*Author's Note: I wrote this one in a week and enjoyed every minute of it. Maybe the 'mojo' is returning. Maybe.
My thanks to the reader who told me about his 'love at first sight' experience with his wife from 37 years ago after my last story I called The Incident. He mentioned a comment another reader made, ostensibly about love at first sight, and I let him know I stopped reading them 4-5 years ago.
So, best wishes to you, and I hope you have another 37 more years together!
*******
"So...you in?"
"Yeah, I guess," his younger brother replied with unenthusiastic resignation.
Doug Hoffman was 28 years old and in incredibly good shape. His brother, Don, was 26 and had put on weight over the years. A lot of weight.
When they were 12 and 10, their mother died from something called a DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis, a condition they'd never heard of before. And why would they? They were kids, and things like that didn't happen to people their mom's age who was just 34 years old.
She'd had surgery on her foot after getting a job with health insurance. When she found out that correcting the issue that plagued her years, something that was called 'hammer toe' was covered, she jumped at the chance to get it taken care of.
It was a condition in which a toe is bent at the middle joint, so that it resembles a hammer. There was a related issue called mallet toe which was very similar to hammer toe, but in that case it affected the joint closet to the tip of the toe.
It had gotten to the point where walking was painful, but she never complained. She had a family to take care of, and complaining wouldn't make the problem go away.
After the surgery, their mom was still able to work, she just had to use a kind of scooter that kept the foot elevated, and most importantly, prevented her from walking on it. Her doctor told her the surgery had gone quite well, and that with proper rest and care she'd be back to normal in a few weeks.
At her one-week checkup everything looked great. She was able to put her foot down without pain and even take a few steps. The doctor cautioned her to take it slow for another week, but because she felt so good, she found herself walking on it. It caused her some discomfort, but she didn't really care because using the scooter was a much bigger pain.
What no one knew was that because of the pressure walking exerted on the foot, a small blood clot had formed near the toe that had been corrected. Nor did anyone know it had just sort of laid there...until it didn't. Their mom had been eating dinner with them, and when they finished, she got up to clear the table.
Don, who'd always been very close with her said, "Mom. Let me get it, okay?"
"Nonsense. I feel fine," she said as she got a little silly and pretended she was doing ballet which included raising herself up onto her toes while extending her arms and the other leg.
Both he and his older brother thought she was goofing around when she said her leg felt funny. She told them it felt like she had a creepy crawler inside the leg that was moving up her body. Then, just seconds later, her eyes rolled up inside of her head just as she collapsed in a heap.
Their father, who'd been working late that evening, later explained to them that their mom died when the blood clot, or DVT, had broken free from her foot and moved up her leg all the way to her to her brain where it caused a massive stroke that had taken her life immediately.
Doug reacted by turning to sports, something he'd always loved. He threw himself into football, wrestling, baseball, and swimming. By the time he graduated from high school he was in incredible physical condition. He then went to college where he swam competitively then did four years in the US Marine Corps as a commissioned officer and spent as much time in the gym as he could. At the age of 23 he was 5'11" and weighed a lean, muscular 180 pounds.
Don, on the other hand, took the opposite path. He turned to food for comfort. When he graduated from high school, he weighed well over 290 pounds. At 5'10" he was morbidly obese, and had been on precisely one date, a date that happened when a very pretty girl agreed to go to homecoming with him after a classmate dared her to.
He was the best looking boy in school and told her he'd to out with her if she'd go with the "fat kid." Don had no idea it was a 'pity date', and when he found out later he coped by eating even more.
Don stayed home and worked with their dad at a furniture store the family owned as Doug left for school and the military. Doug was now back and had been instrumental in helping his father open a second store which he was now running.
Doug had tried to tactfully and gently get his brother to join him at the local YMCA where Doug went swimming 4-5 mornings each week since he returned home. After months of dropping little hints here and there Don had finally agreed to go with him on a Monday morning which, Doug had assured him, was the least busy day of the week.
On their way to the "Y", Don asked his brother if there were any hot girls at the pool.
Doug smiled and looked over at his brother.
"Yeah. There are a couple of them. One's a little younger than us, and the other is a little older, but they're both smokin' hot."
"Yeah?" his brother replied, a rare hint of enthusiasm in his voice.
"Uh-huh. The older one is downright fine. Blonde, fair skinned, amazing smile. I tell you what. If she wasn't married...."
Don laughed nervously then asked about the younger girl.
"Ah, yes. She's a brunette with an amazing body and a really cute face."
He looked over at Don the told him, "You'll have to see them both for yourself."
He took his right hand off the wheel and playfully shoved his brother. He felt even worse for him when the the push made him acutely aware of the enormity of his brother's body.
Doug couldn't imagine life without swimming or some other form of aerobic exercise along with regular weight lifting. Those things were such a part of his life that he wasn't sure he'd want to go on living were he no longer able to enjoy doing the things he loved the most. His mind told him he'd adapt if there was no other choice, but it was a thought he hated to even consider.
As he put his hand back on the wheel, Doug had another unpleasant thought. It was hard to imagine how lonely his 'little' brother was and how addicted he seemed to be to food.
Food wasn't like alcohol or drugs. One didn't have to drink or get high to live, but if one didn't eat, well...that would be the end. So how could he help Don learn to eat but eat less but also eat healthy the way he did and help him to learn to enjoy the kind of exercise that would take off the weight and give him the confidence he needed to even fell comfortable talking to women?
Doug could feel the discomfort Don was experiencing as they went into the locker room where Doug changed into some swimming trunks. Don brought a large bath towel and an extra pair of shorts with him but keep his tee-shirt on along with the baggy pair of shorts he was wearing.
"Do I have to swim laps?" Don asked as they got ready to leave the locker room.
"Sorry, bro. This time of the day is lap swimming only. But that doesn't mean you have to do laps unless someone else is in your lane. Plus you can just hang out or literally hang on to either end until you're ready to go again then paddle back at your own pace."
The 'Y' allowed two people in each lane, and if it got crowded sharing a lane was mandatory. It rarely got that busy at 6:30am, so he told his brother not to worry.
When they entered the pool area the smell of chlorine hit their noses. Don mentioned the smell and Doug told him that was the smell of fitness.
"Let me guess. You love the smell of chlorine in the morning," Don said doing his imitation of Robert Duvall in the movie Apocalypse Now from 1979.
Duvall was an Army air cavalry commander who was on a beach in Vietnam watching some US aircraft drop napalm.
A shirtless Duvall hollered out, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning! Smells like...victory!"
Doug chuckled then advised his brother not to quit his day job.
"So what lane do I get in?" a nervous Don asked.
"Um...let's see."
Doug scanned the pool then said, "Okay. Four and five are empty. Which one do you want?"
Wanting to be as far from people as he could Don chose lane five.
Doug waited for his brother to sit down on the edge of the pool then slide in to the water.
