‘Catch!’ I called out to my son from across the lawn, his goofy smile clear as a bell. With an almighty heave I threw the baseball to him, playing up the effort it took. He laughed, squinting up into the sky to see the ball.
It landed a foot behind him, as he raced towards where it softly thudded into the grass.
‘Still hasn’t caught one?’ my wife asked, concern slightly tinging her voice as she descended from the patio with two glasses of lemonade.
‘Not yet,’ I sighed, accepting one of the glasses with a wordless thanks.
She sighed, putting on an exaggerated grin as she waved to him from the other side of the lawn, gesturing at the glass in her hand.
‘Maybe we need to get him tested?’
‘What, some sort of kids eye test? For glasses or something?’
‘Maybe,’ she repeated chewing on her bottom lip. ‘I mean, he still hasn’t noticed me.’
‘He’s at the other end of the property,’ I laughed.
‘We don’t live on a ranch, John,’ she shook her head. ‘He’s not acres away.’
‘Still,’ I shrugged. ‘I don’t know that it’s necessary.’
‘It’s not a bad thing,’ she stressed. ‘It’ll just tell us if he needs anything he’s not getting.’
‘Like glasses.’
‘You’re really stuck on the glasses thing, aren’t you?’
I took a long sip of my lemonade.
‘Jacob!’ my wife finally called out, sick of waving her arms at our obviously blind child. ‘Jacob, I’ve got a drink for you!’
‘Thanks, Mum!’ his little voice echoed back to us, and he broke into a run.
‘Fine,’ I sighed. ‘I’ll have a look for the best optometrist near Bentleigh while I’m out tomorrow.’
‘Thank you,’ she smiled, patting me on the shoulder. ‘While you’re out you might want to get yourself booked in for a test too.’
‘What? My eyes are fine!’
‘Really?’ she frowned. ‘And you wore that shirt with those pants?’
‘She disappeared into the house, cackling to herself.