Chapter 6: Dance Lessons

Tommy came out of his room holding the dark blue, check-pattern tie in one hand and a suit jacket in the other, “Dad, I can’t make it tie.” He wore a light blue dress shirt covered by a navy-blue vest, dark slacks, and a pair of black shoes shined to a high polish. “Dad!”

He looked over to his right as his sister’s door opened and Nan came out. She wore a lavender colored dress with large purple flowers on it. Her shoulders were open revealing strong arms and a sharp clavicle. It cinched around her waist and then billowed down, stopping well above her knees. Her dark hair was down just past her shoulders with purple clip that looked like a butterfly holding it to one side.

She looked at him and pointed with her finger, “One word!”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Good,” she said.

“Do you know how to tie a tie? I can’t get it to work.”

“Come here,” she said and beckoned him with a finger.

He walked over and she took the tie from his hand, pulled up his collar, and put her hands to the top button which was still loose.

“Ow!” he said.

“Hold still, you need to button this before you put on the tie.”

“It’s too tight, I can’t breathe.”

“Stop your whining.”

“How do you know how to do this?” he asked as her nimble fingers looped the tie around his neck and began to position it properly.

“I had to do it for Brad when he had formal dates,” she said.

“Oh, did that make you sad?” asked Tommy thinking about Sarah going out with other boys.

Nan stopped and smiled, “I suppose. But he wasn’t going to take a girl my age to one of the formal dances anyway.”

“But he loves you now!” said Tommy with a genuine smile that seemed to brighten the room.

Nan laughed, “He doesn’t love me, we’re just fooling around. But it’s sweet of you to say so. Now, there you go. All handsome, are you wearing dad’s cologne?”

Tommy nodded, “Did I use too much? Mom said to be careful.”

She sniffed him, “No, it’s fine.”

“Tommy,” came a man’s voice from downstairs. “Did you call me?”

“We got it, dad,” yelled Nan with a smile. “Come on, squirt.” She took him by the arm and walked to the staircase leading down to the main floor.

Below them four people waited, a handsome young man in a dark green suit, an older man wearing a black suit, a tall, blonde girl in a red, shirred dress with little white flowers, cut low at the bust revealing an impressive decolletage, and an older woman in a sleeveless, body-hugging satin dress that came down below her knees.

Nan felt Tommy stop walking at her side and he gasped, “Wow.”

She pulled his arm, “Keep moving, dork.”

“Sorry,” he said and started up again, soon they arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

“Aren’t you handsome,” said the woman coming over and brushing his shoulders.

Tommy couldn’t take his eyes off the blonde girl, “Sarah, wow. I mean, wow.”

She smiled, “You like?”

He nodded.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth, Tommy,” said Nan as she walked over and took the other young man by the arm. “You manage to put that tie on yourself, Brad? Or did you enlist some middle school girl to do it for you?”

Brad blushed and looked over at the two adults, “I mean, she was there, with Sarah, you know, and I couldn’t figure it out myself. She offered.”

The man smiled and laughed, “It’s all right, Brad. When Nan wants something, she usually gets it. Right, Shell?”

The woman smiled, “My daughter. You look absolutely lovely, Nan. I don’t know why we can’t get you out of ratty jeans and into dresses more often.”

Nan rolled her eyes, “You’re the one to talk. When do you ever wear dresses? It’s leggings or sweats most of the time.”

Shelly smiled and nodded her head, “You’re right. You’re always right, Nan. I am looking forward to this evening. The Parkland Hotel ballroom. Ballroom dancing. I haven’t danced with your father in too long. He can really cut the rug.”

“Dancing?” said Tommy his eyes suddenly wide. “I ... I mean.”

“We’ve got a bit of time yet,” said Steven with a grin as he came over and put his arm around Tommy’s shoulder. “Alexa, ballroom music.” With that music began to play.

“Here, watch me and your mother. She’s right, believe it or not, I took dance lessons, cotillion we called it back in my day. Everybody had to learn. Sarah, come over here. Now, Tommy, but your hand on Sarah’s hip just like I’m doing to your mom. That’s right. Now, other hand out, very good.”

He took his wife’s hand and began to step around the room, “You’re the lead, Tommy. So, with your hand on Sarah’s hip, you guide her in the direction you want to go. That way you don’t tangle feet. Smaller steps, left foot first, watch out for her toes, Sarah, you have lovely toes and we don’t want to smash them.”

The girl blushed bright red as she allowed Tommy to lead her around the room.

“Now we turn, again use your hand, just a little pressure, no need to push, and back the other way, avoiding the other couples on the floor. Very good, very good. Now, when the music gets a little up-tempo, we can start to swing a little”, he put his hand on his wife’s hip and, with a gentle shove, set her spinning around and under his arm.

“Whee,” said Shelly with a smile as she twirled and her dress spun up revealing shapely legs.

“You’ll have to duck, Sarah,” said Steven with a grin. “You’re a bit taller than Tommy for now but in a few years, he’ll be as tall as me or probably taller. Sometimes you just have to wait a bit.”

