The Sauna

"Earth to Gwen....Earth to Gwen. You okay??"

Gwen snapped out of the trance she had been in, then looked up at the concerned face of her sister. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to me, Brenda."

"You need to get out of here, Gwen. You've been working too hard for too long. How many weekends in a row has it been now since you've taken time for yourself? 4? 5?"

"6, I think, but you know I need to be here, I need the money too bad to go home."

"Oh, bullshit. If you don't start taking care of yourself, you're going to be in the hospital. If you collapse from exhaustion, it'll be much worse than what you're already going through."

"I'm okay, sis, really I am."

"I've got an idea, Gwen. Things are pretty slow today, so why don't you go over to that new fitness club that I've been going to and do an easy workout, then spend some time in the whirlpool and the sauna? It'll make you feel like a new woman."

"You know I can't afford anything like that, sis, and besides some of those women intimidate me. I've heard some stories about..."

"Not the club for women only, Gwen, I meant over to AllDay Fitness. They are coed, and they have both male and female trainers so you can work out with who you feel most comfortable with. It's only $20 a month, and it's been the best investment of a 20 that I've made in quite some time. Don't argue with me, take this money, then go home and get your workout clothes and your swimsuit and get over there. I'm telling you, you'll feel about a hundred times better when you're done."

Gwen protested a bit longer, but Brenda eventually wore down her resistance. After giving her a hug, she went home and got her clothes and swimsuit and drove over to the club, but not without some small misgivings about skipping out on her sister...


"Welcome to AllDay Fitness. I'm Andrea. How can I help you today?"

Gwen took the hand offered to her and shook it. "I'm Gwen. My sister Brenda is a member here and she said that I needed to come over here for a workout. She swore I'd feel like a new woman when I was done."

Andrea laughed, "Well, I don't know if it'll be that dramatic a change in one session, but we'll see what we can do. Since you're a first-time visitor, we won't charge you today. Then if you enjoy your experience, we can talk about a membership for you. You may be pleasantly surprised at how affordable it is, too."

"Brenda said it was $20 a month, so I suppose I can afford that."

"Well, we can talk about that later, after we find out if you like it here. Now, would you like a male or a female trainer? We have both available most of the time."

Gwen hesitated, "I'm not sure..."

"I'd suggest a female trainer to start, Gwen. She's not as likely to push you farther than you are capable of doing. Some of the guys forget from time to time, especially with a new member." Andrea turned and picked up the phone, "Jill, could you come to the office please?" "Jill is one of our best trainers, male or female, and she'll take good care of you."

A few minutes, a bouncy blonde in a t-shirt and spandex pants came into the office. "You rang, Andrea?" she asked.

"Jill, this is Gwen. She's going to take a demonstration workout today, to see if she'd like to join. I haven't taken her back to the locker room yet, so if you could show her where all of that is and get her a locker, you can get her started."

"Sure thing, Andrea. Come on this way, Gwen, and I'll show you where you can change clothes and a locker to put your stuff in." She led the way out the door of the office as Gwen followed along...


Jill led the way down a carpeted hallway, first past a door labelled "MEN" then past another door labelled "WHIRLPOOL