The Humper Game Pt. 05 Ch. 08

We walked the first dance through just once. It was easy, and all the beginners had almost walked through it all, already. The caller reminded the beginners of what to do when they reached the ends of the sets, but I noticed that there were people who weren't dancing who looked prepared to coach. He reminded everyone what the first figure was, and then called, "And now, with the music." And the band launched into life.

They started a little slow, and I wondered about it. But about the fourth or fifth time through the dance, they smoothly sped up, and I realized that they were making it easy for the beginners.

They changed tunes with a bang, and sped up just a little bit more, all at once, with the transition. They played that tune only three times, then changed tunes again. No faster, but the energy level was higher, and the way they did the transition pretty clearly said, "Listen up! Something new is here!"

By the time we got to the end of the dance, everyone was ready to applaud and cheer. I thanked my partner—who happened to be named Martha—reminding her that she should make sure her next couple of partners—at least—were experienced. She had done fine, but she still needed some guidance. I hurried off to find Barbara. I'd agreed with her to dance the second dance, and Ellen the third. I'd also agreed with Barbara on the first waltz, when the time came, making sure that Ellen knew.

The dances got more complex, and the tempo a little bit faster, as the evening went on. The dances were fun, and really pretty easy. I did stand out on the sidelines for one dance. I probably should have done that a little more, to give others more chance, but I didn't. At the end of that one, Tammy grabbed me and pulled me out on the floor, apparently to make sure we were safely in a set. She gave me a hug from the side and said, "I really wanted the chance to be your partner, and there you were standing still!"

"There's such a thing as too much success, you know. But it's a lot better to have an overflow crowd than not enough. I have to say, the videos I saw didn't do the band justice. I'm not the best judge—I'm tone deaf—but I can recognize outstanding music. I haven't figured out how they do such strange things with the rhythm and still keep the beat danceable."

"A lot of that is Scott's doing. They had just a couple of tunes where they did that kind of thing, before their first time with him. They do it a lot more now, and you're right, it almost always works."

She pointed two people out to me. "They're reporters, here to get a story. Either dance with her, or talk with them at break, if you want to be quoted. Or avoid them if you don't."

The walk-through for the dance started, so our chance to talk was pretty much gone.

From the October dance, I'd already known that Tammy was fun to dance with. I'd identified her sexual preferences from watching her and dancing with her—not as her partner—and seeing a tiny bit of sparkle, of extra enjoyment, when she danced with women. But now, I thought, that sparkle was there no matter whom she was interacting with. It had been plain before that she liked dancing, period, but there was a little bit more. I was glad she'd asked me to dance, so that I could really see it. As we stood out on the end, she danced some of the figures with me, trimmed to fit just the two of us, and her gypsy meltdown was passionate and enthusiastic. We took the final swing at the end of the dance at double speed, and she hugged me tightly for a moment as the music ended. We applauded, and then she hugged me again, saying, "Phil, thank you for the dance, but for everything else, too. And that's for Ellen, too." A moment to treasure.

Joanne asked me for the last contra before the break. As we were standing out on the end, she said, "I can see you've been enjoying yourself. You're practically glowing. I hope you won't spontaneously combust!" I had indeed been enjoying myself. The music was wonderful, and it really added to the fun of dancing. After the first dance, with the beginner named Martha, all of my dancing had been with women I liked and cared about. And the dances themselves felt well designed to me, each figure flowing seamlessly into the next.

I mentioned all that, and said, "The band is really special. I'm glad we got to meet them Thursday, but especially, we had time to get to know Scott and Martha, just a little, at Pete's and Tammy's earlier. Some unrelated things were bothering me in October at the dance, but they're good now. And a really dear friend is visiting. And over the past couple of months Pete and Tammy have turned into really close friends. And we were able to help them with some things, too.

"So I guess I'm happy about all kinds of things that weren't there last time, and it spills over. The music is great, I'm really enjoying dancing, I've had really fun partners, everything." She clearly, and correctly, took me to be including her among the fun partners, and she was kind of glowing herself.

