One afternoon, in 2017, Kim and Sandy are eating lunch at a popular Orlando restaurant. They stop eating when they over hear an emotionally charged conversation between a middle-aged brother and his sister who are sitting at a booth behind them.
A man named David says to his sister, “Linda, there is no excuse for what mom did to us. It was unforgivable!” Linda answers him. “I feel the same way as you do. I think, it is terrible that we had to find out about our mom’s little secret, three years after she died. She should have told us about it when she was alive. Instead, we had to find out from our Aunt Karen last month.”
David in a demanding tone asks, “Why didn’t mom tell us? She should have told us that when she was sixteen, she had a baby boy with her seventeen-year-old boyfriend.”
Linda replies, “Mom’s actions toward us were downright mean. She should have told us that we had a brother. I will never forgive her.”
Linda is deep in thought, as she stares at David, and then she whispers, “David, maybe when dad was alive, he didn’t know either.” David is stunned by his sister’s comment. He quickly grabs the check off the table and tells her that it’s time to leave.
On their way out, they walk past Kim and Sandy. Kim looks at David and loudly says, “People should let the dead rest in peace.”
David turns around when he hears Kim’s remark. His eyes meet Kim’s eyes, and then he keeps on walking.
Within minutes, Kim and Sandy overhear another conversation between a grandmother and her grand-daughter, who are sitting at a table across from them. The grandmother asks Mindy, her grand-daughter, to show her how to do something on her smart phone.
She waits patiently for Mindy to answer her, but she does not. Instead, her grand-daughter ignores her because she is too busy with her smartphone. The grandmother asks Mindy to put down her phone for a minute. Again, Mindy does not acknowledge her.
The grandmother’s voice gets louder, as she asks Mindy to help her. Mindy, finally responds, “Sorry, grandma, I don’t have the time to teach you. All you have to do is go on line and google your question.” Then there is silence at their table.
Kim and Sandy then over hear another conversation that is between two men, in their thirties, who are sitting at a booth near them. Their names are Daniel and Ryan. They both work for the city’s recreation department as recreation leaders. Their conversation thus far has been about the new kid’s programs that they will be implemented this year.
Then their conversation abruptly changes when Daniel asks Ryan, “When did you start working in recreation? Was it something you always wanted to do?”
Ryan tells him, “I started working for them a few months after high-school. At the time, it was not the path that I wanted in life, but I had no other options.”
Daniel asks, “What do you mean that you had no other options? There’s always other options.”
Ryan answers, “Not for me there wasn’t. I wanted to be a professional basketball player. On one of my games in my senior year in high-school, there were scouts there from three colleges. My coach told me that they were there to watch me play.”
“The game was a disaster. I suffered a severe injury from a player on the other team in the first quarter of the game. I was out the rest of the season. All my hopes and dreams vanished in one minute. I’ll always be reminded of that day because the injury left me with a permanent limp.”
“I was angry after I graduated high-school. I did not know what to do with myself. I slipped into a deep depression. I did not leave my bedroom for about six weeks. I was a mess.”
“I was going stir-crazy, and I had to get out of the house. I got dressed and went out the front door and took a walk. My leg was beginning to hurt, and I had to stop and rest. I stopped at a baseball field that the Little League uses to practice and play their games. I sat down on the bleachers and began watching a small group of kids practicing.”
“A little kid walked up to me and asked me to hold his baseball while he tied his shoes. I took his baseball and started tossing it up in the air and catching it. That was the moment that I knew that I had to be around any sport no matter what role I played. And, here I am twelve years later working as a recreation leader.”
Kim suddenly gets up and Sandy follows him to Daniel and Ryan’s table. Kim introduces himself. However, Daniel and Ryan already know who he is, and they tell Kim that they are honored to meet him. Kim tells Ryan that he had overheard what he said and that he made a good choice.
With lots of sincerity and excitement, Ryan responds to Kim. “Your compliment means a great deal to me because everyone knows that you are a true sensei.”
Then Ryan asks Kim if his group of gymnastic students can visit his school. Kim says yes and gives him his card and tells him to call Sandy and work out the date and time with her.
Kim and Sandy leave the restaurant and are driving home. They begin to talk about the conversation they overheard between the middle-aged brother and sister, which triggers Kim’s anger. He’s outraged, as he says, “They had no right to judge what their mother did when she was sixteen years old. She was a young girl when she gave her baby up for adoption.”
Sandy responds to him. “They had no understanding about how different the times were when their mother was a young girl. During their mother’s time, most people’s attitudes towards a pregnant, unmarried, teenage girl was judged very harshly. The girl was no longer considered a nice girl. The girl was usually sent away by her parents to stay with relatives or to a nunnery to have her baby. Their mother must have suffered a lot of loneliness and shame.”
Kim agrees with her and then comments about another conversation that they overheard. He says, “I felt bad for the grandmother when her granddaughter kept ignoring her. She had no respect for her grandmother.”
Sandy replies, “I think, the response from the grand-daughter seemed harsh, but I do not think she meant her remarks that way. Today, if, you ask for help, most kids and adults will tell you to google it or watch a you tube video for the information.”
Kim nods his head in agreement. Then he says, “At least the day ended on a high note because of Ryan. When Ryan said he could never play basketball again, I thought, here we go again, the guy is going to whine or get angry about his life.”
Sandy agrees and says, “He took the high road because a little child approached him. As soon as Ryan threw the ball, he began to focus only on tossing the ball and catching it. It was the first time in a long time that he was not thinking about his injury.”
Kim declares, “In that one moment, Ryan broke the chains that held him captive.”
Sandy says, “He was lucky that the little boy approached him.”
Kim does not answer because he’s thinking about the role that Jenny and the katas had in healing him.
Then a few minutes later, he says, “Maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe that child was supposed to be there.”
Sandy is quiet as she thinks about what Kim has just said.
Kim and Sandy end their conversation by agreeing that their experience in the restaurant was bizarre. Little do they know, that their experience is an omen for what is about to happen next.