Cha Doring
Bio
Stories (2/0)
She Braced, Channeled, and Danced
She was at a party. In fact, it was her tenth birthday party. Her aunts, uncles, cousins, and older siblings came out to New Jersey from New York, and her friends from all over the 22-acre apartment complex joined in for the fun. The adults were enjoying the music, conversation, and food, while the neighborhood boys stirred up trouble and the girls giggled and gossiped – when they weren’t joining in whatever mayhem the boys were getting into. She felt a sense of giddy blissfulness the entire time, until she heard the dreaded words from one of her friends. “Let’s have a dance contest!” Why? Just, why? Weren’t they having enough fun already? The audacity of Kira to suggest a dance contest at Janelle’s birthday party. Janelle quickly devised a plan to thwart the dance contest. Just as excitement for the neighborhood dance contest was building, she shouted, “Hey! How about we have a spelling bee instead?” Yes – a spelling bee would work. See, Janelle could spell. As a straight-A student, Janelle could compete academically across any subject, really. But if there was one thing she could not do, it was dance. Her inability to dance was not from lack of effort. Seeing her struggle, friends and family would give the unhelpful advice to, “feel the beat.” Processing that piece of advice is what most would feel like if being asked to interpret hieroglyphics (barring Egyptologists). Janelle looked around to gauge how others were taking to her brilliant diversion, confident that there would be no need for her to embarrass herself on her own birthday. The party chatter stopped, and the children and adults alike exchanged incredulous and confused glances at each other. In those glances, they came to an unspoken agreement that they would ignore the birthday girl’s inane suggestion and carry on with the dance contest. At this defeat, she drew in a deep breath. She braced herself; she channeled the strength; and she danced.
By Cha Doring3 years ago in Beat