The Midnight Dancers: A Fairy Tale Retold (21 page)

Rachel’s costumes were amazing, Paul thought to himself, surveying his two apprentice jugglers in their new garb. She had turned out the costumes in record time—two white blouse-tunics with short gathered collars, two pairs of black satin bouffant pants, and colorful vests that kept the tunics in place and didn’t get in the way of the girls’ somersaults.

“Ready?” he asked, and Linette and Debbie, for once, momentarily serious, nodded.  They had black teardrops under their eyes and a touch of red on their lips, making them look like twins. He was surprised that Debbie hadn’t tried to ask him about what had happened last night: perhaps she was just nervous about this first public performance.

He started juggling, and after a moment, passed Debbie a club. She passed it right back to him and he passed to Linette. She fumbled and he said, encouragingly, “Keep going,” and she recovered, picked it up and tossed it back. He started his passes again, and soon they had a three-way fountain. The crowd of festival-goers around them, including Sallie Durham and the two boys, clapped in appreciation. After they finished, the girls grabbed the clubs and curtsied while he bowed. The applause was bigger than he usually got, and the contributions greatly increased.

And he wasn’t surprised. The two girls were cute, and fairly skilled. Children always get more attention than adults, and girls more so than boys. But he didn’t mind in the least. He was proud of his two pupils.

So was Sallie, who beamed at them, holding Jabez on her hip. “I’ll come back for the girls at three,” she called to Paul after the first set was done, and he gave her thumbs up.

As for Linette and Debbie, they couldn’t get enough of performing, particularly Debbie, who had a natural flair for gathering attention. By the time they broke for lunch, Paul’s basket was full of coins and bills the girls gleefully divided among them.

“Wow, we could become rich this way!” Linette cried, impressed at the morning’s takings.

“We could,” Paul agreed. “We made as much this morning as I made all last week. See how poor I was before I took you two on.”

“Well, we’ll stay with you until we perfect our skills, and then we’ll go out on our own,” said Debbie, lifting her chin. Her eyes danced, baiting him.

“No! Don’t leave me—Oh, all right, go ahead. Throw your teacher in the ditch. One night as I’m crawling along the highway, I’ll look up at a billboard and see your pictures there in lights, looking down at me, and I’ll say, ‘I taught them everything I knew.’  And then I’ll keel over and die. A broken man, but a happy one.” Paul sighed and hung his head.

Debbie punched him in delight. “You know, I wish we could do this on the—” she stopped, and looked at Linette.

Paul dropped his eyes. “The island?”

“You know, don’t you?” Linette whispered.

“I know.”

Debbie said, “I figured it out when I stepped on your foot a few nights ago. Why do you come?”

“To watch out for you.”

“Like you watched out for Melanie and me last night. That was great.”

“Glad I happened to be around.”

“I’m glad you’re there,” Debbie said, her voice still low. “But I don’t think Rachel would be if she knew. She’d probably think you were spying on us or something.”

“Yeah,” Linette said positively. “So we can’t let on that we know you’re there.”

“I knew you were with us every time we went to the island,” Debbie bragged. “That’s why I’m not afraid. Even of Michael. He’s a chameleon.”

“A what?” Paul asked.

“A chameleon. He changes his skin. He just pretends to be nice. I don’t like him. But Rachel’s in love with him.”

Caught unawares, Paul stared at his hands, his hands that until that moment had seemed very capable. All the reflex training in the world couldn’t keep you from being outmaneuvered by life.

“Did Dad ask you to protect us?” Debbie asked, and Paul was startled again at how intuitive she was. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“Your dad wants to protect you,” Paul said. “Have you girls ever considered telling him what you’re up to?”

Debbie stared at him. “He’d never let us go back,” she said.

“You’re probably right.”

“I don’t care if he knows,” Linette said with a yawn. “I’m tired.”

“But we promised our sisters we wouldn’t tell,” Debbie said seriously. “Not unless we all agree to tell Dad.”

