LOST - PART I
A SIGNIFICANT FRIEND
Chapter 10
Almost a week later Adam was working through the long list of exercises Thea had assigned for that day when he said, "Abner, talk to me."
"What?" Abner responded, startled.
"Talk to me, I'm so bored I could scream," Adam answered while rapidly laying back and sitting up, his torso slick with sweat.
The black man holding his ankles smiled. "Talk about what?"
"Anything...anybody," Adam gasped increasing the tempo of his movements.
"Alright, how about Thea? I know she never talks about herself and you must have a hundred questions."
Adam actually chuckled, never missing a beat. "More like a thousand."
"I'll tell you what I know, which isn't much," Abner laughed. "Now let me see...she was born in Philadelphia and according to what her 'guardian' said her mother died before she could be identified. No one ever came to claim her and her mother, so he took Thea with him when he left."
Finished with that exercise, Adam lay back for a few moments, breathing hard and thinking about that. "So what you're telling me is that we have more in common than I thought. Neither of us really knows who we are."
"Right," Abner said as they stood and moved toward a long bar that hung from the ceiling. Adam jumped up to grab it with both hands and began pulling himself up while Abner watched carefully, ready to catch him if his grip should fail.
"Do you know any more?"
"Some...she's always wanted to be a doctor and a surgeon and she's learned a lot of unorthodox methods and treatments traveling the world with Doc. And I can tell from what she has said about him that he was an extremely cold man. She tries to put a good face on the situation by telling people it was a marvelous thing for a nobleman to take in a poor orphan, but I don't think even she believes it."
"I wonder why he did it then..."
"I don't know, but I have a feeling there's more to that story than even Thea knows."
"I'll bet," Adam said, thinking deeply about what he had just learned. In a few minutes he felt Abner tap him on the foot and he let go of the bar, landing lightly on his feet.
Abner grinned, "Looks like your legs are just about to catch up with the rest of you," he said extremely pleased.
"Thank God and thank YOU for helping me talk her into stepping up the program. It just doesn't work for me if I don't feel challenged."
"Seemingly not..." Abner was saying when the door opened and a tall, wiry, blonde man walked in. The black man smiled a big smile saying, "Nate! Where the heck have you been? You came home a week ago."
"Oh here and there, checking a few things out," Nate answered, his eyes giving Adam an appraising glance as he watched him going through the next leg-strengthening exercise.
Adam was holding a heavily weighted barbell across his shoulders as he stepped up a set up double stairs, then down the other side. When he turned around Nate could see the man's face was tight from the effort and was streaming with sweat from the pain. He almost winced himself - the sight was hard to see. But Adam never stumbled once, and Nate thought he was so completely focused on the exercise that he hadn't even noticed him come in.
"Nice to finally meet you Nate," Adam said from a tight throat. "I've heard a lot about you from Glory."
Nate's brows rose in surprise. "Glad to meet you too," he said and smiled. His estimation of Adam went up a few notches from his previously negative opinion.
Adam continued until he had completed and gone beyond the number of repetitions Thea had assigned to this exercise. He raised the barbell over his head and carefully put it down, but it still thumped against the floor heavily. Then he grabbed a towel to dry off his hands as he moved toward Nate.
The blonde man carefully watched him come and could see that Adam's knees were shaking slightly, although he was doing his best to control them. His opinion of the man rose another notch as they shook hands.
"What's next Ab?" Adam asked, and the black man consulted a list.
"Only one more and it's your favorite," he said with a grin as Adam winced.
"I think she puts that one at the end on purpose, figuring I'll never go on if it's earlier in the line-up," he grumbled.
Abner laughed. "Probably, I can see her thinking that way."
"Not only that, but I think it's her way of punishing me for complaining we weren't moving fast enough." All three men laughed at that and Adam sighed as he moved across the room. "What weight, Ab?" he asked.
"We're going for a hundred and seventy five this time," Abner answered. "Did you do something else to make her mad?"
"I must have, but I can't think of what it could be," Adam said and began lifting the correct number of weights onto a metal shelf that was attached to what looked like runners on the wall. The shelf had two padded bars that stuck straight out and he stepped in between them as Abner came to hit the release and helped lower them carefully onto Adam's shoulders.
