{Author's Note: This is the sequel to 'Rocco is Raw Meat.' Let me go ahead and point out that this story isn't the usual fare that I normally write. So if you're looking for another story where the bad guys receive a barefooted butt-kicking from any of my characters, you may want to wait for the next story. If however, you are interested in how a person changes from a victim to a victor, go ahead and read on.}

It felt awfully cool in the dojo of The Iron Foot, Barbie Kendoll thought, even though she was wearing a sweatshirt, sweat pants, and her running shoes that she just bought for the occasion. Or maybe it was nerves as she stood there, waiting for the instructor to arrive. It seemed a little intimidating standing there in the middle of a large, cold room all alone, waiting for the unexpected. However, she did come ten minutes early, so standing around for a few minutes won't hurt her.

She thought back to that day she was in the hospital, the victim of a terrible beating by her exboyfriend, Rocco, who ended up being beating up within an inch of his life by her old high school friend, Betty Conrad. She remembered Betty's friends offering to give her special personalized lessons for six months so something like this will never happen again. While remembering on how she jumped at the offer, she started to have some second thoughts. Her main thoughts though were on how badly Rocco was beaten, and warning Betty about the possibility of going too far in her fighting. Then she wondered, could that possibility happen to me too?

At that moment, the door opened, rousing Barbie from her thoughts, which was a good thing, she thought. There's a tendency to get carried away when you dwell on things sometimes. The judo instructor walked through the door and came over to Barbie, her bare feet apparently not noticing the obviously cold floor of the dojo, and dressed in her blue judo uniform, what do they call it - a 'gi.' Barbie wasn't sure whether she should say hello or bow, so she did both.

"There's no need to do that, a simple hello will do," Janelle Edwards said. "Since this is an informal session, we can dispense with the usual stuff I have in my classes. You don't have to bow, you can call me by my first name and not 'sensei,' and you don't even have to wear one of these gi's."

"Will I need to take my shoes off?" Barbie said, suppressing a shiver from the coolness of the room.

"Not unless you want to. What you're wearing is fine. Later on, you'll need to wear something cooler, because we'll be doing more activities."

"I'm sorry, but is the uh, room always this cold?"

Janelle laughed. "That's one of the first questions I get from new recruits. If you came in at the normal time for my classes, it's a little warmer, but after the regular exercises, drills, and being thrown around, you'll start wondering who turned up the heat."

Barbie was 5'6" with long blonde hair, and a figure that resembled the popular doll of the same name, which led to an easy time getting dates in high school and afterwards. After high school, her original goal was to become a television news reporter for one of the local stations in town, perhaps even for one of the networks. However, somehow things did not go as planned, and after high school, she worked a number of dead-end jobs, and was equally involved in a number of dead-end relationships, of which Rocco was the previous one that she was hooked up with. Her intended goals for her seemed to be something she thought of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Janelle was 5'10" with long black hair, and a figure similar to an action figure as opposed to a Barbie doll. The judo instructor was muscular all over because of her mastery in her selected martial art and extensive weight training, especially in her arms, which her gi was barely able to hide. It was she and her two friends, Velvet Jones and Susan Davidson, who came up with this plan to bring Barbie back on the road to recovery as a self-confident human being, not just someone who knows how to defend herself.

"Well, I want to thank you for all that you and your friends are doing for me," Barbie said.

"I would recommend that you hold your thanks after the six months are over, and the improvements have been made," Janelle said. "Because later on, you may not feel too thankful. Trust me, while I've taught classes here, I've been called 'The Iron Nazi,' 'Janelle deSade,' 'Sensei Torment,' 'Hitler's Love Child,' and a few others that I will not repeat. Make no mistake, I am a tough teacher, and many of my students, even my best ones, will tell you so. But if you show me some effort, proof that you are giving me your best, then I'm a real sweetheart." She gave a big smile.

"So what's involved in this 'program' you girls set up for me?"

"For the next six months, your program will include judo lessons every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at this time, taught by yours truly. Every Tuesday and Thursday, you will be given a weight training program by Velvet, who's also my associate instructor at this dojo."

"Velvet, that's the black one, isn't it?"

"Yes, she's black, is that a problem?" Janelle said.

"No, no, I just wondered who she was, that's all," Barbie said.

"Anyway, Saturday, you get a day off to recover from your busy week, and then on Sunday morning, Susan will assist you with your spiritual/emotional program."

"Spiritual/emotional program?"

"Yes, because you see, there's more to this program than learning how to fight. A whole lot more. Truthfully, I wish I had a chance to do this with all women who were or are in your situation, but work, giving regular lessons, along with preparing for a wedding takes up a lot of my time. I guess this makes you a guinea pig of sorts, but I'm confident this will work."

"Wow, I guess you have a lot for me to do. I suppose my social life is shot for the next six months?"

"From what I understand, you didn't seem to have much of a social life before."

Barbie laughed. "Yeah, well Rocco and I didn't go out much."

"Your program will be an abbreviated version of my basic self-defense class, and Velvet will give you the basics of weight training. After the six months are over, you're free to keep lifting weights on your own, and enter my normal classes, except at a higher starting point, and of course, you'll have to pay for them. Susan's program is an ongoing one, and, well she'll explain that to you when the time comes."

"Is Betty going to help with any of this?"

"No, Betty has done a lot already, plus she is busy running a garage full-time. She'll come by from time to time to check on you."

Barbie smiled. "This sounds exciting! I can't wait to get started."

Janelle became serious. "Barbie, there is something you'll need to know. In my classes, one of my specialties is to break down wimps."

"Uh-huh." Barbie nodded.

"And I'm sorry, Barbie, but you're one of them."

The smile from Barbie's face faded immediately. "What?"

"The last time I checked, the arranging of couples by someone other than the two people involved were never introduced in this country," Janelle said. "Barbie, no one forced you to see Rocco, and no one forced you to stay with him. It wasn't until he sent you to the hospital that things had rose to this level. He treated you like trash, but you stayed anyway, and worse, whatever lie he told you, you believed him. And that makes you a wimp, Barbie. I'm not saying you always was one, but somewhere along the line, you became one."

Barbie glared at Janelle in anger.

"But there's good news; I break wimps, and turn them into warriors," Janelle said.

"For someone who's claiming to help, you have a strange way of showing it," Barbie said, with acid in her tone of voice.

"Well, I could coddle you, pat your hand and say that it is all right, it's not your fault, but that would be a lie. It's not all your fault, but at least half of it is. What happened to you was horrible, but it's over now, and we need to take steps to see that it doesn't happen again."

"Just what makes you think it'll happen again?" Barbie said, on the edge of rage.

"I get a lot of new students that come through the doors of this dojo. It might sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but it's true. And maybe it's because I'm a female instructor, but I get a number of women who are in the same situation you were in. When some of them realize they can't become invincible overnight in five easy lessons, they leave. Others learn just enough to become dangerous - to themselves - and go right back to the same situation with no real change. The remainder actually learn."

Barbie trembled with rage. "You think I am so stupid to come back to Rocco or someone like him? You must be crazy."

Janelle remained calm. "Was Rocco the first man to beat you?"

"What?"

"Was he the first boyfriend to beat you?"

"For what reason?"

"Irrelevant. Is he the only one who hit you in anger, or when he was drunk, or because he felt like it?"

Barbie grew silent. "No, but the times it happened before, I deserved it."

"Because you were a poor, helpless female who didn't do what your boyfriend wanted? Because you dressed wrong, you questioned him on something he'd said, or maybe you didn't fix his dinner the right way? Maybe it's the way you looked at an old friend who happened to be of the opposite gender. Oh, I got it, he was in the mood, and he wanted to do it, but you didn't, or you had a headache, or you-"

"Yes! Yes, I've been hit by other men before."

