When We Met Jake
We met Jake on Lane 13 of Arbutus Bowling Club.
Well, we did not meet Jake, to be exact. We simply saw him.
He was with his mother, his sister, and sister’s friend (seemingly).
They were playing their game of 5-pin bowling on Lane 14, right next to ours.
All happy and cheerful, one summer afternoon.
Jake looked about five years old.
He could not lift the bowling ball with just one hand. So, he used two hands and threw the ball underhand; just as many other five year olds would do.
And, often, his mother helped him carry and release the ball; just as many other mothers of five year olds would do.
He sometimes uttered: “Am I winning? …Mom, am I winning?”
The mother always replied, “you are at the top.”
Certainly, his name appeared at the top of the players’ list on the screen.
But, his score was certainly not the highest.
Even as he tried hard, his ball usually missed the pins. Often completely.
So he uttered, too: “Am I still the number one? … Mom, am I still the number one?”
The mother replied, “well, not quite, but the game is not over yet.”
What makes wonderful mothers is universal in the world: 95 % patience and 5% wisdom.
By this point, my daughter, her two cousins visiting from Toronto, and I were all in love with Jake; with his untidy blonde hair and T-shirt too short for him, too.
“Mom, am I still winning? Am I the champion?”
“Well, you are still at the top, Jake. You are still at the top.”
We left the bowling place first, so we do not know what prize Jake got for finishing as the “top.”
We could not stop talking about Jake for the rest of the day.
Indeed, for several days.
And, finally, we saw Jake again.
We were in a car driving back from lunch or something, and he was walking with his family on West 12th street.
“That’s Jake! That’s Jake!”
Everybody in the car screamed at once.
He again made our day.
All happy and cheerful, another summer afternoon in Vancouver 2009.