The next little dancer is taking shape.
The Welcome
“After you,” Rose said.
Alma stepped forwards.
“Not yet.”
She stopped with one small foot above the parchment. Beside them, the chef was piping a new skirt, pale vanilla and strawberry pink curling together beneath the silver nozzle.
Rose lowered her arm.
“I meant after your bow.”
“I haven’t met her.”
“It’s a welcoming bow.”
Alma put her foot down and studied the growing rosette. From here, it looked like somebody had folded a whole afternoon of dancing into a circle.
“Shouldn’t we say hello first?”
Rose considered the space between them and the piping bag.
She had left that part out.
Two Beginnings
Rose had imagined the arrival as soon as the chef began the skirt. She would lift one arm, turn, and offer her hand. Alma would come from the other side. Their new companion would find herself in the middle of something lovely.
Alma had imagined asking her name.
“What if she doesn’t know the turn?” Alma asked.
“We’ll show her.”
“While we’re doing it?”
Rose tried the opening. Her skirt spread in soft ridges as she moved, and the little flower beside her hair tilted towards Alma. She finished with her hand extended.
Alma was still looking at the rosette.
“From this side,” Rose said.
“Oh.”
Alma crossed towards her, bowed, and nearly met the waiting hand with her forehead.
Both began to laugh. Above them, the piping bag rustled in the chef’s fingers. The last curl settled against the skirt, leaving a small pink point at its centre.
Rose looked up.
“We should practise once more.”
Someone Joins
By the time the new dancer stood beside them, Rose and Alma had found a beginning they could both remember.
Alma would say hello. Rose would lift her arm. Then the turn.
The chef steadied the newcomer with one finger while she settled her feet. Her skirt still held the faint sweet scent of strawberry. She looked from Rose’s raised hand to Alma’s small bow.
“Hello,” Alma said.
“Hello. I’m Nina.”
Rose opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Nina had already offered her a hand.
“Do we go this way?”
She took a little sideways step. Rose followed before she had decided whether that was part of the welcome.
Alma came round to face them.
Now Nina was between them, exactly where Rose had imagined her. Only they were all moving in the other direction.
Rose began to raise her free arm for the turn.
Nina ducked beneath it, laughing.
Alma caught Rose’s eye over the little pink flower. There was still time to stop and explain.
Rose kept her arm lifted until Nina came out the other side.
Then she turned too.
Already Dancing
They crossed the clear patch of parchment in three uneven steps. Nina took small ones; Alma waited at the end of hers; Rose made a wider curve and came back to meet them.
At last, they paused beside the finished rosettes.
Nina looked delighted.
“Was that your dance?”
“Some of it,” Alma said.
Rose brushed a tiny crumb from the edge of her skirt. She had not used her grand opening pose, though she was rather pleased with the turn beneath her arm.
Nina looked towards the space where they had begun.
“When does the welcome start?”
Rose glanced at Alma.
For once, neither had an opening ready.
Leave a Reply