"Then the cycle has repeated itself. This time, the cycle will be broken. In pursuing these destructive relationships, you were the one that was broken. We're going to put you back together."

"Can we just get started with the lesson please?"

Janelle stepped closer to Barbie. "Yes, we'll begin."

Then she slapped her.

It wasn't a slap; actually, it was a slow, drawn out swing that resulted in a pat on the cheek. Barbie was startled.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded.

"The strongest drive a human being has is the drive for self-preservation. If I caught you by surprise using a normal slap, your reaction would be expected; but I moved slowly, with no force at all. With that much time, you could've blocked it or moved out of the way, but you still stood there and took it."

"And what's that supposed to prove?"

"That we have a lot of work to do, and not a whole lot of time to do it in. Today, we're going to start work on how to fall."

"How to fall?" Barbie asked, confused.

"As everybody knows, in judo you have a lot of throwing other people around. What people don't realize is if you don't fall properly when you're thrown, then you could suffer possible injuries. This goes for falling in general. It saves you from having a whole lot of bruises and broken bones."

"Okay, that makes sense. When do we get to the cool stuff, like throwing people?"

"When we've mastered this. Like life, you don't get far unless you learn the basics, and with judo, you have to learn to fall before you can throw; you know, like crawl before you can walk?"

Janelle looked at Barbie's face, who did not seem to get the joke, nor the significance of the statement. This may be a long six months, she thought.

"All right," Janelle proceeded as she walked beside Barbie to get her in position. "You need to crouch slightly, put your arms like this. . ."

Barbie walked up the stone steps leading to the apartment and rung the doorbell. She felt a little apprehensive pursuing this second step in her "program" for a few reasons, some of them she realized were originally put there by her exboyfriend. She realized at that point during the time she spent with Rocco, that he fed her so many things, it was hard to tell what was real and what didn't belong.

Lost in her thoughts, she was completely startled when she was tapped lightly on the shoulder, then she turned and saw the person she came to see behind her.

"Sorry I'm late, I hope you weren't waiting long," Velvet Jones said. "I decided to go for a late run and I thought I would have enough time to finish before you got here."

Barbie paused for a moment to gather her wits and to take in the woman and her jogging outfit. Velvet Jones was a 5'10" black woman of a slim, muscular build, with her black hair cut close to the scalp in almost a 'buzz'-type haircut, except the hair was wavy. She was wearing a black crop top with a "V" in white lettering on the front, which showed off her 'six -pack' stomach muscles. Along with it was a pair of terry cloth baby blue running shorts. To complete the outfit, she wore a white headband, and a white ankle bracelet, no shoes.

"That's all right, I just got here," Barbie said, snapping back to reality. She couldn't help to glance down. "You ran without shoes?"

"Yeah, I do it all the time. It's not that unusual, there are many runners who do it, many of them have been in the Olympics, some of them winning medals. If it works for them, why not?"

They were momentarily interrupted by the sudden opening of the door. A handsome white man poked his head out the door. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if the doorbell rang or not. I was busy vacuuming the carpet," he said.

"Hey, it's no problem Brian. If you're finished, you can go ahead and call it a day," Velvet said.

"I just finished. Come on in," he said to Barbie as he opened the door. "You must be Barbie. I'm Brian, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Well I got to go. I'll see you tomorrow, Velvet."

"Have a good day, Brian," Velvet said as she waved at Brian.

"Handsome man," Barbie said as Brian went out the door. "Your boyfriend?"

"Nope, just my maid," Velvet said.

"Your 'maid?'"

"Long story. Here, have a seat on the couch. I'm going to take a quick shower and I'll be right with you. Help yourself to the refrigerator if you're thirsty."

Barbie walked to the couch as she watched Velvet walk to the other room to prepare for her shower. Her parents were pretty well to do, but they didn't have a maid or butler. And she talked intelligently enough, no ghetto slang that her kind was supposed to talk. But of course she went to college, so why should she? Barbie's mind started reeling from the inward conflict between what she's been told by her ex-boyfriend and other lovers and by what is. Nothing is making sense . . .

"Hey, I'm back!" Velvet said, startling Barbie out of her funk. Either her shower was really quick or she was fretting more than she thought, Barbie thought. Velvet hung a small white towel around her shoulders while she wore a gray tank-top unitard with the legs covering a quarter of her muscular legs. If she had legs like that, thought Barbie, she could just run from whoever is after her and leave them behind.

"I'm sorry, I was a little lost in thought," Barbie said, trying to hide her nervousness.

"Hey, I understand if you're feeling a little apprehensive. Starting weight training, not to mention starting this new program my friends and I cooked up may seem a little strange, maybe 'unladylike,' if you want to put it another way. Trust me, after you've done these weights for a while, you'll be surprised how liberating the experience can be. Come on, let me show you."

Velvet led Barbie over to another room that held in one corner various sorts of weights, dumbbells, and a bench. In the other corner of the room, floor mats like one would use for gymnastics lay, unfolded and ready for use.

Seeing Barbie glance in that direction, Velvet said, "Over there is where I practice my judo throws, holds, etc. I've been competing a little, and I work over there when I'm not at the dojo. Of course, Janelle is working with you concerning that part, so let's direct your attention over here."

As Velvet guided her towards the weights, Barbie asked, "I'm sorry but I have a few questions that I wanted to ask you before we got started."

"And I bet I can answer most, if not all of those questions in just a moment. I hope you're wearing a T-shirt underneath that sweatshirt because you're going to get awfully warm after we get started," Velvet said.

Barbie went ahead and pulled off her oversized powder blue sweatshirt, revealing her plain white T-shirt underneath. Again, she shivered a little. Do all of these places have to be so cold?

"Now when weight training or weight lifting, take your pick, there's a few things you'll need to keep in mind. One, start out slow, you lift only what you're comfortable lifting. You do too much too soon, and you'll risk injury. Two, your results will be gradual. Like anything else, it takes time to build muscle, and miracles aren't going to happen overnight. But as you keep going at a steady pace, your muscles will grow. Three, no, you won't look like the Incredible Hulk." Velvet laughed when she saw Barbie smile.

"I thought that was one of your questions," Velvet continued. "I had the same ones when I started. As a woman, you can be as strong as, even stronger than a man, but your muscles won't show it. There's a little thing men have called testosterone that causes them to have bulging muscles. I should say you will have bigger muscles that you can see, but nothing scary."

"I heard, uh, well, uh, don't you have to be born that way?" Barbie asked.

"Oh, you're talking about genetics. If you're going into professional bodybuilding, it'll mean something, but it just means that your body shape may show some muscle more than others. If your body shape is naturally thin, you won't show as much muscle as someone who has a stockier build. And even so, you can work around that, it depends on how you do your workout. Let's take Janelle, Susan, and I, for example. All three of us do weights, but our workouts are different. Janelle does your basic overall workout, but she puts some special emphasis on her arms. You usually see her wearing long sleeves, but have her pull her sleeve back some time. She's scared some guys off with those arms. Susan has an overall workout too, but since she is a kickboxer, she does it so she'll have power to her punches and kicks. If you ever see her in action, you'll see that power. As for yours truly, my weight training is overall or as I call it the 'total package.' That way, I look good all over."

Velvet then rested her bare right foot on her bench and gave some mock bodybuilder poses. Barbie laughed.

"We could go on with the details of weight training all day, believe me. Dozens of books have been written about it. I just want to point out one more thing before we get started, and that's the benefits of all this, or in other words, why should I do this?" Velvet continued. "For the sake of time, I'll just give you three reasons. First of all, the most obvious reason, you gain strength and muscle. That's a no-brainer. The second reason is, believe it or not, it will help enhance your figure. When you get started, you might as well throw the scales away."

"Throw them away? Why?"

