2. Peaceful Warrior

Help you with something?

You can tell me how you did it.

You like things explained.

Don't you? How we doing tonight?

Look.

That roof's gotta be at least 10, maybe 12 feet high. No human can make a vertical leap over four or five feet, tops.

I know. I'm a gymnast. Toughest men's sport in the world. Most people don't know that. The Spartans of ancient Greece were gymnasts, too.

They vaulted over bulls.

Trained their elite warriors that way.

Did you know that?

I know more than you think. And you think more than you know.

But knowledge is not the same as wisdom.

Yeah? What's the difference? You know how to clean a windshield, right? Yeah.

Wisdom is doing it.

I train seven days a week, 50 weeks out of the year.

Why so much? Are you serious?

I am a heartbeat away from qualifying.

Qualifying for what?

You watch the Olympics? No.

Thanks for stopping by.

Look, even as good as I am, I gotta do everything I can to make sure that I qualify. There's a lot you'd have to know before you could understand what you saw. Go. Ask me. Ask me something.

Ask me anything.

Are you happy?

You said I could ask you anything.

What does happy have to do with anything?

Everything.

My dad's got plenty of cash, school's kind of a breeze, I get straight A's. I got great friends, I'm in great shape, and I only sleep alone when I absolutely want to. So why can't you sleep at night? Yesterday, you came here at 3:00 a. m. Now, tonight.

That's two nights in a row. What are you? Some kind of a Quickie Mart philosopher or something like that?

You need some philosophy?

No, thanks, Socrates. I get enough at school.

Last question.

If you don't make the Olympic team, what will you do? If I don't what? You must have thought about it.

What the hell are you talking about?

What's the problem? I don't even know what I'm doing here. You're a freak. And I don't need you freaking me out.