Nina Lois Turtledove

Dancer

There is a dancer and gardner who was once a little boy in a certain African country. His mother was known as a witch because she had had ten girls- girls disdained- and only one boy. This beautiful boy of Hindu origins found himself in a European boarding school and gained friendship with the boys because he wouldn’t run from the city street riff-raff guys causing trouble. He had grown up to fight, and he ran after the riff-raff boys, throwing stones. His new boarding-school friends took him to a brothel, where he was told to sit and wait in the foyer. He was too young to go off into a room. Over time he became friends with the madame. He was comfortable, adoring of women contrary to the other men from where he came. “Do you want to make money?” the madame asked him. “Sure,” the boy replied. “Can you dance?” she asked. “Yes, I can dance,” said the boy, and soon he was dancing for women in the women’s clubs. He was also trained in ballet… Somehow he ended up in the care of an Italian ambassador in New York City, for whom he would entertain. Enamoured with America, with Jane Fonda, Farrah Fawcett, and John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, he desired to come. The ambassador got him a Visa and the young man arrived in New York, from where he disappeared into the folds. Older now, but very agile, he goes out dancing and orders a bottle of water. He works in gardens bringing flowers with him, referring to his female friends as goddesses.

Short Story | 31.05.2007 2:39 | No Comments