Samuel (five) - The Gym

After hearing what Matt had to say, he went straight to the gym around the corner of his office after work. The place is filled with blue neon lights with posters of laughing youths flexing their muscles while looking at the camera ecstatically. Almost as if they can't believe they're actually alive.

Before Samuel can say a word to the salesperson at the front desk, a man in black appeared out of nowhere and said, "Hey! You want to join our club? I can show you around, you can see!"

"Uh...sure!"

So the man introduced his name as Tom and showed Samuel the four floors of the exercising machines and weights, most of them are unfamiliar to Samuel but he didn't ask anything. After the tour, Tom said, "Now we are offering new members a discount. If you sign up for two years, you only pay NT$1,500 a month and you can go anywhere in Taiwan."

"But I don't want to go all over Taiwan, how much is it just with this branch?"

"Um... why don't you sit down and I'll check with my manager?"

After about an hour's negotiation, Samuel agreed to the NT$25,000/two years, and paid right then and there. Not that he was so eager that he wanted to start right away, but simply because it is something new to be part of his life, maybe.

Later, he went to buy some shorts and shoes and was determined to go after work tomorrow and see what all the fuss was about.

The next day, around 5pm, he changed his clothes and got up to the fourth floor. He with his new New Balance running shoes squeaking quietly along the PU floor, one hand holding the towel and the other a bottled water, Samuel looked bewildered and lost in the sea of machines and weights around him. He decided to try the treadmill and got on next to a girl in green. He tried pushing the buttons but was unable to make the conveyor belt move. So he asked:

"對不起，這要怎麼用？(Sorry, can you show me how to use this?)"

"喔，你就按quick start就可以了，再按箭頭上或下。看你要快還是慢。(Sure, just press 'quick start' and if you want it to adjust the speed, just use the arrow buttons.)"

"謝謝。(Thanks)"

"不會。(No worries)"

Then Samuel started walking, then jogging. The girl beside him just grabbed hold of the railing and kept walking uphill, not a sweat on her makeup face though for the longest time while Samuel is getting out of breathe with his jogging only after 10 minutes. So he jumped off the machine and walked around some more.

He saw many middle aged and older women in the gym, all wearing tight-skinned gym outfits, some are simply just a bra, doing the classes where an instructor is on the front. All weights in the hand and doing different kinds of lifting and pushing. The music was deafening and appallingly loud. So he walked over to the machines for weights, and sat at a machine that you're supposed to do a rowing motion, according to the instructions.

Fifteen minutes in, when Samuel is taking a breather, the girl in green walked over, and sat down to do the same machine. She said, "我不會用這個，你可以教我嗎？(I don't know how to use this machine, can you teach me?)"

"你就手握緊把手，再往後拉就可以了。(Just hold on to the handle then pull)"

"但是這太重了耶。(But it's too heavy)"

"那你就可以調旁邊的輪盤，看你要多重。(Then just adjust the dial on the side)"

Samuel was thinking whether he should do a bit more and stay along to see if there would be anymore interactions with this girl, but then he decided not to be sleazy and left the girl with her rowing. As he was leaving the gym, however, he has decided he will return at the same time, secretly hoping the girl will show up too.