Page 139 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Making No Sense
Back in Clara’s time, the dance floor was a place to hold polite conversation. Sometimes a single song went on for half an hour – and it was considered rude not to talk. I guess in Clara’s day, there was a lot of standing around and waiting your turn to dance, involved in all this coming-out falderal. And the music was much softer – no amps or electric guitars, you know. Therefore, Godfather Drosselmeir’s plan to tell Clara all about what had befallen Franz and what she needed to do did make a lot of sense. For he had only to speak quietly as they stood beside each other, waiting their turn to dance.
But it would have made things a lot easier if he’d had an entire half hour to answer all of Clara’s questions and make actual sense, while he spoke. As it was, Mother Stahlbaum was bearing down on him, and Drosselmeir realized his “not-so-welcome” welcome had worn thin. And he would soon be asked to leave, or maybe even be “helped out.”
So, Drosselmeir was in a rush to deliver everything Clara needed to know, and as is so often the case when we desperately need to make sense, we make no sense at all.
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