The Viennese Waltz(115)

Carla drifted away a bit, uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation, and left Vicky and the old guy to their discussion of murder and mayhem.

Judy Wendell was talking to Gabrielle Ugolini, Archduke Leo and Dr. Faust, with no regard for their ranks, and managing to get them to talk to each other. Dr. Faust was building a glider and Archduke Leo was very interested in flight. Gabrielle was talking about biochemistry and the use of vitamins to prevent deficiency diseases.

Carla drifted on again. There was Hayley, surrounded by three guys about their age. Carla guessed that one of them was Amadeus. Probably the blond. He was giving the other two “get lost” looks. He had a beard, though you could barely tell, it was so light. The other guys weren’t taking the hint. Both had long noses and one had black hair, the other brown. Carla drifted in their direction, then Hayley was waving her over. Apparently glad of reinforcements.

“Gentlemen, this is Carla Ann Barclay von Up-time.” Turning to Carla she added, “We were just talking about that Shirley Temple movie, the one where she tap dances. What was the title, do you know?”

“The Little General?” Carla asked. “That’s the one they were showing at the theater this week. But Shirley Temple danced in most of her movies, I think.”

“That’s the one,” the guy with black hair said. “Those clicks. Rudolph says that it was the black man clicking the heels of his shoes, not the sound track.”

“It was the toes of his shoes,” Carla said. “That was Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson. He was one of the greatest tap dancers in history.”

“Maybe. But no one could do that. They added the sound later, like they do the German voices. I saw Singing in the Rain and it said right on the screen that the voices and singing had been done by down-timers.”

“They do do that. In fact, it was Els Engel who did the Kathy Selden voice and singing. But in terms of the taps, it’s all Bojangles. I saw that movie up-time before the Ring of Fire in Baltimore. It’s just the same. I know, because it’s famous among tap dancers.”

“Are there any tap dancers?” asked the brown-haired guy, probably Rudolph. “I mean, in this century.”

“Well, I know tap. I took it for years before the Ring of Fire,” Carla said.

Carla was wearing a calf-length pleated skirt and regular shoes. Not tap shoes. In fact, she didn’t have tap shoes anymore. Her last pair of taps had been left in Baltimore. And she was way out of practice, though she still tapped some, just for fun. She lifted her left foot and did a quick staccato toe tap. It wasn’t the dance part, but then Carla wasn’t that into the dance part. She had focused on the musicality.

“Carla helped Dad with the layout of the movie theater,” Hayley added. And Carla blushed.

“How do you do that?” The black-haired guy asked, pointing at her feet.

“This is Julian von Meklau—” Hayley point at the black-haired one, “—and Rudolph von Kesmark.” Hayley pointed at the brown-haired one. So the blond was her Amadeus, but she didn’t introduce him. Carla took that to mean that so far as Hayley was concerned, she could have either Julian or Rudolph, but not Amadeus.

“It just takes practice,” Carla told Julian. “I did it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school for years. Just part of the social graces we were supposed to learn.”

“Ah, like riding and swordsmanship,” offered Julian.

“Or sewing for the ladies,” added Rudolph, who apparently thought that would earn him points.

“Yes, but we had sewing machines up-time,” Carla said. “And retail.”

“What?” Rudolph asked, as Hayley laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Millicent, coming up to join them.

“Shopping therapy,” Hayley said. “Rudolph was talking about ladies learning to sew.”

“We have sewing machines now,” Milly said, and everyone but Rudolph laughed.

“Are they teasing you, Rudy?” asked Millicent, and Carla wondered how she had known his name.

Rudolph gave Julian a look. “Any chance they get.”

“Rudolph always says the wrong thing,” Julian added.

“Me too,” said Millicent. “What were you talking about before Rudy stuck his foot in his mouth?”

Julian and Amadeus looked blank for a moment, then started laughing. “Stuck his foot in his mouth. That’s clever.”

Amadeus, Carla noted, had a laugh like a horse braying, but Julian had a nice laugh, sort of a happy guffaw. She didn’t know why, but she liked Julian’s laugh.

They continued to talk as the boat made its way upriver and reached a dock about noon. After debarking, they walked over to a lovely little grassy knoll where sheep had kept the grass at a comfortable height, found places where the sheep hadn’t left little presents for them to step in, and put down their blankets.