It was a warm and sunny day. The kind of weather you'd hope for if you were planning to go on a picnic at the park. And as the politicians went on their mid-term break, reporters were looking at entertainment and sports events to grace the front pages. It was a slow day for the news agencies. As an astute observer, Maria saw this as a sign to take a much needed break.
I think I need new shoes and a tote bag. Maria thought about going to the mall on her week-long vacation to see what's new. She might be a fearless reporter and fighter, but she's also not one to neglect her looks and beauty. It had been a long time since she went out to the mall to window shop and look at the latest in fashion, so she asked her mom to accompany her for a long-overdue mother-daughter bonding experience.
"I thought you'd never ask. Let's go tomorrow. We will have a fun time together." Mrs. Santos was meaning to ask her daughter to join her in her regular forays to the town center, but she saw that Maria was always busy, until now.
"Good morning, mama!" Maria was in a good mood.
"I heard that there's a new #vegan cafe beside the old inn at the town center. Do you want to check out the place and have breakfast there? They are getting good reviews online." Maria was eager to start her vacation by treating her mom to a spa and getting her a nice dress. She had a lot planned for the day and wanted to get a head start.
Papa can work on his workshop the whole day without any distraction. He will also be pleased that we are both going out. Maria thought about her father and was sure that he will be happy that she did not ask him to go out with them this time. She understood that fathers also need alone time in their personal space with their gadgets.
As they were driving through the newly repainted bridge, Maria noticed an old man standing at the foot of the bridge who looked like he wanted to cross but was reluctant to take the first step. She slowed down and saw that the man was carrying a white cane indicating that he was visually impaired. Maria stopped the car and turned on her hazard lights to help the man cross the street.
"This poor man should have someone accompany him when he goes out of the house. It's dangerous out here with so many cars around." Maria was talking to her mom as she stepped out of the car.
"Be careful. There are many vehicles on the streets today." Mrs. Santos voiced her concern.
"Sir, would you like some help in crossing the street?" Maria approached the blind man.
"Why, thank you, miss. I would appreciate it very much." Rafael replied in a soft voice.
"Where are you going, Sir? It is not safe to roam around in these parts of town alone." Maria wanted to know why he is walking the streets alone.
"Oh, I can take care of myself, young lady. Call me, Rafael, by the way." he replied with a smile.
"Okay, Rafael. I am Maria Santos." Mara introduced herself to the gentleman.
As they crossed the street, Mara noticed Rafael tensing up. His steps became heavier and his breathing heavy.
"What's wrong, Rafael. Are you feeling alright?" Mara scanned the surroundings and saw a couple of people around.
"I'm a little dizzy. Must be my blood sugar level spiking. I just need to sit down and get something to eat. I'll be OK." Rafael reassured Mara that he's alright.
As soon as they got to the other side, Mara sensed that something was wrong before she saw anything out of the ordinary. Just then, she saw out of the corner of her eyes, two young men approaching her car and who seemed to be assessing it's value. She did not wait a second more before making a move.
"Sit down here, Rafael. I will be right back." Mara moved swiftly and got back to her car almost at the same time as the two.
"Mama, close the window and lock the doors!" She instructed her mother loudly so that the people around can hear her. In this scenario, Mara would have just ran away to conceal her fighting abilities, but she had to protect her mother.
Now holding shiny hunting knives, the two young men lunged at Mara with bad intentions.
Ugh!
Mara caught the wrist of the first attacker and threw him judo-style. Something she had done countless times before and could do so easily and effortlessly, even in the dark. The lamppost caught him. Mara's throw showed her level of fighting skill that the second attacker decided to leave his buddy behind.
He ran across the street to get away from the beautiful but dangerous woman. He thought that she was not going to leave behind her mother inside the car; he was right. He felt confident of a clean escape.
Pak, pak, pak!
The second attacker went down. Rafael had extremely refined fighting skills of his own. Mara went to check on Rafael as soon as she was certain that her mother was safe.
"Wow. That was amazing, Rafael. I thought for a second there that you weren't blind. Are you really blind?" Mara was surprised at what she saw.
"I can see shadows; nothing more than that." Rafael confided.
"What kind of fighting style was that, Rafael? And, more importantly, can you please teach it to me?" Mara blurted out without hesitation.
"It is called Eskrima de Soledad. My grandfather was Maestro Santiago Soledad. He was an avid martial artist who studied under different masters and was able to develop his own fighting style based on the best techniques he learned from the Filipino arnis masters. I will be happy to teach it to you, Maria." Rafael responded positively. He felt Mara's sincerity in stopping to help him cross the street and was happy to teach her the family tradition.
"Thank you, Rafael. I will be a good student." Mara declared with confidence.
The police arrived after a few minutes and arrested the two thugs. Rafael, Mara, and Mrs. Santos gave their statements along with a couple of bystanders who witnessed what happened.
The day turned out to be an epic adventure and bonding time for the mother and daughter tandem. Afterwards, they went on their way to the town center to carry on with their plans of having fun with each other. They made sure that Rafael is alright and helped him on his way to his appointment. Mara was extremely happy to have scheduled a lesson with her new mentor, whom she will soon find out, is the current grand-master of the Eskrima de Soledad fighting technique.
I was captivated by the story. I was in suspense until the end. Mara is a cautious woman who took martial arts courses.....perhaps she felt more secure in her job and the grandfather .....thought it was a joke that he was blind. I was struck by how accurate he was in defending himself. No one expected that. Well done @juanvegetarian
Thanks for dropping by and reading my story, @katleya.