We moved back in as the music turned around. I liked Joanne, and she was an excellent dancer. Much better than I was, and she gave me all kinds of little directions that helped me do better. I had to admit that I was glad she was older, and didn't view me as even a possible figure for romance, but she was fun to be with, to dance with and to talk to. Another thoroughly nice woman, but not one looking for sex or a deep relationship with me—something else to be happy about.

Then it was time for a waltz, and I found Barbara. She was really sweet, as a friend and partner. And as a lover, for the right man—who wasn't me. I had waltzed with dozens of the two hundred plus girls in my class, but never before with her, and I was achingly happy to be doing that right then.

We went down for snacks when the dance ended. Ellen came in with the man she'd danced the waltz with, Steve, who knew we went together and brought her over to me. She thanked him again—she said "again"—for dancing with her. She was kind of glowing, too.

We collected snacks—a lot were still available—and, with difficulty, found a place to sit. There weren't that many open chairs, and certainly no more with three together right then. Barbara said, "Contradancing at school was nothing like this much fun." I knew she had enjoyed it, as had Ellen and I, but I sure knew what she meant.

Art Gumby surprised me by appearing right then. I'd told him about the dance, but I was a little surprised to see him. He greeted Barbara with enthusiasm. She had been in a lot of his classes and had worked with him, he told Ellen and me. And Barbara put in, "He was my partner in the game once, toward the end of the year. And he wasn't you, but he was really nice, and we had fun." Art asked whether there would be a waltz after the break, and I said I thought it was likely, and he asked Barbara if she'd dance it with him.

I said quietly to Ellen, "I suppose I'd better ask you right now, before you're booked up."

She said, "Too late. I'm saving the last one for you, though. But Pete already asked me. And I should already have said something earlier—I told Kelly I'd hand you over to her, unless you had other plans. I know you like to be consulted, but you weren't there to consult."

"Since I promised her one after the October dance, you actually did me a huge favor. Is it OK if I do the first contra with her, too, assuming she's free?"

"I hope you will. She'd really like it. Give me the one after that, though."

I excused myself to go to the bathroom, managing to return with just enough time to take a couple of cookies before the strains of a waltz began, back in the dance space. "January Waltz," I thought, by someone named Morningstar, Scott had said when he and Jim played it on campus, Thursday. I ate them quickly, as I started looking for Kelly. She came in the door looking for me. "I was in the other break room," she said. I brushed crumbs off my hands, and she took my arm as we walked briskly down the hall and joined in the dancing.

As we waltzed, I said, "Thanks for arranging this with Ellen. I would probably have forgotten until too late. I hope you're open for the contra after this."

"I'm afraid not. I've already told three guys that I was dancing it with you."

I gave her a little extra squeeze. "Thank you."

"You're still coming to church tomorrow, aren't you?"

"We're planning on it."

"Scott and Martha are too, I think. Martha asked me about it, a little earlier. She asked about the music, too. She said Scott kind of hoped to be able to play with the praise band. Well, it happens that the music director is here, so a few minutes ago I introduced them. I gather that he'll need to be early enough to talk with the pastor or the chairman of the deacons, but that it looks likely. I didn't think I should stay and eavesdrop, though, so I don't know what else they said."

The waltz had ended by that time, and we had moved out to make sure we had a place in one of the sets. The crowd had thinned some. I wondered whether a lot of people were still in the break rooms talking. I knew some had gone home.

From that point on, the dances were more complicated and the music a little faster and even tighter. New and unusual figures—Mad Robin, for one—were taught in the walk-throughs. I didn't have much chance to choose partners, they swooped down and pounced on me as soon as I had thanked my previous partner—and sometimes before. Ellen and I had agreed to stay until the end that time, and I was really enjoying it despite being kind of sleepy.

At the end, we collected hugs from a whole bunch of people, a number of whom were very thankful for the little help we'd provided before the dance. We went off in search of our containers. There were close to a dozen cookies left. And whoever had brought some really delicious applesauce cake had declined to take the remnant home, so it had been put into our containers. Not a lot, but we would enjoy it.

