Free Day of the Dragon by Matt Christopher, Stephanie Peters Page B

too.”
    “What?” Mark asked.
Maybe there was a miracle cure after all!
he thought.
    Eric smiled again. “Kung fu,” he said.
    “Kung fu?” Mark echoed doubtfully. “You mean, like the fighting you see on TV and in the movies and video games?” He turned to Alison. “You want me to learn how to fight? Why? So I can beat up the next person who makes fun of me?”

    “No!” Alison looked horrified. “Kung fu isn’t all about fighting. It’s — it’s — oh, Uncle Eric, you explain!”
    “Kung fu
does
teach you how to fight, but also to defend yourself,” Eric said. “And to do that, you have to practice many different moves. The more you practice the moves, the more you learn to control your body. In time, most people find that they can move with more grace and speed.”
    “That sounds okay,” Mark admitted.
    “And that’s just one piece of the puzzle,” Eric added. “Kung fu is also about learning to believe in yourself. To trust that you’ll make the right decisions when faced with problems. Without that piece, kung fu is just another way to punch and kick and block.”
    “So!” Alison said suddenly. “Wanna learn?”

CHAPTER FOUR
    Mark wasn’t able to answer Alison’s question right away. But he was certainly thinking about it as he left the school. Was it possible that kung fu could really help him become better coordinated? Alison and Eric seemed to think so. But what if he tried it, only to fall flat on his face in front of other students?
    “I dunno,” he said out loud.
    “Dunno what?”
    The sound of Jonas’s voice jolted Mark from his thoughts.
    “I, uh, I dunno if I should get an ice cream on the way home,” he stammered. He decided not to tell Jonas what he’d really been thinking about. Jonas would just make a joke about it.
    “Ice cream? Stop by my house,” Jonas said. “We’ve got a freezerful. My dad’s working on a new game. He likes to take ice cream breaks when he gets stuck.”
    Mark and his friends thought Mr. Malloy had the coolest job ever. He worked at home, dreaming up new video games for kids.
    “So what’s this new game going be?” Mark asked. Jonas shrugged. “He likes to keep it a surprise until it’s done. But last time, I figured it out. He needed to know what the hardest tricks in vert boarding are.” Jonas rolled his eyes. “He could’ve asked me, but no. He got a bunch of lame-o books on skate-boarding from the library.” He grinned. “Anyway, he left the books lying around. It didn’t take a genius to guess what the game was about.”
    “Books, huh?” Mark looked thoughtful. “Listen, Jonas, I gotta get going. Catch up to you later!”
    Ten minutes later, Mark walked up to the front desk at the public library. Two minutes later he walked out again, empty-handed. The librarian had told him all the library’s kung fu books were checked out.
    Of course, there was another way to learn about kung fu. When he got home, he hurried to his family’s computer and logged onto the Internet. He typed the words “kung fu” into the search bar. A long list of Web sites appeared on the screen.
    “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Mark said to himself. For the next hour, he clicked on different sites. On one, he learned that kung fu is a Chinese martial art that has been practiced for thousands of years. Another site was filled with photos of kids and adults doing kung fu moves. That one also told him that a kung fu training hall is called a
kwoon
and that kung fu instructors are called
sifus.
    The last site opened with a photo of a fantastic-looking creature. It was a Chinese Dragon, a mythical beast with special powers. The site explained that some kung fu schools teach students the traditional Chinese Dragon Dance. When they perform the Dance, the students wear a Dragon costume. The costume has a huge head and a long tail. The dancers in the head make the eyes blink and the mouth open and close. The dancers in the tail make it flutter up and