The Truth Behind a Smile

“So, how were the Olympics?”

Stephen snapping his head toward his father. “It was so cool, Dad! I turned on the TV, and the first thing on the screen was this guy somersaulting in the air! He had really big muscles, and he was running back and forth across this big mat on the floor. Every time he got to the middle, he would launch himself into the air and do so many flips and twists I couldn’t believe it!”

“Whoa, sounds cool. What sport was that?” His father smiled at his son’s excitement.

“Gymnastics! I think they called it the floor something. Today was the finals for all the gymnastic events, and that was the first one, but these guys were jumping so high in the air it was crazy!” Stephen told his father.

“I guess you really liked it, huh?”

“Yeah, and then there were even more events after that one, which were even more amazing!” Stephen listed the gymnastics events he’d seen and described the most impressive performances.

“Whoa-ho! Sounds super cool! They must have been really strong then huh?”

“Yeah! I mean I can barely do pull-ups, and that’s just bringing my chin to the bar, but these guys are bringing the bar all the way to their waists—it was so cool. I wonder how many pull-ups they had to do before they could do that? You think I can try and bring my waist up to the bar one day, Dad?”

“Well, I don’t think there’s enough room around the bar in the shed for you to go too much higher, son, but if it makes you stronger, you just push yourself as much as you can until you achieve it! Okay? You have to make sure you’re as strong as you can before you try out for the football team next month when you start high school.”

His father’s comment shot a chill down his spine and his throat tightened as if something were lodged in it. He swallowed to try and force it back down.

“Y-yeah, you’re right, but it didn’t just stop there, though,” Stephen agreed and went back to enthusiastically explaining the gymnastics events, the parallel bars, and the pommel horse in particular. He looked at his father for his approval

His father gave a slight smile and nodded reassuringly.

“One guy was going so fast on the pommel horse I lost count of how many spins he did. To be honest I was getting dizzy! And all those sports were cool, but I haven’t even told you about the coolest one yet, Dad.” Stephen paused to let the anticipation build.

“What was that?” His father asked, breaking the momentary silence.

“The rings! It was just these two rings hanging down by some rope, and these guys grabbed onto them. They did some of the same tricks as before, but they would hold poses in certain positions, and you could see the rings and ropes shaking a little bit. It was crazy to think about because in every other event they did tricks on things that didn’t move, but these guys held on to something that was moving, but they made it look like it wasn’t moving. It was crazy!”

Stephen’s father sat back for a moment in silence. If it weren’t for his having watched the Olympics in past years, he might not have understood what Stephen was trying to say, but he could see that Stephen had been enthralled.

His father and Amelia had already finished more than half of their meals, but Stephen’s plate remained relatively full since he’d spent more time speaking than actually eating. His father however, was happy to see his son so motivated to get stronger, but he’d grown bored of hearing about the different kinds of gymnastics Stephen had watched that day.

“They must have trained a lot to be able to do those tricks so well, huh?” Stephen’s father asked, implying that Stephen should train equally hard.

“Yeah, I bet they trained their whole life, probably starting when they were my age.”

“They probably started even younger, just like you did with boxing. You started light training exercises boxing when you were five. Those guys probably started doing gymnastics around the same time.”

“Oh wow, yeah. That would make sense.” Stephen wondered whether it was already too late to achieve his secret goal.

“Speaking about boxing, they didn’t have any boxing matches in the Olympics today? You know it’s one of the oldest sports in the world and one of the more popular ones too,” his father said with a cocky smile.

“Yeah, I know.” Stephen looked away. He’d heard this fact about boxing several times. “I think the commentators mentioned something about boxing, but they didn’t show any bouts. Maybe they had them earlier in the day?” Stephen asked, hoping to bring the conversation back to gymnastics.

“Oh, that’s a shame. I heard that there’s this guy for America in the light welterweight division who’s supposed to be really good, supposed to be one of the top up and coming prospects. I think his name is Ray Leonard. We should see if he’s fighting this weekend and watch his fights together, son.”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Stephen said without enthusiasm.

“I know Americans tend to rule boxing in the Olympics, and boxers are incredibly strong so I’m sure we kicked some butt in gymnastics too since it seems to be a strength-focused sport. How many patriots brought home the gold in those events you were watching?” his father asked enthusiastically.

“Umm, well, I don’t think any American got lucky this year. There weren’t really a lot in the events, but there was this one guy! Peter something. He brought home a bronze.” Stephen laughed nervously.

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that in all those events you saw today, there was only one American, and he only managed to get a bronze medal?” Stephens father’s voice dropped.

“Y-y-yeah, I guess they just w-weren’t lucky enough this year.” Stephen’s voice shook because he could sense his father’s disapproval for the sport beginning.

“Well, if Americans couldn’t win gold, then what weak countries out there could?” The tension in the room grew.