder to win a fight when you’re lying on the ground!”
    The students practiced the moves alone for a while. Then Sifu Hale had them try the moves out on each other. “One person punches, the other blocks the punch and then sweeps. Since there are five of you, I’ll partner up with someone.” He chose Mark, and the other four students paired off.
    Mark felt nervous facing his teacher. Sifu Hale seemed to pick up on it. “Close your eyes for second, Mark, and take a deep breath,” he said quietly. “Trust yourself. You can do this.”
    And when Mark opened his eyes, he did feel better. He blocked Sifu Hale’s punch with a swift up-swing of his arm, then swept his leg down low and knocked his teacher off his feet. As Sifu Hale fell to the ground, Mark suddenly and without thinking delivered a punch to the teacher’s side.
    “Ohmygosh!” he said, horrified at having struck his teacher. “I’m sorry!”
    But Sifu Hale was nodding his head. “Don’t be,” he said, getting to his feet. “You followed your instincts. Those instincts said ‘make sure he stays down.’ They were right. If it had been a real fight and you hadn’t hit me, I might have gotten up and beaten you.” He laid a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “As I said before, trust yourself. Trust your instincts. They’ll usually help you to make the right decision.”
    During meditation time at the end of class, Mark thought about what Sifu Hale had said. He realized it was high time he trusted himself outside the classroom, too. And he knew what he had to do.

CHAPTER NINE
    “Whaddya mean, we can’t be a Chinese Dragon for the parade?” Jonas stared at Mark, incredulous. Bizz, Savannah, and Charlie looked equally surprised. The one person who didn’t react badly was X — and that was only because he hadn’t arrived at Savannah’s house yet.
    Mark hated making his friends angry. But he didn’t back down. “I mean just that,” he said. “We can’t be a Chinese Dragon for the parade.”
    Jonas crossed his arms over his chest. “And why not?” he demanded.
    Mark tried to explain. “The Chinese Dragon is special to the Chinese culture. To us, it’s just a crazy-looking costume. But to the Chinese, it’s part of a tradition that goes back for thousands of years! It feels
wrong
to wear it in a Halloween parade just so we can try to win a prize.” He shook his head. “Anyway, I should have said something sooner. I’ve known all along that what we were planning wasn’t quite right.”
    Just then, X walked into the room.

    “Wait’ll you hear this —” Jonas started to say when he saw him. But X cut him off.
    “I heard most of what Mark said. And you know what? He’s right. We shouldn’t go as a Chinese Dragon.”
    He sat down. “I was over at the skatepark, asking Alison where we could practice using the costume. When she found out what we were up to, she kinda said the same things Mark’s just said. And she told me something else, too.” X stared at Mark. “She told me that you’ve been taking kung fu lessons!”
    Savannah touched Mark’s arm and smiled. “You have, Mark?”
    He shrugged. “Only a few lessons so far,” he said.
    “I found out about the Dragon stuff when I was researching kung fu.”
    “Really?” Bizz sounded impressed. “That is just so cool!”
    “Man, wait’ll my dad hears this!” Jonas said. “I bet he uses you in his new video game!”
    As the kids asked Mark why he’d started taking kung fu and what he’d learned so far, relief trickled into his body. They weren’t making