Wednesday at Noon

by Teneka Woods

  “I didn’t think about that. But I guess I can bring a change of clothes. For a different effect in some of the shots.”

  “Do you have a particular place in mind for this outdoor shoot?”

  “Hmm….” After several seconds of thought he said, “There’s a park not too far from where I live called Bear Creek Park, but I’m not sure what part of town you’re on.”

  Bear Creek Park? That’s five minutes away from me! That’s it, she thought. Maybe she’d seen him somewhere around here. “It’s okay. I normally charge a mileage fee if it’s far out, but I will waive it as a courtesy to you.” After explaining her hourly rate, she asked, “Do you have a particular day in mind? How soon do you need them done?”

  “How soon is your next available appointment? Are there any openings on Wednesday?”

  Another coincidence? Wednesday was her off day. “Yes, that would be perfect. Is twelve o’clock a good time for you?”

  “That’s cool. Are you familiar with Bear Creek Park? I will be in the picnic area.”

  “I’ve heard of it,” she said, “but I’ve never been. First, I need your email address to send you a deposit invoice.” He called out the address and she typed it into the Notes app on her phone. “I’ll find the park and call you when I get there.”

  “Thanks, Tora. See you Wednesday.”

  * * *

  “I’m canceling my membership.”

  “What?” Candace followed Tora to the storage area in the back of the store. Tora needed a display sign post and Candace needed to get a roll of quarters for the sales clerk. “Canceling why?” She sat down behind the desk to get the cash box. “Oh! Was he that good?”

  Tora rolled her eyes. “He was bad. Very bad.”

  Candace laughed. “Really? What happened?”

  “First of all the picture he has posted on his profile must be a decade old—”

  “Noo… he didn’t pull that one did he?” Candace shook her head. “And guys try to say women are the ones who do things like that.”

  “Exactly. Second, he wasn’t too clean-cut… ill-fitted clothing, bad body. Wasn’t attractive at all.”

  “Oh my god.”

  “But wait… it gets worse.

  Candace closed the cash box and returned it to the drawer. She folded her arms in front of her on the desk, anticipating the best parts of the story.

  “The guy must not have been raised with any kind of table manners because he talked and chewed with his mouth open, mayonnaise and saliva everywhere.”

  Candace twisted her lips in disgust. “Okay, eww.”

  “It was sick!” Tora almost gagged again at the memory. “And more than anything… he was just a lazy loser who mooches off women.” She sat down in the chair. “Do you know that fool believes women should take care of him while he works on his music?”

  Candace raised a perfectly arched brow.

  “Yeah,” Tora nodded, “he said that’s our biggest problem in relationships because we don’t support each other. He should be able to pursue his dream full-time and not have to work. Meanwhile his girlfriends—mind you… he’s never been married—are going to work every day to support his ass with only a promise that he will marry them after he becomes a success. But he’s been trying to get his music off the ground for damn-near twenty years!”

  “What? You have got to be lying,” Candace laughed.

  “I wish I was, but no. And that’s still not the worst of it—”

  “You mean there’s more?” She popped her gum.

  “He has a daughter on the other side of the world in Japan that he makes no effort to take care of or see because the plane tickets are expensive—”

  “Huh?” Candace frowned. “How did that happen?”

  Tora waved her hand. “He moved there with one of his friends—somebody that’s into music like him. But can you believe that? Because the plane tickets are too expensive? I mean… I would think a man would do what he has to do to make money: deliver pizzas, wash cars, cut grass. Hell, work at Burger King… I don’t know.”

  Candace shook her head in disgust too.

  “The nail in the coffin for me, though, was when he told me the girl would be well-taken care of after his music makes it big.”

  “I hate to laugh,” Candace said as she covered her mouth with her hand and her body shook, “but this sounds like a prank date.”

  Tora sighed. “Which is why I’m signing on to request a refund. I don’t need a full thirty days to know this is not for me.” She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket.

