The New Recruit Read online

  “Well, they get mad and frustrated and they scream and cry and throw things.”

  “Ah … yes. They get frustrated and they scream and cry and throw things. That sounds familiar,” Uncle Jake said with a knowing look on his face. “But do you know why they do that?”

  “Because they get mad or frustrated?”

  “But everyone gets mad and frustrated. Those are called emotions. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. And there are good emotions, too, like happiness and excitement.

  But here is the thing: Babies can’t control their emotions. They don’t know how. So they scream and cry. And that’s what you just did. You acted like a baby. Warriors have to keep control over their emotions. Especially over something as silly as someone calling you a name.”

  “Well…” I realized there were a lot of other things I needed to tell Uncle Jake. You see, it wasn’t just Nathan James who was making me frustrated. There were a bunch of things that had been bothering me, and I was just starting to realize it. But I didn’t know how to tell Uncle Jake.

  “‘Well’ what?” Uncle Jake asked.

  “I … I just…” I didn’t know how to explain everything in a way that would make sense.

  “You ‘just’ what?”

  “There are some other things that are bothering me, too.”

  “Like what?” Uncle Jake asked. I wondered if I should tell Uncle Jake, but I figured that since he helped me last summer, maybe he could help me this summer, too. “Just tell me,” Uncle Jake said.

  “Okay, here goes. The first thing that is bothering me is this summer. I was ready for a nice summer, a break from school, hanging out with my friends, and being able to do some workouts with you. But a bunch of things happened, and now it seems like summer is ruined. First of all, I have to go to a dumb camp this summer. Only it isn’t even a camp, and it isn’t even camping. It’s just in the recreation center, and we’re supposed to be doing physical education and also reviewing math and spelling and a bunch of other school stuff. So it’s basically school in the summertime! And if that isn’t bad enough, it turns out that Nathan James is doing it, too! The one kid I despise! It would be a little better if I had a new bike to get there. But my mom won’t get me a new bike. I even took her to the bike shop to see the best bike ever—The Bentlee. I thought maybe when she saw it in all its beauty, she would get it for me. NOPE! She has no soul!”

  “So that’s it? The camp and a bike and that’s why you think this summer will be awful? Because you have to go to camp and your mom won’t buy you a new bike?”

  There was one more thing, only I was very afraid to tell Uncle Jake about it. But, once again, I figured that if I didn’t tell him, then he couldn’t help me. So I told him.

  “It’s jiu-jitsu.”

  “Jiu-jitsu? I thought you liked jiu-jitsu?”

  “I do. I have fun at jiu-jitsu and I really like it.”

  “So what’s the problem?” asked Uncle Jake.

  “The problem is that my coach wants me to compete in a tournament.”

  “Why is that a problem?”

  “Because I don’t want to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  “‘Because’?”

  “Yes, Uncle Jake, because. Just because. I don’t want to.”

  Uncle Jake sat for a minute, quietly. Then he said, “So. You have to go to camp. You don’t like Nathan. You want a new bike. And you need to compete in jiu-jitsu. Those are the problems that you think will ruin your summer?”

  “I don’t think they will ruin my summer—THEY ALREADY ARE RUINING MY SUMMER! LOOK AT ME!” I pointed at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t crying anymore, but you could still tell that I was upset.

  Uncle Jake nodded and then sat quietly for a minute. “Well,” he finally said, “do you remember all the problems you overcame last summer?”

  “Of course I do, Uncle Jake.”

  “Well, these are all problems that many people have. And these are problems you can overcome, too. But they are not going to be easy to overcome. In order to overcome these problems, you are going to have to use what you already know about being a Warrior Kid—but you are going to have to do even more. It will be hard work. And it will test you in different ways than pull-ups and swimming and studying did. These will test your mind, your emotions, and your discipline. But if you pass the test, these problems will be solved, and this will be the best summer ever. Are you willing to be put to the test, Marc?”