Bracing his feet shoulder width apart Adam bent his knees until his thighs were parallel with the floor. Then he pushed up to stand.
"I bet that hurts," Nate said quietly to Abner, but Adam answered him saying, "Like you wouldn't believe!"
Nate shook his head, thinking that Thea could, and had, given him this painful assignment on purpose. "When you're finished, do you think I could try that? I want to see what it's like."
"Sure," Adam ground out and kept going until Abner said, "That's enough, any more and you'll pop a knee."
Adam stood still until Abner came to help hold the shelf up. "Well, come on if you really want to try this," Adam said to Nate and the blonde man hurried over.
He stepped in between the two arms and braced his feet the way he had seen Adam do. Then the two men slowly lowered the shelf until the padded arms were on his shoulders. "Grab the extensions, Nate," Adam instructed him, "It helps keep you steady." The blonde man grabbed the parts of the arms that extended past his shoulders. Then Adam and Abner let go.
Nate's eyebrows rose and a startled grunt escaped his straining throat as he was slowly pressed down into a crouching position. He actually started laughing and choked out "Help!"
Adam and Abner quickly reached out to push the shelf up as Nate toppled forward to fall on his face. He started roaring with laughter as soon as he could breathe.
"Oh my God!" he sputtered. "I've lifted a hundred and seventy five pounds before! What happened?"
Adam burst out laughing as Abner explained. "You forgot the weight of the shelf and the bars. You were actually trying to lift about two-fifty."
"You could have warned me!" Nate complained good-naturedly as he rolled over and Adam held out a hand to help him up.
"What would have been the fun in that?" Adam answered, grinning into Nate's eyes and the blonde man burst out laughing again.
"I think we'd better head into the house, you don't want to make Thea any madder by being late for lunch," Abner broke in, smiling a very wide smile to see the two men take to each other.
"Good Lord no!" Adam said with an exaggerated shiver and he hurried to towel off and shrug into his shirt. "Come on Nate! Something tells me the ladies will be expecting you too," he said with a sharp smile and Nate was still laughing as the three of them filed out the door.
A SIGNIFICANT FRIEND
Chapter 10
Almost a week later Adam was working through the long list of exercises Thea had assigned for that day when he said, "Abner, talk to me."
"What?" Abner responded, startled.
"Talk to me, I'm so bored I could scream," Adam answered while rapidly laying back and sitting up, his torso slick with sweat.
The black man holding his ankles smiled. "Talk about what?"
"Anything...anybody," Adam gasped increasing the tempo of his movements.
"Alright, how about Thea? I know she never talks about herself and you must have a hundred questions."
Adam actually chuckled, never missing a beat. "More like a thousand."
"I'll tell you what I know, which isn't much," Abner laughed. "Now let me see...she was born in Philadelphia and according to what her 'guardian' said her mother died before she could be identified. No one ever came to claim her and her mother, so he took Thea with him when he left."
Finished with that exercise, Adam lay back for a few moments, breathing hard and thinking about that. "So what you're telling me is that we have more in common than I thought. Neither of us really knows who we are."
"Right," Abner said as they stood and moved toward a long bar that hung from the ceiling. Adam jumped up to grab it with both hands and began pulling himself up while Abner watched carefully, ready to catch him if his grip should fail.
"Do you know any more?"
"Some...she's always wanted to be a doctor and a surgeon and she's learned a lot of unorthodox methods and treatments traveling the world with Doc. And I can tell from what she has said about him that he was an extremely cold man. She tries to put a good face on the situation by telling people it was a marvelous thing for a nobleman to take in a poor orphan, but I don't think even she believes it."
"I wonder why he did it then..."
"I don't know, but I have a feeling there's more to that story than even Thea knows."
"I'll bet," Adam said, thinking deeply about what he had just learned. In a few minutes he felt Abner tap him on the foot and he let go of the bar, landing lightly on his feet.
Abner grinned, "Looks like your legs are just about to catch up with the rest of you," he said extremely pleased.
"Thank God and thank YOU for helping me talk her into stepping up the program. It just doesn't work for me if I don't feel challenged."
