NHL Short Stories

Tyson Jost | Just Like Him

I should've noticed it before, like at the time we were buying him shapes that were different colours at the age of two or when we were teaching him colours. We should have known and not find out by his kindergarten teacher. I remember I had just got done putting the last load of laundry in the dryer and taking the one I just taken out down to the living room to fold when the home phone rang. Upon seeing E/S/N calling, my heart dropped before answering, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. "Ok" I say to myself softly "hello?" I answer "yes hello am I speaking with Mrs Jost?" "Yes this is she speaking. Who am I speaking with?" Slight confusion is heard in my voice. "This is Mrs Isabelle and I just wanted to call you about a slight concern we have with Robert that might concern you as well" she says, ok he isn't hurt but why was she calling "ok and that is?" I ask " we have noticed a slight difference between him and the other students when it comes time to recite the names of colours. We believe he might be colour blind". Colour blind? Meaning there certain colours he sees as different colours? After a couple seconds I finally find my voice " ok um do you know how we can help?" I ask already trying to think of what to do. The teacher informs me about what he has done and that it's not too extreme and not to worry that with teaching him the names of colours even though he can't see them properly he will be okay. The phone call ended shortly after that and i was left thinking back on the times i did notice his slight hesitation with certain colours but i just thought it was because he was young and still learning the names. After a couple of minutes of silence, I continued to fold laundry while thinking about how I was going to break the news to Tyson that he son is just like him. I couldn't help but smile a little because with this fact now known, it completed the puzzle because Robert is Tyson's carbon copy. Since our mothers were best friends, I grew up with Tyson and I know what he looked like when he was five and Robert looks like him at the same age.

A couple of hours later, Tyson came home from morning practice just in time to wait for Robert to get home a hour later and in that time I told him what the new situation we had to deal with was, he was a little surprised but he too wanted to do anything to help his son. Of course when he came home, I was preparing the meat I was going to cook for supper. We all know how much males eat so when you have Hockey player for a husband and a son who both have big appetites, you are going to want to make more than enough food to feed them. It was a good thing I love to cook, I got from my dad.

Tyson and I watched from our porch as Robert climbed down the stairs of the bus he took to and from school. Once his little feet hit the solid ground he started to run towards us, we couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight of his big bag weighing down his tiny body but he didn't let it affect him too much. "Mommy! Daddy!" He yells excitedly, running as fast as he can with occasional stopping to adjust his bag back on his tiny shoulders. When he first started school, he would sometimes fall because of the bag which did worry me but Tyson reassured me that he will grow and the bag's size won't be a problem anymore. He is the one that picked out his own bag which I remember what he said, he wanted this bag because the colour matched the colour of Tyson's Team Canada jersey when he Tyson asked him to describe the colour, he said it was a dark colour like the trees and grass but the problem was that the jersey colour was actually red so Tyson immediately looked at me but we shook it off because Tyson at once told him that. Now that we think about it we should have really looked into it.

The boys spent the rest of the day playing either outside or inside while I finished cleaning and doing other chores around the house. During dinner, Robert told us all about his day at school beginning at the time he took his seat on the bus this morning and ending at the time he took the same seat when school was done. He made some  new friends that were a grade higher than him at recess, he made us and all of his uncles pictures but forgot them in his cubby hole in his class room which him a bit sad but promised us he would bring them tomorrow which we couldn't help but smile because obviously it was adorable. After dinner was over and everything was cleaned up, the boys decided to watch a movie while I decided to check Robert's agenda to see what his teacher wrote about his behaviour at school was today. Even though we were young, it still amazes his teachers what a nice polite little we have raised. She has written in his agenda that he was cooperating with the other students, helped clean up when it was time, answered questions when they were directed towards him. All good things were written.

His day at school, all the playing he did with Tyson and the movie has drained all of his energy because by time bath time was over he was half asleep but still insisted that his father read him a bedtime story. He is out by time Tyson reaches the second page of the book. We take a moment to just watch his sleeping figure before we walk quietly out of the room shutting the down till it was open just a crack.

Before going to bed, we make sure everything is put away and the doors are locked. Like every night we get to go to bed together, very important conversations are made while we cuddle. It's silent before Tyson laughs "Y/N, he is just like me!" I laugh softly with him but we talk more about it and what to do, I have looked up ways to sort of fix his knowledge of the two colours he can't see properly. Before we falls asleep after talking about it for about an hour, I say sleepily "he is just like you Tyson" I smile "your little carbon copy, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?" We laugh and then finally let sleep take over us.