Chapter 10

Excusing myself from the ladies for a moment, I went back upstairs to take a shower and shake the ‘Claire-webs’ from my mind. I quickly got dressed and went to BallroomDancer.com, (real!) to see which steps I wanted to add to our various routines and there was a knock on my bedroom door.

Rather than my usual ‘come in,’ I asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Claire, Charles ... Annie and my mom said I should come up and talk to you. We need to talk.”

“Just a minute — All right?”

I was feverishly picking up all that I could ... then after surveying the area I said, “Come on in, Claire.”

“Hey, Loverboy,” she said as she started to close the door, but Sarah stood there, presumably to make sure I didn’t despoil her little girl.

“Charles, I am really sorry about what happened in the kitchen. Can we talk for a moment?”

“Sure, sweetie, we can ... talk.”

“I deserve that, Charles. There’s something I need to tell you, it’s very personal and I need to say it all without being interrupted,” she said with a very nervous look on her face.

“Go ahead, Claire ... whenever you are ready,” I said, sitting on the edge of my bed, and patting it for her to sit beside me.

“Charles, you know how I feel about you, at least I hope you do. Lately my feelings have changed.”

I put a look on my face that was as benign as possible.

“Charles, I have recently had my menarche, or my first period. Your Mother ... Annie, told me that she told you about this. Is that true?”

I quietly answered, “Yes Claire, we had a long talk on the way home about this and you, specifically.”

Claire replied, “Sarah sat me down and tried to explain it all to me as well. It actually started that same day I stopped you in the hallway and we kissed. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah, Claire ... I remember that.” Boy, did I ever remember that!

“Well, anyway, my hormones have been going crazy and I haven’t been myself lately and I want to apologize to you, if I have made you uncomfortable at all. From what I have been told, I may grow a little taller. All the girls in my family did when puberty hit. I may yet grow bigger boobies ... sorry?” she blushed. Sarah giggled.

“Don’t be contrite about anything, Claire,” I replied. “Short or tall, flat or big-boobed, I fell in love with what’s inside your heart, nothing you can actually see, but I do love your pretty red hair and your dimples.”

“This is all going to happen to you too, Charles?” she said, biting her lip.

“Yeah, that’s what I understand, I wouldn’t mind growing to be over six foot tall. It would make things that much easier to put my arms around you, to hug you and to kiss you.”

“You smooth talker you, but don’t get too tall, there’s Kalista to consider?” Claire said now sporting a big grin.

“Don’t worry about Kalista, or anything else that has happened between us so far. From what my mom says and what I have read on the Internet, you can’t stop puberty from happening. All you can do is be ready for it. Ohh, that’s what my mom was handing you the other day, some pads.”

“Yes, Charles ... I had run out and she gave me a few to get through the day.”

“That’s my mom and our manager — always there for us, isn’t she? I would bet she is right behind Sarah, listening to everything we’re saying...”

“ ... You are getting way too smart for your own good, young man,” Annie said as she straightened up and walked into my room, with Sarah. “I was just looking out for the two of you, making sure neither one of you say, nor do, anything stupid.”

“Oh, yeah, Ladies ... Claire and I are going to make love in my room with the door open, so you and impressionable young Kalista can hear us moan and groan.”

That made both Claire and my mother both blush. Sarah simply smiled at me.

“I will leave you two alone for exactly two minutes, all right, but the door stays open,” my mother explained.

“In two minutes a lot can happen, couldn’t it Claire?” I said, winking at her.

“Oh, yeah Charles ... A whole lot can happen in about thirty seconds.” You should have seen the combination smile and blush that came across my girl’s face.

“I don’t know about the two of you, sometimes,” mom said exiting the room.

“How about, we go and practice the Quickstep, Dimples? We can always find time to go somewhere and make out.”

She lightly slapped me on the chest, saying, “You wish ... I just better not catch you doing anything like that with Kalista, or I may have to ban her from our rehearsals, you got that, buddie-boy?”

“Yeah, we’re fine ... and those ‘open kisses?’” I asked.

“Yes, Charles ... what about them?” she said walking up close to me.

