Page 89 - The Woven Tale Press Vol. IV #2

“In the grown-up ambience of the shadowy ballroom Susan felt less like a stumbling adolescent — she could imagine herself an adult, a young woman. In the grown-up ambience of
the shadowy ballroom Susan felt less like a stumbling adoles- cent — she could imagine herself an adult, a young woman.”
moves with interest. a quickstep held them happily in each other’s
“What are you mumbling about?” asks Edna.
arms. Her favourite was “If You Were the Only Girl in the World.” They waited, motionless, anticipating the point in the melody when they could take their first step. Bert took the opportunity to put a little more pressure on the small of Edna’s back, which pushed her hipbones in contact with his.
“When I came in just now I could smell the house. It reminded me of going to other peo- ple’s houses. Linda’s house always smells of paraffin and old apples.”
Susan reaches up for a chocolate from her mother’s box of Black Magic.
A tiny lift of Bert’s shoulders was the signal that launched them into the first slow-slow- quick-quick-slow routine. They moved togeth- er perfectly, synchronized by a thousandth of a second. Edna remembers the commanding
“Haven’t you ever heard of asking?” she pro- tests.
She’s not serious, Susan decides. “You don’t like way Bert led them into the fishtail, a staccato marshmallow anyway,” she says. succession of hopping movements, which took
“Cheeky monkey,” says Edna.
her forward, sideways and then backwards, and ended in a triumphant kick of the heel. She’s never — before or since — felt as close to anyone as she felt to Bert when they danced the quickstep.
They watch the dancers on TV, Doug Squires in bolero-style pants and his partner in a flounced skirt. Edna wonders what colour it is. The best times at the Palais, she remembers, were when, before she and Bert could regretfully draw apart from some other dance, the first bars of
Six years later when Bert hobbled into the bungalow at the sanitarium, home from the war, Edna realized nothing would ever be the same again. Dancing was certainly out of the question. It was miraculous Bert could even walk after the terrible things the Japanese had
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