A Cellarful of Nose - Future Shoes

In the Sauna
After my workout and shower at the Y I stepped into the
sauna.
It was an old, cedar sauna, the walls corroded and leeched by
years of hot air and men's sweat. It wasn't too hot, and an older
man, was lacing up his shoes. We nodded at each other, and I sat
on the bench, but almost immediately jumped up.
"These nails sure get hot," I said.
"Oh, yes, nails are excellent conductors of heat," the man
says, beginning a set of about twenty brisk touch-toes bends.
Then another man, bald, even older, and in his eighties, steps
solemnly into the little wooden room. He, too was dressed in gym
suit and shoes. I suddenly feel very naked.
"How's it going, Don," the older man drawled, and sat next to
me. He did everything slowly. He never blinked that I could tell.
His body seemed to hang from his shoulders, like a vulture on a
branch.
"Not bad," said Don, stretching his calves against the bench.
"I have to stretch out a lot when I exercise now, or I get so stiff.
This hip likes to lock up on me. I have to stretch out before and
after exercise. If I sit after a workout, I can hardly stand up."
"Well, you're getting older," the bald man said. "You're what
– 71, 72? That's it. Everything good that's going to happen to you
has happened. The only thing left is to go downhill."
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