"Because muscle is heavier than fat. You could go ahead and starve yourself to a particular "ideal" weight, but you wouldn't really be any healthier. When you do weights, the growing muscle speeds up your metabolism and eats up the fat. As a result, you'll have a nice looking figure that will be strong and healthy, instead of those stick figures that pass for models these days."

"I won't lose my figure?" Barbie said, a little amazed.

"Nope, weights will bring it out. I'm not trying to brag, but look at me," Velvet stood in front of Barbie and posed again, not in a bodybuilder's pose, but in a standard pose that showed off her curves and other features that a well-proportioned woman would have. "As you can see, Godzilla I'm not. This is the result of standard weight training. You already have a good figure, imagine how good it would look after six months."

If Barbie was apprehensive before, she wasn't now. "What's the third reason?" She asked.

"You feel strong, you feel powerful," Velvet said. "It's a little hard to explain, but weight training gives you a feeling of confidence, of empowerment. I'm sure by now, Janelle has given you a variation on her "poor, helpless female" speech."

"Not yet."

"Not yet? The old gal must be slipping. Well, allow me to do you the honors. She'll probably give you the speech tomorrow if she didn't today."

"We were short on time."

"Ah. The "poor, helpless female" deal is a myth that men have perpetrated, and women have unintentionally spread throughout history in most cultures. It's the myth that a woman cannot function on her own through life without a man. There's a variation of that myth that goes visa versa with men needing women, but it's nowhere as big as the lie concerning women."

Barbie stood there, taking it in.

"Let me explain this another way. When you were growing up, did your mother in some way tell you that your life would be happy if you had a man taking care of you?"

Barbie thought for a moment. "She said something like that, yeah."

"Usually when that is said, it means that man is to take care of you not just because he cares for you, but because you're helpless and can't go through life on your own. Women have ruined their lives with that mind set."

"But what's wrong with a man taking care of you? When I go out on a date, I like the man opening the car door for me, and-"

"No, no, no, we're not talking about what he would do on a date or anything like that; I'm talking about the mind set that you can't do anything in your life without a man. We're talking about being yourself, strong and confident, whether there's a man in your life or not. Understandably, Janelle normally gets a lot of questions about this, and to sum it up, no, neither her, Susan, or I are ardent feminists. We're not man-haters either; both Susan and Janelle are engaged to wonderful men who let them be who they are, and I'm still looking. There's also nothing wrong if the woman wants to be a housewife and stay-at-home mom. If you want a man in your life, that's fine, we're just saying you don't need a man to make your life complete. Am I making any sense."

"Yes, I understand now," Barbie said.

"Thank God. I'm going to leave the explanations to Janelle from now on. That was much too complicated. Now let's get started. We'll start with some basic lifts here to gauge how strong your muscles are. . .

Barbie adjusted her dress as she waited for her ride to pick her up. And this time, not unlike the first two days, she felt apprehensive and a little confused. What would going to church have to do with her 'recovery' program? The other two practices, judo and lifting weights, she could understand how they were helpful for self-defense and getting in shape, along with building confidence. In fact, she already felt more self assured, and more energized. That seemed quite odd, considering how sore she felt from the first week of judo practice. Janelle wasn't kidding, she was a tough teacher, the type she didn't want to disappoint or disrespect. She gave Barbie a 'homework' assignment to turn in to her in a couple of weeks. It was a list of the things she wanted most in a man she would consider dating or marry. It seemed odd to her, but she wasn't going to tell her no, so that Saturday she got started. It was almost the only thing she did Saturday besides eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, talk with her parents some (actually she didn't feel like talking to anybody, but since she's staying at her parent's house, a little communication was probably a good idea), watching a movie on TV, and going to bed early.

She slept like a log, and woke up refreshed that morning. It was the best sleep she had in a long time. However, it didn't stop her confusion regarding going to church with Susan. She was never a regular church-goer, aside from Easter, Christmas, and Mother's Day. Her parents always took her and her brother when she was little, but as soon as she became a teenager, she put that to a halt. At various times during her adulthood, her parents urged her to come back, but she always had something going on with work or whatever she could think of. Three months earlier, her old church's pastor made a visit, only to be chased off by Rocco, cursing, threatening, and accusing him and all preachers of "wanting his money." At the time, it was a little funny, she thought, but as she realized all the pastor wanted to do was to help her, it saddened her, especially since they knew the reality of the situation, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

Barbie always considered herself a 'good' person, not anywhere as bad as Hitler or Charles Manson, but she figured that her spirituality was a personal affair. It's personal all right; so personal, even she don't talk about it to herself, much less anyone else, she mused with a smile.

Susan's car pulled up at the same time Barbie looked at her watch. Right on time, she thought to herself, and just in time too. She was about to drive herself crazy with all these thoughts. Barbie said goodbye to her parents, and walked down the driveway toward Susan's car. As she approached the car, she saw a handsome black man in the passenger side of the front seat. As he smiled and said hello, she realized that she stared at him two seconds too long, recovered and greeted Susan.

Susan Davidson was a blond, 6'0 woman who was approaching hometown hero status as an upcoming contender for the Tri-State award for amateur kickboxing. Like Velvet and Janelle, she also lifted weights to gain power for her kicks and punches, and speed. She was dressed in a jade green sleeveless dress with a mock turtleneck collar. The dresses' length went to just above the knees, allowing a clear view of her muscular legs. She was wearing or was soon to be wearing a pair of backless, low-heel, black dress shoes, which she took off for driving.

"Hello Barbie, I hope you're feeling well today. And I take it you met my fiancee, David," Susan said with a little bit of mischief in her voice. The type of mischief that says "I saw you peeking."

"Pleased to meet you David," Barbie said, as she quickly got into the car before her red cheeks started to show.

"How is the first week of your program coming along?" David asked. He was dressed in a dark green double-breasted suit with a white shirt and a black tie with iridescent squares on it. It fitted well on his lean, well-built, 6'0" frame.

"Just fine," Barbie said in a hushed voice. Not only did the man look good, he sounded good too. She decided to look out the window to keep her gaze from wandering toward David.

"Barbie will probably like my part of the program the best, since mine don't involve any throws or heavy lifting," Susan laughed, glancing and smiling towards Barbie's direction. "You finding the scenery rather fascinating, Barbie?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," Barbie said. She appeared to be in an embarrassing spot, and Susan was making things worse. She also seemed to be enjoying it. Fortunately, before the situation made Barbie's cheeks even redder, they arrived at the church. Thank God, Barbie thought, suddenly recognizing the irony of the situation.

Upon their entry into the church, Barbie was greeted by people she knew and strangers alike like she was a long-lost friend. That made her feel good, and it gave her something else to divert her attention to besides David. Susan still noticed that she was purposefully looking away from her boyfriend and gave a few teasing remarks to get her to look her way. Finally, they arrived to the area where the Sunday School classes were held.

"This is where we part company for a while, Barbie," Susan said. "David and I will be headed to the couples' class. You'll be headed for the singles' class, but I informed some people that you're coming, so you won't be alone."

"Where's Betty? Does she go to this class too?" Barbie said.

"Betty is out of town with Loretta. They have some sort of arrangement; Loretta will build her a new addition of her garage in exchange for Betty rebuilding her a new car. They'll probably be back this evening. In the meantime, enjoy your class. I'm sure it will give you plenty of things to 'look at.'" Susan winked and took David's hand as they walked toward their class. Barbie noticed David give Susan a look that seemed to say "what did you do that for?" Susan jerked him slightly as they went into the room.

Barbie walked into the class Susan assigned her to with a little hesitancy. She saw the seats in the back when she heard a voice call her name. A voice with a touch of an accent . . . Russian?

"Barbie, over here!" Barbie looked over to the middle of the seated area to see a 5'5" slim brunette dressed in a gray plaid skirt with a gold short sleeve pullover sweater. The woman was waving her hand to get her attention. Barbie walked over to her. She looked familiar, but she could not place where she saw her.

