[K][T] and Family Ch. 08

Fortunately, I was spared embarrassment by the opening passage of the Blue Danube. We worked through a half dozen measures without incident before Sheila started to embellish. Trusting her not to embarrass me, I did my best to keep up. I need not have worried. Sheila made my every move seem planned. When the music wound to a finish, she flowed into my arms, then pulled me forward as she dipped. You may have seen the video; it was all her. I am not that good.

We stood alone for a moment to generous applause. Then Francine pulled Jason Porter onto the floor, followed by Curtis and Madeline. Several others started forward, only to be pulled back by their partners or a nearby couple. During the pause, I watched as Gerald bowed to Jo and held out his hand. Blushing, she curtsied and followed him out. This time the dance was Shostakovich's unnamed second waltz from Anna Karanina.

I think Professor Foxworth was having pity on us, by playing a slow piece while the dance floor was mostly empty. After the second waltz, the floor flooded with couples. The next two pieces were tangos, followed by Scott Joplin's The Entertainer. By that point, there was considerable confusion. Francine stepped in and took control of the evening. She was explaining and demonstrating obscure dances long after Sheila and I had left for the airport. There is almost two hours of her on YouTube. Several individual pieces have been reposted as instructional videos.

After two waltzes and the first tango, Sheila and I took a dance off. One of Jo's grad students went for lemonade, which gave me a chance to watch my sister. Sheila saw the direction of my gaze. She said, "It is customary for a girl to dance with her father." Typical of Sheila, she left the real message unspoken. A shrink might consider Gerald to be Jo's primary father figure, but I was head of the house and de facto head of the family. That mattered. It also gave me privileges. As the dance wound down, I spoke to Dr. Foxworth. The next number would be brisk, followed by something slower.

Gerald saw me coming. It would have been noted on his annual review if he had not. He turned Jo to face me, then bowed out. Francine, ever the enthusiast, gave a quick talk on how to do the Castle Walk. Jo had the oddest smile. On someone else, I might have thought affectionate. Then she looked into the crowd and jerked her chin toward Francine. Elspeth hurried onto the floor, dragging one of the men. While I took Jo's hand, they were demonstrating the steps to a dance. Francine nodded to Dr. Foxworth.

This was as new for me as it was for Jo. Neither of us knew turn of the 20^th century American dances, but both of us had endured some lessons, which put us ahead of most of the couples. By the time the piece was half played, we were managing the basics. I even contrived to guide us over to Hans Gunter. He clicked his heels and nodded to me. I nodded in return, then extended Jo's hand. Herr Gunter bowed to kiss her fingers, then led her onto the floor.

I felt I was giving away a bride. Sheila took my arm and pulled close. She murmured, "You did."

Francine:

We put a lot of work into the Ball. Watching Sheila lead Sean around the floor, while making it look like he was leading, made it all worth it. When they were done, I dragged Jason out on the floor. He was untrained and clumsy, but I am a professional. I can work with anything, but two dances made me realize no one else could. It all fell apart when the band played The Entertainer.

Everyone knew the piece, since it was used for the climax of The Sting. The problem was that no one knew a simple One Step, much less anything more complicated. This I could fix. Sean and Sheila moved off the floor, which gave me an opening. I talked to the guy doing the Sousa impression (excellent work). He agreed, eagerly, to string several ragtime pieces, so I could demonstrate the dances. Siobhan, of all people, sent me help.

It came in the form of her Boston blue blood, Elspeth, and a young man named Jasper. He was likely another one of the grad students. Elspeth and I had met. She had been serving as Siobhan's girl Friday and I knew her type. If she would take a back seat to Siobhan, she liked it in the back seat. I felt a smile spread across my face. This could work.

In my best director's voice, I asked, "Do you know anything about ragtime dance?" Elspeth blushed and said, "No, Mum." It was too good. Jasper was worse. I gestured for him to close his mouth, which he did with a click. I tried again, "Jazz dance? Either of you?" Jasper nodded, but Elspeth blushed clear down. I grinned, "Awww. Mummy doesn't know her princess has been bad." Jasper was starting to grin, so I put some snap into the next question, "Does she?"

