Modern Day Cavegirls

Somewhere in her past, Jodi's mother might or must have come from a very devout family. If she guessed that her mother's upbringing had been supremely strict, then it might make sense - the horrific things that her mother had said were going to happen to her because she'd been intimate with a man - cursed creatures that they could oftentimes be.

Her mother had often spoken of the need for a good person to stay that way by living a decent life and going to church and reading the scriptures. But over time, Jodi had seen that her mother never went to any church at all. She just worked and came home and was miserable - pretty much all without her Good Book being very far out of her reach. As she'd gotten older, she'd gotten even worse. Anything new, technologically speaking was instantly denounced as just another thing that was sent by Satan to tempt Christians away from their moral lives. Everything was 'the devil'.

In retrospect, Jodi knew that she was well-rid of her poisonous tongue. She'd always longed for a real family. But like all of the other things that she'd learned to get along without, Jodi had just accepted that she didn't have one of those.

Her one shot at love had been pretty questionable and Jodi herself now knew that. The times when she'd been in Jane's arms had felt wonderful and she now knew that it had been as she'd said to Su-jin - one-sided.

But she liked Su-jin a lot. She had trouble with English the odd time, but so what? She was really beautiful, very smart and she seemed to like her as well.

She didn't know where it was going - or if it WAS even going anywhere or even needed to. She had sort of a hope that it might, but one thing that she did know was that she really liked being with Su-jin, just over the short time of this one day.

They seemed to have some things in common, not that they were things to be desired. Both of them had no families and they were trying to make their lives in places far from where they'd begun. Ok, it was a LOT farther for Su-jin, all the way from around the world. She couldn't even imagine herself making a trip like that, but then Su-jin seemed to be able to just handle things like that.

She'd needed to go someplace else and she'd just done it. Jodi knew enough to see that it hadn't been what she'd wanted to do or anything, but Jesus Murphy, she'd done it by herself.

Jodi thought that for sure, if it had been her she'd have been a wet bundle in a bag before she'd have gotten much of anywhere.

Something else that Jodi had thought that she'd noticed was that Su-jin didn't seem to mind that Jodi was just a girl. She wasn't a scientist or a pilot like Jane, she was just a working girl trying to scrape along for herself and her little son - and Su-jin seemed to like that about her.

She had a little trouble putting that together in her mind. She was a little ... quietly defensive about herself but at the same time, she could - to herself, that is - admit that though she'd been a grade A student as a girl, that had faded once Jodi had some so-called friends who'd taken her along in their drifting ways of skipping classes to get a little high.

She didn't blame those girls - which she no longer knew or even cared to - she blamed herself for the troubles that followed. She also knew that she was now living with the results of that time in her life and likely always would.

She was a Grade Eleven dropout with few prospects and a very young child. She was stuck working her ass off to get by and it had all been self-inflicted.

Su-jin probably would have given her an argument over it, but Jodi saw Su-jin as a shining star in a few ways and none of it even mattered anyway. She just liked Su-jin a lot.

She thought about Su-jin again and smiled to herself. Her super-quick kiss had been startling and Jodi had really appreciated the gesture. She knew what it had been instantly. Just one girl doing something for the hell of it for another - just to make her smile.

She looked down at her little shopping list, still smiling to herself. The only time that anyone had ever stolen a kiss from her, it was another girl.

Don't that beat all, she thought.

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Su-jin was almost done at the shop by the time that Jodi-Lynn pushed her cart to her truck and put the groceries onto the floor in the back of the crew cab. She ran to bring the cart back with little Tyler squealing and laughing in joy for the fast trip. After that, she just took his hand and they walked to the computer store.

Su-jin was just waiting for the operating system on her laptop to finish loading the latest updates. It wasn't as bad as it might have been, since Bobbi had called the shop earlier to brief them on what would be needed. The choices had been narrowed down in their conversation to only two, both of which were rather high-end units. The owner had flipped a coin and begun downloading the updates for that one PC and he'd been correct, since that was the one that Su-jin had chosen.

While she'd been waiting, Su-jin had looked around and made a couple of purchases for herself.

She'd unboxed one of them and as long as she was waiting anyway, she'd charged the pre-charged battery to top it up and she'd read the manual. It didn't take long and she put it back in the box.

