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Rick Archer's Note:
In my opinion,
the three most important forces in the Universe are gravity,
the power of the atom, and gossip. This is especially
true in Texas. Back in the early days of Texas, barn
dances were weekend entertainment for all. These
events offered beer and a band
playing late into the night. Babies slept on tables.
Grandparents taught kids to polka. Young boys met
young girls, the men talked farming while the women traded
gossip. Oh, how the
tongues would wag. Dance halls
were hotbeds of treachery.
"Watch out,
Mable, a honky-tonk is where a man says he goes to dance
with his wife, but he is really aimin' to dance with another
man's wife!"
Here at the Pistachio Club, things hadn't changed all that
much in the past hundred years. She wanted Joanne gone and was adept at using gossip to
accomplish her mission. What Victoria wants, Victoria
gets.
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MID-FEBRUARY 1979, the disco years
VICTORIA'S
SPRING AFFAIR
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Spring Affair
Donna
Summer
Ooh, something's coming over me
Ooh, I think it's got a hold on me,
it's got me, it's got me
Ooh, just the man I hoped you'd be
Ooh, just the man to set me free,
you got me, you got me
It's a Spring Affair
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When
Victoria wasn't busy sticking a knife in Joanne's
back, she was up to her old tricks of making
business moves without my knowledge, then announcing
it later. Her March dance party followed the
same pattern as last year's Halloween Party and
Christmas Party.
On a Friday
night in mid-February, I was talking to some friends at the
Pistachio Club when Victoria came up
from behind and touched me the shoulder. As I whirled
around, Victoria gave me a big hug, then whispered, "How would you like to have a
spring affair?"
Seeing the shock
on my face, Victoria laughed.
"Well, do
you or don't you?"
Caught
totally off guard, I feared the worst. "Uh, what
exactly are you talking about?"
Victoria winked
at her little joke, then explained.
"Larry, the manager of the club,
said he wanted another big Saturday night dance party at
the Pistachio Club in March. I said sure, but I
thought I would check with you. I will call it Spring Affair after the Donna Summer song. What do you
think?"
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I suddenly
realized Victoria was having a lot of fun at my expense.
'Spring Affair' was the title of her favorite
Donna Summer song. I played the song in class all the
time. This was the new side of Victoria, the
previously non-existent flirty side. Perhaps Victoria
had been taking lessons from Patricia. More likely Victoria had known
how to get a man's attention all along.
Victoria had said "I thought I would check with you,"
but I knew better. This party was fait accompli.
So why argue? "Sure, why not?"
When I saw her
again the following Tuesday, Victoria handed
me a flyer announcing the
Spring Affair dance party at the Pistachio Club.
At first glance, I thought the title was provocative to say the least. But I kept that thought to
myself.
"Tell me more about the back
story."
"The
Pistachio Club had all kinds of success selling
memberships at my December Christmas Party. So
Larry approached me about sponsoring another event in
March. They have been pretty nice to our Camelot
group on Fridays, so I said I would be glad to help."
I thought the
party was unnecessary. Since we already met
once a week on Friday night, what did we need a
Saturday event for? Even more important, once
Pistachio went through with its private membership plan, the
transition threatened to screw up our popular Friday night
Camelot event. Therefore I felt no urgency to have
this Saturday party. However, there had been many students
who clamored for another special event, so I didn't care
that Victoria had agreed
to do it. But why bother to ask my
permission? Typical Victoria. Do what she wants
and beg forgiveness if I object.
To my surprise,
the response was strong. This next party promised to
be as big if not bigger than the Christmas Party. New
students were interested and people who missed out on the
first event wanted a second chance. Despite this weird
threat of a Country-Western takeover, Disco was going strong in
Houston throughout the spring. I calmed myself by
saying that just because these new Western clubs were
opening, there was no reason to believe the remaining Discos
would fold. One reason for my optimism was this
upcoming March Spring Affair. Thanks to
Victoria's hard work, this event was shaping up as another
one of her remarkable accomplishments.
