Kings of the World: Last Coors Banquet Series Part 3 | Lawrusso

Kings of the World Chapter 5 / 15

Daniel moved over towards him and said, "You know, when we moved here those shelves were just for decoration. The books on them were all wrapped in off white paper to make them look nice. Most of them weren't even in English. Some of them were about tax law."

"So where did these come from?" Robby asked, turning over a battered paperback copy of Rumblefish in his hands.

"Your dad brought them all back from the houses around here," Daniel said. "I happen to know he likes that one. He's read it twice."

Robby looked down at the book, then put it on his pile on the coffee table. He turned back, looking through the large window as Miguel lead a Kata session in the courtyard. He nodded towards them, and asked, "Those kids, who are they?"

"They were all alone, just like you," Daniel said. "We found them and brought them here so they'd be safe."

"What's that they're doing?"

"Karate," Daniel replied.

Robby looked perplexed for a second, his brow wrinkling as he watched them. "It doesn't look like karate."

"All Karate can be found in that Kata," Daniel said with a smile, watching as Miguel lead the familiar moves. "It was taught to me by my Sensei Mr. Miyagi."

Robby was still looking through the window, seemingly fascinated, and Daniel asked, "Would you be interested in learning?"

"Does my dad teach them?"

"He does, but he didn't teach them that," Daniel said. "Your dad is Cobra Kai, and that's Miyagi-Do Karate. That's the Karate I learned."

"OK," Robby said, looking back at Daniel, and letting himself smile slightly for the first time since he'd arrived at the house. "Yeah, I'd like to learn."

"I was talking to Robby today," Daniel said as they lay in bed, and as soon as he said Robby's name he felt Johnny tense against his side. "It's nothing bad, don't worry."

"Oh, yeah?" Johnny asked, still sounding like he was about to receive the worst news in the world.

"He wants to learn Miyagi-Do karate," Daniel replied.

Johnny paused, then asked, "He wants to learn Karate from you?"

"I think I can get through to him, Johnny," Daniel said. "If I take him to Miyagi-Do and train him he'll have to talk to me. Maybe I can make him realise just how much you actually care about him."

Johnny was quiet, then he nodded. "OK. Yeah."

"Hopefully the place hasn't burnt down," Daniel said, as he pressed himself to Johnny's side, and wrapped an arm around his stomach. He laughed and added, "If it hasn't I'm pretty sure it'll need a lick of paint."

The drive over to Miyagi-Do had taken a couple of hours as they had to backtrack several times to find their way around collapsed buildings, but as they pulled up outside the wooden fence Daniel was thrilled to see that it was intact. He felt a burst of excitement, and his instinct was to jump out of the car and run through the gate, but instead he turned to Robby.

"OK, so you made it this far on your own, so I assume you've killed Zombies before?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, I have," Robby replied.

"I'm just asking because we don't know what's on the other side of that fence, and if there's any inside we'll have to kill them," Daniel said.

"No, that's fine, I can handle myself," Robby said.