Lessons in EMS #2: It's All in the Wrist
by
September 29, 1977
"Dix, you've GOT to let me borrow your camera for a minute. This is too damn cute." Kate Michaels grinned as she approached the picnic table where Dixie McCall-Brackett was sitting, holding her fourteen-month-old daughter in her lap. Sophie squirmed, trying to get back down on the ground so that she could play with Panda, the search-and-rescue Border Collie.
"Sophie, honey, we'll see the doggie later; Mommy's trying to eat." Dixie turned her attention back to Kate. "My camera's in the stroller, if you want it. Why?"
Kate chuckled. "Well, you know how Joanne DeSoto 'borrowed' your son for a few minutes?"
"Yes?" Dixie had been more than willing to accept Joanne's offer. Trying to eat with one toddler to keep an eye on was difficult; two made it nearly impossible. She chuckled softly. "What'd Jake get into now?"
"It's not so much what he got into," Kate replied, retrieving Dixie's camera from the stroller, "but WHO he ran into. Johnny's giving him Frisbee lessons--and it's simply too cute for words. The Frisbee's almost bigger than Jake is!"
Dixie smiled, thinking of the pictures that might come of this. "Good idea, thanks." She watched as Kate headed back over to where Johnny Gage had been playing Frisbee with Roy DeSoto and some of the other guys from Station 51. Though the official fire department picnic was earlier in the year, in the early fall, most of the stations got together for another--this one focused less on fundraising and more on just having some fun.
Curiosity overwhelmed Dixie shortly, and she stood, picking Sophie up with her. "C'mon, let's go see what your brother and Uncle Johnny are up to."
"Ball," Sophie informed her solemnly, focusing on the foam ball in her small hands.
"Yes, sweetie, it's a ball." "Ball" was Sophie's new favorite word; she said it even when there was no ball anywhere in sight.
As Dixie came closer, she could see Johnny squatting down beside Jake, who was holding the adult-sized Frisbee and dancing with it. He held it over his head; he shook it in front of him. He was not letting it go any time soon.
"See," Johnny coached his student, "it's all in the wrist." Jake was not quite two-and-a-half feet tall, but it was if Johnny somehow hadn't noticed; he could have been teaching this to ten-year-old Chris DeSoto. "Just flip your wrist and release it."
Jake blew a raspberry at his "uncle", and threw the Frisbee on the ground.
Johnny nodded. "That's a start. A little more wrist action next time, and you've got it!"
Jake squealed in delight and picked the Frisbee up again, resuming his dance of before. After another moment, he held the Frisbee out to Johnny.
"Why, thank you." Johnny accepted it, and very lightly and gently threw it across the two-foot gap between himself and Jake. "See how easy that was? It's like I told you--it's all in the wrist."
Jake picked the Frisbee up again, and prepared to toddle away with it, but then he noticed his mother standing nearby. "Mama!" He promptly threw the Frisbee to the ground--but watched to see what Uncle Johnny would do with it.
Dixie waved with the hand she wasn't using to support Sophie's weight. "Hi, sweetie."
Johnny sidled closer to Jake, lowering his head conspiratorially. "All right, little man, I think you've mastered the concept of picking the Frisbee up. Now, we're going to work on retrieval. Observe as I throw this Frisbee to your mommy."
Dixie gave him a look. "You'll do no such thing." She knew he wouldn't actually do it, not with Sophie in her arms, but she had to make a token protest anyway.
"Ah, it'll be okay, Dix." Johnny grinned, and lightly tossed the Frisbee so that it glided along the ground for a few feet, coming to rest in front of Dixie's shoes.
Jake smiled, giggling as though he had seen nothing funnier in his young life. He hurried over to get the Frisbee, as fast as his little legs could carry him. However, once there, Jake decided that Mommy was much more fascinating than a yellow plastic disk, and attached himself to her ankle. "Mama!"
Johnny shook his head, standing up and walking over to stand beside Dixie. He took Sophie as she reached out for him. "Hey, Munchkin."
"Ball," she told him, nodding.
Dixie shrugged before bending down to scoop Jake up. "I've decided that the next person who teaches either of them a new word needs to also teach them how to stop saying it."
"Ball!" Obviously, Sophie agreed, as she continued to repeat the word another four times.
Jake blew a kiss up at Dixie, and pointed over her shoulder at the black-and-white Border Collie behind them. "Doggie!"
Johnny chuckled. "They're a handful, aren't they?"
"Yeah, but you get to give them back when you're done," Dixie said. She smiled, setting Jake on the ground again so that he could go over to see Panda; she was friendly with children. Johnny set Sophie down as well, and the two followed the giggling twins.
Dixie watched Johnny's expression for a moment, and smiled. "You ever think about having kids of your own someday?"
"Maybe." Johnny shrugged. "I don't know; I'd have to find the right woman first."
"That would be a start."
He laughed as Panda began to lick Jake and Sophie, causing both to squeal with laughter. "I'll amuse myself with yours and Roy's in the meantime."
"I don't doubt it." Dixie frowned slightly in confusion as another Frisbee sailed over her head, landing just ahead of her. Figuring it was an escapee from the ongoing game, she picked it up and turned around to see Kel grinning at her. He waved casually, as if he had no idea how that Frisbee had gotten there.
"Lose something?" Dixie asked.
"Oh, that? No, not at all." He shrugged.
"Right." She glanced over to ensure that the children were all right, but contemplated the Frisbee in her hand for a moment.
"Ah, go on, Dix." Johnny chuckled. "I'll watch the Dynamic Duo."
"You're on." Dixie laughed, and tossed the Frisbee back to Kel, aiming above his head. Her arc was slightly off, and the Frisbee wobbled as it sailed through the air, giving him plenty of opportunity to jump up and catch it.
"Good try," Johnny observed, "but you need just a little more wrist action there. See, when it comes to throwing a Frisbee--"
"I know," Dixie finished, smiling as she jumped to intersect the Frisbee on its return trip. "It's all in the wrist."
The End
Note--this was mainly based on a true story from our Fire/EMS picnic...the
firefighter was actually named John, and I was the one running for the camera...
:-D