“I am actually getting to like them,” I said, giving her a light touch of my lips to hers.

She giggled, saying, “I really like being called Dimples!”

We all went downstairs and got a quick drink of water. We were finally ready to start practicing the Quickstep. First, of course, we covered what we knew. Then, I started to explain the next couple of steps; The Closed Impetus, Back Lock and the Reverse Pivot.

We covered them relatively quickly, mainly because a lot of the steps are simply reversed or mirrored versions of what we already had learned. I also knew that there wouild be some very difficult steps to learn down the road.

“Claire, do you think we have enough variety to create a routine?” I questioned.

“Charles, have you ever seen adults dance the Quickstep?” she asked.

“No. I never thought of that ... maybe on YouTube we would find something?”

I walked outside my room and yelled, “MOM, Claire and I are going up to look for Quickstep videos online in my room. Is that all right with you?”

“Sure honey, take Kalista up with you, why don’t you? It could help her to ... watch professional dancers as well?” I saw Mom give me the OK sign, so the three of us went up to my room.

After watching some of the videos, we decided we needed to add a few more steps. We all went back down and asked Kalista to be ready with our standby Quickstep music, “Sing! Sing! Sing!”

We added three more steps; the Progressive Chasse to Right, the Tipple Chasse to Right and the Running Finish. Putting these in, we both thought, should jazz up the dance a great deal. I asked K to start the music. Claire and I quickly got into a groove, but we really needed more room, then we had. I suggested to Annie to call Mr. McArthur and find out about the dance floor he had gotten for the BBQ.

“I can ask Daddy, Charles ... let me call him?” Claire said, getting her phone from her pocket.

“Sure Dimples ... go for it,” I said, getting a glorious smile back from her.

“Hello, Daddy. This is Claire. Sorry to bother you at work, but the dance floor you had at the BBQ ... Where did you get it? Hmm-mmm, right, OK Daddy, thank you — I love you, bye.”

“So?” I asked. “What did he say?”

“He told me he didn’t rent it; he bought it, and he will have it put up in our backyard, so we can practice on it, all we want. He will have my brothers and cousins put it up and we will be able to use it by tomorrow morning. How’s that for getting something done?” she said with pride in her voice and a grin on her face.

“Fantastic, Claire. In the meantime, why don’t we go back to the Tango and work out a routine for it?” I replied

“How many routines are you going to have?” asked Kalista, who was sitting between Annie and Sarah, ready to start the music.

“At least one for every dance style, maybe two. We have four for the Waltz, one for the Samba and Tango, three for the Quickstep. We need one for the Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Cha-Cha, Rhumba, Paso Doble and Jive. In addition, we will need one each for the East Coast Swing, Bolero, and Mambo. Lastly, the West Coast Swing, Lindy and Salsa.”

“You are not going to learn all of those this year, are you Charles?” Sarah commented.

“My dear beautiful, future mother-in-law, those are all the dances we need to learn if we’re going to compete as we grow and mature as we get ready for the more important dance competitions around the country and even the world. Maybe even the Argentine Tango?”

That dance is not on the website I have been using, but I suspect to find it somewhere online.

“We will be dancing around the world, Charles?” Claire wondered aloud.

“Eventually, Claire ... Everybody dances. However, we have a lot to learn before we’re ready to dance with the ‘big boys.’ I did find out that we’re only the seventh couple of any NDCA Class to win two consecutive events.”

“What if you win three, Charles?” Kalista asked,

“Only three couples have ever done that, Special K,” I answered.

“And four?” she said, her voice rising in pitch.

“Nobody has ever done that!” I said pointedly.

“So, that’s our goal, Charles,” Claire said putting a wonderful smile on her face.

“Yep, Beautiful girl, that’s our goal.”

We gave each other a quick kiss and I asked Claire to sit down for a moment.

“Miss Kalista McArthur,” I said, “Would you like to learn the Samba?”

“Can I? Really Charles? That looks so difficult, but I bet I can do it. What do you think, can I?”

“No harm in trying, Special K. Have you been watching Claire and I closely enough?”

“Yes, X ... I am prepared to Samba with you.”