Tyler spotted Su-jin from right across the store and he toddled over as fast as Jodi-Lynn would let him go. Su-jin heard him and turned, getting to one knee to wait for him. She hugged him and fussed over him, laughing to see him so happy. She looked up at Jodi-Lynn and thought that she looked amazing pretty much anywhere - even in florescent lighting.

Jodi-Lynn smiled, "I got him wound up for you when I had him in the empty cart from putting the groceries in the truck. I ran him back to get rid of the cart and to hear him, you'd have thought that he was in the Number One slot in a NASCAR race. How's it going in here?"

"Almost ready," Su-jin smiled, "Bobbi called here today and they decided that there were two that I'd probably pick one out of. He guessed and started loading that one - and he knows his business, because that one was the one that I chose! I also have the phone, so I can call Bobbi any time I want."

The owner came out of the back holding the laptop. Su-jin handed him the carrying bag that she'd chosen and in a minute, Su-jin was ready to go.

"Pete," she said, "can you tell me if there is a coffee shop in town that offers free WiFi?"

He nodded and spoke of two that were good. Su-jin looked at Jodi-Lynn and asked if either one of them were on their way.

"Sure," she'd said, "But what's WiFi?"

Su-jin smiled, "It's today's lesson in computers. I want to go there if you don't mind and we will be there for only a half an hour. Can we do it?"

Jodi-Lynn shrugged and then she nodded.

Out in the truck, Su-jin explained what WiFi was. "You can use it free at the coffee shop. You can access the internet, get your Email, check the website that you don't have yet, look at your Facebook page, get a look at the news and the weather - everything."

"Sounds great," Jodi-Lynn said, "only I don't have a computer to do that with."

Su-jin smiled, "One thing about today. I mean, about the age that we live in. Things are changing so quickly everywhere. The laptop I bought comes with an operating system, but since it arrived at the store back there, that system has been improved. I was waiting for the changes to be loaded on my laptop. That's what took the longest time."

She laughed quietly, "And while you were shopping, you received a gift. I'll show you when we get there."

Jodi-Lynn was nervous about things like that, since she had no way to reciprocate. But Su-jin wasn't done talking yet.

"While I waited, I had time to think. I have REALLY long hair. If I have anything done at a hairdresser's shop, they charge extra for everything. You know this."

Jodi-Lynn nodded, "That's why I wanted to dye your hair for you. I've done it before and you'd save a ton of money. But- "

"And then," Su-jin held up a finger to get Jodi-Lynn to let her finish, "I saw a few things around me. I saw a laptop, about three to four years old for sale used. I also saw a tablet PC. It was marked as a clearance item - because it was probably out of date by about seven minutes or something. I looked at the price and decided that since you were going to save me money, I could do something with the money for you. I bought the tablet for you from me for suggesting dyeing my hair. There is probably not much difference in the price.

Next, I added an SD card for storage and I even bought a tiny little computer mouse to go with it if you get tired of having to wipe the screen of the tablet all day."

Jodi was beginning to look horrified, "But I can't pay you back."

Su-jin explained it again, "Really, I am paying YOU back for helping me, Jodi-Lynn. Look at it that way."

-------------------

"What do I do with it?" Jodi-Lynn asked in the coffee shop.

Five minutes later, she was amazed as Su-jin showed her. "You don't need this keyboard if you don't like using it, but I prefer them like this with a keyboard since I can type faster that way than with the toy finger keyboard."

They set up an email account and several other things. Su-jin was mindful not to let Jodi-Lynn feel left behind. Actually, she'd been pleased that her friend had gotten time with the PCs at her high school, so it wasn't like coming at things from scratch.

"Watch this," she smiled and in seconds, she pointed to the screen, "See right there? The fourth dot? That's where you live seen from a satellite."

She looked past Jodi-Lynn at Tyler who was about face-deep into a chocolate donut. "This is a time when you would want to be taking pictures of Tyler. But I can guess that like me, you have no camera."

Jodi-Lynn looked at her son and nodded with a sigh.

"This tablet has two cameras. You can do all of the things that I said while having a cup of coffee right here with him in a high chair on the other side of the table. Whenever you want, you can take a picture of him being cute and then go right back to reading the news."

