War With Eastasia
Mindy was no wimp. The crowd howled like jackals and Janice advanced like a lion but she held her ground.
At the last minute she dodged aside and landed a swift kick on Janice’s thigh. Swish. BANG! She came here to win. She was a champion.
Janice pivoted like a piece of heavy machinery and launched a punch that would kill a rhino. Mindy was already out of reach. She jabbed for the floating ribs, made contact, and bounced back.
Janice hardly noticed. She took another swing. With gorilla like arms, Janice could reach much further than Mindy. Mindy just barely got up her block, which deflected most of the punch. Even so she stumbled back from the momentum. Janice went in for the kill but Mindy was quick. She regained her balance and brought up two quick punches in the limited space between them. She landed one on Janice’s hip and the other on her shoulder. It bought Mindy just enough time to weave out of Janice’s bear hug.
The crowd had never seen anything like it. Some fights are a washout and some are a grind. Only a few are perfect. This was a match for the ages; a cobra and a tank! Mindy’s strikes were lighting fast and precisely aimed but they weren’t doing much damage. Janice’s moves were immensely powerful but too slow. Nobody could tell who was winning and who was losing. Would Mindy’s fifth or tenth of fifteenth strike wear down Janice? Would Janice finally land one of those enormous blows and send Mindy to the hospital?
It was a tense first round. When the horn blew and the fighters parted, virtually everyone felt spent; as if they’d been up there risking all.
“Dear God, is that little girl going to win?” Winston asked his wife.
“You’ve been on campus too long dear. Janice is just too strong. That man would break a backhoe in half.” His wife reassured him.
“It’s not a man… it’s a woman.” Mascara Girl interrupted.
“WE ARE AT WAR WITH EASTASIA!” Winston’s wife screamed.
“Fuck Eastasia!” Mascara Girl replied… entirely involuntarily.
To their right Robert Mablowski was furrowing his brow and counting spotlights. There appeared to be sixteen of them.