I am a Weight Lifter

I am a weight-lifter. A body builder. I stumble down the stairs. In ninety minute increments of naptime or late evening lulls, the scratchy radio broadcasts sports, talk or classical. I approach the free weights part hippie part meat. It’s balance and strength. I start with lunges. Ten pound dumbbells. Three sets. Right leg first, twenty lunges. Stop. Left leg first, twenty lunges. Stop. Right leg again. Done. Blue sneaks past me during my break to lick the cats. They’re sleeping on the old rocking chair and footstool. Short protests but Neko only braces herself for his powerful bath. One lick and she’s soaked. Set break finished. I adjust the bars on the bench up to shoulder height, one side at a time, and then load the 45 lb bar with two 25 lb weights. I take a deep breath and rise onto my toes to lift the bar off and onto my shoulders. Legs shoulder-width apart. Knees bent and back arched, I look up at the photo of Twin Lakes in the rain taped to the ceiling and squat down. One. Two. Three to ten. Done. Two sets today. I adjust the bars back down. All the weight comes off. What if I turned around all the clocks in the house on the weekends? I lay down on my back with feet firm on the floor for the bench press with just the bar. It is cold and I grip it tightly for stability. Ten presses. Go. I breathe hard by the tenth and drop the bar back on the tower. Two more sets to go. Do I conserve my strength and just lay there on the bench or do I get up and walk it off ? Today I move. It’s Sunday in the afternoon. Would it matter if it were 2pm or 4? By the third set my arms shake and I grunt out loud on the last few presses. Done. Next I try the military press. Five presses and I stop. I need a day’s break before I try these again. I move on to triceps. I lean forward over the bench and lean onto my hands, feet squarely on the ground and fingers spread out on the black fabric. I pick up the dumbbell with my right hand and hold it at my side and extend back and up. Twenty times on the right. Twenty times on the left. Done. Finally I use the bench to set up lateral pulls. Time is only on my side when I ignore it. I grab the overhanging bar and sit down on the bench looking out the window at a fern and the wheel well of the car. The weight comes down and behind my head. Three sets of ten and I finish.