This is a short story set at Christmas after Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. If you haven’t read that yet, you can find it at all major book retailers, including Chapters Indigo.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Saturday the 28th of December, 2002 – Parry Sound, Ontario
He trotted back down the stairs, pulling his shirt on as he entered the kitchen the second time that morning. He sat at Kennedy’s abandoned place and picked up a piece of toast, dipping it into the egg. He looked up at the rest of the table, all of whom were staring at him. “Um, good morning?” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get her another plate once she’s done in the shower.”
The silence continued, and he took another bite of breakfast.
Finally, Tommy spoke up. “How…” his voice cracked. “How do you look like that?”
“Easy.” Jason swallowed his mouthful. “You get scars if you’re in a lot of knife fights.”
He bit into his toast again and tried not to laugh as one of the twins—MacKenzie this time, he thought—whispered to the other, “What scars?”
“I don’t recommend it,” he added, pointing at the boy with his toast. “Very painful.” He mopped up more egg.
“I think he meant the muscles,” Sarah said, raising her eyebrows. “Do you have a specific training routine, or…?” she trailed off.
“I started out working on a farm mucking out stables as punishments, but when I stopped getting in trouble, I started lifting weights, push-ups, jogging, martial arts, and, well, genetics plays a large role in how much muscle you can put on safely and practically,” Jason said, enumerating on his fingers. He looked back at Tommy, who was staring at him, mouth agape. “D’you want me to go through one of my routines with you after breakfast?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically.
“Do you have free weights?”
“No.”
“Hmm.” He took a bite of sausage and looked down the table at the toddler. “Hey Sarah, mind if we borrow Arthur for a bit? He weighs what, about twenty five pounds?”
“Feels like a hundred sometimes, but yes. Mind if I watch?”
“Not at all.”
“There’s space in the rec room in the basement,” suggested Lilah. “I think the lot of us are interested in watching.”
Jason fought the colour he could feel rising in his cheeks. I can do this. I’ve been a teacher plenty of times before. Just, not usually with an audience.
He insisted on helping to clear the table and fill the dishwasher, and by the time that was done, Kennedy was downstairs again. As he’d told her family he would, he made her a fresh plate and everyone headed for the basement.
“You can use anything as free weights,” Jason said, reaching for Arthur. “Want to be tossed around a bit, buddy?” The toddler laughed and reached back, so Jason took him. “Cans of soup, textbooks, bags of potatoes, even bales of hay. But kids are the best because they are unpredictable.” He tossed the boy in the air, and Arthur giggled. “You have to keep your core muscles tight to balance yourself, because the way he comes down isn’t always the way he went up. If he lifts his legs, his weight shifts.” Jason put the boy on one side of his body, squatted, lifted him high in the air, and brought him back down on the other side, twisting his torso and squatting again. “It makes the workout much more interesting.”
“You sound like you have a lot of experience with kids,” Phillip remarked, leaning against one wall.
“I have a lot of honorary cousins, and my niece is exactly Arthur’s age, to the day.”
“What a coincidence!”
Jason nodded and continued the lesson. “I usually do about fifteen squat twists five times with a thirty pound weight to start, so medium weight, high rep…” Jason walked Tommy through his regular workout routine for the next half hour, Jason using Arthur as his weight, and Tommy using a book. Finally, when the boy looked completely worn out, Jason grinned and clapped his hands together. “Two last things before cool-down. Push-ups and a jog.” When Tommy groaned, Jason added, “We can leave out the run today, mostly because I didn’t bring the proper shoes.”
He got Tommy settled in the proper push-up position and then took Arthur back from his mother. “Once you get used to doing push-ups and feel like they’re too easy, you can add a weight to them too.” He showed Arthur how to climb onto his uncle’s back and hold on.
Tommy tried to do a push-up and collapsed to the ground. “What do you use for yours?” he asked, gasping for breath.
“I used to use a weighted vest, up to a medium weight. I couldn’t add more than fifty pounds to it without damaging it.” Jason said. He gave the child back to his mother and got into position beside the boy, demonstrating as he talked. “When regular push-ups are too easy for you, you can switch it up, hands closer to your body, one handed, fingertips, and so on. Work up to the added weight.”
Read Part 7 Dec 29, 2022