How Maria Solves a Problem: Chapter One

Intro: This is an off-beat short story I’ve written as a fun brain-break from my “serious” works in progress. The idea arose out of a conversation I had with a coworker about criticism of the Von Trapp family from those who feel they should have fought harder to resist the Third Reich. I was inspired to think how Maria might have spent her time training the children in combat techniques, instead of singing. Lo and behold, I conducted research to discover that Krav Maga was created in Budapest to fight anti-Semitic gangs in the 1930s. Suddenly, my silly idea became feasible: what if Maria Von Trapp (nee Rainer) had trained in deadly combat, instead of music?

This is the first chapter of this short story. To read the rest, subscribe to my newsletter and receive the full story, plus other exclusive content!

~~~~~~

Maria twirled through the field of wild daisies, her plain dress grazing the tops of upward-reaching fingers of grass. Her movements only appeared carefree, but the trained eye would see that she had total control of her balance, her breathing, her cyclical motion. Her cropped blonde hair flayed at the edges around her cherubic face, her cerulean eyes shut tight in concentration.

Pity on the soul of any man or woman who might stumble upon her in that moment, seeking a mountaintop respite for a sunny picnic. Her practice was so focused that perhaps she would have struck her knife-like hands, startled, into their unsuspecting windpipe.

When the sound of the abbey bells echoed through the mountains, Maria jolted back into the moment.

"Oh, heavens!" she cursed, sprinting to retrieve her discarded habit from the ground, then sprinting the opposite way, toward the valley.

Her muscular legs were like a steel locomotive, pumping beneath her skirt, hitting a stride that could rival a colt in speed and stamina.

When she reached the abbey minutes later, the nuns were lined up outside, waiting, with arms crossed.

Maria had hiked her skirt high above her ankles to run, but as she neared her peers, she released the material to let the hem drag behind her on the cobblestone. Her chin dipped to her chest and her eyes stayed glued to the ground as she entered the sanctuary for prayers.

Maria kept to herself in the back of the sanctuary for the evening service. When the nuns went to the courtyard for their nightly Krav Maga session with Rabbi Imi, she practiced alone under the shadow of the eaves.

"What do you suppose you would do, if you were me?" A whispered voice from the shadow was close enough to set Maria's hair on end.

It was the abbess. Though 75 and afflicted with arthritis, she was the most masterful practician of ancient martial arts in the abbey; maybe even more deadly than young Rabbi Imi. It should have been no surprise she could sneak up on Maria undetected.

"Abbess. I am so sorry I was late to prayer." Maria blurted, her speech accelerating. "You see, I was in the mountains, practicing my deadly strikes. I had seven more kata to go, and I was watching the sun for-"

"Child, child. Be still." The abbess stepped into the light and drew a long, exaggerated breath, lifting her wilted hands with palms to the sky. As she released the breath, she struck Maria's sternum with her fingertips. Once. Twice. Like tiny, jagged daggers.

Maria's knees gave out, dropping her to the ground, hands clutched at her chest. She tried to draw for air, but her lungs refused to fill.

"Now, you will listen. Now, you will respect."

Maria nodded, gasping.

The abbess circled Maria as she spoke. "You, Maria, are like the naked mole rat. You know the parable. The little mole is excellent, and powerful, and skilled in all he does-no, don't stand up. Stay where you are, or I'll be forced to disable you again. You shall listen to this whole story. You are so tenacious, and passionate. I've never seen any other postulant as dedicated to the combat arts, as you. But therein lies the problem. Like the little mole rat, you have become so focused on your duties, that you've driven yourself into blindness. You fail to see what is above ground. You live only for the colony and our mission. Of course, you know that before I started the Abbey of the Lord's Justice, I fought street gangs in Budapest. I found the Rabbi on the streets and trained him. But did you know I had a life, even before we created Krav Maga? I had lovers. I traveled the world. I slaughtered lions with my bare hands in the Sahara. I piloted vessels at sea."

The old woman paused to catch her breath, the vigor of her story overwhelming her momentarily. Maria watched, waiting, hands folded on her lap.

"It's time for you to go above ground, child. There is a world beyond this abbey that you must understand. You must quell your thirst for blood and learn to reason whose blood must spill. That is the only way you will ever be a true master. I am sending you away."

"But mother! The abbey is all I know!"

"Precisely." the Abbess nodded, confidence in her eyes. "You will go in the morning. Pack everything you own."