With the food court in sight I realized Sam was gone from my side.... I began to look around trying to spot the tiny woman. Finally I saw her at the window of a sporting goods store a couple stores back. I quickly made my way to her side.
“Sam what the hell. Don’t wander off like that.” I said to her. She barely acknowledged my presence. “Sam what’s wrong?”
She turned to face me and I could see tears in her eyes. “I.... I....” She paused trying to not burst into tears. “I loved the gym.....” She began to cry burying her head into my body. I gave her a minute or two to compose herself.
“So you liked the gym huh?” I said as I stood next to her with my arm around her shoulders.
“It was like my home..... It was the one place I felt happy to be at no matter what was happening in my life.... It was special to me....” Her head drooped down. I actually felt kind of bad for Sam. I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine, but now it felt like I was almost being sadistic about it. “What the hell should I do now?” I thought as Sam leaned into me and hugged my waist.
“I was going to be a gym teacher when I finished college...” She paused. “And now I’m trying to be a librarian.... O my god why.”
This was actually making me sad now. “Sam how about we go in and look around?” She nodded her head putting up no resistance to the idea.
As we walked in Sam’s eyes seemed to lock onto the gym equipment, so I decide to follow her lead. When we got there, she looked at the weights and equipment like a kid a Christmas. “Man maybe I should help her a bit.” I thought as she attempted to lift a 5 lbs dumbbell. She could barely lift it off the rack....
I couldn’t watch her struggle any longer so I turned to look around the store. It wasn’t anything special, if fact it was like any other sporting goods store. The one thing that caught my eye was the female mannequin. I could see from halfway across the store that it was pretty damn buff. It looked like someone had cut the head off an Olympic sprinter. Strong legs.... Defined 6-pack.... Muscular shoulders and arms....
My mind began to wander. “I bet Sam would like to have those body parts.” The thought of her with those parts made me grin. “Whew she would be a complete dime.” I heard a weight drop onto the rack behind me. I turned thinking Sam may have hurt herself....