A Woman?

I took some of the newcomers aside to teach them some basics, while Coach worked to prepare some of the guys for our boxing show on Friday. I thought I felt some disdain, as well as disbelief from one of the new guys, a lanky kid who looked to be no more than 18 years old. "You know how to box?" he asked suspiciously when I introduced myself.

I ended up with two of the newcomers at first, the second being a tall guy who resembled a young John Cusack. We went over footwork and bobbing and weaving. Suddenly, Lanky Kid wants to know how soon can he get in the ring. "Some are in three to four weeks later, if they feel confident enough--and if the coach thinks they are ready--to step into the ring," I answered. His expression said that wasn't soon enough for him. Just then, a woman walks in who used hang around my church a few years ago. Inwardly, I groaned. I call her Bad Penny, because no matter how much I wish she would go away, she turns up like that coin.

Bad Penny had come into the ring a few weeks ago, asking a lot of questions and writing down a lot of her information for the Coach. She would pop up at my church on and off, with stories about how she was getting her life together. A former member took her in after she was bounced out of one living space. After discovering that she was being taken advantage of, the former member showed Bad Penny the door. It came out that Bad Penny was involved in a lot of shady things. Perhaps sensing that people knew her game, her appearances at church became less and less. Ever so often, I would run into her on the street, and she would tell the same story about trying to turn her life around. Several times it looked as if she was carrying all her belongings with her.

So there she was in boxing class, doing more hopping around than actually listening to instructions. I'm a tomboy, but Bad Penny is way more butch than I am. She was even wearing one of those "doo rags" that some young guys like to wear, making her look even more hard. Near the end of the class, she asked me a question about upcoming boxing shows, and I could have sworn I smelled alcohol.

On the way home, Coach told me that Lanky Kid had a bad reaction when he was told that I was going to teach the newbies the basics. "A woman?" the kid told the coach, turning his nose up. "If he gives you any trouble, let me know," the Coach said me. Sexism is still alive and well, although I'm always surprised to hear it coming from guys who are under age thirty. Keep thinking that since they grew up in an age when women were not as blocked from opportunties as they had been when I was a kid. I forget that in some households, women's rights are still not held in high regard. Maybe Lanky Kid was raised in house like that.