A Memoir by Elaine Carlson

"Don't be so irresponsible," he said. "You could die."

I was jolted out of my quiet reserve while exercising when I heard Arthur scolding his friend Carl.

"I know you are old but still," he said. "I am sure you would like to add at least several more years to your life."

Quickly I could see Carl just sitting there doing nothing so I knew he had stopped doing what his friend was concerned could kill him.

"Well he was right. The weights were too heavy," he told Phyllis when she asked what Arthur had been so concerned about.

His voice trailed off but I (and everybody else in the gym) knew he admitted Arthur was right and that the weights had been too heavy. I was a little confused. Carl had not been lifting weights – he had been sitting in a chair and pulling them. And the ones he put the peg on a string into weren't very low in the stack. So how could they have been too heavy?

I was riding a stationary bicycle when I heard that exchange. Then a lot of the people exercising were older people. I wasn't surprised to hear the loud talking because I know hearing loss is a common problem of old age.

Those two were always close to each other but Arthur did most of the talking. When he seemed to be finished with expressing his thought Carl would make a small comment. Sometimes Arthur would tell a joke but mostly he would give advice to his friend. At first I felt uneasy about being an eavesdropper on their conversations. But I don't know how I could not have heard them.

Once Carl told me he would be getting a hearing aid the next week --- "and it is rechargeable."

Henry Luce, the editor and founder of Time and Life magazines, had a hearing loss. For a long time his wife Clare Booth Luce encouraged him to get a hearing aid. But he refused to do so until finally he succumbed to her pressure. By then all the people he dealt with were used to speaking loudly to him.

"Why are you yelling," the boss and editor said, "I am right here."

I don't know how long it took his staff to develop a new habit --- speaking to the boss in a normal voice.

I was happy Carl would get a hearing aid but that week I moved away so I wasn't there when he started using it. Ever since I have wondered how long it took Arthur to adjust to being able to talk to Carl without being loud enough for everyone in the building to also hear him.

A while back I signed up at the Billy Casper Wellness Center. I enjoy going there to do exercises – I still like to do the stationary bicycle. And occasionally I pull weights. And every time I do I think of Carl and Arthur. They were such good friends.