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As before,
Victoria worked many hours talking up the event to get
people interested. In addition, Victoria told me
it was time to mail out another flyer. This was a
large, time-consuming project, so Victoria
invited me over to her house one afternoon at the end of February
to work on mailing out the flyer. Unlike the previous
time she had invited me to visit, this time I was
reluctant. Although I had no proof, I was certain
Victoria's jealousy towards Joanne had been responsible for
last Friday's ugly incident at Camelot. Now that
Victoria had taken Joanne down a notch, I assumed the bear
was no longer pinned atop the tree. As they say, if you are afraid of the
Bear, don't visit the Lair. On the other hand, other
than suggestive quips such as her 'Spring Affair',
Victoria had never crossed any lines. I decided to accept
her offer.
While I was in
her home, Victoria's phone kept ringing off the hook.
Victoria never ceased to amaze me. I witnessed one
demonstration after another of this woman's immense
communication skills. This was vintage Sunshine
Victoria. Victoria talked to everyone as if they were
her best friend in the world. As Victoria worked the
phone, she would laugh, cajole, persuade, flatter,
promote. Victoria was really good at this! It was no
accident that Victoria was the most popular woman I had ever
met. I had never seen someone with Victoria's skill as
a promoter, so I asked her about it.
"Oh, this is
nothing. What you are seeing today is the tip of
the iceberg. Right now I am just answering the
phone. Normally this is the time of day I would be
calling key people to help me push the March Spring
Fling. In turn, these women would promise to call
five friends each and have them do the same thing. I call it
my phone tree."
"Spring Fling?
I thought it was 'Spring Affair'. Did you rename the party?"
"Ah, slip of
the tongue. You knew what I meant, right?"
Victoria grinned and gave me another one of her cute
little winks.
"I suppose."
I preferred not to pursue
the topic.
"To
promote my party, I alternate between calling my
girlfriends and a list of interesting people I have met in
class and at Camelot. The secret is to call
one more time if a person is on the fence. I don't
take rejection personally. It is a numbers
thing. The more people I call, the more likely I will
get my message across to a high percentage.
Besides, people might be busy the first time I call.
If I stay positive, they might take me up on my idea the
next time I call. Furthermore, if they don't
answer, I leave a message. An answering
machine message is effective in a different way.
It gets the information to them while saving me time
because now I don't have to get into a lengthy
conversation.
The phone is
the most powerful tool I have, Rick. I use it to
light a fire. The more people I call with the
initial message, the more likely I am to get a strong
word of mouth going which in turn multiplies the
energy."
I listened in
wonder. Where did this kind of talent come from?
I loved my job more than anything else in the world, but I
did not have the kind of personality to get on the phone and
persuade people to participate more fully. This woman
possessed powers I could only dream of having.
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FRIDAY,
MARCH 10 1979, the disco years
FIREWORKS AT THE
SPRING AFFAIR
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Victoria did her
job well. She packed the house again. On the
night of Saturday, March 10, I shook my head in amazement as
one guest after another strolled in. The March
Pistachio Party was an Instant Replay of Victoria's December
success. She attracted another crowd of 300 plus.
Unlike
the last party, this time Patricia was on board.
We had been getting along very well. However I
was worried about Joanne. I feared a repeat of the fireworks which ensued after Joanne
stole the show at the Christmas Party with her dance
performance. Showing some new-found diplomatic skills,
I negotiated an arrangement with Victoria and Patricia in
advance. Unlike the December Party, this
time I would dance two songs with Victoria. After
Victoria, I would dance two songs with Patricia. Joanne got third
billing. This was the greatest test of my negotiating
skills. First I had to persuade Joanne to even come.
She was still smarting over the rebuff she received in
February thanks to Victoria's whispering campaign (the one I
did not know about yet). Next I had to persuade
Victoria to back off from Joanne. Then I had to persuade
Patricia to cooperate. Both women rolled
their eyes, but to my relief they did not protest too much.