"Seemingly not..." Abner was saying when the door opened and a tall, wiry, blonde man walked in. The black man smiled a big smile saying, "Nate! Where the heck have you been? You came home a week ago."
"Oh here and there, checking a few things out," Nate answered, his eyes giving Adam an appraising glance as he watched him going through the next leg-strengthening exercise.
Adam was holding a heavily weighted barbell across his shoulders as he stepped up a set up double stairs, then down the other side. When he turned around Nate could see the man's face was tight from the effort and was streaming with sweat from the pain. He almost winced himself - the sight was hard to see. But Adam never stumbled once, and Nate thought he was so completely focused on the exercise that he hadn't even noticed him come in.
"Nice to finally meet you Nate," Adam said from a tight throat. "I've heard a lot about you from Glory."
Nate's brows rose in surprise. "Glad to meet you too," he said and smiled. His estimation of Adam went up a few notches from his previously negative opinion.
Adam continued until he had completed and gone beyond the number of repetitions Thea had assigned to this exercise. He raised the barbell over his head and carefully put it down, but it still thumped against the floor heavily. Then he grabbed a towel to dry off his hands as he moved toward Nate.
The blonde man carefully watched him come and could see that Adam's knees were shaking slightly, although he was doing his best to control them. His opinion of the man rose another notch as they shook hands.
"What's next Ab?" Adam asked, and the black man consulted a list.
"Only one more and it's your favorite," he said with a grin as Adam winced.
"I think she puts that one at the end on purpose, figuring I'll never go on if it's earlier in the line-up," he grumbled.
Abner laughed. "Probably, I can see her thinking that way."
"Not only that, but I think it's her way of punishing me for complaining we weren't moving fast enough." All three men laughed at that and Adam sighed as he moved across the room. "What weight, Ab?" he asked.
"We're going for a hundred and seventy five this time," Abner answered. "Did you do something else to make her mad?"
"I must have, but I can't think of what it could be," Adam said and began lifting the correct number of weights onto a metal shelf that was attached to what looked like runners on the wall. The shelf had two padded bars that stuck straight out and he stepped in between them as Abner came to hit the release and helped lower them carefully onto Adam's shoulders.
Bracing his feet shoulder width apart Adam bent his knees until his thighs were parallel with the floor. Then he pushed up to stand.
"I bet that hurts," Nate said quietly to Abner, but Adam answered him saying, "Like you wouldn't believe!"
Nate shook his head, thinking that Thea could, and had, given him this painful assignment on purpose. "When you're finished, do you think I could try that? I want to see what it's like."
"Sure," Adam ground out and kept going until Abner said, "That's enough, any more and you'll pop a knee."
Adam stood still until Abner came to help hold the shelf up. "Well, come on if you really want to try this," Adam said to Nate and the blonde man hurried over.
He stepped in between the two arms and braced his feet the way he had seen Adam do. Then the two men slowly lowered the shelf until the padded arms were on his shoulders. "Grab the extensions, Nate," Adam instructed him, "It helps keep you steady." The blonde man grabbed the parts of the arms that extended past his shoulders. Then Adam and Abner let go.
Nate's eyebrows rose and a startled grunt escaped his straining throat as he was slowly pressed down into a crouching position. He actually started laughing and choked out "Help!"
Adam and Abner quickly reached out to push the shelf up as Nate toppled forward to fall on his face. He started roaring with laughter as soon as he could breathe.
"Oh my God!" he sputtered. "I've lifted a hundred and seventy five pounds before! What happened?"
Adam burst out laughing as Abner explained. "You forgot the weight of the shelf and the bars. You were actually trying to lift about two-fifty."
"You could have warned me!" Nate complained good-naturedly as he rolled over and Adam held out a hand to help him up.
"What would have been the fun in that?" Adam answered, grinning into Nate's eyes and the blonde man burst out laughing again.
"I think we'd better head into the house, you don't want to make Thea any madder by being late for lunch," Abner broke in, smiling a very wide smile to see the two men take to each other.
"Good Lord no!" Adam said with an exaggerated shiver and he hurried to towel off and shrug into his shirt. "Come on Nate! Something tells me the ladies will be expecting you too," he said with a sharp smile and Nate was still laughing as the three of them filed out the door.