I'll be installing Tsu'na's window tomorrow. She's worked hard on it and burned through a helluva lot of corn. I kinda felt bad for her not being able to see it actually in use, though from what she said we should probably make windows just like it for the diner. And I should probably help her gather corn once my days are free of Tony.

I think Tony's looking forward to when his days are free of me. I gave him a nod when I got to Flying Tigers in the morning; he stayed wary of me for a while until he saw all I was doing was cleaning and not waving edged weapons around. Still no morning busload of tots, so his time was spent either directing me to perform some menial task or staring morosely through the door.

When he took an early lunch I went into the back room and brought out the engine from the workshop. It came in a small wooden crate, which I set on Tony's desk. I was able to pry the top off, but I saw the engine had been bolted to the bottom. I didn't have a wrench, and the bolts were a bit too small for me to grip properly, so I could only look at it in its crate.

Tony came back with his food and saw the crate. "The hell's that?"

"Just an engine I bought."

"Engine?" He came over and looked. "This isn't a garage! Get this thing off my desk!"

He put down his food, grabbed the engine and tried to heave it. Not expecting a 150-pound weight, he got it up maybe an inch before letting it fall back down with a bang.

I shoved him aside. "Easy with that! It's expensive!" I picked up the crate, set it on the floor and pounded the top back on. I left Tony scowling at the crate. He didn't need to see me put it back in my inventory.

A bit after noon I finished on the wall mirrors and told Tony, "I'm gonna hit the coffee shop across the street. Want anything?"

"You getting lunch? Chinese place around the corner's a lot cheaper."

I decided to be open with him. "Yeah, but the coffee shop's a good place to stake out the school. I want to see if anyone's doing that."

He looked at me steadily for a long moment before saying, "Caramel latte."

"You got it."

"...Maybe a slice of lemon cake?"

"Sure."

I got out before he could work himself up to ask for a sandwich.

The coffee shop had some pre-lunchers in it, but wasn't crowded. There were some people lingering with laptops, a couple lingering with cellphones, and Lookout of the Long Shots lingering with a view out the front window. He'd've seen me come out of Flying Tigers, but he didn't visibly react to me. I pondered the menu, studied the display case, browsed the biscotti, and generally gave him enough time to do something about me, but all he did was give me a sidelong glance when he thought I wasn't looking.

Eventually he was joined by a new guy. I guess Lead Guy was on the bench after what I did to his arm. They talked a bit, and New Guy checked me out, but otherwise they stayed focused on the school. I suspect I look a lot smaller when I'm out of my armor, so Lookout would have no reason to connect me.

I got Tony's coffee and cake and a stupidly expensive tea and headed back. Tony wasn't thrilled to learn that the Long Shots were still interested in him, but at least they hadn't come back inside. Yet.

More of the power lunchers came in today, so maybe Tony's business will recover after all. Tony put me to work on a new task: striking dummy. He gave me a couple armguards and had the businessmen take turns practicing their kickboxing on me. They were surprisingly strong for suits, but I was stronger. They were fast, but I was faster. Strength and dex for the win.

Three yoga ladies showed up for the after-lunch session. I tried giving them pleasant smiles, but I guess they were self-conscious enough to not want a stranger hanging around looking at them. After a few uncomfortable glances from them I retired to the back room to let Tony stretch them as he might.

Then came the quiet stretch where Tsu'na and I typically showed up for training. It stayed quiet. It was followed by more quiet when the kindergarteners still didn't show. I ran out of things to clean and Tony ran out of things to tell me to do, so I played a lot of Nonogram on my phone. I wondered if the Long Shots were still watching the place, but I didn't feel enough of a need for stupidly expensive tea to find out.

Toward the end of that, Tsu'na messaged me that her "Natasha glass" was ready. I wonder what posterity will think of the name.

I watched as the teenagers came in later. The one who'd looked at me funny yesterday came up and tossed something at my feet. Turned out to be a plastic ant figurine. He stood there looking at me, waiting for a reaction.

In the 1970s show Kung Fu, young Caine befriended an old blind teacher at the shaolin monastery, who came to call him "Grasshopper" as a sort of in-joke. Much later in the series, a fellow student carved a wooden ant figurine and offered it to Caine. Caine felt it was an insult and refused the gift. The woodcarver felt it was an insult to not accept the gift. They fought a duel over it, and Caine lost.

In 24 hours the kid at Flying Tigers had gone from not understanding my 50-year-old pop-culture reference to literally throwing one back at me. That was serious nerdage.

I didn't have Tsu'na's practice at pulling punches, so if we re-enacted the duel scene, even in play, I might've accidentally wiped the floor with the kid. Plus that would get me more attention than I particularly wanted. I bent down and picked up the ant. "Thank you. I accept your gift." I couldn't tell if the kid was relieved or disappointed as he walked away.

Tony was sufficiently satisfied with my performance as a striking dummy (or he was sufficiently amused at me being kicked) that he had me reprise my role for the teenagers. No armguards this time. He introduced me as his temporary assistant Sal. "Okay, guys, take turns and show Sal what you've got. And if anyone manages to take him down, pizza for the class on me."

None of the kids knew that was a carny sucker prize, so they all got ready. The bigger and stronger kids let the littler and weaker ones suss me out and possibly wear me down. Tony didn't explicitly say defense only, but that's what I gave. I blocked punches and kicks, I ducked out of holds, I jumped over leg sweeps and basically gave them nothing.

Ant Kid was in the middle of the pack. He was a fast little scrapper, but his reach was a tad short. He'd have to get inside someone else's range to do serious damage, but he probably looked good to a point counter. As it was, he wound up punching rapid-fire into my palms before giving me a nod and stepping aside.

Then came the bigger kids...or perhaps "young adults" for some of them. They were strong, they were proud, they were arrogant, and they were each very frustrated to not get as much as a clean hit on me. I don't think it was a desire for pizza that drove them. They seemed to have something to prove. They just weren't proving it with me. When I didn't turn out to be an easy target they threw everything they had at me, and each wound up exhausted as they made room for the next one.

When they were all done, Tony came out and said, "Okay, nice effort. Now, how 'bout I show you how it's done?" He turned to me. "Ready?"

Did he think the kids had tired me out? Did he think I could no longer drive him through the floor if I wanted? I had no idea what lead I was supposed to follow, but I didn't particularly want to embarrass him. "Uh...Master Shen...I'm not trained for that."

I hoped Tony would take the hint, that I hadn't been the one he'd helped teach how not to hurt people. He didn't. "C'mon. Just a little light sparring. You'll be fine."

I managed humility. I raised my palms. "Yeah, no, I'm not up for going against a master."

His face looked like it was shopping for an expression. Then he snorted and turned to the kids. "You know what? You guys gave it your best. Let's go get that pizza!"

They grabbed their gear and headed out. I wasn't invited, and I was fine with that. My expeditions with Tsu'na had made me picky about my pizza anyway. Tony locked the front door and I let myself out the back.

I Returned, went to the workshop, and found my wife fresh back from corn harvesting. We slipped our arms around each other. I rested my head on her shoulder. "One more day."

"And then peking duck?"

"Of course, my love."