I sighed. Maybe this would work, but I was worn out
before the party even started just keeping the Divas in
their separate corners of the Triangle.
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So far I was seeing a big improvement in Diva behavior
over the Christmas Party. However the real test would not
come till I danced with Joanne. That was the
combustible moment. Our December exhibition had been
spontaneous, but this time we secretly practiced in
advance. I had taught Joanne the Latin Hustle plus
added three daring acrobatic moves that required careful
rehearsal due to the risk involved. I suppose it was
a mutual act of defiance. I was tired of
being pushed around. I fully expected Joanne would
bring down the house again, but I worried about Victoria's
reaction. However, she had given me permission so
theoretically there would be no problem.
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Early in the
evening at the Spring Affair, Joanne was a bundle of nerves.
She wanted to know if it was time
yet. I nodded. Next song, get ready. I could not announce to the crowd
that we had a special dance for them; Victoria would have a
meltdown. Since the floor was not too
crowded, we got out there like everyone else. That is
when something unexpected happened. The moment my students
saw me take the floor with the woman known as the program's
best dancer,
they gave us the compliment of clearing the floor. I
smiled. They wanted to see what
we were going to do. If so, they were in
for a treat.
Joanne and I
quickly drew every eye in the building. My new-found
Hustle skills worked to perfection and we were smooth.
Our new acrobatics created a sensation as well. I was
so pleased. My recent work with Glen paid off
handsomely. Joanne and I were far superior to our
December performance. Tonight we danced like true
professionals.
Joanne danced
magnificently. The whole crowd roared with approval at
every spin and daring acrobatic move. Joanne was the
proverbial daring young girl on the flying trapeze.
First came a cheerleader-style toss in the air. As Joanne fell
sharply to the ground, I smartly rescued her just in the nick of
time. People clapped mightily in appreciation.
Then came a backflip and a lift to my shoulders.
Joanne was flush with excitement as we left the floor smiling. She really enjoyed being
the Star. As Joanne basked in the applause, I prayed
this would be the moment she would come out of her funk and
resume her love of Disco dancing.
To my dismay, Joanne did something impulsive. In a
manner similar to the Christmas Party, she wrapped her arms
around me and gave me a huge hug. I cringed at the
gesture. It was a tight hug, very
inappropriate. After she let go, Joanne smiled at me
with those big brown eyes. I groaned. Damn it,
here we go again. As before, Joanne had let her
feelings get the better of her. Her look was so
intense I immediately worried this might cause trouble.
I looked over my shoulder to judge the fallout. Sure
enough the Diva Dragons were upset. To be honest, I
did not blame them. It seemed to me Joanne had done
this to deliberately provoke them. You know what?
Looking back, maybe she did. Death by Diva.
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Predictably,
Victoria felt upstaged. Her ensuing words were pure venom.
"I saw
Joanne hug you in front of the world. That woman
really does have her nerve. However, I suppose I'm
used to it by now. What upsets me is that I see
the two of you have been practicing again. I see
you taught Joanne two of the same acrobatics Glen taught
you and me. It irritates me to find you show her
everything you learn from Glen. She doesn't have
to pay a dime. You just hand it to her and then
she turns around and struts her stuff. I am
supposed to be your dance partner, not her. After
all the work I do for you, I do not understand why you
always feel the need to insult me rather than reward me.
Why didn't you and I practice ahead of time? That
should have been me out there, but for some unknown
reason you obviously prefer dancing with Joanne over
me."
With that,
Victoria stomped away angry. Victoria was right in a
way. She and I should have practiced as well.
However, she had conveniently omitted it was her own fault
we did not practice. Motherhood and marital
responsibilities prevented her from freeing the necessary
time to practice sufficiently. Besides, I preferred
not to be alone with Victoria. My instincts warned me
not to trust her.