Annie and Claire both chuckled a bit over Kalista, who had wiggled her hips when she had said ‘Samba with you.’

I asked Annie to get the music ready. In the meantime, I covered the basic steps with K and she seemed to catch on more quickly than I had expected. I made sure she understood the music counting and how different it was from what we had done before.

I nodded to Sarah and the music started. Kalista’s hips started to sway back and forth and she was ready, so I took her to task and she did very nicely. I heard a click in her voice; she must have been counting using that. Nevertheless, she was a marvelous student.

As K went to sit down, Annie got up and said, “Teach me too, X ... please?” Her smile was no less beautiful. Did I hear a hint of sensuality from her?

The McArthur trio at once got the giggles as Annie approached me. Now I am 5ft10 and my mother is 5ft6, so I must look ... down to see her face. If I glanced any lower, depending on the dress she was wearing, I would see her — you understand? It seemed different from dancing with Sarah who is 5ft10 in flats...

Kalista was ready with the music, so I went through an abbreviated version of showing Annie the basic steps and then she said, “OK, Honey — I am prepared to try this with you.”

I nodded to K to start the music. Annie, for a mature gal, is quite good at dancing. Dad is just never around to take her out to do things like that, especially lately. He is a grade A, Ass-Hat!

Well anyway, Annie and I danced the Samba and she was tired afterwards and said as she was sitting down, “I haven’t had that much fun in ages. Charles. I may have you take me dancing. Your father is never around these days.”

Claire, remembering a particular moment, said turning to Annie, “So, this is the hussy that’s thinking she’s taking my boyfriend away from me?”

“Touché, Claire ... I deserve that,” mom replied with a snort giving her a high five.

“Claire, if we’re going to break that record and win four consecutive Junior I competitions, then we need to pick out our dances and our music very carefully,” I declared.

“Charles,” Annie interrupted, “The rest of the kids in your Junior I Class are doing the Waltz, Foxtrot and Tango, while you two are being creative with your routines. I would suggest getting both a Quickstep routine and possibly a Viennese Waltz routine ready. Those dances show off your wonderful technique and ability to learn. While you do a great Tango, wait for the rest of them to start doing Samba and Waltz, and then switch back to the traditional steps of the Tango or Foxtrot.”

“Sure Annie — that makes a lot of sense,” Dimples responded.

“It really does, Mom. Thanks, Sweetie — I love you.”

That made Sarah, Claire, and Kalista all giggle.

“Back to the Quickstep ... ready to learn some more steps, Claire-Bear?”

“You can teach me anything you want, X?” Claire replied and Kalista had a really big smile to her face.

“OK, Claire, four more Quickstep patterns and then we will start to fine-tune our Quickstep routine for this upcoming competition ... is that all right with you?”

“Absotively, Posilutely, X.”

“All right, next is the Natural Turn to Back Lock. Very good, Claire! OK, now the Double Reverse Spin ... Wow, nice Claire, you really are a natural spinner, what with the way you did those Samba spins; quite excellent, my dear.”

“Here is the Cross Chasse, simply a derivative of the earlier Chasses, we have learned, this time both of our cross legs go in front at the same time. Good going sweetie ... our last pattern is called Change of Direction — just like it sounds, whenever we decide to do this, all our leg moves are opposite. Attagirl, Dimples!”

“Now we have learned eighteen of the twenty-nine patterns in the Quickstep syllabus. I need a quick break, back in five.” I gave her a kiss on the nose and ran to the bathroom.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Claire was there and said, “You call that a kiss — now, here’s a kiss!”

She put both hands behind my head and pushed me into her against the bathroom door. I must admit that it felt quite good, but I also knew that I had better stay in control of the situation. After the kiss went on for a while, I tried to pull away. Claire tried to stop me by putting her hand on my upper chest, trying to keep me from moving away.

That felt even more amazing, but one or both of our mothers were bound to come looking for us. I separated from Claire, catching my breath, and saying, “That was really ... nice Claire, but you have got to be more careful than this.”

Claire stopped, wiping off my lips and putting on some more lip-gloss to ‘cover the crime.’