She accessed the forward camera, moved the tablet a little and took Tyler's' picture as he grinned with chocolate all over his face.

Jodi-Lynn's mouth fell open.

"Tablet cameras aren't the best, and they're probably a little bit harder to use to get a great picture than the cameras in almost all phones now. But you can do it without much trouble as you saw. As a matter of fact, you and I can talk between my laptop and your tablet just like we are now, looking at each other the whole time. The other camera looks at you and I see that.

Does Bobbi ever take her laptop home with her?"

Jodi-Lynn nodded, "Yeah, I've seen her with it lots of times."

Su-jin nodded, "Good, because I can see me doing the same thing, so there is probably a wireless network at the farmhouse as a guess. I need to talk to Bobbi about it. I might even be able to get you access as well. You won't need much, and you can use this at home too.

Now about the other laptop. I got it for pretty much nothing and it's yours now."

Jodi-Lynn couldn't believe it, "H-how?"

Su-jin grinned a little, "I'm a bookkeeper and an accountant. I just don't have my accountant's papers here yet. But that doesn't change a few things, Jodi-Lynn."

She held up a finger, "One, I am not from here. I come from Asia. What I've noticed here is that you all just pay the price that is asked whenever you buy anything here. But I have seen no signs that bargaining is not permitted.

Where I come from, we haggle over anything and everything. If somebody wants to buy a car, they pick one they like and can afford, and the next thing that they do is look at it very hard. They want to see a tiny scratch. They want see that one muffler is a tiny bit higher than the other one, and if they see those things, they use them in their negotiations to buy the car by bargaining to lower the price. That's how it's done all over Asia, almost no matter the country or the item.

Two. The laptop out there in your truck cost Bobbi thousands of dollars. I thought about it and I guessed that there must be a pretty good profit margin in that laptop. So I mentioned that and the price of the phone - and the margin on that. Then I mentioned that I'd just bought a tablet that was on sale and probably wouldn't have sold quickly because it wasn't the latest fuzzy pink version with kittens all over it. This is not Los Angeles. I said that I bought it because I happened to be in the store to even see it.

Then I asked about the used laptop and we bargained."

She smiled, "Didn't you say that today is your birthday?"

Jodi-Lynn shook her head, "No, my birthday isn't until -"

"Right!", Su-jin laughed, "Happy Birthday!"

Jodi-Lynn groaned, "But I can't just take all this stuff for nothing, Su-jin. Thank you, and I don't want to sound ungrateful but -"

"I didn't say anything about nothing," Su-jin said. "Now, just sit back and sip your coffee for a moment and listen to me - please, Jodi-Lynn. I am trying to make this something that you can swallow without choking because it is important to me.

Pick one thing, the laptop or the tablet, I do not care. Just pick one. Um, now please."

Jodi-Lynn pointed at the tablet half-heartedly.

Su-jin nodded, "Thank you. That one, we will call your birthday present. The laptop, we will bargain for."

She leaned a little closer, "What I want for the laptop is for you to use part of the coming winter months to go to school in your spare time. I can guess that you did not complete your high school education, and the reason for that is sitting right there almost finished his donut. So, you can do it by taking what is probably offered here as adult education. That's why you need Bobbi to allow you to use the internet access from the house.

You will now tell me that you cannot lose all of that time - and I will tell you that it doesn't take much time once you are an adult. You learn by yourself at your own speed without the interruptions and wasted time that happens in any high school anywhere in the world. What takes a year there, will take you two months at the most. You need to do this now, since you are young - not when you are in your forties.

Do this, and the laptop is yours to begin your business - and I want you to be using it before then anyway."

She held out her hand, "Do we have a deal?"

"Will you stay here - and can I come to you if I need help or anything? Jodi-Lynn asked.

Su-jin nodded, "Of course. I would be disappointed if you didn't."

Jodi-Lynn grabbed Su-jin's hand, "You weren't kidding about that haggling stuff, were you?"

"No," Su-jin smiled, "I am serious. That's what we do. May I show you something on the internet?"

