The other day, as I lay beside the hot tub having my nails filed and pampered by my manicurist, Mitzi, I felt a sharp pain in my middle toe.

"Ouch! Be carefull, Mitzi," I cried, waking from my pleasant half-snooze.

"Well, I can't help it, Max, you're just getting too darned fat. You need to get some exercise." she said defensivly.

"Fat? What do you mean fat? I'm in great shape, in fact, I'm in the best shape of my life!"

"Max," she said with a knowing look. "only three weeks ago I was able to get my manicuring tools all the way to the bottom of your nails. Look how they are now, the skin is sort of flopping over the nail and I just can't get in there to do my work."

I got up without a word and walked to the bathroom where I stared long and hard into the full-length mirror. By golly, she was right, I had been sneaking too many sun flower seeds when no one was looking. Eventually, she appeard behind me in the mirror. "Listen, Max, I belong to a hiking club and we go for a pretty good trot every Saturday. Why don't you come along with us this weekend and burn off some of that fat."

My mind went into high gear trying to think of a believable excuse quickly, but when I saw the expression on Mitzi's face I knew that whatever I said, I was going to end up walking up the side of a mountain. "Well, Okay," I said, "but go easy on me."

Saturday came and Mitzi was trying to cram my feet into a pair of shoes that were obviously not made for parrots. A big bag was thrust onto my back and some one was shouting "Okay you wimps, let's move!"

I tried to run, but Mitzi grabbed the bag on my back and said, "Wrong way, Max."

"Oh... yeah... my mistake,"

Well, it turned out all my fretting and worrying was for nothing. All the club members took turns going to the back of the line to make sure I was okay. In fact, some of them sat with me when I felt as though I couldn't go on. They all had near-failure stories of their first hikes and told of someone who had encouraged them along the way.

It just wouldn't be me if I didn't gripe and complain all the way to the top, so I made a few comments about room service. The truth was though, I was having the time of my life. The more I huffed and puffed the stronger I felt and when we finally reached the top of the mountain (even though I was the last to arrive) I felt better than I had in years. I had done something I didn't think I could do!

A few days later, Mitzi was tending to my nails by the hot tub once again. "Max, I can get my tools all the way to the bottom of your nails today. You must have shed a few pounds up there on the trail." she said with a smile.

"I'm ready to go again," I said, "In fact next time I'll race you."

"Oh Max, you're always setting unrealistic goals"

"Yeah yeah... so Mitzi, what do you know about snow boarding?"