A Tale of Two Children

The other night, as Mia was stalling her bedtime, she found Toby sitting by the computer attentively watching the women's 100m final from the 2016 Olympics.

WHY was he watching this?  It’s a long story involving zoom calls, trivia nights, second place finishes and a little boy’s desperation to win.  I'll leave it at that.

The interesting part of this story was that neither kid knew I was on the couch reading my book and I got to overhear a completely unadulterated raw unedited version of what I would describe as a conversation that perfectly typifies each of my kids.

I will summarize it for you:

“Hey, Toby- what are you doing?” an inquisitive Mia whispered, hoping to remain undiscovered for as long as possible post- pyjama-donning-teeth-brushing.

“Shh….” whispered Toby, his face about 2 cm from the screen “I’m watching a race!”

“Ooh!  What race IS it?"

“It’s the women’s 100m final from 2016.”  He said without looking up

“What?  WHY are you watching THAT?” she asked

“BECAUSE,”  Toby pulled up a chair for her.  “It’s exciting.  Want to watch?”

Mia looked around and, finding no greater alternative, sat down hesitantly.

“OK.” She said, “Who are we cheering for?”

“Well I usually just cheer for the one I think is going to win” (Toby has a long standing problem committing to cheering for ANYONE until he knows for sure his loyalties will lie with the winner…)

“Well which one is THAT?” she wanted to know,

Toby wasn’t sure.  He hesitated and thought pensively for a minute.   It was a wee bit defeating to him that he couldn’t actually remember a MOMENTOUS event such as an OLYMPIC RACE.

Mia didn’t have time to wait for his verdict before exclaiming, “Well I’m going to cheer for DAPHNE.”

“Who the HECK is Daphne?” he asked, turning his attention away from the screen for the first time since she’d sat down

“The one in the really nice yellow shirt with the braids”

Toby snorted in disgust.  He could tell what SHE was basing her loyalties one.

He tried to change the subject

“Can you IMAGINE how NERVOUS the must all be?” he asked, putting his nose back up to the screen

“WHY?”

“Um...because they are about to run a FINAL RACE at the OLYMPICS in front of the WOLRD.” 

His voice rose as he spoke, his nervousness palpable

Mia had nothing to say to that and instead contemplated the line up.

“How do they decide what to wear, Toby?”

“I don’t know” (nor care...I’m sure he was thinking)
“do they HAVE to wear their hair in a pony tail?”

“NO idea, Mia”

“Ooh I like their SHOES!” she said as the camera panned out for the race to start

Toby rubbed his hands together nervously as Mia sat back,

Perhaps as a way to stop her from distracting her from asking any more silly questions or perhaps legitimately, Toby suddenly slammed his hand on the desk and announced that he had REMEMBERED who had won.

“Ooh is it DAPHNE!?!?!” Mia asked,

Toby said he was QUITE sure that it was not.

Mia was not easily deflated.  Probably because she didn’t AVTUALLY care.  Her allegiance to Daphne was based on a brightly coloured singlet and spanned a grand 2 minutes of her life.

“Well…” she sighed, “I hope she doesn’t come LAST.”

Toby, still trying to get at least SOME reaction out of her refused to relent, “I’m pretty sure she does, Mia”

She gave him a frustratingly nonchalant shrug.

The gun went of and Toby leaned even closer to the screen, the long awaited moment of anticipation (4 years later, for the second time) was upon him.  A full 10 seconds he had to wait for the exciting verdict.

And the winner was,

“HA!” Mia said, “DAPHNE WON!!! HOORAY DAPHNE.”

Toby was defeated.  Not only did his memory fail him but he had hedged his bets on cheering for basically anyone BUT Daphne.  Just when he was about to explode Mia asked, “How come they get sweaty for just THAT!?!?”

Toby opened his mouth and looked at her speechlessly. 

Their eyes met- Mia’s in earnest question, Toby’s probably trying to decide whether to answer or strangle her.

  Oh my poor competitive boy....one day your life will be easier having lived with your ever unintentionally-lucky-yet-competitively-challenged younger sister.  The lessons in patience she has taught you...

And with that thought I declared my presence and send them both off to bed...