High Knees

Way up in the tower, someone is doing high knees. High knees. It is an exercise in which one raises, in turn, each knee. It is performed at a running pace. The knees are to slap the palms of hands that are outstretched, such that just before the knee makes contact with the palm, the forearm and the thigh form a set of parallel lines. All at a running pace, all while running in place.

This exercise forces one’s entire bodyweight to come down onto the ball of the foot of one leg. It creates a stomping sound that reverberates in the ears of the exerciser, and sends vibrations throughout the apartment building. Thud thud thud thud. it is not as loud as machinery, but as close to it as the human body can get. Thud. Thud. Thud.

The exerciser is sweating. This one is difficult. The body does not want the knee to touch the palm. It resists, but the exerciser continues to try to make them meet (and not by cheating! Not by bringing the palm down to touch the knee! No, no no that would not do.)

In each apartment throughout the building, tenants listen to the thudding. They do not know what is happening, that there is a struggle between the palm and the knee and the lower abdominals. They do not know about the sweat glistening on the forehead of the exerciser, who reaches the hem of her shirt to her forehead to wipe it away. They do not even know if there is anyone else hearing this sound, this horrible sound. They only know that they want it to stop.

Which, coincidentally, so does she. And she does stop, when the timer beeps, but not a second before.