Chapter 9

I didn't have long to wonder. At dinner, Joe and I told MaryAnn all about our weekend adventure. We were both very enthusiastic as we told her about the balloon ride. During a lull in the conversation, Joe pulled a sheet of paper out of his shirt pocket.

"Here is our next item on the list."

I unfolded the paper and read, Number 9 - Take a Dale Carnegie course.

Oh my God, if there was anything that scared me more than heights it was standing up in front of strangers and speaking. I looked into Joe's eyes; I'm sure he could see the panic and fear.

"Set that up for early next week."

He got up out of his chair.

"I assume I'll see you both tomorrow morning in the gym," and he left the room.

MaryAnn leaned over and read the note.

"That scares you, doesn't it?"

"More than you could possibly know. In high school I had to give a speech in front of my English class. I was so bad that I'm sure they were all laughing at me."

"Let me look at that again. It doesn't say public speaking course; it just says a Dale Carnegie course. Maybe there are other courses there that won't be so bad. We'll look online tomorrow after breakfast."

"Thanks MaryAnn. You're a life saver."

"Don't thank me now; you can wait until after I work your butt into the ground tomorrow morning to thank me. I can just imagine what you two guys ate over the weekend, and I'm sure neither of you thought to look for the gym while you were there."

I just sat there and looked at the table.

"I thought so," she said with a hint of a laugh in her voice. "I'll see you in the morning."

That night I had nightmares about standing naked in front of a group of women, all looking exactly like MaryAnn, trying to explain why I was so out of shape.

When I walked into the gym Monday morning, MaryAnn had my workout already programmed into the treadmill. It was harder than I had ever done before, but I got through it. After his extended warm up, she had Joe on the free weights, pushing him to reach new maximums on several exercises.

"Both of you, great job. That will teach you to skip your workouts and cheat on your diets. Now get out of here."

After breakfast, MaryAnn and I met in the study. We looked online and found the Dale Carnegie Training site. Looking through the courses I found one that I felt would satisfy Joe, one that I could also handle. The course name was 'Effective Communication & Human Relations/Skills for Success. The course was designed to strengthen interpersonal relationships, manage stress and handle fast-changing workplace conditions, as well as to teach better communication skills, problem solving and leadership training, and finally to develop a take-charge attitude with confidence and enthusiasm.

The course was offered in 3-day, 8-week or 12-week formats. I typed up my report for Joe. I would let him decide what would fit best into his schedule.

The next day I found an envelope on my chair when I came down for breakfast. Inside was a note that read:

"Good choice of which course to take. Let's go with the eight-week format, we can work that in with Number 8 - Learn to Dance. Please sign up MaryAnn for this one as well."

I handed the paper to MaryAnn.

"Why that dirty stinker! Wait until I get his butt in the gym tomorrow afternoon; I'll teach him a thing or two."

After breakfast, I went on online and registered the three of us for an afternoon dance class, and Joe and I for the evening Dale Carnegie course. MaryAnn would have to drive herself to the dance class, which was a one-hour lesson, then she could have the rest of the day to herself. Joe and I would stay in Long Beach for the three-hour course that would start at six. It would make for a long day but would leave the other days free. When I told MaryAnn the plan, she said it was fine with her; she could use the time in Long Beach to visit with friends.

Dinner was a quiet affair that evening. Even I could tell that there was some tension between Joe and MaryAnn. I wondered what she meant about the gym in the afternoon.

I expected to be the only one in the gym the next morning, but when I arrived MaryAnn had Joe on the treadmill. She set me up on the circuit machines, increasing the weight on each by another five pounds.

"John, you're doing really well, soon you'll be catching up to Joe."

I seriously doubted that, but took the compliment anyway. I think it was more of a dig at Joe than an accurate statement of my abilities.

That afternoon, curiosity got the better of me. I wandered down to the gym to find out what was going on. When I got there, however, I found the door to the gym locked. I tried to listen for any signs of activity emanating from the room, but there were none; I guess the whole area had been sound- proofed. Disappointed I turned and went back upstairs. When I came down for dinner that night, I was told that I'd be dining alone. It seemed that both Joe and MaryAnn had made other plans for the evening.

I spent a quiet evening watching TV; wondering if I'd be alone tomorrow in the gym. The next morning, however, MaryAnn was already there, setting the treadmill for my workout. Whenever I could I glanced in her direction, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't ask and she didn't offer any information about what had happened yesterday afternoon, or where Joe was this morning. I had to assume that this was just another of his mysterious disappearing acts. It really wasn't any of my business anyway.

I didn't see Joe for the rest of the week. MaryAnn and I had our meals together and we chatted about what we thought about taking dancing lessons. Neither one of us had ever learned to dance.

"I had no interest in dancing when I was in high school. Most of the boys in my school didn't know how to dance, and the ones that did thought of it as foreplay."

I burst out laughing when she said that.

"I didn't learn how to dance either. I guess it was because it would involve actually holding and talking to a girl. That was something that I could never do when I was that age."

"Well, I guess we'll both be exploring uncharted ground on Monday."

Early Monday afternoon, the three of us in two cars drove to Long Beach. I was a nervous wreck thinking about having to hold a stranger and have her teach me how to do something I was sure I'd be terrible at. When we got out of our cars, I looked over at MaryAnn. I could tell she didn't like this anymore than I did.

"Come on you two, lighten up; this is going to be great," Joe said as he held the door to the studio.

We signed in with the receptionist and were led to dance studio. Inside was our instructor, a beautiful red headed woman, about 5'10" in heels; thin with a great figure and long nicely shaped legs.

"Hello! Welcome, my name is Susan, I will be your instructor for the next eight weeks. You will be learning the basics of eight different dances. Dances which have been done by millions of people all over the world for, in some cases, hundreds of years. The first dance will be the fox trot."

She had us gather in front of her as she demonstrated the basic steps. She then took each one of us separately and walked us through the steps. I was stiff as a board the first time she took my hand in hers and placed it on her back, and held my other hand.

"Relax John, no one is going hurt you; start forward with your left foot, now walk forward with your right, good, step to the side with your left and bring your right foot next to the left. Good, that wasn't so hard, was it?"