YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, ABU DHABI, UAE—09:35 / 9:35 A.M. GST
Dad, that’s Wasaku Katagi right there!” Nevin was pointing at two men jogging around the track. “I’m serious! That’s him!”
Katie knew Nevin had begged his dad for tickets when he learned the World Fighting League was holding a bout on Combat Island. Both father and son loved MMA. Every Saturday night that a fight was televised, they were there on the couch watching. Zabe and Elliot were starting to get into it a little more, but they typically got bored once the fights went to the mat. Apparently, for the novice, punches and kicks were much more exciting than grappling and submission.
Although Rick had learned about the fights well before their trip, by the time he inquired about tickets the arena was sold out. He could have scored some from one of those online services, but their prices started at $1,250 a seat. He’d told her that was far more than he could justify. Nevin had understood, but he was definitely disappointed. Now, however, to see this guy he’d told her was the most exciting up-and-comer live and in person… This moment just might turn out to be the highlight of their 16-year-old’s trip.
“Mom, Mom, that’s Wasaku,” Nevin said, starting to wave at the passing men. “Wave, everybody! Maybe he’ll see us!”
Katie didn’t understand what Rick and Nevin saw in MMA. Every time she watched with them, blood started pouring out of somebody’s head or their nose would get smushed. Then, when the next fighters came out, they would have to fight on the same blood-stained mat. Sure, someone had cleaned it up, but the red splatters remained. She thought it was stupid, violent, and just plain gross.
Yet Rick and Nevin, who would be going off to college in just a couple of years, held the interest in common. So she supported it all she could, always making sure their popcorn bowl was full and their sodas were topped off. That bond between her men was what had her waving her hand at a complete stranger like a crazy woman. It certainly wasn’t the fighter himself. She knew full well that he would answer a bell the next night and do all he could to knock his opponent senseless.
Once the two men were past, Nevin launched. “That was Wasaku ‘Man of Harmony’ Katagi. He’s a lightweight.”
“That’s not very nice,” Katie said, baiting her son.
“No, Mom, that’s his weight class. That means he’s 146 to 155 pounds.”
“Why do they call him Man of Harmony? Doesn’t really fit being a fighter.” Katie could see Rick smirking at her behind Nevin’s back. He knew exactly what she was doing.
“I don’t know. I think it’s something about his name. He’s Japanese, you know. But now he’s from Vancouver.”
Katie pretended to think deeply. “Japanese, you say. With a name like Wasaku Katagi, whoda thunk?”
Nevin finally caught on that his mom was playing with him. He shook his head and turned his attention to his brothers, telling them all he knew about Katagi’s fighting history.
“And you call us brats,” Rick said, putting his arm around her shoulders as they began walking a circuit around the racetrack.
“It’s because you are. Besides, I’m just having a little fun.” She leaned into him.
Their plane had arrived from Dubai about an hour ago. They couldn’t check into their hotel for another few hours, so they looked for something to do. Back home in North Carolina, one of their favorite activities was hiking. On their way to store their bags at the hotel until check-in, they’d asked their driver where he would recommend they go to get a good walk in. He mentioned several beaches and some parks around downtown, then the Formula 1 circuit. He didn’t need to say anything after that. Rick and the boys were one hundred percent sold.
“I can’t believe our time here is almost done,” she said, watching her sons as they walked ahead. “Think they’ve had fun?”
“They’ll remember this trip for the rest of their lives.” Rick gave her shoulders a squeeze. “And don’t start talking about the trip being over yet. We still have three more days.”
“Oh, I know. It’s just that sometimes it’s strange to think that while we’re here, life is going on as usual back home. And soon we’ll be back doing the usual again. This trip will be in the past, and we’ll be no different. It’s like that old Talking Heads song, remember? Something about being the same as it ever was?”
Rick pulled his arm off of her shoulders and started making chopping motions down his arm.
“What is that?”
“You don’t remember? The ‘Once in a Lifetime’ video? That’s the song that lyric is from. He did that chopping motion down his arm.”
“Is that the one where the guy is wearing the giant gray suit?”
“‘That guy’ was David Byrne, and you’re thinking of the suit he wore in the Talking Heads’ concert video, ‘Stop Making Sense.’”
Katie halted and looked at Rick. “You really are such a geek. Only you would know that.”
Rick laughed, then they started walking again. “The absent-minded professor. I can tell you the order of songs off of Boston’s first album, but I can’t remember to take my keys when I walk out the door.”
Grabbing her husband’s arm with both of her hands, she gave it a loving squeeze. “You’re an odd duck, but you’re my odd duck and I love you.” She tucked her arm around his as they continued.
“You should. How many gals got their guys celebrating Valentine’s Day by taking them to a Formula 1 track?”
Katie laughed. “Yeah, it’s a dream come true.”
Up ahead, they heard Nevin say, “Go!” The twins took off racing as fast as they could down the Formula 1 straightaway.
“God’s been good to us,” Katie said.
“That He has. Everything we are, everything we have—it’s all thanks to Him.”
“Amen, sweetie. Hard to believe we would end up here when you and your mom picked me up for that first prom.”
“Truth.”
“Come to think of it, you kind of looked like David Byrne wearing that oversized suit.”
Rick laughed. “Hey, we couldn’t afford to buy me a new one, so I had to borrow my dad’s. Any money I had I put into that ratty little corsage I got for you.”
Katie punched his shoulder. “Watch your mouth. It was beautiful. Do you know I still have it? Pressed into the pages of that hardbound copy of Pride and Prejudice I always keep on the shelf of my bedstand.”
Rick’s smile was wide. “Nineteen years of marriage, and I never knew that. What other secrets are you keeping from me?”
“If I tell you, they won’t be secrets.” She gave him another squeeze and a grin.
Rick lifted his arm back around her shoulders, and they walked in silence for a while. Eventually, he said, “So after we make a lap around, you’ll call to see about the early check-in, right? Meanwhile, I’ll call the concierge to find out about tonight. If we can get some good rest this afternoon, and if it’s just an open show for everyone out on the island, I’d love for us to check out that lighted drone thing. The online video for it looked amazing.”
“Sounds like a great plan.”
Rick dropped his arm and took her hand as they rounded what he explained was the first of the 21 turns and chicanes that made up one lap around the circuit.