Perfect Impurrfections

Chapter 18

Therapy for Everyone

                Crystal met up with Anna at the gym pool where they were also joined by another instructor, Mac.  It seemed word had gotten out that she was back, and they were all willing to help her work herself into a puddle of goo.  It seemed making sure she couldn’t leave the gym by herself was everyone’s goal for the day.  Even sweet young Jude had put her through her paces in the pool.  Which consequently made her change her opinion of him.  By the end of her laps she was glaring at the lot of them.  Anna and Jude had been snickering in return.  She was sure Mac would have too but being the player that he was his attention was on the swimsuit clad clients lazily drifting in for class.  Jude’s first teaching round of the day was the over pampered entitled wives of the rich.  They tended to take his class to flaunt themselves at him.  Jude had admitted once that if they hadn’t paid decent money for the class, he would have like to kick them all out.  While he was a cutie and would harmlessly flirt with girls his own age Crystal had to give him credit.  He was profoundly serious when it came to swimming.  Rumor had it that he had been on the fast track for a national team with his eye on the Olympics when an injury ended his career early.  She had never been brave enough to ask him whether it was true or not, but by the way he carried himself around those who came for class she could assume it was. 

                Jude had several classes in a day as well as dealing with swimming.  The other instructors did rotations around the gym but those with specialties usually were kept to that.  Jude not only tried to teach light aerobic swimming to the rich and entitled but he also taught a few beginner courses as well.  Most of the kids in the complexes the gyms were attached to learned how to swim because of Jude.  A lot of the kids he got in class were only there so the parents could get a bit of a break from them.  He didn’t mind though as he really did enjoy teaching them.  He also taught adults a beginner class too.  Some had such a fear of water that they had gone their whole lives never learning and some just never had the opportunity to learn.  He took that class very seriously as well.  He told Crystal once that he wanted them to love the water as much as he did but half the battle was getting over their fear.  His favorite classes however were the up and coming kids.  The ones that showed a lot of potential for swim teams and possibly eventually a national team.  Jude was tough on those kids, but they all admired him a great deal.  There were people from all over the city that came to sign their kids up to be coached by him.  Crystal was quite impressed by his accomplishments.  If he weren’t so much younger than her, she would have considered him the perfect boyfriend material.  It wasn’t just that Crystal would never go for him however, Jude himself wasn’t ready to settle down yet.  He wanted to concentrate on swimming and giving all that he could to his students.  An admirable trait indeed.

                Next up Crystal was with Mac.  This was a part of her training day she had been dreading.  Mac was a personal trainer who worked mostly with weights but could tailor a regimen to anyone’s needs.  He was another specialty instructor and was damn good at what he did.  Crystal however really didn’t want to lift weights.  She was big in stature as it was and had been turning down his offers to work out together since she didn’t want to make herself any bigger.  To her surprise Mac had set her up at the bags.  She initially thought he was going to make her do kick boxing, but he assured her it would only be boxing.  The most her ankle did was foot work as she danced around the bag for a while.  Since Anna couldn’t do her kind of training with Crystal, she offered to be her sparing partner instead.  Mac watched them closely so that Crystal didn’t over do it and neither of them did anything too fancy.  By the end of the session Crystal’s muscles were nice and warm even if she had found it a bit boring. 

                Crystal and Anna left the other two at the gym since they still had classes to teach.  They all agreed to meet up later for a drink to celebrate Crystal officially coming back to work in a couple days.  As the two of them walked along the sidewalk Crystal tested her ankle to make sure she didn’t over do it earlier.  To her surprise it felt surprisingly good and gave her a promising outlook that the worst was over.  Anna laughed at her as she watched what she was doing.  Soon enough the two of them found themselves on Dr. Miller’s street.

                “You have got to be kidding me.  What do you think you have this time?” 

                “It’s serious.  It’s not like all the other times I promise.”  Crystal entreated her friend, but Anna stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk refusing to budge.  Crystal had to end up telling her what was wrong before she would give in.

                “There’s nothing wrong with you.”  Anna stated rolling her eyes at Crystal but walking forward again just the same.  She could see that her problem was really bugging her.

                “It’s not like I wanted this to happen but I damn sure want it to stop.”

                “Would it be such a bad thing if you and Casey ended up together.”  Crystal halted in her tracks looking at Anna incredulously.