  “Aww, Tora. You can’t give up after just one date. It was a whole year of misses before I met Ruki.”

  “Nope,” Tora shook her head. “I’m not wasting my money just to meet a bunch of losers.”

  Candace laughed again. “That’s why I told you you should talk to them on the phone and get to know them before you meet in person. Y’all would’ve never moved past the phone conversation by the sound of it.”

  “That’s a negative as well. I need to see them. Suppose we vibe over the phone, but then finally meet and he turns out to be a porcupine in the face?”

  A laugh burst out of Candace that Tora was certain the customers on the other side of the wall could hear.

  “Shhh,” Tora hissed. “You’re gonna have people thinking we’re back here goofing around.”

  Candace covered her mouth and slid down in the seat as the laugh overtook her.

  “I’m canceling right now. I’m serious.”

  Candace righted herself in her chair and reached across the desk for Tora’s phone. “Don’t! Give it some time, girl.”

  Tora twisted away from her. “See,” she said, holding the phone in the air, “this is exactly what I was talking about. Five messages from Jason.”

  “Who’s Jason?”

  “That’s his name. Mr. Yuck Mouth also known as The Mooch. If he had my phone number these messages would have been missed calls and or voicemails.”

  “What did he say?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m not reading them,” she said and pressed the button to delete each message.

  Candace sucked her teeth. “You could’ve at least seen what he had to say, Tora. Maybe he became an over-night success.”

  Tora had to laugh at that one. “Nope. Not wasting time. Oh… but here’s one from the other guy—the cute one.” There were fifteen more messages from other members, but her eyes settled on his. “This is the one looking for his sidekick.”

  “Oh, he is handsome.” Candace snatched the phone away from Tora. “Damn,” she said as she looked closely at the screen.

  Tora nodded. “Yep. That’s the same thing I said.”

  “I know you’re going to meet him, right?”

  “I don’t know. I get a feeling I’ll only be disappointed. His picture is probably old, too.”

  Candace batted her hand. “Don’t think like that. Just because the first date was a disaster, don’t let it get you down. It’s all a part of the process. Like I said, it took about a year before I met my prince. And look….” She wiggled the hand with the stunning diamond ring in front of her face.

  Tora rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

  Candace laughed.

  “Candace?” One of the sales associates appeared at the door of the small office. “Brittney needs some quarters.”

  SEVEN

  He was tall and oval-shaped with sloped shoulders, breasts, soft belly, and heavy legs. He wore a red snug-fitting University of Houston hoodie over a pair of black gym shorts. His mother had told Nate he was fourteen. He didn’t have any friends, spent most of his time at home locked in his room, spoke rarely, and she worried he suffered from depression. She’d wanted her son to see a therapist, but he refused, so she was turning to Nate in hopes that he could help him get active and lose weight to build his self-esteem.

  Nate hugged Leticia before holding his hand out to her son who stood with his hands shoved into the kangaroo pocket of
the hoodie. It was ninety degrees outside.

  Ms. Leticia nudged her son with her elbow. “Take your hands out of your pocket, Vaughn.”

  Annoyance crossed the kid’s face and he reluctantly pulled a hand from his pocket and offered Nate a limp handshake.

  “What’s up, man? You doing all right today?” Nate asked him.

  Vaughn didn’t answer, but looked somewhere over Nate’s head.

  “He didn’t wanna come,” Leticia said, “but I told him he has no choice.”

  Nate nodded. “Alright, well, hopefully that’ll change in a few minutes.” He smiled at Vaughn. “We’re gonna have some fun today, alright man? I’m gonna tell you a little bit about what you can expect from me, I’ll get your measurements, and then we’ll take a tour of the gym to get you familiar with the equipment and everything. Then we’ll talk a bit about nutrition and what you can do when you’re at home to make sure you don’t jeopardize all the hard work you put in here so you see some results. And then we’ll get us a workout in, alright?”

  A crease appeared above Vaughn’s brow, but he said nothing.