Upset that
Joanne's dancing was so much better than hers, Victoria
wanted Joanne's head on a platter. The best way to
describe Victoria would be to compare her to Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde. On her good days she was an amazing woman, but
Victoria
also had a serious mean streak. Over the past
months, I had not been able to get Victoria's Tirade
out of my head. Victoria had become far too powerful
in my life. What would happen if Victoria decided to
turn on me? Her dark side scared me just as
much as the unexplained appearance of the new
country-western clubs.
Patricia's
response was angry too, but not to the same extent.
Someone had finally told her the Joanne Rumors.
Tonight's behavior confirmed her growing suspicion
that Joanne had a giant crush on me. Now for the first
time Patricia wanted to discuss the issue. I wanted
to brush her off, but the threat of having the
Dangerous Liaison secret revealed forced me to be
careful.
Patricia pulled
me aside. "Joanne appears to have a pretty serious
crush on you. What is the story here? Do I have
something to be concerned about?"
"You are right, Joanne has a crush on me. So what?
Men have crushes on you too. It goes with the
territory. Women watch me the same way men watch you.
Joanne is one of a half-dozen women who have their eyes
on me all the time. I don't have a whole lot of
control over this. They call Joanne the Ice Queen for
a reason... the girl never smiles. Joanne doesn't even
know how to carry a conversation. She's lonely and I
pay attention to her thanks to her dance ability.
Joanne enjoys the spotlight just as much as the next girl.
Grateful to me for showing her off, it does not require much explanation
to see why she likes me. Although I thoroughly enjoy dancing
with Joanne, it stops there. You are my girlfriend
and you have nothing to worry about. Now, can I get
back to the party?"
To my relief,
Patricia accepted my explanation without further fuss.
Unlike Victoria, Patricia never had a blind spot where
Joanne was concerned. While Victoria was convinced
Joanne was the second coming of Cyd Charisse, Patricia was
not fooled by Joanne's Silent Act. On the other hand, Patricia was
always intimidated by Victoria. Paper, Scissors and
Rock.
I was mad at
Joanne. The Liaison Secret continued to hang over me
like the Sword of Damocles. Therefore it irritated me
no end that Joanne did not have the sense to play it cool
following our exhibition. Now that Joanne had let her
crush to show in public, my secret was in serious jeopardy.
All it would take would be for Patricia to walk over to
Victoria and discuss Joanne's behavior. God forbid, they
might compare notes and bring my recurring Nightmare into
the open.
In addition, I
was frustrated with Joanne because she had not listened.
Grinning and laughing, Joanne let the world
know she was having fun dancing with me. Seriously,
no one could compare to her. I sighed mightily.
Why did Joanne have to smile so much? Why
the hell couldn't Joanne learn to hide her feelings and play
the game? Joanne tried to follow my advice, but
she didn't do a very good job. Joanne had just set off both
women's radars. This woman's naiveté was a real curse.
For the rest of the night, whenever Joanne looked up,
typically one Diva or the other was giving her hate
stares. Faced with the wrath of her two rivals, I
watched as Joanne visibly paled. Joanne was not tough
enough to handle so much hostility. She found a
distant location and sat down to pout. Frozen in
angry silence, she hid behind her Ice Queen mask.
Meanwhile the
women in Victoria's Circle could not believe their eyes.
During our dance, Victoria's girlfriends had
witnessed Joanne rub Love Cooties all over me. They
saw exactly what Victoria had told them to watch for.
Joanne's long, lingering bear hug and worshipful
expression confirmed everything Victoria had warned them
about. Oh my God, Victoria's Vicious Rumor was true!
The whispers flew fast and furious.
"Joanne is
after Rick!!! Isn't this terrible!!
Victoria
was right! Joanne is trying to steal
Rick from Patricia! The nerve of that girl!"
The
verdict was unanimous. Joanne was a blatant hussy. Sure enough,
having convicted Joanne was a Tramp in
public opinion, Patricia actually got some sympathy,
especially whenever Victoria repeated the 'Poor Patricia'
nonsense. I overheard Victoria laughing later on. Poor Patricia? Give me a break.
