VALENTINE’S WEDNESDAY: Hallelujah

BY GERI LALACH

Copyright is held by the author.

“I’M A dancer. You wouldn’t know it to look at me would you?  Short, a little hippy, stocky even, you’re thinking. It’s okay. When I opened my studio here and started taking in students some of the parents looked at me like they expected a ballerina, someone slim and dainty. And, well, I’m not dainty.”

“I like your body.”

“Gus obviously wants to jump in here.”

“I can’t let you tell the story of us all by yourself, where’s the fun in that?”

“I needed someone to take care of my beat-up old clunker. I guess he did a pretty good job.”

“Pretty good? I kept that piece of metal and glue going longer than it had any right to. Besides you were hot on me even then.”

“Well, I don’t know that I would say hot. Lukewarm maybe? Tepid?”

“What the hell is tepid? Who even uses that word? And babe, the last thing you were was anything close to tepid.”

“You’re winking at me, get that goofy look off your face. This is serious.”

“What, telling them how we met is serious? Like it’s going to make the six o’clock news or something? Trust me, all they want to know is how it went down.”

“So now it’s a football game and we’re in the last inning?

“That’s baseball babe, not football.”

“Whatever, it’s all about who wins in the end anyways, isn’t it?

“OK, now you’re talking. Remember when we were on the floor here, pretty much naked that first time? Or, maybe it was the third time . . . all I know it was a busy night.”

“You’ve got that goofy grin on your face again.”

“A guy just wants to make his girl happy. And I gotta say you were very happy.”

“I was distraught.”

“What’s with the big words tonight, eh? You were sad, just tell them. You thought I’d closed shop, moved on.”

“I was distraught because I didn’t know anyone else who would keep my car going.”

“You can’t even keep a straight face saying that out loud can you?”

“I loved that car.”

“Yeah, but you love me more. Go ahead, tell them how crazy you are for me.”

“Crazy’s a good word.”

“OK I’ll get it started. It was late remember? You were here in the studio by yourself. There were barely any lights on and I noticed the keys hanging in the front door. So I came in to give them to you, tell you to be more careful.”

“You never said much to me when I brought you my car. You didn’t even notice me.”

“Notice you? Come on Meggs, the hair alone was enough to keep me up at night, figuring out what you’d let me do with it if you’d ever give me the chance.”

“Give you the chance?  Seriously?  You think I didn’t know how to put air in the tires or check the oil? I wanted you to check my oil.”

“I love it when you talk shop babe.”

“Besides, you scared the crap out of me when I saw you standing there in the dark, something glinting in your hand. I thought it was a knife at first, not my keys.”

“I couldn’t say a thing, not after watching you dance. I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”

“My hair was a tangled mess down my back and I was covered in sweat.”

“Yeah, so who’s afraid of a little sweat? Never bothered me none, I kinda like it.”

“And you just stood there and asked me the name of the song.

“Well, I couldn’t just shout I want to kiss you. Kiss you and not stop. I didn’t want to scare you even more.”

“The only thing I was scared of was you leaving.”

“So that’s why you grabbed me?”

“I didn’t grab you. I took your hand and showed you some steps.”

“You were pressed up against me. Your arms were around my neck. I wouldn’t exactly call that a step.”

“Hmm, I guess it depends on the kind of dance wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh, so now you’re flirting with me.”

“But then I remember you adding some steps of your own.”

“It was a long day in the shop, figured we needed to rest a bit.”

“So you hiked me up onto the barre and made another move.”

“Yeah, well I gotta say that’s probably my best move right there. Signature.”

“It was a pretty good move I’ll admit.”

“Yup, so that’s how it started, right here, with that song, that dance.”

“So then we got our dog, big chocolate lab. Had to name him Leonard, after the song.

“After our song, babe.

“Hallelujah.”

“Yup, hallelujah.”

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