Paul kept back a sigh. It would be so easy to put pressure on Debbie to tell, but his goal required that he not do even that. Instead, he said, “Why don’t you talk to your sisters then?”

Debbie looked at him as though he were crazy. “Why don’t you catch this?” she demanded, and tossed two clubs at him.

“Two clubs are easy!” he said, quickly reaching and grabbing them and tossing them up.

“What about four?” she shot back, tossing more at him.

“Six!” Linette threw her own clubs into the mix.

“Hey!” he protested as both girls dissolved into giggles.

“Well, hello there!” a familiar voice called. “You must be the new juggling troupe I’ve heard so much about!” Colonel Durham was grinning at them as he approached. He was still in his shirt and tie from his office job.

The girls jumped to their feet, a bit guiltily. Debbie shouted, “Dad!” and gave him a quick hug. He patted her head a little absently.

“I’ve been hearing about you already,” he told Paul. “People at the gate were talking about the juggling girls.”

“I knew they would be great,” Paul said simply.

“Good insight,” Colonel Durham said. And looking at the girls, he added, “And good work, you two!”

He tousled Linette’s hair and said, “I want to talk to your teacher for a moment. How about you two girls run off and get me two cones of cotton candy?”

“Sure!” the girls raced off. “We can buy it ourselves—we’ve got money!” Debbie yelled over her shoulder, and he chuckled.

“You’ve done wonders with those two,” he said. “Channeled a lot of their restless energy. Think you can do that with the older girls?”

“They won’t juggle,” Paul said positively. “I can tell you that much.”

“I suppose you’re right. I wanted to ask you how things were going with your—mission.”

Paul met his eyes and was silent for a moment. “It’s…going.”

“Is that all you can tell me?”

He nodded. “I’m sorry. I wish I could say more. I hope you’re praying.”

The older man sighed in frustration. “I am. But you know, prayer is never enough for me. I keep thinking I need to do something, when I guess I should be letting go and letting God.”

Paul thought rapidly. “Actually, there are some things you can do,” he said slowly.

“What?”

“Just positive things you can do for the girls.  To build their trust in you. Well, like showing them more affection—like you just did with Debbie and Linette. And—how about this—would you mind if I ask my dad? See if he has any advice?  I can let you know what he says later. Is that okay?” He saw the two girls approaching with the cotton candy.

“That sounds fine.”

“Great.”

“Daddy, here’s your cotton candy,” Debbie said proudly. “I got you green and purple.”

“And I got you orange and yellow,” Linette said.

“Why thank you,” Colonel Durham said, taking the cones. Debbie looked at him expectantly.

“Daddy,” Debbie said. “Cotton candy’s not good for your blood pressure, right?”

“Or for yours, most likely,” Colonel Durham said. “You’re right. You can have it.”

“Hooray!” Debbie cheered, and took a mouthful of hers. But Linette’s face fell.

“I picked out these colors because I thought you would like them,” she objected.

Colonel Durham looked uncomfortable for a moment, and Paul said quickly, “Actually, I’ve never tasted orange and yellow cotton candy. Can I have some?”

“Okay,” Linette said slowly.

Colonel Durham said awkwardly, “How about this, Paul. I’ll split it with you. I’m very fond of lemon.”

“That’s why I picked it,” she muttered, but she looked a bit less put out.

Paul picked out a handful of cotton candy, and ate it. “It’s quite good,” he said.

Colonel Durham agreed.  “Thank you, Linette. I think I’ll eat this on my way back,” he said. 

“Don’t you want to see us juggle?” Debbie demanded.

“Of course!” Colonel Durham caught himself. He sat down. “Go ahead, impress me!”

So the girls and Paul picked up their clubs and did their routine. When they were finished, Colonel Durham clapped heartily.

“I barely recognize you,” he said. “You’re real jugglers.”

“You better pray we keep doing well,” Debbie said. “When you pray.”

