"And left! And right! And left! And right! Now pump! Pump! Pump! Pump!"
The woman's alacrity had Rebecca gasping for air and a baseball bat, neither of which were to be found in the stuffy, mat-lined workout room at the gym Becky had been frequenting for the past few weeks. She had been conned into joining this particular fitness session by one of her co-workers, a twenty-something twig of a thing that worked at the reception desk.
Becky herself had been working out at home for the past three years and had managed to lose 50 of her more than 300 lbs, but she was beginning to plateau and felt she needed a boost. That led to her joining the gym near her office. She enjoyed coming over after work and hopping on the elliptical, but she felt she could take more advantage of the $50 a month membership. After researching the different classes on her own, she mentioned her intentions at the office and was overheard by the girl currently bouncing beside her.
"And step! And step! And step!"
The music blaring through the boombox on the floor made Rebecca's head throb. It was a horrible mix of modern music merged with 80s dance. She brushed a stray, soaked hair away from her sweaty face and tried to keep pace with the girls around her. All of them were less than half her size and had clearly been doing this for quite some time.
"Now twist! And twist! And twist!"
Suddenly, Becky felt the need to find the woman a dictionary or thesaurus... or sledgehammer. The incessant repeating of words pounded into her brain, mixing with the dreadful music. The combination of that and the exertion had her stomach churning unhappily. She stopped, placing her hands on her knees as she took several deep breaths to steady herself. The other women in the class looked at her, but none of them paused in their routine, not even her 'friend.'
Becky shook her head and walked among the rows of females to the edge. She gathered up her bag and let the door clank loudly behind her. From now on, she was sticking with yoga.
**Written at the morning dash in Milkwood (Second Life). Word prompt was "alacrity". Dashes are held at Milkwood every day 5am and 6:30pm SLT.**
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