Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love by Maryrose Wood Page B

up—”
    “The Dominican Republic,” Randall explains.
    “Yes. Santo Domingo,” says Sensei. “When I was little boy, same age like Randall”—Randall rolls his eyes at this—“there was a girl. Not so beautiful girl, normal girl, but most beautiful girl to me, you understand?”
    We nod and he continues. “I love this girl, but she no love me! I try to win her, her—sorry, my English! What this?” He puts his hand on his chest.
    “Her heart,” says Randall.
    “Her heart,” Sensei repeats, working hard to get out the two
h
’s. He laughs. “I teach Randall karate, he teach me English! See? Everybody teacher, everybody student! In karate is same. Yellow belt teach white belt, orange belt teach yellow. Even most high-high-high black belt, always learn.”
    Randall nods at his sensei’s words. He looks comfortable, for once.
    “I brought her presents, flowers, I cook her favorite food and leave by her house. You cook?” Sensei asks Matthew.
    “Not really,” Matthew says, flustered at the question.
    “Man should cook! No woman resist man who cooks!” Interesting idea. I don’t remember my dad ever making anything but mashed potatoes when he lived with us. Now he grills. Now he has a deck with a gas-fired barbecue and silver-plated skewers from Williams-Sonoma.
    “But my presents no good!” Sensei continues. “She nice girl, no mean to me, but no love me, you know? I cry inside, cry-cry-cry, but still, I love.”
    I feel my cheeks start to flush. Does Matthew understand that this is how I feel about HIM? And ohmigod, is this how Randall feels about ME? Randall’s never given me a present, though.
    “Then,” Sensei goes on, “terrible thing happen! Her brother have big, stupid fight with my brother, because of nothing, a car they both want to buy. Her brother say to girl, no more! No more see me, no more take my presents. How you say, Randall, no more?”
    “Forbidden,” says Randall.
    “Forbidden! Forbidden to know me. Like I dead.”
    “That’s . . . tragic,” says Matthew, looking somber.
    “Like Romeo and Juliet,” muses Randall. I mentally award one point for literary reference to the Randinator.
    Sensei beams. “It was miracle!” he says. “I bless that rotten car. A Chevrolet! Once brother say ‘forbidden!’ to the girl, she change! She say, I no let brother tell me what to do! She decide she love me now. She sneak out of house to see me, she tell me she want to marry! ‘Take me away,’ she say. ‘Take me to New York!’ ”
    And did he? Now we’re dying to know.
    “Well,” says Sensei, relishing the tale, “the brother find out she love me. He come with his friends to beat me up. I always fast, so fast I could run from them. Most of the time I get away! But I hate that I scared. Hate that I run. That’s when I start to train karate. Now I run for bus, and nothing else! I no scared. Randall, you scared?”
    “Uh, sometimes,” says Randall sheepishly.
    “You champion. No be scared.” Sensei sits back, satisfied. His tale is over when his karate training begins, happy ending and fade out. But of course, what we X-investigators really want to know is what happened with the girl.
    “The girl! Ah, no-no, that’s another story,” says Sensei, waving away our question. We plead. “Okay.” He relents. “Her brother get mad at someone else and she fall in love with him! I think she hate brother more than she love me. Later I join the army, I leave Dominican Republic. She still in Santo Domingo, I guess, I don’t know. Old and fat now, maybe! But if I see her, she still beautiful to me.”
    “Why did you leave Santo Domingo?” I ask, curious. I can’t imagine leaving my hometown.
    Sensei Reynaldo looks at me as if I should already know. “To come to New York!” he says. “That’s why everybody leave where they are.”
    When you put it that way, he has a point. “Now you watch us train. You watch Randall,” Sensei says to us. “Your friend is great