"You don't recognize me, do you?" the woman said as Barbie sat down beside her.

"No, I - wait a minute, you work with Betty?" Barbie said.

"Yes. This is what I look like when I don't have my hair pulled back and am covered with grease," Irena Brezhnev laughed. "I was told to look out for you when you came in. It's a big class and I know how uncomfortable it can be at first."

"Yeah, there sure is a lot of people," Barbie said, looking around the room at everybody.

"Hey Barbie look over there," Irena pointed over to where they had donuts, orange juice, and coffee. There was a small group of men there who were talking.

"Yes, but I already had my breakfast."

"No, see that one man holding his cup of orange juice?"

"Yes, I see him. So?"

"That's Betty's brother, Billy."

"Really?" Barbie said. "You know, I've heard about him, but we never actually met."

Irena sat back in her chair with a smug look on her face. "He's mine. He doesn't know it yet, but soon his hide will belong to me."

"Have you two met? How do you know he'll be uh, yours?"

"Oh, we met, and we've talked to each other. He still thinks his eyes are set on those girls from the college he goes to. But I'm going to surprise all of them and catch him myself."

"Does Betty know this?" Barbie said.

"She might, I never told her, but she probably knows. Anyway, stop looking, he'll think something suspicious if you keep staring."

"Sorry, I seem to have a problem with staring today."

"Lest you think I came here for men, the teacher here is pretty good, too. His lessons are very practical and relevant," Irena said, giggling, then went to adjust her clog on her right foot.

For Barbie, the Sunday School class and the church service were both enjoyable and the advice practical. It made her wonder why she stopped attending church in the first place. After the service was over, Susan and David took her to a nearby restaurant for lunch, where she met up with Janelle, and some other church friends of theirs.

Midway through the meal, Barbie asked Janelle, who was sitting next to her in a hushed voice, "Did you read the paper a week from last Saturday? I meant to ask you about it, but we were busy."

"I believe I did, but that was a little over a week ago," Janelle said. "Care to refresh my memory?"

"There was a story of two men on the south side of town who were beat up real bad that Friday night or Saturday morning. I think they were in intensive care."

"Yes, I remember reading that. I figured it was a drug deal gone bad. Why do you ask? Did you know them?"

"No, I just wondered if, if, you know. . ."

"If Betty did it? No, you can rest assured on that. As a matter of fact, Betty was with us that Friday night, uh, being out and about, that sort of thing. We were out pretty late that night, so after we were uh, finished, we called it a night, and went home," Janelle said.

"That's a relief," Barbie sighed. "I know I'm the one she 'rescued,' but I guess I'm a little worried about her."

"Could you hand me your copy of that paper if you still have it? I just want to read the article again for general information."

"Sure, that's no problem, I won't be needing it anymore."

After everyone was through with lunch, everyone went to their separate cars. Susan stopped before she opened the door and slid off her shoes.

"Ah, I won't need these anymore today," she said.

"Too tight?" Barbie asked.

"No, they're just there," Susan replied.

"This is a regular ritual of Susan's," David said. "Before we get in the car to go home after church, she always takes off her shoes, like she's ready to step on holy ground or something."

Susan just smirked at David as the trio got in the car. "You like it, don't deny it," she said.

Susan dropped David off at his place, kissed him goodbye, and said to Barbie as she got back in the car that they'll need to stop at her house to dress in more casual clothes.

"Why is that?" Barbie asked.

"Because we're going on a little hike," Susan said.

They went to Barbie's house, where she changed into a dark T-shirt, a pair of old blue jean cut-off shorts, and some hiking boots she bought for the next time it snowed in the area. They then dropped by Susan's place where she changed into a light blue polo shirt, off-white khaki shorts, and no shoes. She also brought her old oak walking stick. The two drove to a park where Susan normally goes hiking.

"We're going to one of the shorter paths in the park," Susan said. "This one will give us a tremendous view of the town."

After they parked the car, they started walking on the pathway. Barbie found herself struggling a little to catch up with Susan's longer strides, her steps unhindered by the lack of foot attire. In ten minutes, they were at a point where they could see all of their town before them.

After taking in the site, Barbie, looking down at Susan's feet asked her, "How long have you been doing that?"

"What, hiking?" Then she saw where Barbie was looking. "Oh, no shoes. For most of my life when I could get away with it, but especially during my years in high school. One time I went for five weeks before anybody noticed. Of course, I was also wearing long blue jeans and pants with wide legs. I was having a blast until I got caught."

"Which teacher caught you?" Barbie said.

"No teacher, it was my mother. My going barefoot all the time has been the bane of my mother's existence. She one time said to me, 'Susan, if you had your way, you'd be getting married barefoot.'"

They both laughed. "Susan, you wouldn't do that," Barbie said, then looked at Susan's face, "would you?"

"Since my mother is arranging the whole wedding, she's even got the matter of shoes covered," Susan said. "She knows all my tricks. She'll probably look underneath my wedding dress to make sure I have shoes on."

"So how does your mother, and your father feel about David, since he's, uh, well, you know-"

"Black? David and my dad are good buddies, and my mother said that he fits the requirement, so that's fine."

"The requirement?"

"That he's a good Christian man. And that's what he is, a good, Christian man. By the way, did you like his new suit? I picked it out for him."

"Yes, it's a real nice suit."

"So were you staring at the suit, or the man?" Susan said teasingly.

"What?"

"I saw you looking, you can't deny it. From the first time you walked to the car, you couldn't keep your eyes off him."

"That's not true!" Barbie said defensively, but not convincingly.

"No, I guess not all the time, but you seemed to take an unusual interest in the local scenery more than ever before."

"Okay, so I looked, it's not like I was going to try to take him away or anything,"

"I know, besides I almost beat to a pulp the one guy who tried to break us up," Susan smiled.

"Really? How, I mean who would do that?

"Some guy who had more money than sense. He sent three men after me on one of these pathways."

"Oh! So what happened?"

"Do you remember hearing about three men who were victims of gang activity some time back?"

"Yeah I - that was you?"

"Yep," Susan nodded. "One of the cities' worst kept secrets. If it wasn't for a sermon I remembered Pastor Ron give on vengeance, the ringleader would've had a nice lengthy visit in the hospital himself."

"So whatever happened to that guy who tried to break you up?"

"Have you met Velvet's maid?"

"Yeah, I've met him. You don't mean-"

"He was going to try to get back at me by sending somebody who knows martial arts. Unfortunately for him, Velvet and I are longtime friends, and when she found out what he was planning, she beat him up, and 'hired' him for maid duty the next day."

"Wow. He does a nice job of cleaning up, though," Barbie said.

"So I've heard. The man is scared to death of me, so whenever I come over, Velvet warns him in advance so he hurries up whatever he's doing and leaves the premises. Anyway, we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about you."

"We could find another subject to talk about."

"Nope, this is the spiritual and emotional part of your program, in reality the most important part of your recovery. You may have been taken out of an abusive situation where you were the victim, and the abuser is not around to bother you anymore, but you still have a victim's mentality, and that's where this part of the program comes in. While you were still with Rocco, he was your life, your world. You probably didn't think a thought or express your opinion unless he allowed you to."

Barbie slowly nodded her head.

"After Betty took him out of the picture, you were free, but now you have a big hole, an emptiness in your heart, and you don't know what to do to fill it," Susan continued. "Now as we remember from science class, nature hates a vacuum, and it's the same with our psyche. It's going to want to find something, something that has meaning and significance. Something that is worth living for."

"That's why you took me to church today," Barbie said.

"That's correct," Susan said.

Barbie paused for a long minute, then said in a quiet voice. "Susan, I enjoyed the church service, the Sunday School class and all that, but I don't know if that will work. Years ago, I stopped acknowledging the existence of God."

