(Continued from March 15, 2010)
After a moderate quantity of champagne and wine, Alphonse’s tongue was at its nimblest. So, in answer to aunt’s joke, he quipped lengthily: “There was no introduction and he failed to show proper respect for my elaborate demonstration. Bob then lowered himself to becoming part of a long list of preceding inquirers; they all ask the same question: ‘How many years have you been working out?’ And, I always give them the same discouraging answer.” After those words, my young friend set to spooning down the remainder of his minestrone.
“I am curious about that ‘discouraging answer’ to you admirers,” Elsie remarked. “Please tell us more.”
“I tell them that I have been at it for ten years; and, sometimes, when I feel sorry for them after witnessing their crestfallen state of mind, I elaborate. I explain to them that many so-called instructors promise body improvements that are not realistic. I was born with a heavyweight frame, which allowed me to already look impressive after putting on a few pounds of muscle. Guys with a lightweight frame need a lot more pounds to have the same impressive appearance.”
“Did you give Bob a more elaborate explanation?” Alice wanted to know.
“No, I don’t consider him a serious bodybuilder. Anybody who consistently replaces liquid, lost trough exercising, with gallons of beer is just deceiving himself.”
At that point in time, Alphonse told me later, he had decided to eat large portions and drink very small quantities of alcoholic beverages for the remainder of the evening. He said that he did not want to say something that he might regret later. When he revealed the reason for that decision, I had to admit that it was a wise move.
It had occurred to Alphonse that neither he nor I knew to what extent aunt Dorothy was familiar with the complete story regarding Bob. Did she know that al three of the girls had been involved with the guy? The fact that Alice had asked my young friend, in front of aunt Dorothy, to talk about his contact with and his observation of my neighbor did not give us much insight concerning aunt’s knowledge about him.
“What did Bob say after you dropped the ‘ten years’ shocker?” Alice asked.
“He sort of snickered and said: ‘Then I’ll have lots of time ahead of me to get to your condition.’ And, I got the impression that Bob really believed that.”
“He is deceiving himself about several issues,” Alice then observed.
(To be continued)