The Unforgiving Minute (14 page)

similarity. As I observed the rest of the room, I took note of

the other guests. There were four women and three men

distributed at the other three tables. Two of the women were

very old and the other five people had obvious weight problems.

I imagined that they were looking at me wondering what I was

doing here. The couple at my table were the Grimsleys from York

and they turned out to be quite affable. They spoke freely of

their problems and seemed to be grateful for someone to talk to.

It seemed that Perry Grimsley was a recovering alcoholic who also

had blood pressure and cholesterol problems. Since they were

quite affluent and money was no object, his doctor had

recommended this establishment as the finest in Europe. His

wife, Vivian, was here to keep him company and while she was at

it, to lose weight. They had been here for three days and good—

naturedly complained about the sparse diet and rigorous exercise

programs.

I looked over at the staff tables and spotted Lee. She

never turned toward me and as far as anyone was concerned didn’t

even know who I was. I wished that she could be sitting at the

table with me instead of the Grimsleys.

Our waiter arrived with three separate meals, each

tailored for the individual diet. I was served a glass of tomato

juice, a low-calorie vegetable soup, and a main course consisting

of about three ounces of fish, a squash-like vegetable, and

stewed tomatoes. On the side was a salad which was mostly greens

with a rather tasteless low-calorie dressing. A plateful of the

cardboard-like crackers was in the center of the table. The

portions were small but I ate very slowly and drank large

quantities of the ubiquitous magic water. For dessert, I was

served cooked apples with cinnamon. I tried to make believe it

was apple pie without the crust. I chose the coffee. The

prospect of tea without sugar didn’t exactly thrill me and I

never took sugar in my coffee anyway.

As I was finishing my coffee, a rather large Swiss who

resembled Arnold Schwartzenegger walked over from the staff

table.

“Good evening, Mr. Boyd,” he said in broken English. “My

name is Tush Wertmuller and I will be your trainer for the rest

of your stay here. I am happy to see that you look like someone

I can do something with. I will be looking forward to working

with you. Have nice evening.”

I found myself feeling jealous that Lee was on the staff

with this tall, handsome, well-built young man. I looked over at

her table and she was already gone. I looked at my watch; it was

eight-fifteen. I was looking forward to nine o’clock. I said my

goodnights to the Grimsleys and stepped out into the brisk night

air feeling not as hungry as I thought I would. Ever since I met

Lee, food was no longer on my mind and, come to think of it,

neither was liquor. I was starting to conquer two of my problems

but was hurtling headlong into the third problem again. I knew,

though, that I really didn’t want to cure this problem despite

what I told the Dinsmores, Ann Marie, and myself.

I was wearing a wool blazer and wasn’t too cold in the

night air and decided to take a walk. The woods seemed silent

and eerie in the night. An occasional bird or animal sound

emanated from within and I found myself wondering what birds and

animals were native to this part of the world. The terrain

looked so unspoiled by man. Except for the spa complex, the

surrounding country seemed to be untouched by time. I

contemplated my life while walking and realized that not only was

Laura a fading memory but Jane was as well. I couldn’t imagine

Lee ever being a fading memory, but wasn’t that the way it always

was at this stage of a love affair? I wanted to talk to Ann

Marie and tell her about Lee but after years of truthfulness I

was reluctant to tell her. The last time I spoke to her, I could

sense a hurt I never sensed before. I guess after all these

years she was tired of my shenanigans. It was time to withhold a

bit of the truth from Ann Marie. I decided to stop sharing every

single thing with her. I never realized what a selfish act that

had been. I tried to imagine what it would have been like if the

shoe were on the other foot. If she had confessed love affairs

with other men, I guess I would have been off the walls.

At precisely nine o’clock, I heard Lee’s soft knock at my

door. As she stepped inside, I tenderly kissed her as she ran

her exquisite hands over my face and neck. I could smell her

exotic perfume and I was again drunk with my passion. We sat on

the edge of the bed for a long time, talking.

She smile at me and said, “I couldn’t eat tonight, just

knowing you were on the other side of the room. I didn’t dare

look at you. I felt as if everyone would know about us if I so

much as peeked. I’m so happy to be here. The last hour felt

like an eternity.”

“I know,” I said. “I feel the same way. By the way, are

you sleeping here tonight?”

“Of course I am but, as I told you, I’ll have to leave

very early in the morning, perhaps around four o’clock. I want

to be very certain no one sees us.”

I was elated. “I understand. I’ll set my alarm clock for

four. Did you notice that Tush Wertmuller introduced himself to

me? He’s very handsome. I was a little jealous. What do you

think of him?”

“Robert, you are so cute,” she said, as she ruffled my

hair with her hand. “Tush is a boy. He’s about twenty-three

years old. Aside from that, he’s a pompous ass. I don’t choose

my men solely for their physical attributes, you know. What

would I ever talk to him about? As a matter of fact, you are the

first man I have even kissed since my breakup with Derek. I

didn’t think I could ever feel again. Have you had other women

since your breakup with Julie?”

“No, none at all,” I lied. “I didn’t think I could ever

feel again, either.”

She put her arms around me and softly wept. “Oh, darling,

what are we going to do? I’m so frightened. I didn’t want to be

vulnerable again. Don’t leave me.”

“Don’t worry, honey, this is forever. I can feel it.”

The damndest thing is that I really meant it at the time.

I always do. It’s like a play or a movie that I’m living and I

always write a happy ending. At that moment, I truly believed

that I loved this woman hopelessly and that we would ride off

into the sunset and live happily ever after.

