The Ram Rebellion(57)

So, where did that leave me? Up the creek without a paddle. I had a useful core of girls. The real problem was reliable males. An oxymoron if ever there was one. My two most capable males had commitments that meant they might not be available when I needed them, and the only alternative male dancers needed time to develop. Maybe next year, if they trained regularly, and the damned army didn't grab them.





It was with a heavy heart that I made my way to dance class after work. Without at least one male lead I couldn't have a company, at least not one capable of putting on performances for paying customers. As I entered the room set aside for the dance class I passed a gaze over who was there. My eldest daughter Staci, and two of the other senior dancers, Casey Stevenson and Marcie Haggerty, were busy supervising the children's warm-up. I was surprised to see Marcie's half-sister there. Laurie Haggerty had been very forceful just before Christmas about how she didn't want her Glenna Sue wasting her time on ballet, and had put every obstacle possible in the way of her training.





All was revealed when the Marcie came up to me. "Miz Bitty, you better watch out. Glenna Sue's mother is on the warpath. She doesn't think it is right that neither her Cameron nor Glenna Sue were included in the private performance of Bad, Bad Brillo."





I can't say I was totally surprised. It was a complete turnaround from Laurie's position leading up to the recital. Then she had insisted that Glenna Sue was needed at home and couldn't be spared for rehearsals for the recital performance of Bad, Bad Brillo. However, the envelope in my pocket was probably the reason for the about face. In it were bank checks made out to the cast and crew. Glenna Sue's share, if Laurie had allowed her to perform as the ewe she was originally cast as, would have been worth about eight hundred dollars.





"Your stepmother's heard about the payments for the performers?" I asked Marcie.





She nodded her head, a wry smile on her face. "Saturday night Jonathan Fortney was at the City Hall Coffee House talking about what he was going to do with his share."





I sighed over that. It was a good bet Cora Ennis, the proprietor, was aware that Laurie had pulled Glenna Sue out of the cast for Bad, Bad Brillo. No doubt she had heard and passed on the tidbit. She had probably done so deliberately, with relish, and maybe a bit of malice. There was little love lost between them.





"How do you feel about the performers getting paid?" I asked.





"It's the luck of the draw. I didn't audition for one of the parts. Nobody thought of the piece as anything more than a bit of fun. Certainly nobody thought those people would pay for a private performance. The guys earned the fee. The money would have been nice. Maybe next time." Grinning, Marcie asked, "There is going to be a next time, isn't there?"





I told her that I expected there would be similar evenings spread through the year. I wasn't ready to tell everyone about my dream of putting on a performance of Nutcracker. Currently only my family knew how much the last two years without a performance had affected me. I had spent part of the Christmas break watching my collection of Nutcracker videos, but they knew it wasn't the same as being there.





After that I was caught up in teaching the class. Every time I looked at a student I found myself examining them, looking to see if they had what it takes to perform. I was reassured with what I saw. There were a number of promising uptime boys and girls who had been taking lessons for a number of years, and some who had only been coming since I started teaching after the Ring of Fire.





What really interested me, though, was the number of down-time students who were doing well. Not only were there girls, there were guys, and some of the guys were in their late teens. For some reason, the down-timers didn't have a problem with guys and dancing. It was similar in the advanced class. There was one guy about the same age as my youngest boy, Mathias Steinbach. I had high hopes of him. He had been coming for about a year now, and his suppleness had improved considerably. If I could keep him, he would make a great foil for Joseph in another couple of years.





The long-term prospects were good. All I needed was a few good men to hold everything together until the youngsters were ready.





After class I hunted for my few good men. I had checks for three of them. Joel I just wanted to talk to about his military commitments. Eventually I traced them to the gym. Through the windows in the door I could see them. Joel was running Carl, his cousin Mark, and his baby brother through some dance sword-fighting moves he had learned while he was at college.





Joel was directing Joseph and Mark, with Carl watching, when I tried to sneak in. Carl turned almost immediately. Seeing me, he waved me over. Apparently Joel, hearing from Joseph that I wanted to put on Nutcracker, had suggested that the fight scene between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King should be a real swashbuckling affair, and had been teaching the others the basics of performance fighting.