"Why would he come here?" Soulful said, not quite able to keep a note of disgust out of his voice. Tenderheart didn't bother trying to answer. He knew a rhetorical question when he heard it.
Soulful, though he had his admirable points, nonetheless shared the stereotypical abhorrence of gyms and most physical activities that too many high-brow intellectuals held. Finding Bright Heart at Champ Bear's gym struck Soulful as something not all that far off from blasphemy for the family genius.
Though Tenderheart didn't share Soulful's instinctive loathing of gyms, he did admit to himself that this was not where he would've expected Bright Heart to be either. "Might as well go in." Tenderheart said, choosing to ignore the not entirely faked look of horror on Soulful's face.
As they made their way in, they kept their eyes peeled for Bright Heart. They passed a weight room, a swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court, locker rooms, showers, and a couple of other rooms. Tenderheart was impressed. Soulful looked like he wanted to cross himself, as if to ward off evil.
The gym was largely empty. It took them nearly twenty minutes all the same to find Bright Heart. He was in one of the smaller weight rooms. He was trying to do bench presses…with what was clearly too much weight and without a spotter.
"Are you crazy?" Soulful demanded from across the room, startled into a yell. Bright Heart, startled at the outcry, nearly dropped the barbell onto him, which was already wavering in his grasp. Tenderheart and Soulful ran over and grabbed it at either end, helping Bright Heart coach it back into place. Tenderheart looked at the weights.
"Sixty pounds? Bright Heart you can't lift that much…you should know that."
"You never know until you try." He countered. "Learning by trying and all."
"That's predicated on the assumption that you live long enough to learn from 'trying.' " Soulful spat, furious beyond tact. Tenderheart could see why.
"Bright Heart you know better than that." Tenderheart said. "You should know that you never start something new at such a difficult level." He continued trying to keep the reproach from his voice "And never without a spotter or help around. It's dangerous. What if it had fallen, or there was an accident?"
"It doesn't matter, I wasn't good at it anyway." Bright Heart said as he rubbed his arms. Soulful glanced at Tenderheart, who just nodded. They both caught the dejected tone he spoke in.
"Well that doesn't mean you have to just give up. I mean it was your first attempt…" Bright Heart wasn't listening. He was already trudging out the door. "I see what you meant earlier, about him not thinking like himself." Tenderheart admitted.
"It's getting worse." Soulful said dourly.
"You mean the fact that he quit so easily?" Tenderheart asked. Soulful nodded.
"I have no use for those things myself," He spitted the barbells a glance that would've melted them had he stared any more forcefully. "But even I'd not have tried it once and then, not having mastered it in twenty minutes, left it for good. No one can master anything in one sitting, especially one so short."
"I know what you mean." Tenderheart agreed. "Why do you think he's doing it?"
"Just a guess, but having given up inventing and science, I'd say he wants to be an expert at something else. Of course he can't become an expert overnight, not in weight lifting, not in anything. It takes years. And when he sees that he can't do it that quickly—"
"He'll go on thinking that he's not good at anything but inventing, which he's given up as a bad job, and so will think he's not good at anything." Tenderheart sighed. "Bright Heart's just setting himself up to feel worse and worse." Soulful nodded and muttered something to himself. "What was that, Soulful?" The fox cleared his throat.
"What I said was: 'Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.' " Tenderheart nodded, knowing well of Soulful's love of literature, though he didn't know just who he had quoted.
"Who said that?" Tenderheart wracked his mind. It sounded like something a Greek philosopher would say. "Socrates?" He ventured, naming the only one who came to mind.
"Socrates?" Soulful shook his head. "No, that was Euripides. When Socrates speaks of the nature of people you wish it were true. When Euripides finds truth, you wish he hadn't."