The Roughhousin' Templetons

Sara and Bob Templeton looked at each other across their Victorian style living room. A gleam came into Sara's eye. "Hey!" she said suddenly. "Let's take the kids and go to the park."

Bob was silent as he gazed at his lovely wife. He was 33 and she was 31, and they were indeed an attractive couple. Healthy, fit, and youthful, he was a vigorous and athletic man, 5-10, 172 pounds. Sara had been his dream catch and remained his best friend and most delightful lover. She too took good care of herself, maintaining her majorette proportions from college at 5-7, and 138 well-defined pounds. "It is a beautiful day," he replied. "Let's go. You get Katie and I'll round up Eric."

Katie, their bubbly 4-year-old, and sixth-grader Eric, 11, took after their parents. Although Eric was a slender boy at 5-5 and 97 pounds, he was active, healthy, and especially loved to swim. Katie, just past the toddler stage, showed the potential to be a lot like her mother. With her chubby cheeks and squat, firm little body she had the makings of cheerleader or majorette written all over her. Sara scooped up the 4-foot, 60-pound package under one arm, and headed out the front door, followed by her husband who had invited Eric along via piggyback ride. They walked the six blocks to the little city park in a few minutes, and put the kids down in the toddler play area. "Watch your sister for a few minutes, Eric," his mother asked. "Your dad and I want to take a quick run around the track." Sara closed and latched the gate, and took another look at her two children over her shoulder as Bob and she started to jog towards the track. There were several other small children and a few parents close by, so Bob and Sara were not worried about their two for the 15 minutes or so they would be gone.

"Hey, Eric, let's teeter-totter," Sara called out to her older brother. He grinned at her and walked over to the one of three boards that was not being used.

"OK, climb on," he told her, holding his end of the board up so she could easily sit on hers. She sat down and Eric began to pull his end down, lifting her slowly up. He noticed it seemed to take more effort than last time. He put one leg over his seat and sat carefully, with his feet extended to prevent his additional weight from tossing her up and off the board. As he lifted his feet, he was surprised to see how slowly his end of the board went down. Then he looked, and realized it had been placed off-center, with Katie's seat on the longer end, giving her more leverage. He pushed gently with his legs and he rose as she went down. When Katie reached the ground, she pushed gently, and was aware of the difference in leverage the longer end of the board had provided for her. Again she reached the top of the "teeter" and Eric pushed himself back up and her down to the ground. But this time, instead of pushing with her legs, she leaned back and extended her arm from the handle as far as she could. This gave her just enough leverage to keep her older brother up in the air.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Eric was sitting high on the board, his legs dangling down, held up by his little sister, who had discovered the basics of one of the laws of mechanics! "Katie, let me down!"

His little sister giggled. "Better start eatin' big brother," she teased him. "Pretty bad when a four-year-old can keep you up on a teeter-totter!"

"That's because you're on a longer board, goofball. Now lean forward, and let me down!" Eric began to bounce on his seat, gently lifting his sister, but her end of the board slowly came down again. Then he leaned back and bounced again, this time harder, and with the additional leverage he slowly brought his end of the board down just till they were about even and the board horizontal. He could get it down no further.

"See?" his little sister teased. "I can keep you off the ground!" The other kids began to laugh. One boy in particular, younger and shorter than Eric, but heavier, began to hoot loudly.

"Need some help, kid?" the younger boy nagged. He walked behind Eric's seat and put his foot on the back of the board, pushing Eric's side all the way down. "Lucky that little girl isn't any bigger!" Then he deliberately removed his foot suddenly and Eric was again being slowly lifted up as his sister laughingly leaned back as far as she could until her side hit the ground, and Eric was four or so feet up, helpless and at his sister's mercy. Once again the younger boy leaned on Eric's side of the teeter-totter, and pulled it down. This time, Katie leaned forward so Eric stayed down, and Eric got off the seat, holding the handle so his sister wouldn't crash down on her side.

Holding with all his strength, Eric slowly let his side up and Katie jumped off her side of the board, laughing. Eric charged over to his sister intending to flip her over his shoulder and spin her dizzy for making him look so foolish. "I'll fix you, you little dickens!" As he ducked down and picked her up, she was laughing so hard, he couldn't do it. He began to laugh with her. "I'll drop you on your head!" he threatened, and let her slide a little down his back, holding her by her ankles. Still her girlish laughter kept him from following through on the threat and he pulled her back to his shoulder and set her on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Eric," Katie began, "When I saw I could keep you in the air, I just couldn't resist it. I know the board being longer makes me heavier, but it's still neat, don't you think? Made me feel strong!"

"Well, you're not," Eric began, then moved toward her again. "And, I'm going to prove it! Upside-down you go!" He jumped at her suddenly, leaning over her back and grabbing her around the waist. He squeezed her tightly and began to pull her up, when suddenly Katie dropped down, pulling Eric down with her, and backed up a step. Suddenly finding himself off balance, Eric had to take a step forward to keep from falling and that's when Katie amazed both Eric and herself! Feeling her bigger brother leaning over her shoulder and on her back, Katie pushed up with her legs as hard as she could and, grabbing Eric around his legs-slowly-certainly, his feet-came-off-the-ground!

Grunting and pushing, Katie managed to straighten her legs until her poor brother just hung there for dear life, three feet off the ground, holding tightly to his sister, praying no one he knew saw them, and wondering how he could have let this happen! "Ta-Daa!" Katie sang, standing straight, if unsteadily under her brother's weight.