Elspeth didn't need to reply and I did not have time to for her to crawl under a rock. "Well, she will find out soon enough. The way things are going, you may make the section cover in the Globe tomorrow." That was too much. Elspeth started to look panicked. ""Don't worry about that either. You'll have me to blame." Most times, her relief would have been comical, but I was against the clock. The song only had about a dozen bars to go. I said, "Watch me."

I quickly did the basic step of the Castle Walk, which is a simple variant of the One Step. We could get the Grizzly Bear, the Cakewalk, the Turkey Trot, and so on as we went. Since the Castle Walk is dead simple, at least for someone with basic instruction, my demonstration couple picked it up on the first attempt. I went over and formally introduced myself to Dr. Michael Foxworth, the band director. I requested time to do some demonstrations. We had spoken before, but this was the first time he looked at me. Recognition sparked. He waved me to his podium, which was sweet.

That set the stage for the next three hours. I announced the new dance and my young couple demonstrated. Doctor Mike proved very handy at varying tempo to suit our needs. In fact, he was exactly the type of performance professional I strove to be. I resolved to contact him after the party. In the mean time I had Herr Gruber to channel. As roles go, he was a piece of cake.

It was not til much later that I noticed both Jasper and Elspeth were hanging on my every word.

Siobhan:

The Ball was nothing like I expected. I had visions of something out of The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was true, most of the women wore floor length gowns, but the four of us were probably the only ones in corsets and Francine would not notice a difference. The first dance, where Sean and Sheila danced alone, was a traditional waltz. Gerald and I danced the second waltz. Then the music turned to Latin, which I had at least tried before. After that came a bouncy piece I remembered from a Paul Newman movie. I liked the song, but had no idea how to dance to it.

As Gerald and I moved to the sideline, Francine emerged from the crowd. I looked around til I spotted Elspeth. With a jerk of my chin I sent her to assist Francine. Francine is a teacher, with a dictatorial style. Elspeth is well versed in dance basics and she likes a firm hand. It proved one of my best task assignments of the whole week. Francine and Elspeth stayed in contact for years.

At the time, I had no chance to consider the matter, because I was passed in quick succession from Gerald, to Sean to Lars Gunter. It was an interesting contrast. Dancing with Gerald was surreal. I knew Sheila had claimed a bet with Gerald, so I had the satisfaction of putting one over on Mr. Perfect. At the same time, Gerald was plainly doting on me. I never knew quite how to take that.

After Gerald, Sean led me around the floor. Francine was lecturing and demonstrating by this point, so Sean and I learned the Turkey Trot together. I have had worse disasters. Up to that point, I had always considered the expressions "take my breath away" and "weak in the knees" to be metaphorical. When Sean passed my hand to Lars, I was unable to draw a breath. When Lars bent to kiss my hand, I had trouble standing. Fortunately, speech was not required.

Lars and I did three dances together. All were new to almost everyone in the room, which hid my inexperience. Lars was not much more confident. Between us we managed to stay upright. When I asked for time to get a drink, I think Lars was relieved. As he led me toward the door, I was struck by the change in my own attitude. A week before, I would have resisted such direction to the point of violence. As if to confirm the change, Sheila caught my eye and winked.

Outside, the warm afternoon was changing into a beautiful evening. Lars went to get drinks. The sky behind the lake still had a blush of color. The far shore seemed a wash of deep purple. Closer up, the houseboat was lit with lanterns. Sheila's photographer captured the scene, later winning some major awards. Lars returned with a beer and a lemonade. We stood, arms touching at the elbow, and drank both the night and our beverages. It was inconvenient not being able to converse, but I doubt if words would have improved the situation.

Presently I sighed and turned toward the house, just in time to catch three of my grad students ducking for cover. Also watching, but not ducking, was Evaine Schaeffelker. I waved her over. After a week immersed in the Amish version of German, she might be able to serve as a translator. I introduced Lars and she introduced a young Amish man named Jonah Lapp. In short order Evaine and I were talking, while Lars and Jonah conversed in German. Did I say surreal earlier? Perhaps it was premature. This was the truly surreal moment of the evening.

Evaine brought me up to speed with her time in the Amish community, while Lars and Jonah Lapp rattled on in German. We had been talking for a couple of minutes when Lars exclaimed, "Was? Alles?" Realizing that people were staring at his outburst, Lars looked abashed, which I thought was cute. Evaine asked what they had been talking about. Rather than get a reply, Lars turned to me. Waving his arm at all the booths and games, he said, "You, all of this did?" Evaine and Jonah chorused, "Jawohl."