  Leticia laid a hand on her son’s arm. “Son, this man is here to help you. Don’t give him a hard time, okay?” She looked at Nate with a mix of desperation and sympathy in her eyes. “It’s a start I guess. How long do you think you’ll need?”

  “About an hour should be good today. Just to go over some things.”

  “Alright,” Leticia said. “You have my number. I’m gonna go down to that coffee shop right there on the corner and wait for him. Just call me when he’s ready, okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I will do that.”

  “See you in a while, Vaughn,” she said before turning to go out the door.

  Nate looked up at Vaughn, “Alright, you ready, man? Let’s get started. Step over here with me to my desk.” The kid sucked his teeth quietly and followed behind Nate. Nate stopped at the small refrigerator to grab a bottle of water for him. “You ever worked out in a gym before?” he asked as he sat down behind the desk. Vaughn plopped down in the chair in front of it.

  He didn’t answer and Nate realized this was going to be his most challenging client. He was used to the ones that were eager to get the weight off and get fit. They walked through the doors with a purpose. Even the ones like Jordyn, whom he had to coax a lot of times through the workouts when she was feeling unmotivated. She hated every minute of them, but she still showed up. More than anything, he was able to laugh and talk through the workout sessions with his clients.

  Vaughn wouldn’t even answer his most basic questions.

  But Nate wasn’t giving up. Leticia was depending on him. “Tell me a little bit about you. What school do you go to?” He decided to take a personal approach.

  Still nothing.

  Nate sighed. “Alright. I’ll just start it off and tell you a little bit about me…”

  Vaughn pulled a hand out of the hoodie pocket, examined his barely-there fingernails before raising them to his mouth to bite one.

  “I went to Lamar High School. When I was a kid and all throughout school I played sports… all kinds: basketball, football, kickboxing, baseball. Loved it. I was always into active sports. I even used to go rollerblading with my sister.”

  Vaughn frowned and Nate appreciated that he was at least listening to him.

  “I went to college to be a lawyer, but then I realized I really wanted to work in a field where I could help people. And since I loved exercise, I figured why not help people exercise and get healthy? So here I am. And that’s why I’m here. To help you, too.”

  Nate continued, “Your mom told me I’ll be working with you three days a week. We’ll be doing a combination of cardio and weight training. I promise you won’t be bored, man. Once we start working out you’ll feel better and see how exercise really helps your body and builds your confidence. I mean… you’ll look better, have more energy. Even in school you’ll see the difference because exercise and eating healthy fuels your brain and gets rid of all the toxins, the bad stuff.” He opened a drawer for his measurement tools and client worksheet. “Let’s step over here to this room so I can get your stats.”

  With his clipboard in tow Nate walked over to the room adjacent to the trainers’ area. “Step up here real quick so I can get your weight. Let’s see where we’re starting at.”

  Vaughn stepped on the scale.

  “Step off,” Nate said and waited for the screen to reset. “Now step on again.” He recorded the results. “Alright, now for your measurements. You gotta take your hoodie off though.”

  Vaughn looked away.

  “You don’t have on a shirt underneath?” he asked him. Vaughn shook his head, but Nate could clearly see the edge of a black T-shirt at the boy’s neck. He knew trying to use the fat caliper would be useless then too, so he laid it on the floor. “It’s cool,” he said. “Just raise your arms for me.”

  Vaughn lifted his arms and Nate wrapped the tape measure around his chest. He did the same for each arm, his waist, hips, thighs, and then calves. He wrote the results on the client worksheet in between. “Alright, we’ll take the tour now so you can get familiar with the facility and see what kind of equipment we’ll be using.” Nate returned the clipboard to his desk. “This way,” he said and Vaughn followed him.

  It was like walking around talking to himself because Vaughn did not utter a word as Nate pointed out the cardio area, weight machines, free weights, fitness and spin class studios, the sauna, and swimming pool room. He thought there was an inkling of excitement in the boy’s face when he showed him the basketball court and Vaughn paused for a minute to watch the pick-up game going on.

