Read Online Al’s Blind Date: The Al Series, Book Six by Constance C. Greene - Free Book Online Page B

You would think at my age I could get myself to a gym on my own, but somehow I seem to have become immobilized since I moved here. Unhappiness does that to people, I guess. You get so mired in your own feelings it’s tough to get out from under the rug.”
    She laughed and we did too.
    We walked three abreast. The buildings stood out against the sky as if they’d been cut from construction paper. It was a windless day in mid-October and the temperature was just right.
    â€œIs this guy who runs the health club a friend of yours?” Ms. Bolton asked us.
    We told her about the pet shop turning into the health club practically overnight.
    â€œHis name’s Al,” I said. “Same as hers.”
    â€œListen. My feeling about this guy is he’s a total flake,” Al said. “Don’t expect too much, Ms. Bolton, O.K.?”
    â€œI never do,” she said.
    A sign on the door of Al’s Health Club said CLOSED.
    â€œWhat’d I tell you.” Al said. “It just opened. How can it be closed already?” We could see two men inside, talking. They didn’t look like the same two we’d talked to.
    â€œKnock,” Al told me.
    â€œWhy don’t you?” I said. She likes to give me orders, especially when we don’t know what’s what.
    I knocked anyway. Somebody had to.
    Nada. No response. Those bozos didn’t give us the time of day. We went next door to the shoe-repair place and asked the man hammering away at somebody’s new heels if he knew where Al was.
    â€œI never seen him,” the man said. I admired the way he talked with his mouth full of nails. He never swallowed one. “They come and they go over there. All day, all night. You can’t tell nothing. Maybe you come back another day, huh?”
    We were just about to give up when the door to Al’s Health Club opened and the great man stood there, blinking in the light like he just got out of bed.
    â€œHi,” Al and I said. “How are you?”
    He drew a blank. It was plain he didn’t remember us.
    â€œYou said we could have a free tryout,” Al said. “Remember? You said word of mouth was the best advertising and we both have big mouths.” She gave a nervous little laugh. I tried, but the best I could manage was a weak smile.
    â€œYou promised us a freebie,” I said. My voice came out kind of squeaky. I cleared my throat. “You did. Really. We brought our teacher. She likes to work out too.”
    Al considered this information. Then he said, “Sure. You say so, I gotta believe you. Why not. I make you a promise, I keep it. Big Al’s a man of his word. You better believe it. Come on in.”
    We followed him inside. It was kind of dark, and the two men at the back had disappeared.
    â€œWe got a problem with our electricity,” Big Al told us. “Also with our deliveries. It’s slow, starting up. Lot of headaches. But we’ll make it. You want to change, there’s a couple of rooms right there. You ladies slip into your sweats and I’ll see to the equipment. I got a nice place here. I want it to run smooth, know what I mean?”
    Al and I went into one of the changing rooms. Ms. Bolton went into the other.
    â€œIf he’s Big Al,” Al whispered, “then that makes me Little Al, right? Know something? I always wanted to be called Little Al. This is a first.”
    â€œOuch,” I said as her elbow got me in the eye. “Take it easy.”
    Al’s underpants had SUNDAY written across them in bright red.
    â€œIt’s Tuesday,” I told her.
    â€œ Now you tell me,” she said. “No wonder I don’t know what day of the week it is. I’m always doing that.”
    My gym shorts were dirtier than I’d thought, but I pulled my baggy Mickey Mouse T-shirt down as far as it would go and it almost covered the shorts completely.
    â€œYou think we should go through with this?” I