Dec 2 2008
Pirate kids
Each team at the Relay for Life has a theme. Ours was pirates, as in "We're not looking for buried treasure. We're searching for a cure." The team members dressed up in pirate outfits, and decorated our tent with skeletons and chests of buried treasure. My decorating contribution was two plastic pirate swords.
When I brought them home from the discount store, I wasn't clever enough to hide the swords from the kids. At the end of some days, I'm just too tired and let them get away with things I normally wouldn't. Resistance was futile, so I just gave the swords to Nathan and Lucie. Naturally, the kids started dueling. That was fine with me considering that the plastic swords were kind of soft-ish. I just told them to avoid each others faces and heads and inwardly hoped that any injuries would be minor.
As I sat on the couch to supervise, I was amazed at Lucie's sword fighting skills. As she yelled, "Attack, attack!" she feinted and jabbed, gave a classic en garde pose, and demonstrated accomplished footwork. Her moves were straight out of an Errol Flynn movie. When I asked her where she learned how to do this, she replied, "Ballet." Interesting...I must have a talk with her instructor.
It was such a remarkable performance that I had them demonstrate it later for Paul. Like me he sat on the couch with his eyes popping out in disbelief. Then we discussed the possibility of getting a three-year-old into a fencing or kendo class on the virtue of her natural talent. Yes, she's that good.
And Nathan? He held his sword like a baseball bat, flayed around a lot, and hooted with delight. Luckily the fun distracted him, because his petite, feminine, baby sister was kicking her big brother's butt.