  I quickly remembered the early wake-ups, lots of studying, and crazy exercising I did the last time Uncle Jake helped me solve my problems. But I also remembered overcoming all those problems and becoming faster, stronger, and smarter than I was before. And that felt GOOD!

  “Yes, Uncle Jake. I am ready. And I am willing.”

  “Okay, then, Marc. Let’s head home. We will go from there.”

  Uncle Jake got that strange smile on his face that I hadn’t seen since he left. It looked like he was going to enjoy this. I just wasn’t sure I would feel the same way!

  CHAPTER 4: MY PROBLEMS

  Uncle Jake is definitely back for the summer! He woke me up this morning at zero dark thirty and we went down to the garage and did a workout. I must admit, it is a lot more fun working out with Uncle Jake now that I am stronger. We did pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks. Even though I wasn’t doing as many of the exercises as Uncle Jake, he still told me I did a good job.

  That made me feel awesome, because I worked out through the whole school year. I stayed a Warrior Kid for almost the whole school year. I say almost because there were some days when I was too tired or too busy to work out, so I skipped a day or two. But my rule was to never ever miss three days in a row of working out, and I didn’t.

  My eating was pretty good, too. Although, there was a time when my mom and dad were working a lot and getting home late every night. I have to admit that I had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dinner three nights in a row. OOPS! But also MMMMMMMM! After that third day, I didn’t eat dessert for two weeks!

  Once we finished our workout, we got changed and sat down for some breakfast. Uncle Jake told me that he’d told my mom about me being sent to the principal’s office and then home from school. I figured that was it! My summer was OVER!

  “What did she say?” I asked him, expecting the worst.

  “She wasn’t happy. She wanted to ground you. For a long time. But I told her I would take care of it. So you owe me.”

  “Thanks,” I said but then I wondered what that meant, so I asked him. “Wait. What do I owe you?”

  “Well. I told her about some of these problems you’re having. And I told her I would make sure they got fixed.”

  Yes! I thought to myself. Now I am set! Uncle Jake is going to fix everything. He will get me out of that stupid camp, teach me how to deal with Nathan, get me out of the jiu-jitsu tournament, and buy me a new bike! “Thanks, Uncle Jake!” I said. “I knew you would fix everything!”

  But he didn’t say “You’re welcome” or “No problem” or anything. Instead he just sat there and looked at me. Then after a minute he said, “I’m not going to fix anything. YOU are.”

  I should have known there would be a catch! And I was right—there it was, and it didn’t make any sense.

  “Uncle Jake, I can’t fix these problems. Nathan is mean, and there is nothing I can do about that. My mom already signed me up for the camp, and she said I have to go. And I can’t get a new bike because I have no money. And my jiu-jitsu instructor is making me do the tournament! So even though I would love to solve these problems, I can’t, because the problems aren’t mine!”

  Uncle Jake listened and nodded his head as if he already knew everything I was saying. Then he spoke. “Actually, the problems are yours. In fact, you are the problem. We aren’t going to change the problems. We are going to change your attitude.”

  This made no sense to me at all. These problems weren’t my fault. I didn’t have any idea how my a
ttitude was going to change them. So I asked Uncle Jake very bluntly, “How can my attitude get me a new bike? How can my attitude get me out of summer camp? How can my attitude make Nathan a nice person? And how can my attitude get me out of the jiu-jitsu tournament?”

  Uncle Jake took a breath before he spoke. “Well, Marc. Your attitude actually changes everything. Especially things that you don’t think you can change. Look at how you are blaming everyone else for your problems. If you don’t think the problems are yours, how can you solve them?”

  “But how can—” I started to say.

  “You can’t. If you think that every problem you have is someone else’s, then how can you ever get them fixed? By sitting around and waiting for other people to change or waiting for other people to act? You might be waiting for a really long time. But if you look at a problem from a different perspective—a perspective where the problem is actually your fault—then you can do something to fix it.”

