Self Defense Goes Wrong -...: When Teaching Stepmom

“Okay, Claire,” he said, adopting a gravelly action-hero voice. “The number one rule: never let them get you to the secondary location.”

Mark, still unable to speak, gave a weak thumbs-up.

Claire practiced the motion. Stomp. Elbow back. It was clean. It was sharp. It was a thing of martial-arts beauty. When Teaching Stepmom Self Defense Goes Wrong -...

Just then, his dad, Bill, walked in from the garage, holding a power drill. He surveyed the scene: his wife in a fighter’s stance, his stepson curled in the fetal position amidst the remains of a beloved giraffe, making sounds like a deflating balloon.

This was the fatal error.

Mark thought he was being a hero. His stepmom, Claire, a 47-year-old Pilates instructor with a kind smile and a terrifyingly organized spice rack, had mentioned feeling jumpy walking the dog after dark. So, for his community college criminology project, he decided to teach her “the basics.” What could go wrong?

Everything. Within the first ten minutes. “Okay, Claire,” he said, adopting a gravelly action-hero

Bill sighed, the sigh of a man who had long ago accepted the chaos of his blended family. He put down the drill.