"Katie, please, for gosh sakes, let me down before we fall!" Eric pleaded in a sort of stage whisper, still hoping no one realized his little sister had done this on her own, with no help from him'overpowered him, as it were!

"You said I'm not strong," Katie rubbed it in a little. "I've just thrown you right over my shoulder, Eric! If I'm not strong, then you must be a wimp!" Katie laughed and slowly turned a little, looking for someone to show off to. Unfortunately for Eric, she found the boy who had been teasing him earlier.

"You need my help again, kid?" the boy asked. Eric wanted to die! "Bring him over here, little girl. I'll help him get down."

"I don't need your help! We're just playing, and anyway, we do stuff like this all the time! He's my big brother, and he was showing me how to pick up people heavier than me. Mind your own beeswax!" Katie glared at the bigger boy and he shrugged and turned away. "Now Eric, hang on," Katie told him, and she carefully took small steps from the mulch covered play area to the grass beyond. As Eric did as she asked, he was dumfounded as his little sister carried him over her shoulder slowly to the grassy area surrounding the playground, a distance of about thirty feet. "I'm just going to scrunch down, and you slide off, OK?" Katie scrunched down, and Eric, feeling foolish, sort of rolled off of his sister's shoulder and landed on the grass next to her. He was startled even more to look up and see their parents standing on the other side of the fenced in area, grinning at both of them.

"Oh gosh," he thought, "how much of that did they see?" He grinned back at his mom and dad. "Hi! You guys finish your run, already?"

"Oh, we've been finished for about five, maybe ten minutes," his dad said. "You two staying out of trouble?"

"Yeah, Dad, we're fine," Eric replied. "Just fooling around a little."

"Yeah, Dad," Katie repeated. I was showin' Eric some neat stuff."

"I saw," Sara joined the conversation. "Pretty neat. When did you learn that last trick?"

"What trick is that, Mom?" Eric asked cautiously.

"The one where you try to turn your baby sister upside down," his dad chimed in. His eyes were twinkling.

"Oh. That," Eric continued. "She's a little powerhouse, isn't she?"

"Gets it from your mother," Bob answered. "I probably should have warned you about that. I didn't expect you to find out so soon."

"You knew she could do that?" Eric asked his mother.

"I really didn't know, Eric," Sara replied. "I suspected it would happen sooner or later, though. I just didn't expect it to be this soon. My own mother was stronger than average, maybe as strong as some men her size. I seem to have inherited it, and as you can see, so has your sister."

"You inherited it?" It was Katie's turn to be inquisitive. "So, I get it from you? Wow!"

"I never knew you were very strong, Mom," Eric stood up and looked at his mother. She was just a little taller than he, although much more mature of course, and (he thought) at least 10 or 20 pounds heavier. Then he thought back to how easily she did ordinary things like carry the groceries, move the wheelbarrow, even easily carry his little sister in one arm, as she had this afternoon on the way to the park.

"Well, I'm not a truck driver, Eric, if that's what you mean! I'm just in good shape. I work out, and run, and occasionally roughhouse with you kids and your dad. I suppose I can surprise people sometimes, though." Suddenly Sara reached over the little fence and caught her eleven-year-old son under his arms, easily lifting him over the 4 # foot fence and setting him on the ground in front of her. "Like that!" she laughed.

From the other side of the fence, Katie said again, "Wow! Mom! You are so cool!" She ran up to the fence and said, "Now do me!"

This time, Eric watched his mother's arms as she tossed his sister up and over the fence, easier than she had lifted him. He was amazed. There was a noticeable bulge in her upper arm as she picked Katie up, but nothing outstanding. She was strong enough to lift his hundred pounds or so with little effort, but still looked-well-like a mom!

Then she surprised her two children even more. Sara sidled over to her husband and snuggled into his left side. She put both arms around him just below his ribs, and leaned to her right, pulling his feet right up in the air! Bob looked down at his lovely wife, and grinned at her. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," Sara looked up into his eyes. She gently swung him back and forth, as his legs dangled a foot or so off the ground. "You're my baby!" Then she set him down on the ground, and stepped in front of him, leaning forward a little with her arms down and a little behind her. "Jump on," she said, and Eric and Katie both watched in amazement, as their dad put his hands on their mom's shoulders and gave a little jump on to her back, piggyback style. She started toward the park exit, and stopped suddenly, looking back at their two startled children. "You guys coming?" she asked. They both broke into a run, catching up with her and their dad.

Eric realized his dad wasn't the least bit embarrassed or uncomfortable. And really, why should he be? He had a beautiful, fit, strong wife, and two terrific kids. He apparently liked getting picked up by this woman, and she didn't mind either. That was that. They began the short walk home, and occasional neighbors smiled and laughed at the sight of this lovely, small woman, easily carrying her husband down the sidewalk.

"Hey, Eric," Katie broke his train of thought. "Jump on." She had stopped directly in front of him, as Sara had done with Bob, only Eric had not been paying attention, and found himself nearly falling over his baby sister, who caught him just behind the knees, and hefted him on to her back. He grabbed her around the collar bone and she trudged along with her burden, much like a smaller shadow to their parents. Four blocks later, as they approached their home, both girls let their riders down to the front walk.

"Well, that was an experience!" Eric remarked. "I wonder what happens in five years, when the scamp here, grows even more."

"That's when your sister gets to help with the really heavy stuff," Bob grinned. It just gets better and better."