Barbara, Kelly and Elise were waiting for us, so we all walked back together. Elise's apartment was actually on our way, so we saw her to her door. I insisted that we see Kelly home, too, since it was only a block or so extra.

When we got home, we combined the cookies and told Barbara to get herself ready for bed. We went off and got dressed in nightclothes. When she was out of the bathroom, we brushed our teeth, then took turns. Barbara had waited up for us, so we gave her a hug and a kiss apiece. The kisses were tokens, but I certainly meant the affection I tried to show. We told her when we would be getting up to shave and shower, asking her to give us first chance unless she again got up even earlier.

I asked for a quickie, and that's what I got. We were both really tired, but all that physical contact had me turned on. I thought that if Ellen hadn't been about to fall asleep, she would have insisted on more, for much the same reason.

Sunday morning seemed awfully soon. We really did work to get enough sleep, normally, but the circumstances weren't normal, that weekend. Once again, Barbara was up and dressed, having already taken her shower. We showered, with no more than washing.

Breakfast was a blueberry coffee cake. I'd had the dry ingredients ready from Saturday afternoon. I got onto it wearing my robe and pajamas, then went off and dressed while it was in the oven. The girls had everything else ready by the time I emerged.

Barbara gave me as big a hug as Ellen did, without the lingering kiss. After we started eating, she said, "I know it's taken time from you just when you didn't have it, but I'm really glad it's this weekend I came. I wonder what dancing I can find when I get back, and whether Bert will like it. I haven't enjoyed myself so much in ages, I can't remember when." She smiled at us both. "A few special times with Phil excluded, that's not what I mean. I know I won't find a band like that, either."

I told her a little of what Pete had said about how Scott had come to play with the others. I added, "That makes me think. I didn't see Martha much last night, but she was dancing a little. I wonder what happened with Hannah then. She was with them when they came in. And they must have been in the other room at break, I didn't see them then."

Barbara said, "Hannah watched and listened at the side, kind of dancing by herself a lot of the time. Mostly she was with Martha, but other people, all women I think, talked to Martha and stayed with Hannah while Martha was dancing." And later on, I asked Scott and Martha, and they said they had brought bedding, and Hannah went to sleep in one of the break rooms a bit after the break. There were people around talking and so on and music from the dance, and it wasn't dark, but apparently she was used to this. Some of the regulars running the dances, and some other women they had picked, had watched her while Martha had danced. There were always people there to talk to, for Martha or whoever covered for her.

We'd gotten to talking, and the dishes weren't done when Kelly was knocking at our door. We got ourselves together quickly and went off with her. It was nice for us that her church was within walking distance. It was farther than we had to walk most days, about like the dance venue, but much too close to drive without a reason.

Kelly took us to Pastor Mac's office to meet him. "Pastor, these are the friends I've told you about, Phil Morris and Ellen Chan. Their friend, Barbara—" "Wilson," Barbara said, "—is here visiting them for the weekend." She went on to us, "I told Pastor Mac you wanted to see him for a couple of minutes, this morning, but I left it to you to tell him why."

I said, "I know this is a bad time for you, and it's a crazy weekend for us, so this is just to introduce us to you and to raise the topic. One way or another, it will take some time, and that has to be later. Ellen and I are expecting to get married, probably this spring or maybe summer, and we need someone to perform the wedding. We're not believers, but we do want to commit ourselves to all the things the traditional vows say, and we want someone officiating who understands and believes in the importance of that. I know that raises all kinds of issues we can't discuss now. Kelly suggested you, and we wanted to meet you and let you know that much, then talk at a better time for us all. Unless what I've already said rules it out right off."

He said, "I'd love to meet with you. Kelly has told me quite a lot about you, and I'm looking forward to a chance to talk with you, in fact. My job is full of evening meetings, so I'd really like to talk during the day, if your own schedules permit it."

