IT'S A MANZ WORLD

BIG BOY -

Note: Most of my Manz World stories are fictionalized accounts of how the painting shown here came to be, however, some stories are rooted in truth.

I was at the gym one day, at an unusual time for me. I rarely work out before 8:00 in the morning. But today I had a breakfast meeting with a friend, so here I was, at 7:00, walking my butt off on the treadmill, sweating like a pig. With tiny ear buds stuffed in my ears, I was holding on to the railing, bopping along with some 70s dance music, not paying much attention to anything or anyone around me.

It wasn’t until my walking came to a stop that I looked up and scanned the gym’s large, open space. Within seconds, a young man came into view. Seeing some sweat on his forehead, it was obvious that he had just finished his warm up. I’m sure my eyebrows lifted high as I zeroed in on this incredibly handsome guy. He was dressed in a grey tank top, which was now showing sweat spots on his chest and underarms. What I was witnessing was a twenty-something looking man with the body of an athlete complete with a full chest, protruding pecs and broad shoulders framed by two bulging biceps. In looking downward, it was obvious that his thighs and calves had been sculpted by many sessions of squats. Of particular interest to me was the shape of his bulbous butt that was hardly hidden by the thin clothing that covered it. In addition to all those muscled body parts was the beautiful tan that covered him from head to foot, one that made this guy literally glow with health.

Coming off the treadmill, I had planned to do a light workout, thinking I would leave the gym before 8:00. However, that plan soon changed. Not only did my timeframe change, but my whole routine was reconfigured. Seeing that the man that I was now focusing on was beginning a free weight workout, I decided to do an upper body sequence which would allow me to use some of the machines that faced the free weight area. For over a half hour, I moved slowly from machine to machine, all the while making sure I was keeping this young man in view.

Within that half hour, I saw this hulk of a guy lifting weights much heavier than I would ever attempt. As he lifted, those muscles of his blew up like balloons. The more he lifted, those muscles grew exponentially until they glistened with sweat under the overhead lights. Finally, with his clothing now practically soaking wet, I saw this young man head to the locker room. I followed.

Fortunately, my locker was a little distance from the one this young man was using, but not so far that I couldn’t get a good look at him. Trying not to stare, my eyes swept quickly back and forth, catching glimpses of the man undressing. I have to admit I was delighted to see him strip off all clothing without any sign of embarrassment. After grabbing his towel, he threw it over his shoulder, closed his locker door and walked to the gang-shower room, one that was fully tiled with three showers heads on each side. I followed.

Trying not to call attention to myself, I picked a shower head at the opposite end of the one Mr. Muscle had chosen. Glancing ever so quickly to capture a glimpse of him and his totally naked body, I tried not to get too excited. But that was difficult. Fortunately, the man just down from me cut his shower short, saving me any embarrassment that could have come about should he have stayed longer.

By the time I got to my locker, this young muscular man was almost fully dressed, a sign that he was possibly running late. Sure enough, with his hair still showing signs of wetness, he stuffed his workout gear into a gym bag and took off in a hurry.

Having been a gym member for several years, I got to know most of the staff. So, just before leaving, I stopped to talk to Ted, one of the trainers, who I had seen spotting the focus of my interest.

“Ted,” I asked, “who was that guy you were helping? I’ve never seen him in here before.”

“Oh,” said Ted, “He’s a new member. His name is Karl. He just moved here from California.”

Nonchalantly, I said, “I just wondered. I mean, what a tan he had.”

Ted laughed as he said, “When you live close to the beach, that’s what happens.”

Trying not to come off as a stalker, I said, “Just wondered because I’ve never seen him in here before. But if he works out this early, I guess I wouldn’t have seen him, huh?”

“He’s almost always one of the first in the door. And he’s a regular. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sometimes he puts in an extra day on the weekend.”

Now, knowing Karl’s hours at the gym, my mind was set on getting up extra early on those days mentioned. And that’s exactly what I did: got up early and was at the gym around the time Karl started his routine.

After several weeks of regularity at the gym, almost always seeing Karl do his routine, I finally introduced myself. That happened one morning in the locker room, just after Karl had showered. I noticed he wasn’t in his usual rush to dress.

Having just showered myself, I was drying off as I said to him, “Don’t mean to intrude, but just wanted to say welcome.”

Karl smiled and said, “Thanks.” He then wrinkled his eyebrows as he continued. “But how did you know I was new here?”

“I’m friends with most of the staff here. Ted told me you had just moved into the area.”

“Yeah. About two months ago. Getting into a gym was one of the first things on my list. Found this one and I like it. It’s well equipped and very clean. Plus, it’s near where I live.”

Over the next couple of weeks, I had several brief conversations with Karl. In one, I found out that he was a financial analyst and had moved here for a job. When he asked what I did, I replied that I was retired but that I was an artist and was now doing more artwork. His follow up was to ask about my artistic style. I replied, “I paint abstracts. Sometimes portraits. And…” Here I paused a moment before saying, “And sometimes nudes.”

Karl’s eyebrows raised a bit as he said, “Nudes, huh.” Then, with a smile, he asked, “What kind?”

“I paint both female and male.” I then bravely said, “Actually, I do more male nudes these days because there’s a growing market for them.”

“Interesting,” was Karl’s only reply. Then he surprised me by saying, “I used to model for life drawing classes in college. I guess they liked the fact that I had a more drawable body structure.”

My smile was more of an inward one. That was because I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I can see why. Your body structure is very drawable. And hot!’

Karl continued with, “I earned some good money doing it. In fact, there were several artists in the area who wanted me to model for their classes. That’s the way I paid for part of my college tuition. I kinda got addicted to it so I even did some modeling after I graduated.”

He then added, “Plus, it was a good way to meet girls. I got a number of dates from those art students. Dates and more, if you get my drift.” He then winked.

“So, do you still do any modeling?”

“I haven’t for a while. And certainly not since I moved here.” Karl then looked downward as he said, “I kinda miss doing it. Maybe because…” He paused for a moment. “I really don’t mind being naked. I guess I’m an exhibitionist at heart.” Having said that, he raised his eyes and smiled.

A thought suddenly popped into my head. “Do you think you’d do it again?”

Karl’s eye opened wide as he replied, “Hell yeah!”

It did not take long before I had my phone in hand, showing him some of my male nude paintings. His response was, “Wow. Those are wonderful. You’re really good. I like your style.”

What soon followed was my suggestion that he could model for me. Upon hearing that, Karl nodded his head and said, “Wow! That would be great.”

“But I have to warn you, I don’t have a lot of money to pay you.”

“Oh,” he said, “That’s okay. I did some modeling for a guy who paid me a percentage of any painting of me he sold.”

“Sounds like a win-win situation for you and the artist. Would you consider doing that with me?”

Karl nodded as he said, “Absolutely. That’s fair.”

And that is how I got Karl to model for the painting I have posted here. The one I call, “Big Boy.”