We walked back into the room, holding hands of course and I said, “Let’s take a break before we start a re-tool of the routine.” Nobody was in the room and a moment later everyone emerged from the kitchen with milk and cookies.

I recommended, “Claire, let’s go over and take a break with them; I will be right there. I am going to find a better cut of music for our Quickstep.”

“Don’t you like what we have been using, Charles?”

“Yeah, but I would really like something that has at least a measure of music before that backbeat starts.”

“OK, I will be waiting for you ... over here.”

I looked back at her and saw my Sarah, Annie, and Kalista all smiling.

Going through our music, I couldn’t find what I was looking for, although I couldn’t tell you exactly what I was looking for ... if you understand.

A song just popped into my head, from somewhere ... what was that called? Huh, my head hurts ... what was that called? “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” that’s it. Now who all recorded it? Frank Sinatra, no, no ... who was it? — Nat King Cole. Perfect!

“I will be right back, you ... I have got the song in my head, but I am going to see who recorded it, be right back.”

I went up to my computer and opened iTunes and sampled each of them. “I got it,” I yelled. I downloaded it to my IPod and went downstairs for cookies and milk.

“What did you find?” asked Annie.

“A piece of music called ‘Let’s Face the Music and Dance,’ Mom. It’s by Nat King Cole and nobody else would select the song, I am positive.”

“I remember that song, can I hear it, Charles?” Annie asked.

“Sure, I will play it for you,” and they all loved it.

Finally, I sat down and relaxed for a moment. Kalista handed me a cookie and Claire poured me a glass of milk. I really am so lucky to have both sweet girls as my friends.

The day of the competition arrived. Shirley and Brian Fleming, his girl Susan, and her mother Esther Williams, along with Sarah, Kalista, Claire, Annie, and me, all went to the convention center that was the place for this regional NDCA event.

Claire, Kalista, Annie, and I went to check in and were asked what we were performing? When Annie told them the Quickstep, the lady at the check-in chuckled and said, “Yeah sure, the Quickstep — thirteen-year-olds, doing the Quickstep!”

My mom turned to me and smiled, saying to the NDCA employee, “Maybe you don’t recognize these two ... This is Charles & Claire. They are ‘doing’ the Quickstep, unless there’s some sort of limitation I couldn’t find in the NDCA rules for Junior I dancers?”

“Oh, Charles & Claire ... I am so sorry. Gosh, I loved your Samba. Wow! The Quickstep, if you do it as well, this place is really going to jump.”

“Gee, thank you,” said Claire. “That’s awfully sweet of you to say.”

“Everybody else does the traditional Waltz, Tango, Cha-Cha and Foxtrot. You two have started a mini-revolution of sorts. I am certain the other Juniors will start to think outside the traditional box-step (she giggled), after you win a few more of these competitions,” she said, “Which position do you want to dance in ... first, last or somewhere in the middle?”

“We have never been asked that before,” said Annie, “Why now?”

“In-state, we give the previous winners their choice of position. Everywhere else, it’s first in, is last, and last to enter is first.”

Claire and I talked a minute and announced, “We would like to be last, please?”

“Thank you, folks. That will give me time to get a seat to watch you.”

Annie asked her, “Could you keep it to yourself, what they’re dancing, please?”

“Certainly, Oh — your music please?”

“Here it is,” Annie said. “Thank you, again.”

Our time came ... Mom and Kalista gave us a hug. The announcer came on, “Lastly tonight; we have a new dancing sensation that burst upon the scene two competitions ago, with the highest scoring dance, in all divisions, with a Waltz. Tonight, they’re performing what has often been called ‘The Killer Dance.’ Ladies and Gentlemen — Charles & Claire, performing to the sounds of the legendary Nat King Cole ... the Quickstep.”

Claire gave me a kiss, our music started, and we began...

NAT KING COLE
There may be trouble ahead,
but while there’s moonlight
and music and love and romance,
let’s face the music and dance.

Before the fiddlers have fled,
before they ask us to pay the bill,
and while we still have the chance,
let’s face the music and dance.

