"I was just coming," Remo said. He pushed open the door and moved lightly onto the sidewalk. George backed up to make room for him.
Sashur leaned across the seat to call, "Watch out for him, Remo."
Remo looked at George and saw his eyes were glistening brightly. He had tears in his eyes.
This poor nit loved that poor nit, Remo realized. Maybe they were made for each other.
"You gonna leave her alone?" demanded George.
Yes, he loved her. No doubt. Maybe she could learn to love him too.
"Make me," Remo said.
"You asked for it," George said. He threw a roundhouse right-hand punch of the variety used by brown bears to catch swimming fish.
Remo let it hit him high up on the left side of the head, moving his head just a fraction of an inch on contact. Like all noncombatants George stopped his punch as soon as it touched target. Remo felt the knuckles touch his skin, and he recoiled slightly as George pulled his hand back for another punch.
Remo leaned against the trunk of the car as if he had been knocked there.
"Had enough?" George asked.
"I have not yet begun to fight," Remo said.
George jumped forward, his body as open as a dinner invitation, and threw another right hand. Remo let this one get him on the shoulder and made a display of rolling over on the fender of the car and groaning.
"Ooooohhh."
"George, stop," Sashur yelled. "You'll kill him."
"Damn right, I'll kill him," George said. His voice was lower now, huskier. "And you too, if you cheat on me again."
"Oooooohhh," groaned Remo.
George nodded at him for emphasis and danced around to the left, throwing his left jab at air. "Want anymore, guy?"
"No, no," said Remo. "Enough for me."
"Okay. Keep your hands off my woman. This is the second time I caught you. There won't be a third time." George leaned into Sashur's car. "I'll be at the school tomorrow when you get off work. You're coming to my place and you're staying the night."
"In a pig's…"
"No arguments, baby. You heard me. Tomorrow after school."
Heavy-footed, George stomped away. As he drove off, he peeled rubber.
Remo waited until George's car had turned the corner before he got off the fender.
Sashur came to him. "Remo, are you hurt?"
"Never laid a glove on me." Remo touched his jaw as if it were tender. "Come on," he said, "we've got to go upstairs."
He led Sashur Kaufperson into the motel, pleased with himself for perhaps having made the course of true love run a little smoother in Chicago.
Chiun was awake when they got to the room and Remo was immeasurably pleased, because he did not enjoy the prospect of waking the Master of Sinanju at 3 a.m.
The old man turned as Remo and Sashur entered. He had been standing at the window, looking out.
"Oh, Remo," he said. "I am glad you are here. Safely."
Remo squinted. "Safely? Why safely?"
"This is a terrible city."
"Why? Because it's not Persia where people like us are appreciated?"
"No. Because there is terrible violence," Chiun said. "Just now, for instance. I saw two men fighting out in the street. A terrible battle. A fat man was pummeling a skinny one into mush. Awful. Terrible. The skinny man took a terrific beating. I do not know how he was able to survive it."
"All right, Little Father, knock it off," Remo said.
"And I was so frightened. I thought, Remo might come home any moment and he might be attacked by these two terrible warriors, and I worried so. I am glad you brought this woman to protect you. She is the woman of the gold coins."
"Right. This is Sashur Kaufperson," Remo said.
"How do you do?" said Sashur, who had been watching the conversation from just inside the motel suite door.
"Sashur Kauf is a very strange name," Chiun said.
"It's not Kauf. It's Kaufperson," Remo said.
"There is no such name as Kaufperson," Chiun said. "Never had I heard it, even on the picture box where the names have all forms of foolishness such as Smith and Johnson and Jones and Lindsay and Courtney."
"It's Kaufperson," Sashur said.
"I suppose you cannot help it."
"I'm glad you're up, Chiun," Remo said. "I'm going to call Smitty, and then we've got to get ready to go."
"Where are we going?"
"Back to Fort Bragg."
"Good," said Chiun. "Anything to get away from this violent city. Oh, you should have seen the battle. Epic. First the fat man threw a most fearsome punch. It was like this." Chiun waved his right arm around him like a stone on the end of a string.
"Frightening," Remo agreed.
"It hit the stupid man…"