Jesse the Sagittarian kept talking and talking and talking. He usually arrives blustery and we tell bawdy jokes for a few minutes and then settle into our workouts but not today. Today he just kept talking and talking and talking.

Of course it didn’t matter because the soldier was in the pool and I felt myself starting to get pissed. What reason does he have to storm off? I thought it was a punk thing to do and I eventually got myself so worked up about it I decided to go the pool and confront him. I mean, why not? It’s not like I could concentrate.

Jesse at this point had disappeared from my consciousness although he was still talking. The Bug Zapper effect. The dance floor is cleared whether the dancers know it or not.

I stepped off the crosstrainer and made a beeline to the pool… stood at the end of the soldier’s lane and waited for him to surface. His head popped up.

“Time to go?” he asked with a smile.

Whaaaat?

I asked him why he didn’t stop by the cross trainer and he said something innocuous with his head dripping wet and all the sudden I didn’t know why I was there.

“Um… I thought you were pissed,” I said.

“Pissed? I’m swimming, is it time to go?”

I shook my head. “No… um, no. Go ahead and finish your swimming. I’ll talk to you later.”

He shrugged and swam off. I shook my head and walked off wondering what had just happened there. Out in the car we talked about it.

“I thought you were jealous,” I said. “I thought you were pissed and that’s why you went straight to the pool.”

“No, I just saw the clock and thought I’d better get in there. P, if I were jealous there would be a man on the floor. If I were jealous, I wouldn’t go the pool. I’d go to the cross trainer, take the man off it and beat his ass.”

I turned to look at him to make sure I was convinced. I was and I was surprised by my primary reaction which was relief at the realization at the reminder that the soldier is not passive aggressive. Do you know what a relief that is? Well do you?

To be continued.

How do you feel about passive aggressives?