Triplets' Gymnastics and Other Surprises
When the triplets were four, their parents decided to take them for gymnastics to help their posture, and for Frank, his immune system. Zac was already learning karate, but the triplets, except Frank, had showed no interest in that. Frank was however, too weak to learn karate, or Mrs. Trotteville thought so anyway, so gymnastics it was. The three young boys were quite happy about it; during the first lesson they scrambled to the teacher and smiled identical smiles, eager to learn as much as they could. Triplets they were, but at that time the teacher could still tell them apart. Fred had a roundish stomach, though it wasn't obvious yet, Frans was quite thin, though he still did have baby fats on him. Little Frank was the smallest of all, looking like a three year old beside his brothers. He was the thinnest too, but had the thickest hair and the most innocent smile that could melt anyone's heart in a thrice.
It being their birthday, their parents had decided to take them shopping for presents after their first lesson. But first, the triplets would have to train on their flexibility for two hours. Their first exercise was a repeated kicking of legs into the air, balancing with hands on the ground across the mat to get the feel of a cartwheel. This the three boys did cheerfully, and Frank did the best of them all, even to the point of trying to imitate the older six year olds on actual cartwheels. He did not succeed, but he was still proud of what he had done. During the break Mr. Trotteville gave them water to drink, and then left to pick up Zac from his karate lessons.
"Are you enjoying yourselves, dearies?" asked Mrs. Trotteville. The triplets smiled running back to follow the older boys as they began to climb on some extra benches. It was soon clear that the triplets were tired after their class, but only Frank showed it, for he was a little weaker than his brothers. As a result Mr. Trotteville carried him to the car, and the child fell asleep at once, right until they reached the mall. By then Frank had decided to sleep in Zac's lap, and poor Zac, looking quite uncomfortable, was finally relieved of his feat when they arrived.
"Toys!" squealed little Fred happily, running into the shop to look at the children's section. Frans followed suit, but Frank took Zac's hand and followed him around like a little puppy, staring at everything in awe as they walked through the entire shop. Zac, who had been wishing that Frank would be more sensible than to go straight to the toys before seeing anything else, was very pleased with little Frank.
Finally, after twenty minutes, when Frans and Fred had settled on a soft toy and a story book respectively, Frank tugged on his seven year old brother's shirt and pointed to a book high up on a shelf in the teen's section. Zac looked carefully at Frank to see if he was serious about it. Frank got impatient and pointed again, this time almost wrenching the fabric off Zac's shirt. Quickly Zac reached up and with a saleslady's help, got the book down for little Frank, who at once sat on the floor and opened it to read. Zac looked at his brother in amazement; even he did not understand what the book was trying to say!
"Are the pictures that nice?" asked Zac, squatting down beside Frank. In the children's section the parents were searching frantically for their two sons, not in the least guessing that both of them were of all places, in the teen section. Frank shook his head in annoyance and went back to reading. Someone called his and Zac's name in the distance, and Zac got up to find his parents.
"Goodness me! Where were you? And where's Frank? You've scared mummy and daddy dreadfully, Zachary," said Mrs. Trotteville, looking extremely relieved. Smiling, Zac pulled his parents to where Frank was and grinned broadly.
"I think he understands what the book is saying, mummy," explained Zac. Mr. Trotteville sat beside his four year old son and read the cover of the book. On it was written in big letters, 'Encyclopaedia for Teens'. Mouthing the words in disbelief, the man stared at his little boy in mute amazement. He was speechless. Was this really his son? True, it had been proven that little Frank was a genius, but still, a teen's encyclopaedia! How amazing was that?
"Can you buy me this book daddy?" asked Frank pleadingly. He was afraid his father would say no because it was too big. Mr. Trotteville nodded, slightly dazed, and took the book from him. Mrs. Trotteville looked just as stunned as both walked to the counter, and Zac was once again left with the much reluctant task of taking care of the young triplets again.
Frank looked innocently at Zac and took his brothers hand.
"Did I do anything wrong?" he asked, looking at his confused parents. "I think mummy and daddy are angry with me, Zac." Zac smiled at Frank assuringly at him.
"They're very happy with you," Zac said wisely. "And very proud too. They aren't angry with you, that I'm sure of." Little Frank smiled and ran to his parents, and Mr. Trotteville carried him on his broad shoulders all the way to the car. The other two little boys took each of Mrs. Trottevilles hands and Zac followed behind, prepared to go home for a good nap.
Finally at home, the three boys made good use of their toys. Frans immediately gathered his hankies and shaped it into a small cot for his new teddy bear Willie. Fred opened his book and took out some crayons, and began to colour over the pictures he thought uncolourful. Frank however, sat at the corner of their room and began to read silently, occasionally running to his parents to get them to explain certain things he did not understand. Both parents were amazed by his understanding of the book though. By right, a four year old should only be able to read stuff like 'This is a cat."!
So while the other two youngsters played with their new 'toys', Frank was behaving like an extremely undersized teenager submerged into the world of knowledge and the truth of mother nature, best of all, he really enjoyed the five hours he spent reading it. He even brought it to his kindergarten and tried to make his young teacher teach him more things he thought she would understand. Frank had a concept in his mind about teachers in which they knew absolutely everything, from the wonders of the universe way beyond the boundaries of earth to the deepest and darkest dungeons in hell no one could ever imagine.