                “He has a girlfriend Anna.  Besides, I don’t want to lose our friendship over a bad ending relationship.”  Anna sighed at her.

                “It’s not like he’s serious about her anyway.  None of us can stand her either.”  Anna pointed out.

                “You’re not going to use me to get rid of the trash.  Besides if that’s who he’s happy with who are we to judge.” 

                “Fine, but I’m not happy about this.”  Anna relented.

                “Me neither but it’s not our choice.  It’s not like he would go for me anyway.”  Crystal stated causing Anna to roll her eyes.  She didn’t know why Crystal couldn’t see what the rest of them could, but she was willing to let it go.  Especially since it seemed Casey had moved on.  The girls had just made it to the front steps of Dr. Miller’s townhouse when there was a riotous commotion from inside.  The front door flung open emitting her grandfather in a complete state of undress.  His bare feet slapped against the pristine wood porch as he held a small square decorative pillow in front of him.  His white shock of hair was standing at odds with gravity as he beat a hasty retreat right past Crystal and Anna.  Crystal turned to watch where he was going only to realize too late that nothing covered the back side of him.  His saggy cheeks flapped wildly behind him as he half ran half waddled away as fast as he could. 

                “My eyes.”  She cried out turning back towards Dr. Miller’s house.  An act that proved to be the wrong one as she came face to face with a shrieking naked elderly woman who was Dr. Miller’s mother.  The woman seemed to have little care for the fact that she was standing on the front lawn naked as the day she was born.  Unfortunate for Crystal and Anna that she no longer had the same body as she did the day she was born.  The old bat was shaking her fist in the air in the direction Crystal’s grandfather had scurried off to causing her sagging chest to flounder about her waist with the movement.

                “Come back here you cad!  You promised me fireworks!”  Dr. Miller rushed from the house holding his mother’s house coat open.  He tried to get her to put it on and cover herself, but the old woman would not be deterred as she dodged her son’s efforts proving she was more agile then Crystal would have thought.  After she had said her piece, she stormed back into the house giving the three of them an eyeful of her back side as she went.  Dr. Miller, Crystal, and Anna stood still as statues in shock helpless to do anything but watch the old gal go.

                “Do you think we could get a discount on all the therapy we now need?”  Crystal pondered breaking the forms of the three as if she had taken a hammer to ice.  Dr. Miller glared at her before retreating back into the house after his mother and slamming the door.  Anna broke down in hysterics causing Crystal to laugh along with her.

                “Look at it this way at least you won’t dream of Casey anymore.”  Anna laughed making light of the situation.

                “I think I would rather dream of him naked then what I just saw.  What time is it?”  Crystal’s random question caught Anna off guard.  Her laughter ended abruptly as she checked the watch on her wrist.

                “Just a little past noon.  Why?”

                “s**t!  My mom will be here any minute to collect my grandpa.”  Anna’s eyes became comically big as the two of them raced off in the direction of her naked grandfather.  As they ran, they searched all the yards and porches making sure he wasn’t holed up hiding somewhere on the way.  As they raced down the walk the sound of a motorcycle came closer to them.  They both watched as Ike zoomed past heading in the same direction her grandfather had.

                “You don’t think Ike is some kind of bounty hunter after my grandfather, do you?”  Crystal asked as they watched him drive by.

                “Better that then a hit man Dr. Miller just hired to take him out for defiling his mother.”  Both girls looked at each other before rushing off.  Picking up the pace they were determined to reach the elderly man before Ike did.  Not that they knew for a fact he was after him.  They had just reached the front of Crystal’s house as her mother pulled into the drive.  Casey was standing outside watering his flower bed’s watching the two of them pant out of breath.

                “You haven’t seen my grandpa, have you?”  Casey looked at them curiously but shook his head no.

                “How long have you been out here?”  Anna asked hoping the old man was inside getting dressed.

                “About two hours now.  Why?”  Both girls groaned at the probability of what was about to happen.  As if on cue Crystal’s naked grandfather came sneaking down the sidewalk looking around for Dr. Miller’s mother.  Casey cursed a blue streak when he saw him dropping his hose in the process.  Crystal’s mom walked up the drive just in time to get an eyeful of her dad as he beat a fast retreat inside.

                “I can explain.”