Peter that night thought about Cindy and how he felt when he first walked into the café, Cindy made him feel special like he was a person who meant something and not a fat person who should hide away, he thought about the seats in the cubicles and how romantic it would have been to be in one with Cindy he couldn’t help it he liked her a lot, he resolved that each day he would work at losing weight, he wasn’t sure how but something Cindy said spurred him on ‘if I could go one whole month without dessert I would shout myself to a new pair of shoes or a dress’ of course he wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes or a dress but he could buy something else.
He thought about what he would like to ‘treat’ himself to a pair of jeans he thought, it had been years since he had worn a pair but as he looked at himself in the mirror he knew that it would be a long time before he would be able to do that.
So he sat and thought about the things that he probably shouldn’t eat and the things that he should or could do for exercise, Cindy had given herself a month so he picked one food item that he would eliminate and one exercise thing to do every-day for the next month and if he achieved it he would buy himself a new shirt.
At two o’clock in the morning he felt pleased with himself and looked forward to the new day and the excitement of the journey he was about to begin.
The new morning he woke still excited and a little apprehensive whether he could do it or not, one day at a time he reminded himself, so he made breakfast, washed his dishes and mopped his kitchen floor he looked at the towel on the lounge-room floor where he decided that he would do the dreaded floor exercises that Cindy made him do everytime she was here. If there was anything he wanted it was to do the floor exercises well so that he didn’t look like a floundering fat fish.
He sat at the kitchen table looking at the towel that lay on the floor and he knew that if he just did it when he first put the towel down it would have been done by now and he wondered why he was so reluctant to start, it wasn’t as if he would be embarrassed there was no-one around to see him, surely now would be the perfect time to do it, while no-one was around.
After another ten minutes he gathered the determination to just do it, after fifteen sweaty minutes he pulled himself off the floor, fifteen minutes he thought to himself he should be able to do it quicker, he thought about trying again in the afternoon perhaps he could time himself he had an alarm on his phone that would be able to time him. Again he was looking forward to trying, but now he was going to have a shower and wash the sweaty film from him.
The following three days he continued his exercises on the floor in the morning and in the afternoon, he had got his time down to fourteen minutes and was proud that he had taken some time off his floor exercises. Today he was excited, Cindy was coming over and he decided to forgo his morning exercises and work off some of his renewed energy by wiping down the cabinets that had accumulated dust and grime over the years. Peter was surprised that he had allowed it to get out of hand.
She pulled up in front and gathered her bags to take them inside when she looked up she saw Peter at the door he was coming out to gather her bags.
She smiled as he took the bags from her and she looked at him, he looked different somehow, he had never come outside to help her with her bags before, was it confidence that she saw in him. She got the mat out and she thought about changing his routine she knew how much he hated working on the mat but the mat was a vital part of strengthening his core.
As she walked inside she looked around thinking it looked different but everything was in place and she resolved that it must have been her imagination.
After going through Peter’s session she was surprised to see Peter with enthusiasm.
“You’re all perky today, you’ve done the routine with five minutes to spare, congratulations.”
He wiped the sweat from his brow. “Yeah I feel good, the best I’ve felt for a long time.”
She smiled “That’s good. I had a nice time the other night.”
He took a glug of water from a glass and wiped his mouth on his hand towel. “Yeah me too, so since we’ve finished five minutes earlier what do we do with the extra time.”
“Well as you did so well today I say cool down and enjoy.” She looked at him and thought she saw that he would have liked to do more, which she found odd because he was usually glad when the session was finished. “Why don’t we do some more stretches?”
“That would be good.” He smiled
After they finished the stretches she packed up her things to leave.
“Well Peter I’ll see you on our next session Wednesday.”
Peter gave Cindy a great big smile “Look forward to it”
As Cindy started up her engine she mused over the entire session with Peter, something was different and she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Over the following weeks Peter continued to work out on his floor exercises and stayed away from potato chips which were his afternoon and evening treat, each Wednesday Cindy would pick him up and together they would go to the café where they both enjoyed good food, good service and a decent band that played decent music.
Peter was particularly impressed when it came up to his four weeks, one whole month of extra exercise and no potato chips.
Staring at the calendar where the circle indicated that he had done one whole month he placed a big black cross over the circle with the texta in his hand as he did every day, he smiled at his achievement.
Now, for his reward. He showered, shaved and rang for a taxi to take him to the nearest shopping centre where he purchased a new shirt and a new pair of track-pants, he looked at the tailored pants and thought about trying them on. He looked at his purchases and thought that the tailored pants would be his next reward. Pleased with himself he paid for his purchases and went back home.
Peter was surprised that he felt as good as he did, he looked at the towel that lay on the floor as a solitary reminder of the hard work he had put in everyday, it wasn’t easy, once it was done he was glad he did the exercise but getting there was the majority of his battle.
Looking back at the calendar he made another circle on it and thought about his next exercise that he would tackle, he thought about walking but it scared him, he looked at the walking frame and thought that he had to at least give it a go. He thought about how far he would go and where, he didn’t want to go when the kids were about their taunts would crush his ego that had begun to repair.
Looking out the window he watched the sun set over his street and knew that the kids would not be around he slipped on his lace-less sneakers and set off out the door, he put the timer on his watch five minutes he thought at least for a start, two and a half minutes he set the watch for and set off down the path leading away from his door, as the timer went off he was surprised that his time was up and headed back home.
As he walked in the door he felt good, he had a great day, he had reached the one month mark, bought a new shirt and track pants and had walked for five minutes without his frame.
The following week when Cindy came to pick Peter up for their weekly outing she noted his new attire.
“Very nice” she commented gesturing toward his new clothes
“You like it?”
“I do. When did you get this?” she said as she touched the sleeve of his shirt.
“Last week it was a reward.”
She smiled at him “A reward for what?”
“Well I remembered what you said that first night about rewarding yourself for not eating dessert, so I thought that I would do the same and this is my reward.”
“Oh congratulations Peter that’s wonderful I’m proud of you. You know the last couple of weeks I have seen a definite improvement in your workout and whatever you have been doing is working well”
“Those damn floor exercises you make me do, I do them every day and I cut out my potato chips”
“You must feel really good”
“I do”
She turned the car engine over “Well lets go celebrate and my reward to you for taking the initiative my shout.”
Peter blushed “Cindy I couldn’t possibly allow you to pay, what say at the end of the night I get a good night kiss on the cheek.”
Cindy smiled and held out her hand for Peter to shake “Deal.”
Their night together consisted again of good food, good service and a nice healthy dose of good music and wonderful company. The end of the night was drawing to a close and Peter felt excited he was going to get a kiss from Cindy, ridiculous he knew that he was getting excited about a kiss on the cheek but anything remotely close to intimacy he welcomed it had been so long since he had been with a woman.
He sat in the car and performed his weekly line “Would you like to come in for a coffee?”
She smiled at him, he was so sweet she thought, she put her hand on his that sat on his knee and gave his hand a squeeze. “You are wonderful man Peter, I believe I owe you a good night kiss.”
Peter blushed and gave a childish chuckle.
She leant over and kissed him on the cheek “Good night Peter, thank you for a lovely night.”
Peter chuckled again and wished her a good night as he got out of the car. He thought about his next day, he had an appointment at the doctors which he dreaded, more humiliation from the doctor.
Hopefully a new chapter tomorrow
til next time
Happy Reading
Valissa
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