Victoria had to know I was listening. Obviously now
that Joanne was no longer much of a threat, Victoria didn't
care what I thought. Victoria's scorn was further
evidence that she had been up to something. I just
wasn't sure what. 'Poor Patricia'. As if
the most beautiful woman in the Disco could possibly be
threatened by a woman who spent her entire life driving up
and down one street. The whole idea was preposterous.
I fumed. Joanne was my friend. I was dying to
put Victoria in her place, but she correctly anticipated I would
not dare cause a public scene.
I still had no idea
what Victoria had done. All I knew was whatever she did,
it worked. Based on what I later learned, the women had
interpreted Joanne's gushy behavior just the way Victoria hoped
they would. They did not like Patricia, but they sure as
heck did not want a nobody like Joanne using me to worm her way
into the Inner Circle. Theoretically Patricia was part of
their group, so if their leader declared Joanne off limits, then
so be it.
For the rest of the
night, the Ice Queen received the Icicle Treatment. The Circle of Friends took turns glaring darts.
They let their husbands in on the gossip too. Since the
men actually liked Patricia, they gave Joanne a dirty look of
their own for good measure. Joanne knew
Victoria and Patricia would send hate stares, but had not
anticipated Victoria's
entire Round Table would get in on the act. Joanne was certain
that Victoria was responsible for this contempt, but what could
she do about it? She felt like everyone had turned against
her. Victoria's gossip campaign was brutally effective
because Joanne had no one to defend her but me. Uh oh,
guess again. Joanne had made herself so toxic, I was not
saying a word. That meant Joanne was on her own.
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Joanne had never been
one to make friends. She was quiet and her lack
of conversational skills prevented her from fitting in.
Consequently I died inside as I watched her sit there in
isolation. The poor woman looked so unhappy.
When this same
thing happened at the December Christmas Party, Joanne had
the sense to leave. This time, Joanne stuck around.
Bad mistake. Joanne had a few friends here from her
Advanced Monday class. The problem was that none of
the men she knew were asking her to dance. Joanne was
her own worst enemy. With her angry Ice Queen face,
Joanne looked ready to tear someone's head off. Say to
say, Joanne did not understand her demeanor was so hostile
no man dared come near her.
If Joanne had
gotten up and moved around, said hello to a couple people,
that would have helped. If she had asked a guy to
dance, that would have helped as well. Instead, Joanne
just sat there sulking, chewing gum and staring out into
space. What should have been a night of triumph had
become a night of bitterness.
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I saw Joanne was
pouting, so I went over to see what I could do. She
immediately bit my head off.
"I am sick
and tired of sitting here with no one to dance with."
"Well, Joanne,
no one is going to ask you dance with that frown on your
face. What is bothering you so much?"
"I don't
know what the hell is going on, but Victoria's friends
keep giving me hate stares."
I looked up and
was surprised to see Joanne was right. Everyone in the
group, Victoria and Patricia included, was watching us with
their arms crossed and concern on their faces. They did not
look happy. Good grief, what was this all about??
This reminded me of three weeks ago when these same people
had gone out of their way to shun Joanne.
"I have no idea
what is going on, but I see your point. I say ignore
them. Why don't you ask one of your friends from class
to dance with you?
Joanne shook her
head. "I don't dare ask men to dance except you. That
gives me an idea. Why don't you and I dance?"
I froze.
To dance again would violate the contract I had negotiated
with the Divas of Doom. Furthermore I would not dream
of dancing with Joanne a second time with the Divas
and their pack of hounds scowling at us. Due to my
fears about the Recurring Nightmare, I was in enough trouble
as it was. What I really wanted was go to
Patricia and make sure she did not get into a serious
conversation with Victoria. With a heavy heart, I
decided to disengage rather than amplify the risk.
