It had been six months, but Anne still remembered the referee's hand slapping the mat declaring her the loser by pinfall to Suzanne. Both women, who were in their 30s, had met each other at a club in the Bay area which they joined in order to learn freestyle wrestling for fitness and to meet new people. After the club championship, Suzanne was off to Europe for work, and they talked in the locker room about getting together when she returned. Anne looked back on the match often during that time, sometimes with frustration due to the loss, but also wondering whether it resulted from inferior skill or the distraction of Suzanne pressing body to body as her will to resist waned. Anne's lasting vision of Suzanne in the locker room was not helping to gain any clarity.
While Suzanne was away, Anne converted a basement room in her condo to a workout room and bought a set foldup mats that she used to work out occasionally with some of the other women. She felt her confidence gaining and was delighted to hear Suzanne's voice when she returned. Suzanne had not had time for much of anything when she was overseas and gladly accepted Anne's invitation to spar.
While at the club both male and female wrestlers wore regulation singlets, there was no reason to "suit up" for sparring, and Anne was wearing a pair of bike shorts on with a sports bra. When she opened the door, Suzanne had some sweats on, and they spent some time chatting before going downstairs. Suzanne peeled off her sweats, and underneath she was similarly attired. Anne noted that her lack of exercise during the time away had taken away little if any of her buff appearance.
They began to wrestle, first working on various moves in the style of drills, and then getting more into the competition. Both women started to glisten with sweat. At the end of an intense 5 minutes, Anne managed to pin Suzanne to the mat and after getting up she pumped her arms. Suzanne smiled, took a swig of water, congratulated her on the fall, and suddenly peeled off her sweat soaked top. Anne returned the smile, removed her own top, and after exchanging more smiles they faced each other topless in thongs.