The two couples danced for a few minutes and then Shelly and Steven began to twirl more quickly, elegantly, he lifted her, spun her, she spun on one leg, shook her hips, and slithered around with astonishing grace.

The kids stopped their own practice and simply watched as the older couple moved around the floor with precision. Shelly broke loose and went into a graceful solo dance that moved from elegant, to flashy, to downright sexual as she twisted her body sensually, almost like a snake, swaying, a leg kicking up high above her head, before she finished with a leap into Steven’s waiting arms.

“Wow,” said Tommy.

“Yeah,” said Brad. “Wow.”

“Mrs. Bloom, you’re amazing,” said Sarah with wide eyes. “Will you teach me to dance like that?”

Nan looked at her father, a little flush in his cheeks, holding his wife, gazing at her not with lust or admiration but something akin to absolute worship.

“My wife,” he said with a grin and a kiss. “I think I’ll keep her.”

Shelly blushed, smiled, “I took a few dance lessons back in the day myself.”

Fancily dressed people filled the large hall with tall tables scattered around the edges. One side of the room was filled with people chatting while a dozen or more couples danced on the open floor. Tommy found himself sitting at a table with Brad while his father and mother danced and both Sarah and Nan were off talking with a group of girls.

“They’re all so tall,” said Tommy watching yet another young woman with impossibly long legs saunter past. “I’ve never seen so many tall girls in my life.”

“Models,” said Brad with a shake of his head. “I guess. So, you kind a like my sister, eh?”

Tommy blushed and all but buried his head in the overflowing plate he filled at the tables, shrimp, bacon things, and little desserts.

“It’s cool, little brother. Two years seems like a lot now but once you’re both in college it won’t make any difference at all. Just be patient. She’ll dump Connor eventually.”

“I wish you and Nan would get married and I could be your brother,” said Tommy looking up.

Now it was Brad’s turn to blush. “I don’t know if your sister is the marrying kind.”

“But you’d marry her?”

Brad looked out over the party and the many beautiful women, tall, full figured, “You know, I mean, she was just a little brat your age when we started fooling around, don’t tell your dad.”

“I won’t,” said Tommy.

“But she’s just sort of ... irresistible. She’s like a force. When she wants something, she makes it happen.”

“Don’t I know it,” said Tommy shaking his head. “She gets dad to do anything she wants.”

“Yeah,” said Brad nodding. “I mean, every year I sort of liked her more but we never really dated. Then when I got back from Stanford and I saw her, it was like, oh, she’s not a girl anymore, she’s a woman.”

“She still looks like a boy though,” said Tommy. “I mean compared to your sister.”

Brad laughed, “She’s not, trust me. She’s all girl. Yeah, I mean, yeah. If she wanted to get married, I guess I’d marry her. I’ve never met anyone who got under my skin like Nan. And then, I mean, sorry bro, but seeing your mom dance, I mean, that’s what Nan is going to be like in twenty-five years? I mean, holy shit, bro. I’ll take that.”

Tommy laughed, “One time I was playing Settlers of Catan with my buddies and mom came down in her yoga outfit. My friend Albert nearly choked on a chicken wing. That’s all they talk about now.”

Brad laughed, “Yeah. My college buddies went crazy when they saw pictures of Sarah in her cheer uniform. It’s weird. Your mom, Sarah. I mean, she’s my sister but she’s also not exactly horrible to look at.”

“She’s the most beautiful girl in the world,” said Tommy, looking around the room at dozens of attractive girls and women.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” said Brad. “You haven’t seen her first thing in the morning.”

“I wish,” said Tommy.

Brad put his arm on Tommy’s shoulder and shrugged, “Listen, Tommy. You’re fourteen, she’s sixteen. It’s not going to happen today, this year, or whatever. Look at all the pretty girls around here. The thing to do, is make Sarah jealous. Go ask that girl to dance, the one over there. She looks like she’s about your age.”

“Really?” asked Tommy.

“Absolutely,” said Brad with a nod of his head. “Girls don’t want someone to just sit around, moping, staring at them from across the room. Part of what makes me crazy about Nan is that other guys want her and she’s not going to wait around for me forever. If I let her get away...”

Tommy nodded again, “I see what you’re saying.”

“And then, you know, she’ll go off to college, you’ll get taller, stronger, and she’ll come home for the summer and anything can happen.”

Tommy nodded his head, “That pretty one, sitting with those other girls. There are like six of them.”

“Best time to go up. Introduce yourself, ask to dance. Shows you’ve got confidence. If she says no, then just smile at her friends and shrug, say ‘too bad’ or something like that. I bet one of her friends will say she’ll dance if the first one says no.”

Tommy wiped his mouth with his napkin and smiled at Brad, “Teeth good?”

Brad nodded, “Looking good, little bro.”

Tommy looked at his fingernails, freshly trimmed, took a deep breath, and walked across the room to where the tableful of young women sat. “Hey,” he said with a nod to the thin girl in the shimmery gold dress. “I’m Tommy. Wanna dance?”

All the girls at the table stopped talking and looked up at him. “I’m Lilly.”

He put out his hand, “Come on, Lilly.”

She hesitated, “I’m not a great dancer.”