Soon, we’ll be
without the moon,
humming a different tune, and then,
there may be tear drops to shed.
so while there’
s moonlight
and music and love and romance,
let’s face the music and dance.
let’s face the music and dance

(Musical break – That’s when we shine!)

Soon, we’ll be
without the moon,
humming a different toon,
and then, there may be
tear drops to shed.
so while there’s moonlight
and music and love and romance,
let’s face the music and dance
let’s face the music and dance

All during the song, the crowd was clapping to the music and Claire and I took it up a notch, adding a Quickstep spin between Chasses.

The lyrics helped us with our motivation to do it well.

That got ‘em going ... Claire even added a quick, promenade flair to the end.

You are never prepared for how a crowd may respond to you, whether you are speaking in front of people, or in this case, dancing in front of them. I heard a ‘Yo da man, Charles,’ and the explosion of sound that came after that was overwhelming.

It sounded like thunder, or I should say, they sounded like thunder. People were jumping out of their seats, screaming our names out loud. The announcer asked for quiet and Claire and I left the dance floor, walking quickly to Annie and K who were waiting for us.

Everybody hugged everybody and we waited for the results.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls; here are the results of the Junior I Class:”

“In Third place, with a Foxtrot, are Sam Simons and Susie Thatcher.”

A nice round of applause for them, Susie is awfully cute, but I can’t tell Claire, or she would hurt me.

“In Second place, with a Waltz are Norman Thayer and Martha Michelson.”

Again, a good decision, they were popular among the other dancers ... a fair round of applause.

“In First Place, dancing a Quickstep, winning their Third Consecutive competition and only the fourth couple to do so are Charles Newman and Claire McArthur!”

The building seemed to rumble like an earthquake had just happened, but the crowd very appreciatively all stood up and applauded together as we ran out to wave to them. There were shoutouts, of ‘I love you, Charles’ to which Claire grabbed me and gave me a kiss in front of the masses.

She kept it closed mouthed, but still the crowd ‘ate it up’ and they whistled and hooted. Mom came out, raising her hand, and waving while she pulled Claire away from me as tactfully as could be done.

It was early enough that if we wanted to get to Cotillion, we could. Claire said she wanted to go and show off our Third Trophy and do the Quickstep for Jimmy. I was wired as well, so we all piled into the car and went straight to the Cotillion.

We showed up during a break, Claire and I ran to Jimmy with our trophy. He saw it and smiled the biggest smile I had yet seen upon his face.

“Could you do the routine again, right now, for your own thirteen-year-olds?” Jimmy asked with almost a plea in his voice.

“Sure, Jimmy,” I said. “Whatever our sponsor wants — Charles & Claire will do.”

Kalista eagerly handed him our music.

Jimmy hurriedly walked up to his microphone, a little out of breath, saying, “Everybody, earlier this evening, two of your very own, won their third-straight NDCA Junior I competition. Only three couples have done that before and they were all eighteen-year-olds. Here they are, doing their award-winning Quickstep, Charles & Claire!”

While Jimmy was about to start the music, Dimples gave me a kiss, smiled and was ready to dance.

Much like the competition, we absolutely nailed the routine and Claire’s final Double-Double Reverse Spin was perfect, causing everybody in the hall to go a little crazy.

Jimmy came out and said, “Wasn’t that the most fabulous dance any of us has ever seen? What a great song for them, don’t you think?” He was clapping his hands and he said, “Give them another bow. They really are the best dancers of your generation.”

We were mobbed again, and Jimmy didn’t even try to stop them or quiet them down. It was almost nine o’clock and Jimmy told everyone to go home and learn a new dance, anything they wanted and to come back next week and show us what they got.

Annie took the time to take each of our carpool to his or her own home, so she and I ended up in our car, in the front seat together and on our way home.

“Charles?” she said.

“Yeah, Mom,” I replied, looking over at her.

“I am very proud of you tonight,” she said. “I knew that you were a very special young man when you were born. I just didn’t know that you would grow up to make me so proud of you. You have all those Merit Badges. You have always been a straight ‘A’ student and now you are on the verge of becoming a tremendously talented dancer and I must tell you that you make me very, very happy and proud to be your mother.”