Suprise

Jake finally woke up to the buzz sound of his alarm clock. He was careful in selecting which alarm he would buy. This particular clock had the helpful and reassuring feature of non-stop buzzing. He felt dull even though he was supposedly sharpening himself for the last four days. His dreams were stressful, even though he really couldn’t recall what they were about. Looking over his cramp quarters, Jake tried to make an inventory of things he need to do right away, maybe he could get some order in his mind if he couldn’t generate such in the piles of chaos he called his room.

Looking over his equipment Jake made his final double check to make sure they were in accordance to the specifications published for the board of review. Seeing his weapon so clean gave Jake a grin. The fabric on his body armor was brushed and soaped clean. Everything was in order, double checked the night before and checked again this morning. Topics, facts, and questions began to buzz in Jake’s mind: numbers, words, definitions, protocols, and on and on. Doubt seemed to cling to very thing he had memorized, but a doubtful recall was all he had and it was better than nothing.

He was told that boards were all about confidence. Confidence was so important that even fake confidence was better than the truth. Well a little fake goes a long way in presentations. Being pulled off the line would be considered a vacation by some, but he couldn’t help feel a little guilty. This was strictly a career move. This board would set him up for another, and eventually an early promotion board. He felt a little sick. He didn’t know if it was the time of day or how he felt. Jake had the feeling all he needed to do was show up and he would win. It was almost set up that way from the get go.

As the door opened and the early light hit his eyes, Jake contemplated what deep thoughts he could gather. Wonderings of the nature of competition, the worth of knowledge, and even his self interest entered his mind. Even though everyone he worked with understood him leaving the line for just a little bit, he couldn’t understand it, or come to grips with it. He just knew that it was what everyone expected anyone to do.

Then it hit him. Like a shimmering glossed katana edge, wait it was a simmering katana edge. A kia was sounded and in a flash the dark shadow zoomed past, steel on flesh. Luckily the victim was only sliced on the meaty parts of his legs. Obviously a low level ninja, otherwise Jake would be dead. “Great” Jake thought, “I get ambushed by a ninja right before the board, who would have thought.” “Well I better stop the bleeding, where’s my medical pouch?”