Susan smiled. "Well fortunately, God hasn't stopped acknowledging your existence." She walked over to a large rock and sat down on it, then motioned for Barbie to come over and do the same. "We're just going to have a little talk on why God still thinks you're important to him. I won't go into a sermon, you've had that already. I just want to share a few things with you, and answer any questions you have. Is that fine?"

"Yes, I, I'd like that."

"Good, let's begin," Susan said.

"No, no, NO!" Janelle said to Barbie, who was sitting on the floor from a botched attempt at a hip throw. "You're to use your hips, not just your arms! We went over this yesterday."

"I know we went over this yesterday, so why are we doing it again today?" Barbie asked as she got herself off the floor.

"To explain the 'self' in self-defense, we do these things repeatedly until it becomes a part of your 'self.' What I'm teaching you is to become as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning or combing your hair. We keep on doing this until a simple hip throw is second nature to you. When someone comes up to you with a knife, for example, you don't think "what do I do?", you do. We'll go over this throw again. Meanwhile, we need to go over this list that you wrote."

"Yeah, I've been wondering what you thought of it," Barbie said.

"I won't mince words with you Barbie, I think your list is awful. I mean look at these things you've listed: makes a lot of money, gives me anything I want, a great sexual partner, you're not looking for a mate, you're either looking for a sugar daddy, a Don Juan, or another Rocco."

Barbie was angry. "How dare you! I did what you asked, I put what I thought my ideal man should have, now you're telling me that there's something wrong with that list, that I 'done it wrong'?"

Janelle was calm. "Yes I am. You need to make a new list."

"How can those things be so bad?"

"They haven't done you any good so far, have they? Haven't the first ones who used you for a battering ram contain these attributes that you listed? I thought we've made progress in that area. I guess we still have a little way to go."

"You know what, maybe I should get out of here and you can shove your 'progress!'" Barbie said.

"Then the door is right over there," Janelle said, pointing in the direction of the exit. "But you'll know what will happen when you leave?"

At this time, Barbie turned and started heading toward the door.

"Nothing," Janelle continued. "There will be no change in your life, no change in your attitude, and no change in who you may have concerning your next relationship."

Barbie stopped and turned. "I told you I'm not going back to Rocco, and I'm not dating any more men like him."

"How many times have you said that, and fell into the trap and done it again? Who knows, maybe the next time you'll get lucky and find someone who doesn't think with his fists or below his waistline. That's if you get lucky. So far the odds are against you, unless you do something about it."

Barbie was so angry, her body was trembling. "You think I can't go without having a man? You think I can't find one who doesn't beat me? What makes you think I, I, can't-"

She suddenly sat on the floor of the dojo, her head cradled in her hands as she started to cry. Janelle walked over and placed her arm around Barbie to comfort her. After a few long moments, Barbie spoke again.

"His name was Ron," she said.

"Ron?" Janelle asked.

"I met him after I graduated high school. He was 25 at the time. We met at a party a mutual friend of ours had. I was 18 and celebrating my 'freedom.' He had these beautiful blue eyes and nice blonde hair. He was a college student and a fraternity man, but he told me that his parents were very well off and the only reason he was attending school was to satisfy his father. He told me that my parents gave me the right name, told me I was the most beautiful girl he's ever seen."

Janelle rubbed her back. "And you fell for it," she said.

"Hook, line, and sinker," Barbie said. "When I told him I was going to be a TV reporter, he said that I would make a fine one, and he would watch the news every day if I was going to be on it. After that party, we hit it off. We were so much in love, or so I thought. We talked some about marriage, and when that day would be, and how we would arrange it. We figured since we were almost engaged to each other, it would be okay."

"Okay to do what?"

"Okay to go ahead and move into an apartment together. My parents were so against it, they told me why it was wrong, that he was taking advantage of me, etc. I told them we were going to be married soon, so it'll be all right. I left my parent's house in tears that night."

Janelle walked over, grabbed a couple of tissues, and walked back and handed them to Barbie.

"Thank you," Barbie said as she blew her nose and went on. "After we finished moving in the apartment, Ron insisted we should have a 'moving-in celebration.' He pulled out a bottle of champagne and uncorked it. I don't remember how much I drank, we were both pretty loopy after the bottle was empty. Then he took my hand and led me to the bedroom. He, he was my first Janelle. I remember I told him I wanted to wait until we're married, but he, he didn't say anything, he just took off my clothes and asked me to do the same with him."

Barbie paused for a moment, visibly cringing from the vivid memories that went through her mind.

"I thought our first time together would be wonderful," she said, "but I remember he was so rough. I asked him to be gentle, but he said, 'all you women like it rough, everybody knows that, so sit back and enjoy it.' It struck me funny at that moment because he told me he hasn't been with anyone else. I thought I would feel good after it was over, but instead, I felt empty."

Barbie stood up and began to walk around the dojo. "From there, things got worse. At the beginning, he showered me with attention and praise. After that one night, I couldn't do anything right most of the time, and the other part of the time, he acted like I didn't exist anymore. It's like once he got what he wanted, I was of no use, except as a maid, cook, and dishwasher. Later that year, I filled out all my paperwork for school, and was getting ready to head out the door, when Ron asked me what I was doing. I told him I was preparing for classes that year. By this time he quit school, he never told me why.

"He asked me why I was going to school, like he forgot everything I told him in the first few days we met. I told him again so I can become a television reporter. Ron sprang up from his chair and exploded. He told me that going to school was a waste of time for me. He spent the next five minutes that school was useless for me because I may have the looks, but I don't have the intelligence to be a reporter. I asked him what was wrong with him to say such things. He said as long as his family had money, everything I need is provided for, I don't need to go out and get an education or a career.

"I told him this is something I wanted to do my whole life, and I wasn't going to stop now, and started to leave. Ron ran over, grabbed the papers from my hands and tore them up. I grabbed his arm to stop him, and he backhanded me. 'Don't you ever talk back to me,' he roared. 'As long as you live in this place, whatever I say goes, you hear me? And I say you're not going to school!' He then turned on his heel, and walked back toward the living room. I leaned against the wall in shock, holding my red cheek where he hit me."

Janelle handed Barbie another tissue.

"He apologized to me later that evening, saying that he just had a rough day. I accepted his apology, even though I knew he didn't leave the house at all that day. I just thought this was a rare thing, and it wouldn't happen again. I was wrong, they got even worse," Barbie said.

"All right, we don't need to go through the gory details. How long were you and him together?" Janelle said.

"Two and a half years. When he threatened to kill me over not cleaning the apartment the way he wanted, I decided I needed to leave. So one night I waited until he was asleep after drinking and partying with the boys. He conked out before his head hit the pillow, dead to the world. His snoring could wake the dead, though. I packed up the rest of my things I didn't already have in suitcases, and threw them in my car and in a friend's station wagon. After everything was packed, I left the apartment and never looked back. I stayed at a friend's place until I got back on my feet."

Janelle just nodded as she took a spot to sit on the dojo floor.

"Not all of them hit me, you know," Barbie continued, "but it would've been better sometimes if they did hit me. Some of the things they've said to me hurt more than just being hit."

"Have you ever thought about going back to school?" Janelle said.

"Oh the thought had entered my mind several times," Barbie said, "but something would always come up. Usually, the man I was with at the time would either tell me that I was too dumb, too old, or thought I was acting better than everybody else. They always felt threatened by my attending college, but I never understood why."

She paused her pacing for a moment. "Oh, I'm wasting time, aren't I?"

"Oh don't worry about it," Janelle said. "Let's just call it a day. We'll pick up where we left off Friday. Besides, I've been wanting to get you to talk about your experiences anyway."

"Look, Janelle, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it, really."