“I will, and I’ll stop by again,” Colonel Durham promised, turning to go. Then he paused and kissed her on the forehead and patted Linette’s cheek. “You two are doing a splendid job.”

The girls grinned, and Paul said, “Okay, back to work.”  He was glad Colonel Durham had stopped by.
He has a chance of keeping these two
, he thought to himself.
If only he can learn, somehow, to connect with the others.

And Paul was convinced that Colonel Durham’s connecting with Rachel would be the key. But now, that looked like it would be harder than ever.

Rachel chewed her lip and fretted. This morning, she had some free time to work on her dress, but problems were cropping up again. She had wanted to make spaghetti straps out of the black satin, but the cheap fabric buckled and rebelled. It refused to be made into such a tiny tube. She groaned and decided to try narrow tab straps to hold up the bodice. She had already pieced together a lining from the black satin and inserted a black zipper. Now she tenderly unwrapped the tiny package of her precious expensive silk bodice material.

Fine material was a joy to work with, and she hand-sewed the glittering silver knit onto the bodice with fervor. The skirt would take her a bit longer, but the bodice would soon be done. 

While she pierced the fabric with the needle and drew it out again repetitiously, her mind turned over and over what she had come to call the Boat Problem.

Now that they had started going to the island, the girls’ center of gravity had shifted subtly from the church guys, as they called them, and their boats as the source of entertainment, to the island. The boats owned by the guys had gone from being the main attraction to a mere conveyance. Rachel recognized this, and saw that unless the sisters could convince the guys that they were still valued friends, the sisters were in danger of losing the boats, and with that, the island.

Of course, she reasoned, if that happened, perhaps Michael might offer to come and get them in some of his own boats. But he had never offered, and she couldn’t help feeling that if he did, the girls would become too dependent upon him and his hospitality.

In a special meeting with the older girls, Rachel had tried to convey the importance of keeping Rich, Alan, Keith, Pete, Kirk, and Taylor as friends. Miriam, who was good friends with Pete, didn’t object, and neither did Cheryl, who was by now falling hard for Taylor, but the other girls took some convincing. The twins were intrigued by the friends of Michael and were beginning to wish the other guys, particularly Keith, would just go away.

“Not Keith—he has a boat,” Rachel had said hastily.

“Okay, then
you
dance with him sometime,” Tammy had said, hands on her hips. “He’s such a clingy person. He’s really getting to be boring.”

Rachel sensed that if she did that, it might cause more problems. Before she had met Michael, she had paid more attention to the other guys, and had sensed that several of them were hanging around, waiting for her to notice them.
Now that I’m hooked on this other man, they can hardly be happy,
she thought bleakly.

She resolved to spend more time with their guy friends, and during the next few nights on the island, she had tried to spread herself among them, being cheerful and attentive, listening to them and sympathizing. Of course, this meant she had less time to give to Michael, and that pained her. Michael, however, seemed to understand, or at least not be offended, and she was grateful for that.

But what she really wanted was to have time alone with Michael, more time to get to know him. There was so much that was mysterious about him.

“Rachel!” Sallie’s voice broke into her thoughts, and she pricked herself with the needle. Hastily she put her finger in her mouth and rolled the bodice into a soft ball and thrust it back into the plastic bag with the remnants of the jugglers’ costumes. “Yes?”

Sallie was coming upstairs. “Could you take the boys down to the water to play? They’re driving me crazy and the girls and I are trying to bake bread.”

Rachel thrust the bag back into its hiding place and hurried downstairs, feeling her usual sulkiness at being interrupted.

Downstairs it was sweltering.
I don’t know why Sallie insists on baking bread in this heat
, she thought to herself. A pity Miriam and Cheryl had to endure it. Miriam was sweating profusely while working on kneading rolls on the kitchen table, and Cheryl looked peeved as well. Jabez and Robbie had flour all over their shirts. Apparently they had been “helping.” She ducked through the kitchen, took each of her brothers by one hand and led them outside. The sun was hot, but at least there was the bay breeze.