Skylar walked on the edge of the curb, arms outstretched. One foot in front of the other, heel pressed against toes.
Wind whipped their hair into their face, and they paused, focusing on their balance. As their torso leaned to the left Skylar jut their hips out to the right, back and forth in stilted movements until the wind stopped and they caught their balance once more.
John was walking besides them in the street, arms jerking up every time Skylar fought to keep their balance. Focusing on the curb, Skylar took a deep breath and continued walking.
This time, even though Skylar could hear the branches and the leaves in the trees rustling before the gust hit them, they were unable to hold their balance and stepped off the curb to avoid toppling over.
John chuckled. "Harder than it looks isn't it?"
"You try." John jumped up on the curb. He squared his shoulders, straightened his back, held his arms out and started walking. He kept his head and gaze high even as the wind came back, tousling his hair. Step by step, Skylar now at his side, he got to the next driveway before jumping off and clicking his heels before standing in front of Skylar.
"Show off." They muttered. John just chuckled, slipping his hands in his pockets and walking besides them. As they passed the house, Skylar asked how John had gotten so good.
“In elementary school I did use a really low balance beam a lot."
"Why?"
John smiled. "Our gym teacher back then was really creative. She built obstacle courses with the gym supplies." John shrugged. "They were cool."
"And the small balance beam was on obstacle." Skylar held up one finger. "What else?"
John described how the teacher stacked two piles of mats about three feet apart from each other, the giant climbing rope hanging in the middle for swinging across. Tunnels to crawl through, mini trampolines, ramps, and scooters. The whole time John was smiling, and just as he started to trail off he clapped his hands.
"And each one had a theme!" He tapped his chest. "Like the heart! We learned about the four chambers, anaerobic vs aerobic, and to travel through each ventricle, as well as to the lungs and back, we had to remember if we would be oxygenated blood cells or not."
Skylar sighed. "Our gym was just drills."
"Sounds rough." He sighed too. "Ours were less fun as we got older. Run miles, do tests, occasionally play games, but half the time was spent of rules and we didn't go back to playing next class."
"And they wonder why your people as a whole have a fitness problem."
John snorted. "Yeah. They forgot how to make exercise fun."
"Even if you are bad at it." Skylar stepped back onto the curb, mimicking John's body posture before walking forward. Having their eyes straight ahead was a little terrifying at first, but eventually Skylar got the hang of it.
Word count: 500
Comentarios