Jodi-Lynn nodded and Su-jin leaned a little to get to the keyboard. She re-opened the browser and looked across, "This is a secret, Jodi-Lynn. Please don't tell anyone about what I will show you. I am not this person anymore, ok?"

Jodi-Lynn nodded and Su-jin hit the enter key.

She plugged in the mouse, "I have to use this now. I don't want to smear your screen with my fingertips, and the rest is all in Korean. This keyboard doesn't match up well, I don't think."

She worked her way through a few pages and then she sat back, "Here is a friend you might know."

The contrast was a little blown for about a quarter of the shot because of the bright lights when the photo was taken. There was a young woman in the photo and Jodi-Lynn leaned in a little to stare. Her face looked different for a moment because of the mouthguard in her mouth. Her hands were both held up and she wore a cut-off tank top over a sports bra.

Her face was sweaty and carried a jubilant expression. But there were sprays of what looked like blood on her shirt. It was hard to tell from the shot.

The young woman looked supremely happy.

And though it was open, she wore a black satin robe with a familiar-looking Chinese-style dragon in blood red crawling down over her shoulder.

Jodi whipped her head around and looked at Su-jin, who nodded, "About a year ago.

It was semi-final match and I win it by a knockout in fifth round. By about quarter-finals it all get hard and really serious. It almost not sport anymore then. The final match is ... vicious."

Jodi-Lynn heard the shift in Su-jin's speech and she knew that there was something personal here or Su-jin would have continued speaking as she had before.

She stared again. She could see the muscles in Su-jin's thighs as well as a very well-defined six-pack peeking out from under the bottom edge of the shirt.

"Boxing?"

Su-jin shook her head, "Free-style. Anything goes but martial arts weapons. I used some Tae-Kwando, a little Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, little bit Monkey-style Kung-Fu, and anything else if it work. She was tough fight.

I will speak little bit slowly, Jodi-Lynn. I want my English to work, so ... slow.

I wasn't like a lot of people who are in that sport. Many try to make a living at it. People bet like crazy on this.

I wasn't there for that."

She pointed to her face in the shot, "You will see why if you look at my face for long enough."

"You look ridiculously happy," Jodi-Lynn said quietly.

Su-jin nodded, "I was. I was there to prove something to someone. I never wanted to win the title, though I guess that I had a good chance at it, maybe better than the rest.

But the one that I would fight for the title was a harder girl that me and just after this was taken, I looked down at what I did to someone to get to this moment. Every match on the way to this point was fought harder than the last. There is more at stake at every step. I saw how far I would go to win - how far I would go and what I would do to prove that person was wrong about me.

I saw a broken girl and I knew that it was too far. It is serious by this level."

Su-jin paused to calm herself, telling herself that it was long ago.

"I didn't like it then - also I knew that even if I fight for the title to a draw, I would look like the girl on the mat in front of me that you cannot see. They carried her away just after this. If I lost, there was chance that I be dead or worse."

She looked at Jodi-Lynn, "There is something here for you to know about me. It is why I show this to you. I was fighting to make one person understand something about me that he should have known since I was ... I don't know, ten years old? Six?

I never stop, Jodi-Lynn. That is how I am. I never give up. I never stop. Never.

This night, I saw that he knew - so I did not need to fight for the final. I withdrew the next day.

But If I did not see what I was looking for on that one person's face that night, I would have gone on to fight the title match. For this one thing, I would have fought to the end.

For that one person, and for this, I might die, but I would have fought. And he finally knew how much I loved him.

Before I left Korea, I would have died for that one man.

This was taken at the ... I guess that you would say the moment of triumph for me. I knew that I had succeeded for someone to finally believe in me.

But this style of fighting is not like what you see here. This isn't even like ... what is it called here? UFC?"

Things are allowed there that are not allowed outside of Asia. I put a girl in the hospital to win. She was trying very hard to put me there to win. To me, it was too much. It is a match, not a war."

She looked down, "For the first time in my life, my father was proud of me."

Jodi-Lynn stared, "Your ... father? You did this for your father?"

Su-jin nodded.

Jodi-Lynn couldn't believe it. "How ... where did you learn to fight like that?"

Su-jin shrugged, "I was the only girl in my family. I have four brothers and I am the youngest. They all grew large and I ... didn't.