My daily routine now set, the man at the front desk waved me in without checking my ID. “Good to see you, Brooke. Early today, huh? Hope the kids didn’t get the best of you.”
“Not quite yet, Ken. However, I’ll feel better after a workout.” I didn’t meet Ken’s eyes for more than a second before refocusing on the floor and walking into the locker room to change clothes. For some reason, I always worried that random people would figure out it was my birthday and would want to sing to me. Luckily this hadn’t yet happened, but it didn’t stop me from worrying about it.
Soon I was in the workout room on the incline bench press. I was on my third set when I thought I heard something over the music from my iPod. After placing the weight bar back in its cradle, I hit the pause button and sat up to look around.
Sure enough, a low male voice wafted through the gym. “…In your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me….” The voice sounded good, a natural singer, but still, it wasn’t the typical thing you hear at the gym.
As I glanced around, I noticed I wasn’t the only one trying to find the source of the music. “Stars fading, but I linger on, dear, still craving your kiss….”
Finally, I looked over to the section containing the treadmills. My eyes narrowed so I could see clearer across the room.No way!I shook my head and laughed to myself.This guy can’t be real.In the midst of six or seven other runners, legs and arms pumping, eyes closed, a huge smile spread across his face, was the same man who had been dancing in the elevator.
I gazed at him in fascination. Either the man was partly mad, had never been taught a single ounce of social skills, or was starved for attention. He didn’t look crazy. He looked like he just stepped out of a magazine, except for the joyous expression residing where a sultry gaze should have been. Still, first the Beach Boys and now Mama Cass…. Who was this man, and what kind of life must he live? I watched for a few more seconds as his wide shoulders cut through the air around him.
I couldn’t help but have an ounce of awe and respect tinge my reproachfulness. How wonderful it would be to not care what others thought. How completely thrilling it must be to be able to sustain for even half an hour the happiness this strange man exuded. I shrugged and turned back to my chest workout. He must be on the highest dose of medicated happy pills anyone could be on outside of a mental institution.
I glanced once more over at the man, who seemed to have become aware that others around him may not have desired a serenade. The singing stopped; however, his smile never wavered, nor did the bobbing of his head in time with the music. Still bewildered, I continued my workout, even as my mind maintained its focus on the peculiar man. I was glad he hadn’t seen me. I had a feeling he would have been the one to realize it was my birthday and lead the entire gym in endless verses of the birthday song.
Three
“Comeon in, Brooke. Grab a seat.” Lester looked up from the pile of papers that covered his coffee table. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Lester sitting cross-legged on the floor of his office with his back resting against his desk, the table pulled in close to his body. It was a monthly event; it normally took him three days to figure out the upcoming schedule for his entire staff. From the looks of things, this month was overly difficult. The small trash can beside him overflowed with crumpled papers. There were even a couple of broken pencils mixed in among the rubbish. “It seems that March is the new desirable month to take vacations. Three of them! Two of them in the same week. You know, it might make sense if they were going to Hawaii or something, but one is visiting family in Minnesota and another is going to Alaska to watch the Iditarod race. Apparently, we don’t get enough snow in March in Colorado to satisfy.” The only thing I had ever heard Lester complain about was the cold. If it weren’t for his love of his job and his wife’s family living in town, I am sure he would have moved away in a second. “So, what’s going on? Everything going all right upstairs? Are you needing something?”
“Yeah. Everything is fine.” I stepped over a crumpled paper that had made it across the room and sat in my usual chair by the window. “Christina is just getting the kids’ shower times wrapped up and getting them to bed. Sandra took Justin down to pick up his last load of laundry. They said they would be fine finishing the paperwork for tonight, so we have plenty of time.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” Lester had returned his attention back to his schedule. With an agitated huff, he vigorously erased a large section of what he’d just written and wiped away the eraser shavings.
I’d finally gotten used to Lester’s scattered way of doing things, so I just sat back in my chair and watched him with a grin on my face.
He made a few more marks on his paper and peered at it for a few seconds. Without a sound, he wadded it up and tossed it on the top of the trash can, where it dislodged several other balls of paper that fell tumbling to the ground. He looked up at me like he didn’t know I was there.
“Hi, Lester. How are you?” I gave him a small little wave.
“Oh, Brooke! I’m so sorry.” With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet, rolled out the chair from behind his desk, moved it closer to me, and took a seat. “So, everything is fine upstairs, you said?”
I laughed. “Yes, sir, everything is fine.”
“Good. Good.” His kind gaze found mine finally. “Now, believe it or not, I actually have an agenda tonight, most of which is absolutely none of my business. But before we move on to that, I know you said you asked me to stop by and see you earlier today, but I never got around to it, so let’s talk about that first. What did you want?”
I looked at him, puzzled. I felt my stomach tighten at the thought of whatever apparently personal topic he wanted to ask me. “It’s okay. You can go ahead with what you were wanting to say.”
“Nonsense, Brooke, nonsense. What did you want earlier? We have plenty of time, and I will most likelyforget to ask if we don’t get it taken care of now.” He motioned for me to continue.
“Well, it’s nothing huge really, just something I’ve been thinking about. I talked to Sandra and Christina, and they both think it would be a good idea. I just wanted your approval before I went ahead with it.” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Brooke, come on, go ahead and ask. As long as you aren’t asking for a raise or a vacation to an iceberg in March, I’ll probably be okay with it.”
“Okay, then. I’d like to start a culinary club with the boys.”
“A culinary club, huh?” He sat back in his chair and took his usual position with his arms crossed, his biceps bulging larger than my head.
“Yeah, a cooking club.”
“I know what culinary means, Brooke. What brought this on?”
“Well, I was just thinking about things I have to offer the kids. I’m a really good cook. I know most of the boys don’t have any families to take care of them, or ones that just don’t want to. So, I was thinking this could be a really useful skill for them to have. And, who knows, maybe, if they like it enough, they might be interested in trying to do it as a job later.”
He sat there, merely nodding his head. His good eye focused on the ceiling. “Well, we do have that tiny kitchen down by the laundry room. You’d have to clean it pretty good before it would be useable. You’d have to pay for whatever food you want to make.” He looked back at me. “Would that be suitable?”
“Yes. Completely! Thanks, Lester. The boys are really excited about it!”