It was my turn to be embarrassed. They both started rattling off more German. Lars flipped back and forth between them, never trying to get a single explanation. After a while, Evaine and Jonah realized they were both speaking and fell silent. Lars nodded. He said, "Ich dachte, es war nur der Tanz. Das ist beeindruckend. Gut. Sehr gut."¹ He stroked his chin a moment, then nodded sharply. "Gut genug. Ganz gut in der Tat."² Evaine and Jonah both stared.

Abruptly, Lars realized silence had fallen. Once again abashed, he nodded to Jonah and Evaine, "Herr Lapp, Fraulein Schaeffelker it ein pleasure ist." Turning to me, he extended his arm, "Frau Doktor." Wondering what had happened, I turned to Evaine. Wide eyed, she mouthed, "I think he plans to propose an engagement." What the hell?

¹ "I thought it was only the dance. This is impressive. Good. Very good. "

² "Good enough. Quite good in fact."

Sheila:

The word "ambivalent" always fascinated me—two incompatible emotions at once. That would cover my wedding. I was never one of those girls that spends high school dreaming of her wedding day, nor her wedding night. My daydreams involved spotlights and curtain calls, til it happened. After that, the world was different and not as nice. I had been thinking a lot about that night, well over a decade before.

The parallels were unnerving—frantic preparation, the short time on stage, the applause, the after party. My mind wanted to avoid what came after the party—tits, clumsiness, dismissal, shame. Like trying not to think of a pink rabbit, I thought of little else. All week I had buried myself in the preparations. Now that it was over, fear began to gnaw at me. I literally jumped when a voice spoke.

The was no need to be startled. Martha was right in front of me, in plain sight. She was wearing her own ambivalent expression. Our gazes locked, then she shook her head. "My dear, you have no idea how often I wanted to see you off balance. The way you glide through a room is bad enough. Watching you execute an exercise is intimidating. Normally, impossible standards are counter productive, but you were just human enough to make it seem possible, not that I ever came close. Watching you struggle is—difficult.

"Now, shape up. You have responsibilities. If you are unable to enjoy the party, at least do something useful. I am sure Sean will have instructions for you to follow, soon enough. In the meantime, remember that I will still be there in three or four years, to take your little darlings to task. These days, you can afford me." Of all the things that happened that day, having Martha sound like Francine was the most surprising.

I threw my arms around her and discovered she gave number one hugs, like Sean and Siobhan. When she pushed me away, Martha said, "Go. Play Hostess. If we hug any longer, people will talk." Martha's dry wit was one of her most aggravating qualities, but I loved her for it. Only after she was gone did it occur to me that Martha was my mother figure as much as Gerald was Siobhan's father figure. Somehow that made me feel much better.

I needed the support, because Sean and I had a steady stream of well wishers, many of which were either business rivals of Sean, clients of mine or both. Sean, with his usual sense of timing, liked to torture the dual purpose visitors. I never asked how he knew who they were. It is sufficient to say that he did. After a while, I started to ignore them, in favor of watching Francine. It was interesting enough that I almost missed Christine's matchmaking.

The girl's name was Maria. Francine and Siobhan had told me a great deal about her. Christine was introducing her to Richard Foster. As if sensing my attention, Christine turned and looked directly at me. In moments, all three were heading toward me. Sean saw the direction of my attention and surprised me by saying Maria's name. I did not know they had met.

The moment could have been awkward. Richard was my male protegé, while Sean had associations with Maria. People have been known to misunderstand. Christine would be no help, but for once I did not sense a joke. Sean played diplomat by introducing me to Maria, who blushed deeply. I examined her more closely as I introduced Sean and Richard. I turned an inquiring eye to Christine, who also colored. It was time to tell Richard what was going on. The question was how?

I extemporized by asking Maria if she wanted a picture. She looked confused, because cameras and phones were not allowed. Christine shook her head and Maria shrugged, taking my offer on faith. One point for her. That reduced it to logistics. Maria was wearing a dress, rather than a gown, in navy and cream. I decided the dark dresses could flank Christine's white one. I arranged us with Christine in the center, then we all smiled toward the camera, even though only I knew where it was.