  “Yeah, but sometimes there is really nothing I can do. Nothing! Like summer camp. I’m going. My mom said there was no question about it. But I don’t want to. AT ALL!”

  “Okay, then. You know it is definitely going to happen. So we will look at your attitude toward summer camp and go from there.”

  “I think it’s pretty clear what my attitude is—I don’t want to go!” I told Uncle Jake, my voice getting louder.

  “I get that. And I also see that you’re getting emotional again. So calm down. If you are getting emotional, then you have to recognize that and start to calm yourself down. Warriors don’t lose their tempers. So get yours under control. Take a breath. Think about something else. Think about something more important than this little summer camp.”

  “It’s not little to me! It’s my whole summer!” I told Uncle Jake, trying to stay calm but not really doing a good job of it.

  “I get that. I get that all these things seem like big, horrible problems to you. And that’s okay. I get it. But warriors have to deal with problems all the time on the battlefield. And they can’t just sit around and wait for someone else to fix them. They have to fix the problems themselves. And you have to fix these problems, because no one else is going to fix them for you. And the number-one thing you are going to do to get these problems fixed is fix your attitude. Understand?”

  I didn’t know what to say because I actually didn’t understand. So I told him, “Not really.”

  “Well, you will understand, Marc. You will.”

  CHAPTER 5: EARN IT

  I’m starting to understand what Uncle Jake meant about my attitude—and I’m starting to understand that I have the wrong attitude about a lot of things.

  Of course, even though it was Sunday, the day started with a workout. Again, it was a really good workout. And even though I have become stronger, I still have a LONG WAY TO GO to be as strong as Uncle Jake. He brought up last summer and asked me if I remembered doing one hundred pull-ups. Of course I did! I didn’t do them in a row, but I did them.

  “How long do you think it took you to do one hundred pull-ups?” Uncle Jake asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe forty-five minutes. Or an hour. I know I needed to rest a bunch.”

  Uncle Jake pointed to my watch. “Get ready to time me,” he said. I put my watch into stopwatch mode.

  “Ready,” I told him.

  “Set, GO!” he said. With that, he jumped up onto the pull-up bar. I was counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten … He didn’t even look fazed.… Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five … He still didn’t even slow down.… Thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight … Uncle Jake was like a pull-up machine! He kept going.… Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two … He took a pause right before fifty-three, then did seven more and got to sixty. IN ONE SET! Then he shook his arms a bit, jumped back on the bar, and did another twenty, getting all the way to eighty. He jumped on the bar for eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three … He dropped off the bar at ninety-three, then jumped back up and did his last seven for a total of one hundred. As soon as he finished, he dropped off the bar, looked at me, and shouted, “Time!” I pressed STOP on the stopwatch.

  “How’d I do?” he asked.

  “Four minutes and thirty-four seconds,” I told him.

  “Roger that. Not too bad.”

  “‘Not too bad’?” I replied. “That’s crazy! It took me forty-five minutes.”

  “But I can do better. I need to keep working hard,” he told me.

  “I guess I need to keep working hard, too,” I said.

  “We all do,” he replied. He paused for a moment before speaking again. “So what’s going on with the bike that you want so bad?”

  “The Bentlee? Oh, it is AWESOME,” I told him.

  “What makes it so awesome?” he asked.

  “EVERYTHING,” I told him. “It’s got a super comfy seat, sweet handlebars, and it’s all shiny silver with gold rims.”

  “Gold, huh?” Uncle Jake said.

  “Yeah, super shiny…” I was excited, but the look on Uncle Jake’s face made me think maybe I shouldn’t be so excited about it.

  “Okay. So you want a super shiny Bentlee, but what about the bike that you have right now?”

  “That old bike? Oh, that bike is JUNK!” I told him.

  “Where is it?” he asked.

  “Outside by the shed,” I told him.

  “Well, go get it. I want to have a look.”