"Well, I wish I
could dance with you, Joanne, but I have a party to run and
other students to dance with. We can dance later when
things calm down. Try to cheer up."
With that, I got
up and left. While I stayed busy, I watched Joanne out
of the corner of my eye. She never once moved from her
seat. With her drink as her only friend, the Ice Queen
sat there with a lost look on her face. The poor girl
was miserable. I felt so sorry for her. From a
distance, I caught Joanne staring at me, so I waved at her.
Seeing Patricia at my side, she frowned and looked away.
When I glanced again, she was gone.
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MONDAY,
MARCH 13
THE WEDGE DEEPENS
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Following the Spring dance, it was time for another talk with
Joanne. I was very relieved when Joanne appeared for our
standing 6 pm Monday practice hour. Joanne was pretty fragile, so after the latest Cold Shoulder treatment, I
half-expected her not to show. It isn't often a person
becomes the target of so much public hostility. Joanne was
one of the most decent, harmless people I knew. However,
it was her own fault for dropping her mask. By letting her
feelings show, Joanne had incurred the wrath of the most
vindictive woman I had ever met. The unfairness of it all
made me sick. Joanne didn't deserve that kind of
treatment, but whoever said life was fair?
As I expected, I was
in trouble. Joanne was very disappointed in me.
"Why didn't you stand up for me at the party??"
Before I could answer, Joanne began crying. She quickly pulled a tissue
out her purse to hide her face. I had a feeling she had
been crying before she even got here. As she wept, I sat
there silently. Her words hurt. Joanne was right, I
had abandoned her. With all those people glaring at us, I
had chosen to spend a minimum of time with her. I had also
refused to dance with her when she needed me. I still did
not understand what had caused the intensity her public ostracism, but my gut
said Joanne partially to blame. Joanne knew full well that
Victoria and Patricia had axes to grind, so what was the point
of that big public display of affection? No doubt it was
spontaneous, but she still should have known better. Or
maybe it wasn't spontaneous. Maybe Joanne did it out of
defiance, go to hell Diva-style.
Whatever the answer,
Joanne's
mistake was her refusal to stop caring for me.
However, I did not
think this was the time to chew her out. Maybe another
time when her feelings were not quite so raw. Joanne had
always known I was a long shot in the romance department.
Back in January, she had decided to gamble anyway. Joanne
had seen an opening that might not come again, so she acted.
Unfortunately, Joanne had come up empty and discovered the hard
way that she did not know how to guard her heart. Now she
was in trouble. Here we were two and a half months down
the road and Joanne still carried a torch known as 'I will always love
you.'
Right now Joanne was
mad at me for not coming to her rescue at the Spring dance.
She was crying profusely and I felt awful.
I got up and tried to put my arm around Joanne, but she pushed
me away. Returning to my seat, I decided to address the
issue.
"Joanne, I walk a
tightrope around you. You know damn well that Victoria is
your enemy and so is Patricia to a lesser extent. That big
hug you gave me at the end of our performance set off their
alarm systems. Maybe they complained to the people
standing around them and that turned their friends against you."
Finally Joanne spoke
up. "I am so damn mad at you. Why did you leave me
sitting there alone with all those nasty people looking at me
like that?"
"I did come over,
Joanne."
"But why didn't
you stay? You knew how upset I was. You knew I
needed a friend."
Oh shit. Talk
about being put on the spot.
I left specifically because I saw Victoria and Patricia
standing side by side and staring daggers at us. I was
terrified that my secret about the Dangerous Liaison would be
revealed if I spent any further time with Joanne. I knew I
was a coward for not spending more time with this defenseless
girl, but given Victoria and Patricia's mood, it would be
suicide to show public support for Joanne. I would
do Anything to protect my Dance Career. That included
turning my back on a friend if I needed to. It was
Joanne's tough luck, but she was a political casualty of Diva Warfare.
Cold-hearted, yes, but I had a secret to protect. I
wasn't about to risk my dance program to coddle Joanne under
these circumstances. The last thing I wanted was give
Queen Kong and Princess Godzilla reason to talk.