Janelle came over and patted Barbie on the shoulder. "I know Barbie, I know. I do have another 'homework' assignment for you though. I want you to make another list; this time I want you to describe the qualities you really want in a man, not what you decided to just settle with for the last few years. And then I want you to make another list of personal goals you want to achieve over the next four years. Don't think of any objections that may come up that are presently between you and that goal, the sky is the limit. Do you understand?"

"Yes I do. I'll start on that list tonight, Janelle," Barbie said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Barbie. I'll see you tomorrow."

Although Barbie was feeling better the previous evening after judo practice, she ended up having a bad day at her workplace the next day. Nothing went right; important documents were somehow misplaced, the boss was in a foul mood, and it seemed like anything else that could have gone wrong, did. Nevertheless, Barbie tried to maintain a positive attitude when she came over to Velvet's apartment for weight training. However, it didn't seem to last long after Barbie had problems performing a particular exercise. After Velvet helped her place the weights back to where they were, Barbie got up.

"Look, Velvet, I understand all of what you're doing for me here with the weights and all, but I don't think I'm cut out for this. It just seems like I'm lifting this weight and that, but nothing is happening."

Velvet sat on the weight bench and nodded her head.

"Maybe there is something more with the genetics with the muscles and getting stronger and stuff. I just don't think I am those type of people who can get stronger. I know I get sweaty doing this, but I don't see anything happening," Barbie said.

Velvet continued sitting on the weight bench, except this time she was smiling.

"I can continue with the judo lessons, I'm learning a lot with that, and I'm learning some stuff with Susan's thing, but it's been a few months, and I don't see - what are you laughing at?"

Velvet was holding her sides now, trying to keep them from hurting from the laughter. She recovered enough to nod her head toward Barbie's left. Barbie turned and glanced at the full-length mirror hanging on the wall. At first she saw the usual surroundings that she's gotten used to over the last two and a half months, then she saw her. She was wearing a tank top and shorts because weight training was sweaty work, but Barbie took a closer look at herself, particularly her arms and legs. She found that they were becoming more defined. She quickly pulled her shirt up, exposing her stomach, and found the beginnings of a six-pack forming. She started flexing her arms, forming her biceps, when she stopped and saw that Velvet was still sitting on the bench smiling, pausing every now and then to giggle.

"Barbie, the exact same thing happened to me," Velvet said. "It was a few months, then one morning I asked myself why was I wasting my time doing this, when I suddenly saw myself in the mirror after I took a shower. I found I liked what I saw, and decided to keep doing it. It saved me a whole lot of trouble doing stupid diets and eating rabbit food. In fact, I found I had more freedom in what I ate. It didn't mean I ate at the golden arches every day, but my metabolism increased, putting more of what I ate into muscle. Haven't you noticed an increase in your appetite?"

"Well now that you mention it, I have been rather hungry lately. I found myself eating more at suppertime. My parents were starting to think Rocco starved me. I was starting to get concerned I was going to get fat eating everything, and Janelle was going to tell me to go on a diet or something."

"I said that the changes would be gradual," Velvet said, "but you have been doing a more accelerated version than most people would go through. You've worked out five days a week, non-stop for two and a half months now. Since you've done it so often, you don't notice anything right away, but I bet everybody else has."

Barbie was posing before the mirror, delighted like a child with a new toy. "Wow, this is great!" She said. "I look good! I can't wait to see what I'll look like at the end of six months."

"Well get back here, girl, and start lifting," Velvet said. "You can show off at home."

Barbie trotted back to the weights, and prepared to lift some more. "Yes Mam!"

Barbie and Susan were sitting at their usual vantage point at the park where they have been meeting since the program was started. Usually the talk revolves around what the pastor spoke on that day and how it related to them or some sharing from Barbie on why her life may or may not have gone the way it should. However, this time was different. This time, both women, especially Barbie wore big smiles on their faces.

"Again, I think it's great that you joined church today, Barbie," Susan said as she gave Barbie another hug. She had received many hugs from friends and strangers alike since she made that decision.

"I feel great. Each time I came to your, I mean, our church, your pastor has been talking about the joys and advantages of the 'new life.' Finally, something just told me I had to go and try it. I've never felt this free in a long time. No, I've never felt this free, ever."

Susan reached over and took her backpack. "Well now you're on the first of a long, joyous journey. There will be some days where it gets rough, and you'll sometimes wonder if God is there or not, but in the end, he'll see you through. As a matter of fact, I've been looking forward to this day for almost six months now. Somehow I knew it would happen, so I prepared myself for the event."

Susan pulled out a gift-wrapped present from her backpack. "Here Barbie, this is for you."

Like a kid on Christmas morning, Barbie tore open the present. "A Modern Language Study Bible," she said. "How did you know?"

"I guess some of Janelle's confidence is rubbing off on me. I don't know, I guess somebody up there," Susan pointed skyward, "told me. I also wanted to let you know about some of the women's Bible studies we have at church, so once this program is over, you can join up with one of them."

"That's great. You know, except for my family, I have never felt this loved. I feel like I have two families now."

"You do, Barbie. Let me be one of the first to welcome you into your new family."

They hugged and cried, then got back to work on the discussing the main points of the pastor's sermon for that day.

After they finished, Barbie sheepishly said to Susan, "Susan, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Barbie, you can ask me anything."

"Sometimes I've seen your matches on TV, and, well, could you show me how you throw a punch?"

"A punch?"

"Yeah. Janelle taught me how to throw one, but I noticed it was different from how I seen you do it, and I just wanted to see how you did it."

"That's no problem. Obviously you've noticed our disciplines are a little different. Judo is a close-up art, so those types of punches are designed for that purpose. With mine, distance is a good thing, so the method of punching has to be different. Okay, let's stand up."

Susan and Barbie got up, and Susan got into a boxer's stance. She put her bare right foot on the ground in front of her facing forward while her other foot went back slightly. Barbie followed suit.

"Now you hold your hands up to your chin and fix your arms so they're dangling from your shoulders," Susan said. "Now in boxing, the power doesn't chiefly come from your arms, it comes from your torso. Also when you punch, unless your target is directly in front of you, you don't punch straight out. That can cause injury to your elbow joint; so what you do instead is punch at an angle. If you're throwing a right, you move your fist toward your left, if you're throwing a left, you move toward your right. Are we clear so far?"

"Yes," Barbie said.

"Good. We're going to do a right jab. When you throw your right fist, you swivel your feet like so." Susan swivelled her feet in the dirt, Barbie did the same. "This adds more power to your punch. Let's try it a few times, then we'll see how you do on your own. Then we'll try the same thing with your left jab."

Barbie tried out her newfound knowledge as she punched the air a couple of times, giggling with excitement.

"You're getting the hang of it," Susan said. "As you can plainly see, we do more in boxing than try to knock each other's head off, or in my case, knock or kick each other's head off. Would you like to learn how I kick?"

"That's alright, Janelle has already crammed enough information into my head. I don't know if I can shake hands with a person again without wanting to throw them or giving them an arm lock."

Susan laughed. "Don't worry Barbie, you'll figure it out."

Barbie and Janelle were standing in the middle of the dojo. Barbie felt nervous, but she didn't know why. It wasn't a graduation ceremony, or was it? Either way, it seemed more like a rite of passage than a final lesson. After what seemed like a long moment, Janelle spoke first.

"Barbie, for the last six months we have sparred, wrestled, argued, and somewhere in there even had fun," she said. "On this last day, let me ask, how do you feel?"

Barbie thought for a moment. "Well let me think. I think I'm in the best physical shape of my life, I know at least a dozen ways to throw a person, I think I can arm wrestle my brother to at least a draw, and I had a major change in my spiritual life. I guess with all that, I feel great!"

"That's good," Janelle said, "I'm glad that I helped in some small part to the new you."

