Bennett laughed.
"Because if I stopped, I wasn't the champion anymore."
There it was.
Not arrogance.
Fear.
Again.
Sarah waited.
Bennett looked toward the mountains.
"My brother was the talented one."
She listened.
"Growing up, Daniel was faster. Stronger. Better at everything."
Bennett smiled faintly.
"I became the boxer because it was the first thing I beat him at."
Sarah nodded.
"Then he got selected."
His smile disappeared.
"I didn't."
Sarah hadn't known that.
"I failed screening twice."
Bennett flexed his good hand.
"Too slow on one assessment. Medical issue the second time."
Sarah said nothing.
"So I built this whole thing."
He gestured at himself.
"Champion. Toughest guy in every room."
Sarah understood.
"If you're always proving you're strong, nobody notices where you failed."
Bennett looked at her.
"Something like that."
Sarah leaned back.
"My dad used to say people protect the wound harder than they protect themselves."
Bennett laughed.
"Did he have a saying for everything?"
"Pretty much."
"Annoying."
"Extremely."
They sat quietly.
Then Bennett asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why did he give you the belt?"
Sarah stared toward the road.
"I don't know."
"Come on."
"I'm serious."
She looked down at her hands.
"He was sick by then."
Cancer.
Aggressive.
Nine months from diagnosis to funeral.
William lost weight quickly.
His voice became weaker.
His opinions didn't.
Two weeks before he died, Sarah visited him at home.
The garage looked the same.
Tools.
Dust.
Old heavy bag.
The belt.
William sat in a folding chair.
He looked smaller than she'd ever seen him.
Sarah hated that.
He noticed.
"Stop looking at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm already dead."
She looked away.
William reached toward the belt.
"Give me that."
Sarah took it from the peg.
Handed it over.
He ran the fabric through his fingers.
"You remember the first rule?"
Sarah smiled.
"The goal is leaving."
"Second?"
"Big people trust mass."
"That wasn't a rule."
"It should've been."
He smiled.
Then coughed.
Sarah waited.
William held out the belt.
"Take it."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Sarah."
"I don't want it."
"Good."
She frowned.
"Why is that good?"
"Means you're probably ready."
She stared.
William placed it in her hands.
"This doesn't mean you're finished."
"I know."
"Doesn't mean you're the best."
"I know."
"Doesn't mean I think you can beat everybody."
Sarah laughed softly.
"I know, Dad."
William became serious.
"It means I trust what you do when you can."
Sarah remembered those words.
She had never understood them completely.
Until Raven Rock.
"I think he gave it to me because he trusted me not to use what he taught me just because I could."
Bennett listened.
Sarah looked at him.
"That's my best guess."