Chapter 24

The people at Play it Again Sports were very helpful. There weren't a lot of people there, holidays like this were usually slow, they explained. For that reason the limited staff working today were mostly veterans and managers. When I started talking about buying an entire home gym and then gave them the dimensions of the space available I found myself talking almost instantly to the owner, who asked me to call him Billy. He turned out to be quite a character, but also very sharp. We showed him a picture of the space we had available.

"This is a basement you said?" he asked. When I nodded yes, he asked if I had the dimensions of the basement's entry. I had to confess that I didn't, but that it seemed to be a normal door and a straight stairway with no turns.

"Did the stairs seem narrow or steep?" he asked. I thought they seemed 'normal', and told him so.

From there it was a series of questions about what kind of equipment I wanted. I knew from the internal conversations Cooper and I had that at a minimum we both wanted a treadmill and a heavy bag. Whether we would up with a weight machine, exercise bike, rower or whatever would be up to Billy.

I mentioned Cooper's recent discharge from the Marine Corp, and a desire to maintain a high level of overall fitness.

"Train for strength, but don't sacrifice any flexibility?" Billy asked and I agreed.

"What's your budget," he asked finally.

"What's the range between good enough and the best I could get?" I countered. He told me and I gulped. High end was more than I'd paid for the Wrangler! In my mind I glanced again at the financial statements Darius Booker had shown me. Money was really not a problem, but I was spending money like it grew on trees and I didn't know if I could afford to keep up the pace. I'd know more after I talked to the investment guys later in the week. Billy grinned at my gulp and the following silence, raising an eyebrow.

"I can afford the best I could get option, but I'm not sure if the best I could get is what I need. I would have to depend on your judgment. Also, this is just for me. I'm single and just returned to the states. I have no other family in the area and haven't even had time to make any friends. What I need only needs to be enough for me."

"Understood," Billy said. "But I also bet you don't want a multi station machine if it means having to fiddle with it to change from one exercise to another, right?"

"That would be my preference," I agreed. "Something mechanically simple would be nice too," I added. "I don't want something I'm going to have to have tuned or serviced constantly."

"Yeah, some of this stuff can get that way. Don't worry, I don't want you to have any of those either. I prefer happy customers. Happy and healthy. You have any health issues I should know about?"

"None," I semi-lied. He didn't really need to know about the two dead guys who were really inhabiting this body. "I had a clean bill of health when I received my discharge."