“Who
are you?” I ask the young guy stretching beside me on the mat outside the
exercise area at LA Fitness. He is doing strenuous core exercises without
resting. He is in the best condition and wears a skin tight shirt. He has black
curly hair, dark eyes and pimples.
“What?” he asks.
“If you are going to do that—those
hard exercises and be that strong beside me, then who are you?”
“I’m Jeff,” he says, smiling. “Thank
you.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“I got married at twenty,” I say.
“Are you married?”
“No way,” he says. “I’m not ready to
be married. I have to go back to school. It will be a long time.”
“How many girls were in your 7th
grade class?” I asked.
He thinks about it. “About seven,”
he says.
“Only seven?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to pick one out. You get
engaged to her at sixteen and marry her at twenty. You spend the rest of your
life with her. That’s what I did.”
“No way. Did you really?”
“Tell me about that psychology.”
“I couldn’t do it,” he says. “I
can’t imagine it.”
“What are you studying?”
“I’m a trainer, but I want to go
back to school. I want to study small business. I want to own a business.”
“You’ll do well at that if you are
this good at these exercises,” I say.
He smiles broadly, filled with
enthusiasm. It has been many years since I felt the energy that is humming
through him. Every pore of his body is on alert.
“Want me to show you how?” he asks.
“You can do them.”
“I know who you are now,” I say. “Go
back to work. It’s fine.” I begin to stretch, my way, and ignore him as he gets
busy, too.
You can purchase I Am Everyone I Meet: Random Encounters on the Streets of Los Angeles, to here more about James's experiences right HERE!
Copyright 2012 James P. White (All Rights Reserved) No part of this work may be reproduced, except to quote on blogs or reviews, without the express permission of the author.
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