So, that was how Bev found herself, in the middle of our lawn with four little girls, barefoot, going through ‘Position one’… ‘Position two’…and ending with ‘Position five’. Each position was gracefully repeated three of four times. It was fun to watch Bev and my nieces. It was the first time that I had ever watched her in ‘teaching mode’. It, again, warmed my heart. She was in her element, and loving every minute of it.
I was, once again, in awe at Bev’s gracefulness and the fluidity of her movements. The night classes that she was attending, had refined her movements. I watched Bev’s mom wipe away a few tears as, I’m sure that watching her daughter, brought back memories of her early teen years.
After completing the first round, the girls looked at her with pleading eyes and begged her for one more. She did.
Bev hung out with her mom and dad. I mingled for a bit and then joined them.
“This is quite a get-together,” Carol casually said as she looked over the sea of relatives, “It’s so quiet out here. I haven’t seen a car go by. Are your parents the only ones on the road?”
“Pretty much. The houses at the end of the road are abandoned and the one up next to us, has guy from the city who comes out every weekend. Being a dead end gravel road, there’s no traffic. The only car that comes during the week, is the mailman, my uncle.”
We hung out. Had a few beers. Food… oh the food. Then I suggested horseshoes. Carol and Bev hadn’t ever played, so it was Bev and myself against her parents, and, yes, more beer.
I was in the house, relieving my bladder. When I came out, my mom was standing at the kitchen window looking out. I stood next to her to see what had her attention. It was Bev and her parents.
“It’s good to see how close you two have become.”
“Yeah. We have. We enjoy our times together. We feel comfortable around each other. I’ve never been happier, and I know that Bev feels the same. We find that sometimes, we don’t really have to talk to each other. It’s like we can ‘feel’ what each other is feeling or thinking. Sometimes, it’s just comforting to sit next to each other in silence. We talk about it a lot.”
“I’ve noticed it with you two, and I’ve seen it. It’s a rare connection. Cherish it. Don’t let anything, or anyone, disrupt that harmony. She’s a wonderful girl, in a lot of ways.”
“That, she is.”
………………………………………
School was starting in a couple of weeks. Bev was busy getting her classroom ready for the second time. Our Wednesday chat told me how excited she was to be getting back into her new third graders. To all of those little bundles of energy.
My life was about the same. The only change was that I was getting larger, more custom projects, with more specialized equipment. A new engineer was now handling the standard packages.
My interactions with Jeannie were lessening, as I now was dealing with the more experienced buyers; but, we remained friendly. I always got a friendly smile whenever we would pass by each other. I made a point of passing that on to Bev. She never said anything; but, I knew she was inwardly pleased. Even at the bar, when Bev would visit me, I watched the two of them give the other a genuine friendly smile. There was no animosity, between the two of them. They each knew that I was happy, and content with where life had taken me, and that Bev was the love of my life. A couple of times, I watched as Jeannie pulled up an empty chair, next to Bev, and joined in whatever conversation was going on at our end of the table. Totally relaxed.
The elementary school teachers were starting to plan the Winter Musical, even though it was three months away.
Tuesday, I pulled into our driveway and found Bev’s car parked there. That was unusual. She had always let me know when she was coming over for the night, plus, Tuesday was strange. I mean, we had just been together on Sunday. She had a key, so letting herself in wasn’t a problem, as Wayne was on the road for a few days.
I found Bev sitting at the kitchen table with a, now, half-empty bottle of wine, and an almost empty wine glass. The pained look on her face, told me that something very distressing had happened earlier that day.
Bev was in my arms, the instant I entered the kitchen. Her tear-streaked face buried against my chest. I held her as she gently wept. I had never seen her in such an emotional state. Her tears broke my heart. Whoever did this was going to pay. Nobody hurts my princess. I just held her, and let her progress at her own pace.
As she calmed down, I led her over to the couch. We got comfortable, as Bev curled up next to me… almost in a fetal position, with her head on my chest and her legs tucked under her. Bev still had on her school clothes: skirt and button-down white blouse.
I waited.
“I know that I told you that the teachers were starting to plan for the Winter musical: what carols each of the different classes would sing, music, decorations, all the usual stuff that they had done in previous years.”
“I remember you telling me that.”
“Well, today was the third meeting. So far, nobody has asked me about my thoughts for the ballet portion. I thought that was strange. I mean, it was causally mentioned last spring, when I brought up the whole ballet idea that maybe it could be something to include in the Winter musical this year. If the mothers wanted to make tutus again, this year, they would need some time. I would need some time. Last spring and at the end of the school year, everybody seemed to think that that would be a good idea. I just didn’t understand why it hadn’t been brought up.
“So, today I asked, ‘What about the ballet portion?’ I could tell that they had already talked about it amongst themselves. My two other teachers, who I thought were my friends, just looked down. Never making eye-contact with me.
“The one, who was the organizer, Karen, said that, they thought that they would save that for just the Spring musical and the end-of-the-year musical. Said, that they didn’t want to impose too much on the time of the mothers. That, they wanted the third grade girls to just concentrated on the musical portion. To not get distracted by other activities.
“Bill, the girls love the ballet part. Every little girl wants to be a ballerina. I’ve had a bunch of the third grade girls, already coming up to me and telling me that they couldn’t wait to do ballets this year. As far as the mothers and the tutus were concerned, I was going to leave that up to them. I was planning on letting them know, that if they wanted to only make a single style of tutu, and have it for both… that I would be fine with that. If they wanted to make a Christmas tutu and then a Spring tutu, that I would be fine with that too.
“I don’t understand… I don’t know what to do,” her voice low, with almost a defeated tone. I had never seen her in such a state.
It was quiet for a few minutes, as thoughts were forming in my head.
“Bev, I think that I have a feeling of where all of this is coming from. First off, how old do you think Karen is?”