Title: Hope Restored
Featuring: Tom Walczak
Date: 12/20/2010
Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Piotr’s Gulag is not your average gym. There are no sparkling new machines, the floors are covered in dirt and chalk, and the few mirrors that are spread throughout the gym look as if they haven’t been washed in years. The equipment is not the only thing that is different. Gone are the middle aged housewives, with their zumba classes, and their yoga mats. There are no fat chumps who just go to the gym look around for half an hour and then head home. There are also no senile old guys who just come to the gym to socialize and creep out the other members. No, this gym seems to be made up of nothing but meatheads. The standard attire seems to be loose fitting wife beaters and zubaz pants. The men seem to lift the weights with anger coursing through their veins. They slam the weights down as they finish their reps, causing the dirt and the chalk covering the floor to float up into the air.

However, all of the men at the gym seem to stop lifting at the same time and their eyes make their way towards the entrance of the gym. Walczak makes his way through the broken down doors and a couple of murmurs break out among the men.

“I don’t believe it.”

An older man with graying hair makes his way towards Walczak. He is the only man in the gym with semi formal attire, wearing slacks and a white golf shirt, with Piotr embroidered in red on his chest. While the man is older you can see that he has spent his life working out, as his muscles bulge out of his shirt. He firmly grips Walczak’s hand and pats him on the shoulder to welcome him into the gym.

“Long time no see Piotr.”

“I never thought that I would see you back here again. I was certain that you were back in Poland for good.”

“Me to, but there are just some things that you can’t run away from.”

“Well, anything in here is at your disposal, and let me know if you need help learning how to use anything, I know that you have been sitting on your ass for a couple of years.”

“Fuck you, Poland has plenty of gyms you wiseass.”

Piotr slaps Walczak on the shoulder yet again, but lets the huge Pole proceed towards the locker room. As Walczak makes his way towards the back he is given a couple of fist pounds here and there from friends he has not seen in years, and those that do not know him silently ask what the fuss is around. Walking into the locker room you see that the theme of bare necessity continues here, as the lockers are rusted out and none seem to have working locks. There are a couple of benches that seem to have been there longer than the gym, and a communal urinal is seen towards the back. Walczak makes his way towards one of the benches. As he takes off his sweatpants we see that Walczak chooses to deviate from the lax workout uniforms seen out in the gym. He has a tight lifting singlet that he pulls up over his shoulders, and covers with a tight white and red Under Armour shirt. As he tightens up his weight lifting belt, he puts his head phones in his ear, and gets ready to lift listening to Kanye’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Making his way back out onto the floor of the gym he pauses to think what muscle group to work first. Heading over to the squatting station it seems that he has decided that legs is the way to go. While Walczak has been away from wrestling for nearly two years, he did not take time away from the gym. However, lifting to stay in shape is much different than lifting for wrestling, and as evidenced by his first week back it is easy to see that Walczak is a little rusty.

Walczak stretches a little bit before making his way towards the rack and removing the plates on the bar. Playing it safe, he goes underneath the bar and does ten reps with no weight to get the juices flowing. As he puts the bar back in place he gets a hard slap on the back and turns to see who it is. When he turns around he has a bewildered look on his face. Standing in front of him is a man that seems to be lost. A short pudgy man, his bald head reaching the bottom of Walczak’s pecs stands in front of him. The man is wearing a black and gold sweatsuit, an Bluetooth protruding out of the man’s right ear just adds to the aura of douchebaggery surrounding the little fella.

“Do I know you?”

“Na boss, but I saw you struggling here and thought that I would offer some expertise. You seem to have set your legs to narrow when you were squatting down, and you are going to get hurt if you add more weight to the bar and use the same technique.”

“Thanks for the heads up, but I think I got it.”

“HA! I’ve heard that before. This one time this guy here was squatting, and didn’t take my advice, then BOOM he blew out his knee. I just don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”

“No offense buddy, but who are you?”

“The name is Giorgio Papadakis.”

The man extends his hand, but Walczak just puts his earbuds back in and starts to add some weight to the bar. With 405lbs now on the bar, he makes his way back into position, but before he could squat down he is once again interrupted by the paunchy Papadakis.

“Hold on there chief, let me just show you what I’m talking about.”

With a slight chuckle Walczak gets out of the way and lets the short man have at it, if for no other reason than amusement. Papadakis gets into position and attempts to lift the bar up into position.

“HMMMPH….HMMMPH….HMMMPH…”

“You sure you got it?”