!PIZZA
I really enjoyed reading this! As a martial artist, I really appreciate the way you described the part where she threw her opponent and the mention of the word "Eskrima". I'm really a fan martial arts stuff. Do you have other stories like this in your blog, sir? I'd love to read them. Thanks for this story!
Thanks for dropping by and reading my short story, @lexdiscipulus. This is actually the 3rd time I used MARA's character for a story at @theinkwell. If you want to read the first two, they are The Shadow Walkers (October 27, 2021) and MARA (September 15, 2021), which is where I introduced the Mara/Maria character. I did martial arts as a kid so I am familiar with the language and terminologies used. 😊
!PIZZA
@juanvegetarian | Eskimos de Soledad? Wow, make sure to Rafael that I will also be going with Mara to Rafael's training ground.
Hahaha. That will be great, if you come over to the Philippines, I might be able to connect you with some real-life Rafaels here. There are a few still alive today. I think some of them, you can find on youtube. The old-school arnis/kali teachers do drills using real knives with their students. It's so fast that you almost can't see what's happening, but you can hear the bladed weapons block each other. It's surreal to watch it live.
"Eskrima", also known as Kali or Arnis is a Filipino martial arts. Soledad is Rafael's family name in the story.
!PIZZA
Thank you very much for being willing to explain. Yes, and it turns out that Eskrima is even used by the police in my country, Indonesia. Oh, wow. In my country there is also a martial art called silat
Much welcome, @mosin-nagant. Eskrima/arnis is used by many police and military groups all over the world. I am familiar with silat, it has a very cool and ceremonial opening stance at the start of the match. 😊
Yes, every martial art has an art in it. Warmest regards to you.
😁😁😁
Congratulations @juanvegetarian! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 250 posts.
Your next target is to reach 2500 replies.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Thanks @hivebuzz.
!PIZZA for you too. 😂
You're welcome @juanvegetarian, that's with a lot of pleasure 😊👍 Have a nice day and a !BEER too! 🍻
You need to stake more BEER (24 staked BEER allows you to call BEER one time per day)
😁😁😁
Thanks for writing this entry for @theinkwell's call of the week, @juanvegetarian. It's a consistent and believable action story, despite the blind karate guy. Thanks for keeping up the interactions with other community members.
I'm glad you found this story believable, @theinkwell. I did my best. 😊
!PIZZA
Those thugs got served lol. I didn't see Mara turning into a dark angel karate lady. Interesting story you cooked here.
They got what they deserved, @doziekash. haha. Mara is really a kind-hearted and principled assassin. She helped topple a dictator (in MARA, Sept 15, 2021) and an evil businessman (Shadow Walkers, Oct 27, 2021). Thanks for reading!
!PIZZA
That's quite interesting. I'm glad I came acces across your post.
Thanks again for the interest and in reading my story, @doziekash. Have a good one.
MAra is a well-rounded and very focused girl. She knows the things that are important. Master Rafael will really have an advantaged student. Good story, well told, @juanvegetarian.
Hello, @gracielaacevedo. Happy to read your comment as always. Mara is really a focused and motivated girl who knows what's important. It will be interesting how this story plays out in the future with Rafael as a new character I introduced in Mara's world. 😁
!PIZZA
I !LUV the story, di man halata now but I did some MMA way back shocks fit talaga ako noon yoga and MMA. I am familiar with eskrima as arnis here in our country pero Eskrima de Soledad nah never heard of it. Is it like wala silang arnis but rather hands nila ang gamit?
Galing din ni Rafael huh nice nice - finally I am able to read some blogs haha. Kain ka muna ng #vegan !PIZZA dasurb mo ito.
@tpkidkai(3/4) gave you LUV.
H-E tools | connect | <><
Maraming salamat, @tpkidkai. Nice. Pwede ka mag-practice ulit ng MMA/yoga for fitness. Imbento ko lang ang name na Eskrima de Soledad. hahaha. Sometimes ay bladed weapons din ang gamit ng mga eskrimador/arnis players in real-life. Hanapin mo sa youtube. May mga maestro na dinadayo para maka sparring. Si Rafael ang new character dito sa mundo ni Mara. Siya ang magiging mentor ni Mara in the future.
Thanks again, I !LUV the !PIZZA
Didn't expect an old man could pull out some fighting skills. Cool!
Thanks, @idlemind. The old man is a martial arts master. 😁
!PIZZA
Wow, Mara has some skills! It's so great when women have self-defense training and can take people on in a situation like that. But it was equally impressive that Rafael could see enough to know what was going on and take the second attacker down. Mara met the right person! She'll be unbeatable after her lessons.
I've known many strong willed and skilled women so I have good models to copy. It is inevitable that Mara meet a skilled and well-respected mentor who can guide her to evolve for the better. I hope Rafael positively impacts the whole story. Thanks for dropping by, @jayna. Always looking forward to hear what you have to say about my story. 😊
!PIZZA
Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @juanvegetarian.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!
Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
juanvegetarian tipped idlemind (x1)
juanvegetarian tipped lexdiscipulus (x1)
juanvegetarian tipped mosin-nagant (x1)
@juanvegetarian(1/5) tipped @katleya (x1)
juanvegetarian tipped doziekash (x1)
juanvegetarian tipped jayna (x1)
juanvegetarian tipped hivebuzz (x1)
Join us in Discord!