The Little Woman vs. The Coach

Ralphie, Carlos and Jamil were in attendance Wednesday evening.  Alan told me to get suited up for sparring.  I assumed I would be sparring either Carlos or Ralphie, who were mixing it up in the ring at that moment.  The both of them came out when the bell rang, and took off their gear.  "So who am I going to spar?" I thought.  I turned around to see Alan putting on a pair of gloves.

The bell rang, we moved around for a few seconds, then I asked him, "Where's your headgear?"  "Eh, I don't need it; I'm okay," Alan replied.  I hit him in the back a few times, which is an illegal thing to do.  But he would turn just as I was aiming for his mid-section.  For a moment during the second round we did, I made the mistake of being more focused on being tired instead of on Alan.  He got in an uppercut that stunned and knocked me a little off balance.  There was a second when I thought I was going to collapse to the canvas.  "You okay?" Alan asked.  I shook my head "yes" and kept going.

I backed Alan up aginst the ropes and gave him a right to the chin.  I didn't think I put a lot of power on that punch.  Later, Alan told me, "You hit very hard.  You could have taken out that fire fighter."  Ralphie said in amazement, "That other woman Hillari fought was a fire fighter?"  I still go over in my head what went wrong during both matches I had with Meg.  If only I could have pinned her against the ropes, if only I could have gotten some hooks off, if only, if only.

Earlier that day, I was telling Pastor Roger about the Christmas forty-six years ago when my late dad brought me a baseball and a laser gun.  I was two years old then.  My mother was not amused.  "Walter, don't you see that she's a girl?" Ma pointed out.  I don't remember exactly what Dad's response was.  I do know that he had expected another son (my oldest brother had passed away the year before I was born).  "Boxing. . .I bet your dad didn't see that coming," Pastor Roger commented. No, most likely he didn't.  I do have to give Dad credit that he didn't discourage me from the sport when he found out.  But I have no doubt that he thought it was unusual for me to be involved in it.