Thanking The Ladies For The Light

BACK AT THE SENIOR CENTER, never a dull moment. I'm jogging along sluggishly but happily on the treadmill in the back room, with the lights out, in darkness. I don't need to see, because the scenery never changes, and there will be no rocks or holes to trip over. The quiet darkness is relaxing, and invites dreamy, idle free lance thinking, and it keeps me from seeing on the monitor how far I have, and have not, run. So I'm darkly jogging along happily, when suddenly, the light goes on; a whole battery of overhead mini suns, and the room is bathed in blinding light. My eyes recoil, and try to contract instantly, painfully, unsuccessfully. Its like suddenly being thrown into a desert, with eyes wide open, so, I close them so I can adjust. Terribly startled, my thoughts and relaxed state destroyed, I look up just in time to see a petite little elderly lady with a prim and proper and stern facial expression turn, and start to walk away, without a word to me. So be it. I can run in the bright light, and I don't want to get off the machine, and turn the light out, and get back on the treadmill and try to get it ( my old body) going again. Besides, she was nice enough to think of me. Maybe she thought I was too stupid to find the light switch, and was suffering in ignorance. Save the poor dumb bastard from his own folly. Next day, same thing happens, different little prim and proper lady, this time with a brief glance of contempt at me, but not a word, before leaving the room. This time I holler "thanks!". She can hear me, but keeps walking away, silently. This goes on for three more days, different lady each time, but never a spoken word, never so much as a: "sir, you know, there is light available, you don't have to run in the dark. Would you care for me to turn the light on for you, or, do you perhaps, for some strange eccentric reason, prefer the treadmill in the dark?"... I mean, wouldn't you think, just once, someone would actually ask me if I want the light on? It hasn't happened yet. Are these people really concerned about me, and if so, why do they never speak? Or are they merely exercising power and compassion, thinking that I am not worthy of conversation? One day, however, the same lady who started it all was back, and yes, on went the light. I started to speak: "ma'am, several times now, people have come in here while I'm jogging, and turned on the light, and"......She glared at me, turned the light back out, plunged me back into darkness, and stalked off. I didn't even have time to finish my sentence, which was..."and I just wanted to say thank you to all of you!"