  I walked out of the garage, where we were working out, and over to the shed, then grabbed my old junky bike that was leaning against the shed and brought it back to the garage. “Bring it in,” said Uncle Jake. So I brought the old rust bucket right into the garage. Once in there, I tried to put down the kickstand, but it wouldn’t budge, so I laid the bike down on the ground. I stepped back and had a look. The tires were flat. The rims were rusty. One of the pedals was broken in half. One of the grips was all tattered and about to fall off. The seat was twisted and worn, and the frame of the bike itself had spots of rust all over it.

  “Junk,” I said to Uncle Jake.

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah! Look at it!”

  “I am looking at it. How long have you had it?”

  “Two years.”

  “And your mom doesn’t think you need a new one?” he asked.

  This is where things got kind of tricky. And this is where I started to realize MY attitude was not good. “Well,” I told him, “not exactly.”

  “What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”

  Yep. Like I said. This is where I had some explaining to do. “I mean, my mom knows I need a new bike. But she won’t get me one. She says I don’t deserve it.”

  “She said you don’t deserve it? Why not?”

  “Because of this,” I said shamefully as I pointed at my old, rusty, piece-of-junk bike. “She said I didn’t take care of it.”

  Uncle Jake laughed. “I have to agree with your mom! It doesn’t look like you took care of this at all! If you take care of a bike properly, it can last forever. But if you don’t take care of it … well, this is what you get,” Uncle Jake said as he pointed at my old, rusty bike. Then he looked back at me, got very serious, and said, “In the SEAL Teams, we have a saying: ‘Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.’ We applied that to every piece of gear we used. Our parachutes. Our scuba equipment. Our weapons. Our radios. Not just our personal gear, either. Our boats and motors. Our vehicles. Everything. You know what happens if you don’t take care of your parachute?”

  I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that question, but before I could get it out of my mouth, Uncle Jake answered: “You die. And it’s the same with your scuba gear. If it fails, you die. Our weapons. Our radios. Our boats and motors and vehicles. All of it. If we don’t take care of our gear, it could cost us our lives. So we take care of our gear—all the time, every time. WE TAKE CARE OF OUR GEAR. But it looks like you didn’t. So your mom is right. She wou
ld be silly to spend her hard-earned money on gear for you. You don’t take care of your gear. You don’t deserve a new bike.”

  I didn’t know what to say, because, obviously, Uncle Jake was RIGHT! I hadn’t taken care of the bike the way I should have. That is why it was in such bad condition. The thing was, even though I knew I was wrong, I still wanted a new bike—and I actually needed a new bike since this one was a disaster!

  And I had an idea.

  “But I still need a new bike. So maybe if I explain to my mom that I will take care of it, she will buy me one.” This seemed like a good idea to me.

  “Really?” Uncle Jake said in a voice that made me think maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. “How much does this new bike cost?” he asked me.

  “The Bentlee bike costs one hundred eighty-nine dollars,” I told him.

  “One hundred eighty-nine dollars?” he said with a look of surprise on his face. “That’s a lot of money. Especially for a kid who already wasted a bunch of money letting this bike get ruined.”

  “It’s not that much money for my mom,” I told him, figuring that, since my mom has a car and a house and other stuff that costs way more than one hundred eighty-nine dollars, that much money couldn’t be that important to her.

  When those words came out of my mouth, Uncle Jake didn’t look happy. Then he shook his head, as if he was REALLY disappointed in what I just said.

  “One hundred eighty-nine dollars is definitely a lot of money. Ten dollars is a lot of money. In fact, one dollar is a lot of money when you actually have to earn it, like your mom does. You don’t work for your money, so maybe it doesn’t seem like much to you.” Then Uncle Jake got a look on his face, the kind of look that makes me a little nervous. “Let me ask you this,” he said. “How bad do you want that Bentlee bike?”

  YES! I thought to myself. Uncle Jake is going to get me the bike! He is the best! “I really want it—bad! It would be so awesome to have! It is the coolest bike ever, and if I got it, that would be the best thing in the world!” I told him all this just to seal the deal and make sure he would get it for me!