The Girl in the Gym

Combat a life skill

Jack woke up with a start. He stretched his limbs, and dragged his comforter and pillow down on to the carpet and went back to sleep. And as usual, he didn't remember the dream the next morning.

It was back to routine for everybody the next day. Getting up early, exercising till Jack felt his lungs were on fire, raking up enough calorie points to get himself food, playing and walking with Bud, back to exercising then dinner and sleep. Although it was a strictly regimented routine, it was fun enough that Jack didn't feel it getting tedious at any point. Inaya had upped the level of martial arts training, in judo, wushu and boxing. She also had him practice freestyle fighting for a bit as well.

They would get into a ring, and she would have Abhijit call out a particular style of fighting, and they would have to switch to that style accordingly. This was perhaps the most difficult exercise for Jack since his body and mind had to work in complete synchronicity. He couldn't seem to get his limbs to obey the commands his brain was screaming. He was always too sluggish against Inaya. But he had long stopped feeling bad about it because she was simply the best. He was covered in bruises within the first hour. Calling time out hoarsely, for he was completely winded, Jack sagged against the ropes around the ring. Frowning, Inaya prowled toward him, lifting her faceguard. "What? You surely can't be tired now. You have better stamina than that," she said, taking his defeat personally as if she had failed in properly training him.

"No. Not tired. Hurting. Give me a minute, will you please," he whispered. He flung himself away from the rope after a minute and resigned himself to having himself kicked, punched and pommelled again.

When they were done, they each headed to the shower and sauna to give their aching muscles some relief. Inaya was already waiting for him outside when he came limping out.

Inaya snorted at his exaggerated limping and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You could have some pity on a poor, beaten fellow like me, you know. Its been only a day and a half since we've got back, and you can't stop beating me up already," said Jack, disgruntled.

"Umm, sure Mr Poor Beaten Fellow. Thugs on the street will wait for you to warm up and wait patiently when you slowly try to kick and punch them," she retorted.

"Luckily for me, I'm not planning on meeting street thugs any time soon. The only danger I foresee is you," he quipped. But Inaya did not smile.

"It is a life skill, being able to fight. Don't take it so lightly," she warned.

"Never," answered Jack seriously. "But as long as you're there with me, it's the thugs who should be afraid, not me."

Inaya let out a scoff at that but didn't further the argument. But in her head she thought, I'm not always going to be around with you. They walked to lunch together, not breaking the tentative silence even when Bud ran circles around them, trying to get them to play with him.

He finally gave up and busied himself with the chew toy that Jack always carried with him in his pocket.

Life fell back into the same pattern for Jack and Inaya. But for Jack, it was wildly different from the one he was living in Germany. There, his only concern had been his work. Everything else had been neglected or stowed away at the back of his mind. He had made a few friends at the lab and in the beginning, they had all got along very well. He had even invited them over to his house for meals occasionally and they had reciprocated the gesture as well. But as time went on, he had unconsciously started distancing himself from everything. Each time one of them asked him out to lunch, a party or simply drinks, he had always refused. "Thanks, but I really cannot get away right now. I'm literally on the verge of a breakthrough and I cannot afford to miss a single detail. You guys go ahead, I'll join you when I'm done here."

But 'later' had never come, and once by one, his colleagues had stopped asking him to come out with them. It's not like they hated him, they had just accepted that Jack was no longer available. The only social commitment that was compulsory for Jack was his boss, Dr Kruger's birthday. Each year, under threat he had headed out for Dr Kruger's birthday bash, wine in hand and excuses at the ready. He would leave as early as it was possible without insulting his hosts.

Jack couldn't remember when exactly he had ended up isolating himself so completely. He now thought, with some remorse, that he should have been more careful with his youth than he had been. In his single-minded pursuit of technology and science, he had lost his essence. He had become an automaton with suppressed feelings, soothing the gaping hole in his heart and soul with food. And ultimately, he had toppled. And how far he had fallen, he thought sadly. It had taken continuous failure and a spate of bad health for him to finally pull himself out of the hole he had dug himself into.

If only the folks at the office could see him now, he thought cheerfully. He was sitting in the lawn with Bud, sweaty and exhausted after the day's workout. His skin was a healthy brown and he was almost, incredibly happy. Jack was sipping on a vegetable juice, petting Bud who had almost fallen asleep. He had forgotten that the absence of sadness does not necessarily make one happy. A whole new life had opened up for him, with endless possibilities and a chance for true happiness. It also helped that he was probably the most educated and intelligent in any room. He could do anything, go anywhere, be anything. He did not have to be the person who perfected teleportation, he thought ruefully. But he would be someone who didn't give up simply because he had failed.