All of this feeling and intensity was coming out of two

people who had known each other less than a day. Something like

that never seems ludicrous at the time, so there we were, caught

up in the wonder and passion of it all and loving it.

She excused herself and went into the bathroom and came

out wearing a lovely white silk peignoir embroidered with Chinese

landscape scenes. She was obviously naked underneath and I felt

myself being aroused again. It wasn’t long before we were both

naked under the blankets. The central heating system evidently

was on a very low, night setback and the intermingling of our

bodies under the blankets soon negated that problem. This time

our lovemaking was slow, tender, and loving. As we reached

orgasms together, my hands cupped on her firm and smooth buttocks

and hers around my neck, it seemed to me to be the most beautiful

love scene of all time. We fell asleep, totally content, in each

other’s arms.

I woke up, bolt upright, when the alarm went off at four

o’clock. She left the bed reluctantly and went into the

bathroom. As I watched her walk across the room I again had the

inclination to drag her naked body back to bed.

She bent to kiss me before leaving and said, “I’m so

happy, darling. Have a good day and don’t work too hard. Save

something for me. I’ll see you again at nine tonight. Just

remember that, until then, we are not to speak to each other.

It’s very important that no one so much as suspects us. One of

the attendants here was dismissed summarily just for taking a

walk with a patient.”

“I can’t wait,” I said. “I’ll be counting the minutes.”

Suddenly, she was gone and I felt a strange emptiness come

over me. I tried to get back to sleep but lay awake, smelling

her perfume on the sheets and snuggling in the warm spot she

vacated only moments before. I tossed and turned but couldn’t

get back to sleep. I put on my light and took my printout out of

the night table drawer and read the day’s activities.

7:00 Breakfast - Main Dining Room

7:30 Orientation in cottage with trainer

8:00 Two-mile brisk walk

8:30 Weight and exercise machines - instruction and

workout

9:30 Swimming - indoor pool

10:30 Nutrition lecture - auditorium

12:00 Pick up box lunches at Main Dining Room

12:10 Embark on mountain hike - bring water and box lunch

in pack provided with clothing package in your

cottage

3:00 Return from hike - report to building 134 for light

aerobics

3:45 Shower, steam room and massage - gymnasium building

4:30 Return to cottage

7:00 Dinner - Main dining room

Just reading my schedule got me so tired that I actually

dozed off and did not awaken until six o’clock. I stood under a

hot shower feeling very physically fit just for being here. I

was ready to work on my body, especially now that I had added

inspiration. I dressed as per my instructions in one of the

standard black sweat suits provided by the management and set out

for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of a small egg white

omelette, two slices of whole wheat toast, an orange and a

banana, and a cup of decaffeinated coffee. I ate even more

slowly this time and had two large glasses of water. I looked

over to the staff table and saw a few of the staff eating, but

Lee was missing for the entire time I ate breakfast. The

Grimsleys were also absent. Having no one to talk to kind of

impeded my slow eating plans and breakfast went a little more

quickly than I would have liked.

As I walked to my cottage, I spotted Lee in the distance.

She was jogging at quite a fast pace and even looked glamorous in

her black sweat suit from a distance. I guess that great body of

hers wasn’t an accident. She obviously worked at it.

When I got to my cottage, Hans was sitting on the steps

waiting for me. He also wore the mandatory black sweat suit.

His muscles showed through the suit. I figured that he probably

wore one size smaller just to show off his body. He was about

six feet tall and had about a forty-four-inch chest and about a

thirty-inch waist. His legs were like tree trunks and he had

about an eighteen-inch neck.

“And so, Mr. Boyd, we are ready to start. The two-mile

walk is just to work off your breakfast. Starting tomorrow, we

will take a box breakfast and take our mountain hike in the

morning. We will eat our breakfast on the mountain. So … you

have questions to ask me? If not, I prefer to orient you at each

exercise instead of giving you instructions now. You will only

forget anyway. You will follow me now and it is very important

that you keep up with me. These exercises will do you no good if

you do not maintain the proper pace.”

Having finished his mini-orientation we stepped into the

woods, following a carefully marked path. His pace was just

short of running and I was starting to get quickly winded. We

were walking on the flat and I started to imagine what the

mountain hikes must be like.

“Come, come, Mr. Boyd, you are lagging behind. You must

push yourself just a little bit more than you think your limits

are. You can see now just how badly you have treated your body.

Do you smoke?”

When I told him I did not smoke, he was very surprised.

“You pant like a smoker. I thought you must be a two—

pack-a-day man. Do you drink?”

“Just socially,” I said. “It’s not like I’m an alcoholic

or anything like that and I certainly don’t do drugs.”

Hans just shook his head derisively and seemed to walk

even faster. The son-of-a-bitch wasn’t the least bit out of

breath and I was starting to hate him. Did the bastard think

everyone was twenty-three years old?

When the walk was over, we each drank a bottle of water

before starting our next activity, which was introduction to the

weight and exercise machines.

The equipment in the weight and exercise gym was truly

state-of-the-art. As Hans walked me through each station, I

could see that there was a unit to firm up and develop almost

every part of the body. In addition, there were rowing machines,

treadmills, stair machines, and a machine that simulated cross—

country skiing. Hans instructed me as to what weight to set each

machine for and how many sets to perform. After about fifteen

minutes of orientation and instruction, I was sent around the gym

in a rotation of all the machines. I could feel the tension on

the muscles that each machine was supposed to develop. It seemed