The Wrestler

The Wrestler

“Wow, your parents are so cool. Mine would never let me walk to the store, even with a friend,” said Jack.

David didn’t respond, he was taking off his jacket.

Confused, but still excited, Jack added, “It’s cold out…” Jack suddenly put his finger up over his mouth, a definite gesture to stop talking, even to a five-year-old.

Confused Jack stopped, but didn’t talk. As he watched, David seemed to be looking for something in his jacket.

Just as Jack was about to ask if David lost something, David pointed to a small metal thing on his jacket. Without a word he touched it softly and there was a small click.

“What was that?’ Jack asked.

“It’s a microphone; my parents don’t know I know how to turn it off.”

“Ooh, can I see it?”

“Not now. They’re watching us.” David said.

“How? You turned it off.”

“But that was just the microphone. They have “Kid Cams” on every house on our street. Smile, pretend I’m telling you a story, they’re watching.”

Jack pretended a laugh. “How was that!”

“Perfect.”

“Won’t they worry about the talking?”

“Nah, they think it’s broken. They think they’re so smart watching me all the time. They pretend they trust me.”

“Yeah, but its still neat that you get to go to the store!”

“You know what’s neater?”

“What?”

“I put the spare one in their room and they don’t know it!”

“Have you gotten any good secrets out of it?”

“Only that they wrestle a lot when they go to bed…”

“That’s weird, but maybe they’ll let you take wrestling lessons since they like it so much.”

“Good idea!”

And that’s how David ended up a famous wrestler. His parents are mortified every time he tells the story.

He tells it often…