Swords

Lev loved swords. He had a decent collection of them. We were never thrilled about his hobby, but he took good care of them and never used them unwisely, so over time we came to realize that it was okay. We were sure one day that one of his friends would rat us out and we would get a nasty call from their parents, but it never happened.

Jaal liked swords as much as Lev. This was something they bonded over. Another reason we let him collect them.

Lev also had some wooden practice swords, called Bokken. They are used for ancient Japanese sword-fighting drills. He had a book of the basic exercises. He had trouble getting motivated to do them, because it was hard to tell if he was doing it right, so I agreed to coach him. We would go outside if the weather was nice enough. I would look at the pages and have him get in the correct stance, and then I would describe the movement. He was decent enough at it, but patience was not his strong suit. He would skip some of the warm-ups, and wanted to get right to the advanced exercises. I would get a tad frustrated, since I wanted to follow the book closely, but Lev was never one to follow rules and order. No matter what, I always liked being out there with him. The wrestling, the boxing, the sword-fighting, and the boffing were things that he loved to do, and I am glad we had a chance to do them together.

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photo of Lev and Zay, at the continental divide in the Monteverde reserve. He had his grumpy photo face already perfected.
photo of Lev and his cousins, at Sesame Place

A story of Lev's that Zade found in his room

2. Lev: (I typed this up from a story he wrote on paper, from what I can tell the first paragraph is a rough draft and the second paragraph is a final draft, I changed nothing but putting his name on the title page and putting stars instead of letters in the words next to the title.) Rebecca thinks that Jaal might have added the comment about kicking Zay.

" Notes (kick Zay in the te***cles)

on

Chapter 1:

Memories

-Lev Mann

He slowly breathed in and then out. He could feel his pulse slowing down , the slow drip of the water down the side of the cave. The whole world slowed down and almost stopped. He tried to remember who he was. His name was on the tip of his tongue when the men appeared. They were sweating from the pores on their faces. Dressed in chain mail, there were 9 of them in all. The first one charged at him and he slowly fisted him in the gut. the man gasped for breath and dropped his sword. He grabbed the sword and kicked the man off the cliff. As the next two slowly approached he shuffled his feet forward bringing his nightarm across his face. As he brought his arm and sword down they struck against the Attackers sword and he kicked him out of the cave and on to the rocks below. The other attackers stepped backwards nervously, he slowly struck one down with a slash across the ribs. He faced another one and pulled his dagger out and slit the attackers throat. With the sounds of one of the attackers choking on his own blood behind him, he stepped forward there were only five. He backhanded one attacker across the face and penetrated straight through a lung wit his sword. Pulling his sword slowly out of the man's gut he spun around and loppedOttan approaching attackers head. He threw his dagger at another and as it spun in the air he kicked another off the cliff. the dagger connected into the attackers eye, as the last attacker stabbed him right through the shoulder. He staggered Backward into the wall. As the blood dripped down his chest his pulse sped up again and his resolve strengthened. He let loose a primal roar and lowered his head. As he approached the last attacker his steps picked up and he leapt forward and tackled the last attacker off the cliff. His mind raced as he realized he was in free-fall towards the ledge below. As his feet connected with the Rock, his legs crumpled beneath him. As he slowly fell towards the rock and his hurt shoulder hit the ledge he remembered As the pain throbbed in his arm, and he lay in a pile of dead bodies, he remembered...

He gradually breather in and out, over and over. As he meditated he could feel everything around him. He could feel the water dripping from the roof of the cave, he could feel the sweat on his brow. He was at peace, until he heard a pebble fall. To him, In his enlightened state it sounded as loud as a marching army. He opened his eyes and saw 9 men clad in dark chainmail. He rose to his feet and rushed the nearest one. As the attacker lifted his sword to strike, he hit him hard in the gut. The attacker gasped for air and dropped his sword. He picked up the sword and kicked the attacker in the gut. The man staggered back and took one of his friends with him in his mad attempt to keep from falling, as they fell to their deaths he stabbed an assailant through the chest. As the man sank to his knees, he drew a dagger from the dying man's belt and flung it towards another attacker. Then he brought his sword above his left shoulder and cleave a man in twain. The dagger connected with an attackers eye with are sounding thunk. He then stabbed another attacker in the ribs. There were only three left. He stuck his sword clear through an attackers solar plexus, where it stuck. Finding himself weaponless he kicked the nearest attacker in the groin. promptly stealing the mans weapon he slit the attackers throat. He lunged at the last attacker while the previous one was still choking on his own blood. Too late, he realized that he had overextended himself. The last attacker stabbed his sword directly through his shoulder. He stumbled into the buck wall of the cave. His Vision clouded, his pulse quickened, he let loose a primal Roar. He lowered his head and charged the man. his steps sped up and he leapt at the man and tackled him off the cliff. His legs connected with the ledge 20 feet below and he crumpled to the ground. As his shoulder collided with the Rock, he remembered lying on the ground with his arm throbbing, amidst a pile of dead and broken bodies, he remembered...

From Tim Sales, parent of a friend of Lev's

Levi's imagination was amazing! I will never forget an afternoon I spent with Levi in Monteverde. All of the kids were down on our farm, we must have hiked down there, and we were getting ready to walk back up to the Casa Nicoya where we were living. Everyone was grumbling about how they didn't want to walk, it was too far and too hard, all that typical bluster from energetic young boys that can run circles around us all. We started walking, and Lev started talking. And talking. And talking! He talked non stop the whole way up the hill, telling us a fantastical story about knights and dragons and possibly space aliens too -- I can't remember exactly, but I do remember that he had me listening and laughing and we reached our house at the top of the hill before we knew it -- Lev's story had made the trip easy and fun. Things were never dull when Levi was around, that's for sure! Except maybe when he was deep inside in a good book, and then things weren't dull, just quiet... :-)

Rebecca