Two Guys, Two Injuries

It was Columbus Day, but the field house and the gym was open.  Carolyn wasn't there, and none of the women at the front desk had a key for the gym door.  Alan was running late again, and he had called in to let the staff know he was on his way. Kenny and Colonel walked in and wondered why I was waiting in the hall.  "Did you ask if any of the front desk people have keys?" Colonel asked. "No. . .," I said, but before I could finish, Colonel was asking if they could open up.  One of the women had taken the late call from Alan.  She told Colonel that the staff was waiting for Alan to show up.  Colonel wanted in, so he called Alan so he could tell the staff to open the door.  Kenny admonished his father for doing that, indicating that Colonel might get the staff in trouble.

Later, when Alan arrived and we could gain access to the gym, I explained it to Colonel.  "When Carolyn is here on Monday, and Jiliberto is here on Wednesday, they usually open up the gym if Alan hasn't gotten here yet and they see me.  That is, unless they've heard something different from Mary.  But if Carolyn and Jiliberto are not here, I don't ask other staff to open up, because I know that Mary might get on them for it."

Marcus stopped in briefly on Monday night to show us his left arm.  A muscle popped in his upper arm while he was using an exercise machine at another gym.  The doctors did their repair job, but the healing is going to take awhile.  He was wearing a cast.  "It'll probably be February before I can get back in the gym to do anything," Marcus told me.  "It happens like that.  You've been used to doing a certain exercise, and all of a sudden something happens to a joint or muscle.  You wonder what is going on?" Alan said. 

Kevin came in a little awhile later.  He was calling me from outside one of the windows to come open the back field house door up.  I thought I heard someone calling my name, but since it wasn't coming from one of the guys already in the gym, I thought I was mistaken.  Kevin had a bad gash and some scrapes on his forehead.  From what he told me, his injuries came out of a situation where drinking was involved.

Kevin's gash sort of reminded me of a fight my late paternal grandmother started decades ago with a woman who was much bigger than she.  Grandma was 4'11; the woman, a tenant of hers at the time, was 6 feet tall.  The argument involved payment of rent.  My mother said they exchanged words, then in the next instant, Grandma was all over the woman like a cheap suit.  When it was all over, the tall woman had a bald spot at the top of her head.  It wasn't because my grandmother had pulled her hair out. Grandma had repeatedly scraped the woman's head against the sidewalk.
 
Professor gave Kevin pointers on how to throw punches. Kevin was throwing a lot of them on the heavy bag, but there wasn't much power behind them.  He also taught Kevin how to jump rope.
 
No one sparred, which is very rare, especially since Alan took over the gym.  Kenny announced early on that he didn't feel like it.  My knees have been bothering me since before the last fight I had, and I wasn't up for it, either.  There wasn't that many on hand in the gym that night.  I suspect a lot of people thought the gym was closed because of Columbus Day.