He felt the cool water on the side of his face and at first all he could here was buzzing in his ears.  While his body said Just layer here and rest…you’ve earned a long sleep, he had always relied on his instincts and what started as distance fragile sound was climbing in volume until, in less than a seconds time, every alarm was sounding in his mind of the eminent danger.

Eyes snapping open, he looked up from his position, laying prone on the ground to see a younger man dancing around, arms raised in the air and the roar of the crowd, partly cheering and partly booing his performance.  His jaw hurt and the side of his face was in a shallow puddle of water from a rain shower just before….Where am I and why am I lying on the ground and why do I taste blood?

As if something clicked, his memories returned in rapid fashion.  The challenge from the young bull in the bar, the insults, the young bull grabbing his date, walking outside and pulling off his coat and shirt.  As the young bully removed his coat and shirt, his muscular arms and broad shoulders revealed that he was athletic in nature.  He had fought bigger and stronger, but that was many years ago in youth and prime.  Now he was and old man.  Bringing his hands under his body, he did a pushup to bring himself up on his hands and knees, then brought his right hand up to examine the damage his jaw had taken by a powerful blow he had never seen coming.

He knew he was outside of his league, but he still had is pride.  Why had the young bull picked him out of the crowd as a target for bullying, he would never know.  And he had shrugged off the insults and insinuations.  But then he had grabbed Jane by the arm.  There comes a point in every man’s life where you just stand your ground, knowing it may end up in your loss or worse, demise.  With no serious damage to his jaw, he stumbled to his feet, still disoriented from the blow the young bull had landed.  That roundhouse had come much quicker than he expected, or was it that his reaction time was slower.  Either way, he would pay more attention next time.

As he rose, the crowd’s attention turned to full on cheering as both sides wanted to see more of the brutality.  The young bull was facing away from him and slowly lowered his hands before turning and saying “You should have stayed down old man.  Now I’m gonna hurt you.”

To buy time, he stumbled to the side, then bent over at the waist, putting his hands on his knees to support himself and feigned coughing and clearing his throat.  He continue to act disoriented as he bent over and carefully watched as the young bull approached.  He anticipated that the young bull would come in, overly confident, and that would give him the upper hand.

As the young bull stopped in front of him, he felt a hand grab a handful of his hair and begin pulling his head up so the young bull could looking him in the face before delivering a beating.  Resisting a little at first, as soon as the young bull pulled up harder, he stood upright abruptly, bringing a vicious upper cut with him that landed firmly on the young bulls jaw and there was a loud crack as the jaw slammed shut and teeth shattered.  As if in slow motion, the young bull’s head snapped back, yet his body stood upright before falling over backwards.  The young bull was unconscious before he hit the ground and there was a sickening thud as his head hit the concrete followed by his limp body.

He did't care what it took to win, it just matter that he found a way.  The crowd was in complete shock as they stared at the old lion and the shear brutality of the fight.  The only sound was the sounds of a sobbing woman and the click of her heels as she ran over and threw her arms around him.  The embrace was not of that of a victor, but of knowing that the old lion had survived another challenge, but it was just a matter of time before he would lose and it would most likely be his end.