“Yeah just stand back.”

“HMMMPH…HMMMPH…HMMMPH…”

Six attempts to lift the bar, and no luck. Walczak can’t help but let out a deep belly laugh. Papadakis gets out from underneath the bar, and looks up at Walczak , almost at the verge of tears as he clasps his lower back.

“Hey, it’s not funny. My back has been killing me for days, I shouldn’t have started with so much weight.”

“Whatever, I don’t care. I believe you, you look like a walking stereotype for a power lifter, but I really have to be getting on with my workout.”

“Are you making fun of me? I am telling you that I AM NOT the guy that you want to be messing with.”

With this last statement the stout man jabs a finger in Walczak’s chest, and a look of fury instantly appears on Walczak’s face. As he clenches his fists together and cracks his neck, one can only imagine the pain that is about to descend on one Georgio Papadakis.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on here?”

“Oh Pete, thank goodness you here. I try to help out this JERK, and he makes fun of me. I think that you should ban this punk, before I lay a beating on his ass.”

“HAHAHA. Come on Georgio, why don’t you take it easy. I have known Tom here since he was a teenager. He was here when this gym first opened up. Hell, I practically raised the kid, so there is no way that I am going to kick him out of here. Why don’t you just go up to the front of the gym, make yourself a fruit shake, and calm down a little bit.”

“We’ll see if you change your mind after I talk to Monika.”

“I promise you I won’t, now just go to the front and settle down.”

Mr. Papadakis makes his way towards the front of the gym as he gives Walczak the stink eye walking backwards and never losing eye contact with Walczak’s smiling face.

“Don’t worry about that guy, he’s always in here causing trouble, but never getting much accomplished.”

“What did he mean he was going to tell Monika?”

“Heh, well believe it or not that guy is Monika’s fiancé. It’s the only reason he even comes to this gym. He thinks that just because he’s my future son in law, he owns the place. The guy never lifted a day in his life up until two years ago, but as soon as he popped the question he thinks that he inherited my entire array of lifting knowledge.”

“You’re not fucking with me? That little overweight shrimp is engaged to Monika. I just can’t wrap my mind around that.”

“You know that I love you Tom, and you will always be like a son to me, but I can’t go down this road again. I can’t put Monika through this. You know as well as I do, that you are not the most stable person on the planet, and you have left her out to dry too many times. I can’t say that I fully approve of her choice in life partner, I can’t say that I even like the guy, but he has a good heart and he can provide her with a good and most important stable life.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. I don’t even think I can look Monika in the face after last time. I just never thought that she would end up with a guy like that.”

“You and me both son.”

Piotr leaves Walczak once again, and this time Walczak is able to get on with his workout, but the thought of Monika now consumes his mind. You see, when Walczak first came over to the United States at age 16, he made his way to Greenpoint, knowing that with its large Polish population it would make his transition to American life that much easier. With no place to stay, he spent nearly all of his time in Piotr’s Gulag. In fact Piotr was the first person who gave Walczak help in the new world. Seeing Walczak sitting on a doorstep at three in the morning, Piotr took a chance on the boy and brought him home to give him a place to sleep. It was in this home that Walczak made his first friend in the United States, in Piotr’s daughter Monika

…September 15, 1990….

“Here is a pillow and some blankets. You can sleep on the couch, and you are welcome to anything in the fridge, but if you even think about stealing anything from me I will put your ass back on the street quicker than you can blink an eye.”

“Thank you sir, very much.”

“No problem. You seem like a good kid, and remember you are not to speak Polish in this house. It will be hard, but it will help you in the long run.”

“I understand, Polish bad.”

“Yeah something like that.”

“Dad….are you okay, what’s going on here?”

“Oh, Monika, this is Tom. He is going to be spending some time with us until he can afford a place of his own.”

As Walczak laid his eyes upon Monika for the first time he held his breath, and looked down towards the ground immediately. He could not help but be taken aback by the beauty in front of him. Monika was nearly six feet tall, with shoulder length blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. She looked like a vision from a movie, and gave Walczak a warm feeling he hadn’t felt since he was a young boy. He had long ago learned to shut out emotion, but he could not help this.

“Who is he?”

“He is just a young fella from the gym with no place to stay. He is fresh off the boat from Poland, and I felt like helping him out.”

“You always feel like helping people out. Tomek moje imnie jest Monika. Milo cziebje poznac.”

“Mr. Peter, says no Polish for me. It is pleasure to meet you.”

