Page 17 - Fire Your Personal Trainer and Kick Your Own Damn Ass

Fire Your Personal Trainer 14
And Kick Your Own Damn Ass

When I got home I looked in the mirror and saw the damage to my
teeth. It was nowhere near as bad as it felt on my tongue but I knew my
parents would eventually see it and give me the third degree so I told
them what happened.

My mother was shocked and insisted we go to a dentist so he could
fix the chip. I refused. I wanted to remember what had happened. My
father was nonplussed and didn’t have much of a reaction.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I couldn’t get this episode
out of my head. I was pretty embarrassed by the fact that when I got to
my feet after being knocked off the bike I could have fought back and
didn’t. I continued to deliver my papers as usual, but I didn’t see this kid
again which was a relief. You can see how the old adage “no good deed
goes unpunished” might apply here since I had taken on these customers
as a favor to my manager, but I wasn’t familiar with the expression back

then.

I gave a lot of thought to what I would do if we ever met again, and I
made up my mind there would be no repeat of what had happened. If
something like this happened again, I would fight him.

One day not long afterward I was riding my bike with my papers, and
I saw him in the distance. He was alone and I had one more paper to
deliver to a house that not far from where he was standing. Rather than

find another route, I decided to head toward him.

As I approached, he stepped into the street to meet me. I made no
attempt to ride around him. If there was going to be a showdown this
was it. I rode toward him and stopped my bike in front of him.

He walked up and grabbed the handlebars with both hands. “I heard

you were saying things about me.”