  “You like basketball?” Nate had asked him, but he just gave a half shake of his head and turned away from the glass.

  They walked back to the cardio area and Nate led him to a treadmill. “I’m gonna start you with a warm-up just to get the blood flowing, man. We’ll do this for fifteen minutes. You ever been on a treadmill before?”

  The televisions hanging from the ceiling above had Vaughn’s attention. He pulled a pair of ear buds and mobile phone from the pocket of his hoodie, plugged his ears, and pressed the Start button on the treadmill.

  Nate hopped on the one beside him and started his machine. When the fifteen minutes was up and Nate wanted to increase the pace a bit, Vaughn refused. He also refused moving on to another area. Nate didn’t have to call Leticia because Vaughn did it himself before the last couple minutes on the treadmill timer had run out. He didn’t know whether he should feel disappointment that he couldn’t encourage the kid to open up to him or glad their session was over for the day.

  “How was it?” Leticia asked when she came to pick up her son.

  Vaughn shrugged his shoulders and Leticia looked at Nate.

  “I think he just has to get used to me,” he told her. “We took it easy today and just did some walking on the treadmill. Next time we’ll do some other things. I’ll see you in a couple days, man.” Nate patted Vaughn on the back.

  “Thank you,” Leticia smiled.

  Nate watched them walk out the door and to their car in the parking lot. Vaughn walked slowly, his head down. The kid was a giant next to his mom. Nate wondered what was going on with him. What type of trouble did he have at fourteen years old that caused the sadness in his eyes, the weight on his shoulders, the silence?

  EIGHT

  After one look at the ebony locks twisted into a single braid hanging just past his shoulders, and skin the color of aged copper, Tora recognized him. He was sitting on top of a picnic table, his feet on the bench.

  She sat in her jeep watching him for several minutes pondering the coincidence. How in the heck did he find me? She looked around at the few people in the area, thinking maybe he was there with someone else and that he was not the Nate Walker she was scheduled to meet.

  But the name sounded too familiar. She was certain it was what he told her that day in Southlake Sandwich Shop.

&n
bsp; He reached into his pocket when she called his phone. “I just wanted to make sure I’m on the right side,” she said when he answered.

  He looked up and then towards the parking lot. “Hey. I’m in the picnic area.”

  “I see you. I’m in the red Jeep Wrangler.”

  He smiled and stood.

  She grabbed her bag from the backseat floor and got out.

  “How you doing,” he said, his hand extended as he moved towards her, meeting her halfway.

  “Good. Have we met before?” she asked, second-guessing herself even though she knew it was him. How could she forget that gorgeous face and made-for-caressing body? Her eyes fell on his chest the same way they did that day near the soda machine. It was the type of pectoral muscles that would make a woman forget all her troubles as she lay on his chest at night.

  He smiled. “Yeah. Actually, we did.”

  Tora nodded. “I thought so. But if I remember correctly we didn’t exchange phone numbers, so how did you find me?”

  “Oh… uh… I got your card from the girl behind the counter.”

  “You did?”

  “She threw it in the trash and I asked her if I could have it when I found out you do photography.”

  Tora looked doubtful.

  “No lie,” he said. “I hope you’re okay with that.”

  She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Where do you want to have the pictures done?” She didn’t know how to take his claim and wondered if she should find it creepy or flattering that he would seek her business card out of a trash can.

  Looking behind him he said, “Right here in this open field is what I had in mind.”

  Tora pulled her camera from the bag and set the bag on the bench where he had a few personal items. “I just want to do a couple test shots first,” she said and aimed the camera at him, clicking twice.

  “Oh! Just like that, huh? No time to warm up and get my pose right or nothing?” He laughed.

  “Don’t worry. These don’t count and will be deleted.” She checked the photos on the LCD screen. The weather was perfect: clear-blue cloudless sky, high sun.