I looked at Ellen, and then said, "What probably would work best for us would be Tuesday or Thursday afternoon. We're free from one to three. Actually a little longer on both ends, but we need to eat lunch, and then there's travel time. It's a reasonably short walk, though."

"Let's say Tuesday, then. One o'clock, unless one-thirty would be better."

"One, by all means. And thank you. We'll be looking forward to it.

"And I'll really try not to fall asleep during your sermon, but if I should, it's not you. We had a really late night, last night."

He smiled. "I've already heard about it. I'm a little sorry not to have been there and heard the music, but I'm very glad to have been home and asleep at a reasonable hour. At least, I assume you mean you were at the big dance."

"That's right. I'm not a good judge of music, but yes, it was spectacular." We took our leave. We went off with Kelly, first for coffee—tea for me—and donuts, muffins, or cookies, then to her Sunday School class.

This class was about like what we would have found at Uncle John's church, if we had gone to the class intended for people like us, I thought. It was aimed at college students and other young adults, and the participants appeared to range in age from around nineteen through twenty-five or a bit older. The teacher was older than that, but still young, mid to upper thirties, I thought. It was a large class, and seating was arranged in rows of chairs, not around a table or in a circle. Kelly introduced us to the teacher, and so to anyone who was listening, and it was plain that she had told him a lot about us. We introduced Barbara to him, as a friend who had come from out of town to discuss some issues in her life and also for the dance the night before. I thought I recognized several class members from the dance.

We were just early enough that there were still enough seats together in the back row, and I asked Kelly if we couldn't sit in those. I gathered that she usually sat nearer the front, but I said—quite truthfully—that I at least would be more comfortable if I didn't need to turn my head so much to look at people. As more people arrived, it was clear that while many people preferred the back, people also habitually sat in the same places every week, so except for the front row, seats closer up were occupied before all those farther back were taken. But any consistency was obviously habit—plainly no one felt that we were sitting in 'their' seats.

Evidently, they were working their way through 1 Corinthians, and they were on chapter 3. It seemed that Kelly had missed out on chapter 2, unless they had done something else the previous Sunday, with so many away. I resolved to ask her about that, and to take seriously its application to me and her tendency to rely on me, personally. But we had discussed chapter 3, and I had been pleased and proud of her when she had—without my help—caught one significant point that was, in my opinion, often misunderstood.

I resolved to keep my mouth shut, and in this class the teacher didn't feel it incumbent upon him to call on me, so I was successful. Kelly, on the other hand, participated enthusiastically, and the teacher seemed eager to hear her whenever she had something to say. So when they reached verses 10-14, and some—to my ears anyway—off-the-mark interpretations were proposed, her hand went up, and she was called on.

"That's probably true, and this passage probably applies to it. But it's not what Paul was saying. Look at the context. He's been talking about himself and Apollos as pastors and teachers, Paul being the original church-planter there. He's saying that if either of them has done his job well, the church he has led and taught will show this at the Lord's return, and he will be rewarded, at the very least by having his good work shown for all to see. But if one of them has done a bad job of leading and teaching the church, what he did will not survive. His own faith will allow him to be saved, but he will see all he worked for go up in flames."

There was some further discussion, but it seemed she had convinced the class as a whole. The teacher tended to act as moderator and no more, and he didn't object. I felt fairly sure that he would speak strongly if he thought something important was being missed or twisted.

Then they were to verses 16-17. Sure enough, someone said flatly that this was intended as a condemnation of suicide. And Kelly was quick to be recognized and speak up.

"Again, this can surely be applied to that point. The New Testament says in many places, mostly in Paul's letters, that God's Spirit indwells anyone who truly believes." She mentioned three or four, paraphrasing rather than quoting, I thought—this wasn't the translation I knew well—but quite accurately. Then she went on, "But again, that's not what's said here. The context is a discussion of the church, not of the individual Christian. In verse 9, Paul said to them, "You are God's field, God's building." I don't know any Greek, but I looked at the King James, and it says 'ye are', not 'thou art,' and it's 'field' not 'fields', and 'building' not 'buildings.'