Still not able to look Monika in the face, Walczak extends his hand and shakes Monika’s, making a smile emerge from his burrowed face.

“Haha…It is pleasure to meet you as well, and if you need anything just let me know. Oh, and don’t let the old man scare you he is really just a pushover.”

“Monika, how am going to keep any order in this house if you take away my aura of fear, now get back upstairs you have school tomorrow.”

“Goodnight Tom.”

“Goodnight.”

That night was the first night that Walczak was given any sense of hope in his life. After losing his parents and spending eleven years of his life in an orphanage Walczak had pretty much given up on the human race, but Piotr and Monika were to become the closest thing to a family that Walczak ever had, and no matter how angry, depressed, or downtrodden he would become he knew that he could always turn to them

…Present Day…

Walczak is back at his Brownstone in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, just having finished his workout, but as much as he loves Piotr’s Gulag he doesn’t dare shower in its facilities. Struggling to take off his sweat soaked Under Armour shirt, Walczak makes his way towards the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he gets lost in his thoughts once again, not being able to shake the thought of Monika from his mind.

__________________________________________________________

Walczak has never had many friends in his life, admittedly a lot of this had to do with his own attitude, but he had never had trouble getting along with Monika, and she had always accepted him for who he was.

…January 3, 1991…

Walczak makes his way down the halls of Williamsburg Charter High School, preparing for his first day of school in the United States. He had proved himself enough to Piotr, and as a present for Christmas, he was given the opportunity to go to one of the best schools in New York. Most teenagers would get rather pissed off at getting the gift of knowledge for Christmas, but Walczak looked forward to it. Not just because it gave him a chance to further his knowledge, but because now he would get a chance to spend more time with Monika.

However, right now the thought of Monika is the furthest thing from his mind. As Walczak walks down the hall he is at least a head taller than any of the other students, and the fact that he doesn’t exactly fit into his uniform doesn’t help conceal him from wandering eyes. In fact every student occupying the east end of Williamsburg Charter has their eyes firmly set on Walczak. His jacket and shirt are so tight on him that they cause his arms to come away from his body, and his pants look more like capris as they rise above his socks revealing his pale white shins.

“Look at that guy…”

“Who dressed that dude…”

“Hey man, special ed classes aren’t in this part of the building…”

Comments like these are made as Walczak passes by the other students, but not yet having a firm grasp on the English language he doesn’t really take any of them to heart, and instead keeps his head low and makes his way towards his first class.

“Hey, Tom wait up.”

“Oh, Monika, how are you this day.”

“Ha, I’m fine. Why didn’t you wait for me to walk to school today?”

“I thought you would like to rather walk with your friends, so I walk myself.”

“Man, you got some nerve coming into a high school all by yourself. These kids will tear you apart if you let them.”

“No problem for me. I spend whole life in orphanage, and kids never like me there. I no need friends, I am okay by myself.”

“Well, I hope that I can still be your friend. It has been great having you around the house, and dad really seems to like you.”

“We great friends Monika. I really feel special for all you do for me.”

“You do have a way with words there Tom.”

Walczak and Monika make their way down the hall, and for the first time since entering the school Walczak has his head raised making him just that much taller than all those around him. There is even a small hint of a smile on the face of Walczak. As Walczak and Monika get closer to their classroom their passage is impeded by another student. Walczak looks at the boy, and gets a distinct impression of disdain. The boy has perfectly parted hair, his uniform seems to be tailored to fit him perfectly, and his bone structure would make Brad Pitt blush.

“Hey Monika, how’s it going?”

“Oh hey Chet. Just heading to class.”

“Who’s this mongoloid?”

“Why do you always have to be such an ass?”

“What it is just a simple question. I just didn’t know that you volunteered to take care of the special kids this semester.”

“I really don’t understand what your appeal is, and for your information this is a family friend from Poland, who has come to America to go to school, and if you would get out of our fucking way than we can get to class.”

Monika pushes through Chet’s road block, and takes Walczak by the hand to lead him to class. For the first time in his life Walczak had someone stand up for him, and at that moment his little crush exploded into full on enamor. This would be the moment that Walczak would, think of whenever he got down on himself, it may have been nothing to Monika, but for Walczak it restored his faith in humanity if only for a minute.

…Present Day…

Five minutes have passed, and Walczak still stares blankly into the mirror. He knows that he shouldn’t be thinking about Monika, he should be thinking about regaining his status as one of the world’s best wrestlers, but no matter what he does he can’t shake the thought…
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