Fixing Things

Fixing Things

“There are too many people here.”

John looked around, he could only see eight, two of them so far away he wouldn’t have even noticed them had they not been moving. “Huh?”

“I told you it was too late. This is when the park fills up, I can’t exercise with an audience.”

“Come on, eight! Count them, there’s only eight and those two are about to go down the path, so then there’ll only be six. They aren’t even looking at us.”

“Why can’t we just do this at home?”

“Fresh air, sun coming up, this is such a better place than our back yard. Look at all the space and beauty here!” he swung his arm around trying to encompass the wonderfulness.

They got into position and John took the lead guiding them through the first few stretching moves. As Jan turned she saw another bunch walking in. Still in position, she said, “Here come more…”

“This isn’t helping,” John stopped. “The whole point is to exercise your body, and your mind. But if you can’t let go of the people, we might as well be home. I just thought it would be nice having the whole park around.”

“For you.”

“Huh? You too!”

“No, I’m an introvert. Every person who looks at me makes me tense. I can’t get my mind to let go with all these distractions. That’s why I liked our back yard. It’s open and fresh, and nobody there except birds and squirrels.”

“Huh, that’s exactly why I don’t like the backyard. I feel trapped, with nothing around but birds, and squirrels!”

“You have a problem with squirrels?”

The next day, John went to the park alone, and Jan to the back yard. The marriage lasted for over fifty-four happy, and healthy, years.