CHAPTER 2
"Okay Mac, good to meet you," Doc said. "Now tomorrow morning… early tomorrow morning, I want you to meet me at this place with your gear," he said as he handed Mac a small scrap of paper with an address on it. "I know that it's a little out of the way but trust me on this."
Mac pocketed the address and looked at Doc with an expression that still held a trace of the amazement. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was at a loss for words. He was spared the embarrassment of the moment when he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. A quick glance in that direction revealed the oncoming lights of a city bus cruising up the street.
"Is that your bus?" Doc asked.
"Yeah, that's me," Mac replied. "Mr. Lewis, I don't know what to say besides "thanks"."
"Well, I'll tell you what not to say… it's "Doc", no "Mr. Lewis"… just "Doc"", he said with a slight chuckle as the bus pulled up to the stop.
"Sorry." Mac said as he climbed into the bus. "See you tomorrow Doc."
"Tomorrow it is".
Mac took a seat and looked out of the window to bus stop to see Doc still standing by the stop. Doc flashed him a thumbs up which Mac returned along with a grin. As the bus came to life and started to move again, Mac watched Doc turn away and walk off into the night. Mac finally leaned back in his seat to reflect on the unexpected developments of the night. As he thought more and more about it, a feeling of disbelieving joy swept over him and for the first time ever after a fight, his bumps and bruises didn't seem to hurt so badly.
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The next morning found Mac trudging up a busy street dressed in his training sweats, carrying his gym bag and getting curious glances from more than a few of the early morning pedestrians. One could hardly blame them. This area was mostly filled with restaurants, small stores, or lonely apartment buildings… not the kind of place one expects to train for a boxing match. Mac approached the building that apparently contained his final destination.
He was confronted by a diner that was – judging by the sounds of activity – operating in high gear for the early morning breakfast crowd. Upon entering his assumption was proven correct as he had to navigate past moving columns of waiters and waitresses, busily taking orders or serving them. After taking a final look at the directions that Doc had given him, he made his way towards a descending staircase on the far side of the diner and went down. The stairs led to short hallway containing two doors, one at the end which was closed and an open metal door on the left side marked "Freezer". He passed the freezer, and noticed several hunks of beef hanging from the ceiling and shelves laden with cases of frozen food.
He finally reached the door at the end of the hallway and spotted a small sign on the door that read "Heezded Gym". It took a moment for the name to register with Mac.
"He's dead… very cute," he said with a smirk while opening the door and stepping in.
The room was large but still somewhat cluttered due to all of the exercise equipment surrounding the single boxing ring that dominated the center of the gym. The equipment itself seemed old but looked well maintained. Mac was pleased; something about this gym just felt right. He had little time to take it all in for he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Mac, over here", came Doc's voice from the far side of the room. Mac turned towards the sound the sound and sure enough, there was Doc walking towards him from behind the far side of the ring.
"You said that this place was out of the way… you weren't kidding," Mac said.
"Not many people know 'bout here and the owner is a buddy of mine who heard I had a guy to train and he insisted I use here. Aside from that I don't want too many people to know that Doc Lewis is training again, 'cause everyone will be poking around." Doc looked Mac up and down and flashed a slight smirk. "I hope you got lots of rest last night," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "you'll need your energy."