Of course, Ms. Stanley, the teacher was extremely startled at the keen mind of little Frank, the smallest in her class. She began to ask him many questions, to which he answered confidently and cheerfully, not in the least knowing that he was a child genius. The young lady wasted no time in calling up his parents, and soon found out that they too had recently discovered the gifted mind of little Frank. So during the break, Ms. Stanley got some of her old school books and gave them to Frank, telling him that he would enjoy it, and that he could ask her any questions about it if he wanted. She was so excited about discovering this child prodigy that she almost forgot about her other students that day. When it was time to go home, she personally went out to speak to Mrs. Trotteville about Frank's future.
"You know Mrs. Trotteville; I believe that if Franklin had a proper tutor he could do great things in future. I happen to know a man, who used to give lectures in a couple of well known universities, he happens to be a distant relation of mine. If you don't mind, I would gladly give your son a chance to prove himself to him. Franklin is a most intelligent child." Mrs. Trotteville smiled, and shook her hand kindly thanking her and said that she would think about it. Frank beamed happily as his teacher stroked his hair fondly, and then ran off into the car to play with his brothers. Frank was mature in the mind to a certain extent. He still had the childlike innocence in him, which was of course, a good thing.
"Teacher said I need a tutor," Frank told his brothers. "What's a tutor?" Frans frowned.
"I think it's a person that scolds you when you are bad," he said. Frank paled at once, and looked warily at Zac.
"Is it true?" he asked. Zac laughed and shook his head.
"A tutor is someone who teaches you stuff. They're nice people, Frank. Don't worry." Frank tried to smile, and Zac gave him a hug. Zac loved little Frank of his three brothers. He was so small and cute, and loved tagging after him.
"Mummy am I going to have a tutor?" asked Frank sweetly as she got into the car. Mr. Trotteville looked at his wife.
"What's all this about tutors?" he asked. Mrs. Trotteville told him, and the father smiled at Frank. Frank then spent the whole day wondering why his parents were so pleased with him.
The next day Mr. Trotteville called Franklin and sat the boy on his lap.
"You're going to do very well in school when you're older, Franklin," said Mr. Trotteville, kissing his small son on the head.
"Why?" asked Frank. His father laughed.
"You're born smart, that's why. Smarter than thousands of children and people alike. So daddy's going to give you a tutor so that you can learn faster than other kids, son. Is that all right with you?" Frank nodded, and smiled.
"Do I get a present for having a tutor, daddy?" he asked cunningly. Again his father laughed and nodded.
"I'm very proud of you, Franklin." Frank looked surprised.
"I thought you said that I was the weakest boy in the family," he said sadly.
"That's in the physical sense, son. Mentally, you're very fit, and I want you to work on it."
"What's physically?" asked Frank.
"Why don't you find out?" asked Mr. Trotteville. He took a thick book from a huge stack, obviously all for Frank, and handed it to the eager boy. It was a dictionary, and to Mr. Trotteville's delight, Frank enjoyed all the books he had bought, spending the next two weeks on them. After that, Mr. Trotteville tested him on the facts, and was found dancing crazily around the house afterwards.
It was time for gymnastics again. Frank was bouncing up and down in the car excitedly, while the other two sat still and sober, although excited too. All of them wanted to learn the proper way of doing cartwheels. Frank was the first out of the car, and he ran ahead into the gym, halting in front of the teacher, and then grinned. The other two ran after him and smiled too. The teacher patted their heads and took them to their class.
The exercises were the same, mostly, with a few changes here and there to build their flexibility and basic gym skills. This would go on for a few months, depending on their eagerness to learn and also their talent. Frank was surprisingly doing better than his brothers although he was by far weaker. He of course, had always been the most restless triplet of the three, but no one had expected him to excel in sports. By the third lesson, Frank had managed to do the cartwheel, while the rest in his class were only doing the half cartwheels. His teacher was extremely pleased, and immediately put him into the higher class. Needless to say, Frank was the youngest and tiniest gymnast in his new group, who were all at least a year older.
One day, the coach went up to the parents as the kids were having a break.
"Franklin is a very talented gymnast, you know," she said, smiling at Mrs. Trotteville. "If he has a passion for it, he might even get to compete for his state in a few years." Mrs. Trotteville and her husband stared in wonder at the coach. Never had they thought their little Franklin had the ability to do sports, much less compete for his state!
"Are you sure about the competing part?" asked Mr. Trotteville. "None of us have ever had any gymnastics experience, and you say Franklin has a talent! Our little Frank? Are you sure you've got the right one? He's the smallest triplet you know, and the weakest little tyke too." The coach smiled and shook her head.
"He's definitely not weak when it comes to gymnastics! You should see how flexible he is, and he always pushes himself to be as good as the children in the higher levels. If this continues he'll be one of the best students." At that time the little child ran sweating and panting happily towards his parents. Mrs. Trotteville smiled and gave him some water to drink, and Mr. Trotteville sat Frank on his lap. Frank clutched the bottle with his tiny hands and gulped down its contents thirstily, before putting it down. At once he began to gabble about what he had done that day. The other two kids looked just as worn out, but neither looked as enthusiastic as Franklin did.
"Coach Jane put me with the big boys and girls today, daddy!" squealed Frank cheerfully. "And they like me. They taught me how to do a handstand. I'm going to learn it next week, daddy! Will you be happy, if I can do it soon?"