"No Janelle, you helped a lot. If anything, you helped me take a close look at myself and made me realize what started the downward slide my life had taken for the last few years."

"In any case, the nightmare is over, and it's time to start from scratch. That reminds me, I have a 'graduation gift' to give you."

Janelle walks over to a corner of the dojo and picks up a wrapped package to give to Barbie. It's all Barbie can do to keep herself from grabbing the package from Janelle, and opened it with anticipation. Inside the box was a white judo gi with a white belt.

"You have been an excellent student, and I like to see you proceed in your learning of judo. Of course if you do, you'll know things will be different for you then they have the last six months. The good news is at least you'll see less of me, and have more free time for your new studies," Janelle said.

"Yes, I can't wait for school to start. So when would my continued classes here start?" Barbie asked.

"The classes are ongoing, but since you've had such a accelerated course, I recommend you take a couple of weeks off before you start again. That way, you'll be able to fit the classes around your new schedule, and enjoy some freedom for a little while. That's about it, you're free to go."

Barbie started to bow to give her thanks to Janelle, then dispensed with it and gave her a big hug instead.

"Remember not to do this in my regular classes, okay?" Janelle laughed as she hugged her back.

"Okay." Barbie picked up her present and started to leave.

"Oh, Barbie?" Janelle called after her.

"Yes?"

Then Janelle attempted to slap her. This time, the blow was coming at a fast speed, and would've knocked a person silly if it made its mark. Without thinking about it, almost on mere reflex, Barbie blocked the blow, grabbed the arm, turned her body into Janelle, slamming her hip against her body, and delivering an over the shoulder throw. Janelle sailed over Barbie, landing on the mat, but she broke her fall properly and without injury. After she landed, she looked back at Barbie and smiled.

"Did, did I do that?" Barbie asked, a little in shock.

"You sure did, Barbie. Now I can say with full confidence that you 'graduated.'"

It was a long day at work, but Barbie wasn't bothered in the least; especially since she knows her future wasn't going to end there. She had a lot to be happy about. She started attending college the week before for the first time, and even though she thought she might stick out like a sore thumb because she was older than the average freshman who attends school, but she found out that there's a lot of older students, or as they call them, 'non-traditional students' attending the university as well. As far as her personal life, she had become rather active at the new church she now attends, and from there, she has gained a lot of new friends. Her happiness no longer depended on whether she had a date for weekend or a boyfriend to depend on.

When she found out how much better weight training has made her look, she went home and threw away or gave away every diet book, diet supplement, diet pills, anything that had the word 'diet' anywhere in the title or description, she disposed of. She found a weight set at a yard sale that was formerly owned by a high school football player who now had seemingly better things to do with his time. Without hesitation, she bought it and set it up in the basement of her parent's house. Every morning she was found in the basement pumping iron.

After her two week break, she planned on attending Janelle's regular judo classes. She found it was good exercise, and a lot of fun. She discovered she seemed to enjoy throwing other people around!

As she approached her car in the parking garage, she saw a familiar figure leaning against her car. Upon closer inspection, she saw it was Mark Johnson, an old friend of Rocco, and formerly a fellow rival for her affection. He stood 6'1" with a strong, slim build that wasn't as outwardly muscular as Rocco's, and had long, sandy blonde hair that he wore in a pony tail that went halfway down his back. At one time the two were in friendly competition over who would have the girl. It was a close choice, but the one factor that chose Rocco over Mark was that Rocco made more money as a construction supervisor than Mark did as a carpenter for a competing construction firm.

Thank God those days are forever behind me, Barbie thought.

"Hey babe, what's happening?" Mark said, standing up from leaning on the car.

"Not much Mark," Barbie said, a little suspicious. "What brings you here?"

"Well you know Rocco was beat up some time ago. Beat up bad."

"Yes he was."

"I visited him a lot in the hospital, and one day it dawned on me that you never came by to visit him."

"Rocco and I broke up before that happened. We weren't on good terms." Barbie didn't like where this was going.

"Rocco never told me how it happened, but I started putting the pieces together."

"What are you talking about?"

"You paid someone to beat up Rocco, didn't you?"

"No! I never did such a thing. And in case you forgot, I was in the hospital almost as beat up as he was."

"Rocco always wanted to have a tight leash on his women. That's all right though, it just means I have you all to myself."

"It's not going to work Rocco," Barbie said. "That was a long time ago, and I'm a different woman now."

"So now you're too good for me, huh?" Mark said, a little agitated.

"I need to go home now Mark. Good bye." Barbie made a move toward the driver's side door, but Mark moved directly in front of her.

"You don't understand, Barbie," Mark said as he reached out to stroke Barbie's long blond hair. "I came to take what's mine. You should've been mine to begin with, but it was Rocco's fancy job that won you over, wasn't it? Now I'll give you a choice; we can either do it at my place, or we can do it in the backseat of your car here and now. Which will it be?"

Barbie started to experience a pang of fear in her gut, but then she heard Janelle's voice in her head, back to the time when she taught Barbie her three principles to keep in mind when facing a direct confrontation.

"The first step before you do anything else when faced with a situation like this," Janelle said as she went through with her lesson, "is to meditate. If you can, give yourself a chance to gain your bearings, and to focus on the situation. Nothing good has been accomplished by falling into panic. You need to focus, and mentally prepare yourself for what may happen next."

Barbie slowly removed Mark's hand away from her hair, and answered his question. "No, I will do neither."

Mark appeared a little surprised at Barbie's sudden response, but he continued. "Sounds to me like somebody is acting a little uppity. But I have the answer for that right here," he said as he pointed below his belt buckle toward his crotch. "Once you had a shot of Dr. Feel Good, you'll be back to your regular self. Maybe in your case, you need a double shot of the good doctor."

Mark walked up to Barbie and took her right arm. "Don't make me force you, you know you want it," he said in a hushed voice.

"The second step after you have your focus on the situation is to negotiate. Talk with your attacker, reason with your opponent. Either try to find a peaceful solution, or at the most, try to find a suitable compromise that won't damage your integrity or compromise your values. Look that person straight in the eye and talk to them."

"Mark, I'm not acting 'uppity,' and no, I don't want 'it.' If you like, we can talk about it here or go to the coffee shop downtown and talk about things there. I may owe you an explanation about the whole thing, and I'm more than willing to do that," Barbie said as she twisted her arm just right, releasing it from Mark's grip.

Mark again was taken aback by Barbie's bold stance before him. This didn't seem to be the same timid woman who was afraid of her own shadow. He thought she was a frail woman, but she seemed stronger somehow. But Mark waited an appropriate amount of time for Barbie to be over Rocco, and now that the time has passed. He was not going to be denied his prize.

"What you owe me, little darling, is to pull down my zipper and partake of the good doctor. Seems like you won't listen, so I guess I'm going to have to knock some sense into that pretty little head of yours." Mark prepared to grab Barbie to drag back to her car, and probably give her a good beating so she'll behave.

"After you have given your focus, and your efforts to negotiate have failed, don't bother trying any more. Your attacker has gone beyond reason, which makes it necessary to involve the third step, annihilate. Your attacker is now going to try to make good on their threat, and this time, it's your turn to show him or her you're not to be messed with. Make your attacker wish they were never born for this day of hurt you're about to place on them."