I started my mental clock. I guessed that Gerald would have a print down within five minutes, if he was watching that monitor. Albert might take longer. If neither was on duty, words would be spoken. To make it easier, I posed Richard and Sean together. Siobhan and Lars Gunter were passing nearby, so I waved them over. I got pictures of them, then Siobhan, Christine and Maria. Francine came up, wanting to know what was going on, so I posed the four of them.

Without intending to, I had brought the dance to a halt. Work with it. I sent Christine to fetch Dr. Foxworth. Meanwhile, Francine announced that we would be posing for a group picture. She had everyone find their preferred dance partner, then face the chandelier and say cheese. I could add the cheese to her ham and make a sandwich. In the meantime, I posed Dr. Foxworth with Sean and Siobhan. I told him I would try to get a shot of his band if he would have everyone face the same direction. He and Francine left, talking.

Christine held my arm and leaned her head on my shoulder. I reached around and gave her a quick squeeze. Looking up, I realized we were being watched by everyone nearby. The expressions would give me something to study. Sean was affectionate and slightly amused. Siobhan was knowing, while Lars was intrigued. The really interesting ones were Maria and Richard. Both were very thoughtful.

Motioning them close, I said, "You both know what I do. Maria, Richard has taken a position as my apprentice, for lack of a better word. Christine is suggesting that you could be his assistant as she is mine. It is too soon to make that decision, but I want to explore the possibility. If you and Richard are both willing, I would like you to spend some time dancing together. I am sure Francine will make it worth your while. When the time comes, my car will take you home."

As they walked away, I realized this was the best I had felt all day. As if on cue, Martha winked at me.

Sean:

Getting married was a lot like hosting a retreat. A lot of people did a lot of work for a short event, then I stood around and shook a lot of hands. The problem was that Sheila was not enjoying her party. I didn't enjoy retreats, but it was business and I was used to it. If I saw another overdressed society wannabe gush to Sheila, about how wonderful the reception was, I felt I would strangle her, then pummel her escort.

In contrast, my socially backward sister was having a fine time. Jo and Lars Gunter were out learning Modern Dance, in the pre-Jazz Age sense. It reminded me of the lines from Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree—"Everyone's dancing merrily / In a new old fashioned way." There was a lot of old fashioned dancing and a lot of laughter to go with it. Even the old ladies were talking about the dances from their childhood, instead of the conduct of the youth. As a party, you could not ask for more.

Sheila gathered several people together for photo ops. That gave me a chance to motion CC over. I told her to go to our rooms and get a few items for Sheila. When she heard what I wanted, I think I made her day. I gave her strict instructions that she was to look wherever needed, but not to do anything but bring the items back, but it did not help. She literally bounced on her toes, while I found a security escort. Funny, a few Kegel beads and a couple of silk scarves would not normally inspire such glee.

Siobhan:

I was having such a good time, I felt guilty. The first few dances were traditional ballroom dances, but then we drifted toward the band director's idea of dance music, which was quite different. Francine jumped in with both feet. It did not surprise me that she had studied pre-WW I dance. Since no one else knew anything, my small amount of formal instruction was valuable. Lars was German, so naturally he knew Waltz, but also German folk dance. I was not able to follow closely, but his great grandmother was someone important. She insisted that all the "Jungen" learn traditional forms. Between the two of us, we kept up.

Still, I was glad for a breather. Sheila collected several of us for pictures. That drew a crowd, so Francine announced that she wanted group pictures. We all partnered up and looked at the chandelier, though I knew the camera was concealed in a sconce in the far wall. It was informal, but Dr. Foxworth had the band take a break. As we joined the masses heading out for lemonade, or beer in Lars case, I noticed Sean talking to Christine. She had her practical joke expression spread from ear to ear. This was too good to miss.

I told Lars, "Ein drinken. Nie alkohol." He smiled at my butchery of the German language, but nodded his head. I followed Christine up to the Sean's suite. As she and her security escort opened the door, I called to them. The security tech, seeing a family member, looked relieved. Silly boy. If he knew that "Master Suite" was not ironic, he gave no indication. Still no one fucked with Gerald and Sean was Gerald's boss. I had momentary disorientation when I recalled what Gerald said of Sheila, but decided it would be worth it.