As Mark tried to grab Barbie, he attempted to slap her face with his right hand. Barbie blocked the attempted slap with her left forearm, and putting her right foot forward, and swiveling her torso, delivered a right cross against Mark's chin. Normally such a blow would hurt Barbie's frail form more than it would hurt Mark; however, Barbie was not frail anymore. The blow sent Mark reeling back against the car. He was hurt and surprised as he started rubbing his jaw from the blow. In reality, both were surprised. Neither Mark nor Barbie thought she could hit so hard. Overcoming his surprise, and cursing a non-stop stream of profanity, Mark pushed off Barbie's car, and charged her. Barbie stood her ground, not moving still the possible last moment, then grabbed Mark's right arm and turned quickly, ramming her hip into Mark's crotch, bent down, and used her strength and leverage to execute a textbook-perfect over-the-shoulder throw that slammed Mark down on the solid floor of the garage. When Barbie practiced this maneuver with Janelle, there was always a padded mat beneath them, plus both of them used break falls to soften the blow. In the past thirty seconds or less since Mark attacked her, now Barbie saw how devastating a simple judo throw can be for the unwitting victim. Mark squirmed on the floor of the parking garage, howling in pain, or attempting to, except for the fact that the breath had been knocked out of him. Barbie saw that there might be some possible injury to his back as well, because Mark also kept favoring his back during his squirming.

Barbie remembered what Janelle told her how some self-defense classes taught you after you disabled your opponent, to escape. Janelle taught a different lesson in her private session with Barbie in that after you've disabled your opponent, to 'seal the deal,' that is, after your foe is disabled, to make sure he stays disabled. That finishing blow could be a number of things, such as a solid punch to the temple or another weak spot, a kick to the groin, throat, or kidney, or in extreme cases, a crippling joint lock such as an arm bar, or to execute a choke; the latter Barbie wasn't informed about because Janelle only taught that to the advanced classes. Seeing Mark slowly catching his breath and making an attempt to get up, she knew it wouldn't be any trouble to slowly walk to her car, start it up, and drive out of there. Instead, she had another idea.

Walking over to Mark, she took his left hand and lifted it up. It appeared to Mark like Barbie was helping him up, possibly sorry for what she did to him. Good, he thought, I'll let her help me up, then I'll smack the witch for using that kung fu junk on me. Then I'll give her a treat she'll never forget. The theory sounded plausible, except for two things; one, Mark was having a harder time than usual getting up, and two, as soon as Barbie took his hand and lifted it up, she suddenly twisted it.

Pain flooded through Mark's body as the joints in his left wrist were twisted in places they weren't meant, and didn't want to go. He was so busy screaming in agony, he almost didn't hear another voice. Then he realized that Barbie was talking to him.

"Do I have your attention, Mark?" Barbie said. "Good, because I'm only going to say this once. I am not interested nor will I ever be interested in going out with you nor anybody at that bar again. My life has changed, I am not the same Barbie Kendoll you knew six or seven months ago. I don't cruise the bars on Saturday night, I'm not looking for a stud in the bedroom to keep me warm; as a matter of fact, I don't even drink anymore. I'm living a new life that has no need for those things, because I've found more important things in my life. Do not contact me again. Do not call me, do not come to my workplace to talk to me, do not even mention my name or recognize my existence. And if you ever try to attack me again, I will do more than throw you, I will break your wrist clean off your arm. Do you understand?"

Mark mumbled something under his breath, then yelled as a new stream of pain hit him as Barbie gave his injured wrist another twist.

"Do you understand?" Barbie asked again, ready to give his wrist another twist.

"Yes, yeah, just let me go, please," Mark managed to say.

"Good Mark, I will hold you to that. Good-bye." Barbie dropped his arm, and walked to her car, unlocked it, and got in and started it with only a sideways glance at Mark, who was on his knees trying to nurse his wrist and rub his injured back at the same time. Then she drove off. It wasn't until she left the parking garage that she realized what she just did. Bubbling with excitement, she knew she had to tell somebody what just happened.

She turned her car in the opposite direction away from home, and toward Janelle's apartment. As she arrived at the apartment complex, she saw Janelle's black PT Cruiser. Delighted that she was home, Barbie bounded up the stairs, and knocked loudly on Janelle's door. Janelle appeared in a black tank top, blue jean shorts, and as usual, no shoes, and had a large glass and a dish rag in her hands; she appeared to be washing dishes when Barbie showed up.

"Why hello, Barbie, what a surprise," Janelle said. "How are you do-"

"It works, it works, it works!" Barbie yelled. "I just used it, and it actually worked!"

"Hold on, Barbie, what works? Better yet, why don't you come on in and tell me before the whole apartment complex finds out?"

After Barbie came into the apartment, she told the whole play-by-play, blow-by-blow description of what happened, complete with her farewell speech to Mark. Janelle congratulated her.

"You think he got the message I gave him before I drove off?" Barbie asked.

Janelle laughed. "Oh, I think so. An over-the-shoulder throw and a painful wrist lock can be very persuasive."

Velvet, Susan, Janelle, Irena, and Betty were at her garage talking and drinking some soft drinks. It was near the end of the business day, and they were discussing the possibility of doing something later that evening when Barbie suddenly pulls up in her car and gets out and greeted everyone.

"This is great, now I don't have to track everybody down to talk to them," Barbie said.

"Hey, what's going on, Barbie?" Velvet said.

"Well, I never had the chance to thank everybody except Janelle for what you've done for me. Janelle, I've already thanked you for the lessons you've given me, and the additional lessons you're going to give me, but I'll thank you again. Velvet, I thank you for the weight training and showing me that a woman can be strong without looking like a freak. Susan, I thank you for showing me the darkness I had inside, and showing me the light of the world to fill it. Irena, I thank you for making feel right at home in Sunday School class, especially those first days when I didn't know hardly anybody. And Betty, old friend, I thank you first off for helping me with my previous 'problem,' and for having friends like these to rehabilitate me again."

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say you're welcome, the honor was ours," Susan said. The rest nodded agreement.

It was Betty who glanced down and noticed something different about Barbie that day. "Barbie, your outfit," she said. "Where's your shoes?"

Barbie was wearing a lightweight long-sleeve T-shirt, black leggings, and, no shoes. This was a shock to Betty, who had always known Barbie to not even leave the house unless she wore shoes that were accessorized with her outfit.

"I was wondering when you gals would notice," Barbie said, kicking up her bare left foot. "I always thought it was kind of weird how you girls would always go to work, school, and everywhere else without shoes, but now I understand why. It's a form of independence, a sign that says that you're not going to conform to society's wishes or conceptions of what a woman should be. When I discovered that, it was so liberating! I practiced walking around the house barefooted, then I would practice walking around the yard and doing short errands. Now that my soles are toughened, I'm going to go my first week of school barefooted. And I owe it all to you gals. Anyway, I got to go, I have a little bit of shopping to do today, and I won't be buying shoes! All of you have a good day, and Betty, we'll talk sometime, okay?"

Barbie got back in her car and waved as she drove off. The gang waved back, then looked at each other.

"Independence, huh?" Irena said.

"I go barefoot because I don't like shoes," Susan said.

"I never liked the way they felt on my feet," Betty said.

Velvet turned to Janelle. "I started going barefoot because you did."

"I go barefoot for a number of reasons," Janelle said, "but I never thought of independence being one of them."

"I went barefoot because I could get a better grip of the earth beneath me when I grappled," Irena said. "Later on, I kept doing it because I liked the feel of the ground beneath me wherever I go."

The group looked at each other for a moment. Velvet broke the silence. "Well, I'm not going to tell her."

"Me neither, comrade," Irena said.

"It's funny, she's known me for years, and never came to this conclusion why I went barefooted. What did you two tell her?" Betty said, looking at Susan and Janelle.

"Don't look at me, judo is always practiced barefooted," Janelle said. "I never mentioned any correlation between that and doing that in personal life."

"I don't think I said anything," Susan said. "But I think it may be a good idea to not say anything. We don't want to disillusion our latest 'convert.'"

Betty raised up her soda bottle. "I propose a toast. To Barbie, may her new life bring her success."

Susan raised her bottle as well. "It already has, from a victim to a victor."

Janelle raised hers. "From a wimp to a warrior."

Velvet joined in. "To the birth of a warrior."

They all clanked their bottles together.

"Salute!" They cried.