Perhaps if Joanne understood, her pain at my rejection would not
have hurt so much. Unfortunately, I did not dare tell
Joanne the 'Secret' was the reason I left. Joanne had no idea the
extent of lies I had told. Were the secret to come
out, I would be in serious trouble. It was too risky to
explain this to
Joanne, so I talked about her rivals instead.
"Look, Joanne,
I do not
understand why everyone was so rude to you at the Spring Party.
I agree with you that Victoria had something to do with the cold
shoulder treatment. Victoria can be very cruel. She
has a vicious streak I cannot control. Plus Victoria has a
network of friends to do her bidding. These women have
their allegiance to Victoria, not me.
Victoria
spends every day talking to these women on the phone. My
guess is she bad-mouths you in some way. You have my word
she does this behind my back. She
doesn't like you because you are a far better dancer than her and
because she knows you like me. There isn't much I can do
to help. I warned you
to stay out of her way."
"I understand
that Victoria is a nasty bitch. You don't need to
explain that to me, Rick. What I don't understand is
why you left me sitting there alone Saturday night after all
those people were so mean to me."
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So much for my
attempt to dodge telling her the truth. Avoiding the
Secret as best I could, I gave her a partial explanation.
"Joanne,
I admit I wasn't
much of a friend and I owe you an apology. But I want you
to see things from my point of view. Victoria holds the
cards. You know that as well as I do, so why go out of
your way to provoke her? I abandoned you on a Saturday
because I was afraid Victoria
would turn her dogs loose on me if I dared talk with you any
further. Let me remind you of something you already know.
Victoria has
Octopus-like
control of my dance program. Victoria is my absolute worst
nightmare. Now that Victoria has made
you her enemy, there isn't much I can do about her
vindictiveness. If I publicly defied her on Saturday
night, she might very well have exploded like she did back in
January. I could not take that chance with so many people
watching. I am sorry I deserted you, but at the same time,
I have a business to run."
At the mention of
the Tirade, Joanne visibly flinched. Now she understood.
With a
sad sigh, Joanne looked down in defeat.
"You're right,
Rick. When you put it that way, I guess I cause
nothing but trouble for you. I'm just feeling bitter.
You're right, I do remember how she lost her temper back in
January. She really does give you hell, doesn't she?
From now on, I will just leave if something happens again.
Or maybe I'll just leave period. I won't ever let her
humiliate me like that again."
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I cringed as a
new cascade of tears streamed down her face.
I could see it
had taken a lot of courage to return to the studio tonight.
Joanne had a loyalty that touched me deeply. I believe
Joanne stuck by me because she sensed that I genuinely cared
about her. She was right. I did care about her.
Right now I truly ached for this woman.
Joanne was not one
for words, but I think she felt a little guilty. Back at
Christmas she had left, thereby avoiding the grilling I got
from the Divas. This time she had stuck around long
enough to see
both women chew me out. I think Joanne was starting to
realize just how much trouble she had caused me. That was never her intention.
Right now she was trying very hard to deal with her feelings. Seeing Joanne in so
much pain, a jagged bolt of guilt ripped through me. Joanne
was still in love and I felt responsible. I felt a huge
regret for ignoring my better judgment last January. I was
also sorry for my failure to help her make friends. It upset me
no end that I could not integrate her into my Disco crowd.
Just when Joanne thought she had a chance to shine at the
March dance party, that damn Victoria had ruined her
evening. I had hoped Joanne could use her dance talents to attract a
boyfriend, but Victoria sabotaged every move I made. It
crossed my mind that maybe Joanne would never fit in.
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Joanne must have
read my mind because she reached the same conclusion.
"On second
thought, you know what? This is hopeless. It isn't worth fighting
anymore. Victoria wins. She doesn't want me
around, that's pretty clear. If that's what she wants, then
I am going to give it to her. I think I am going to
skip Friday night
dancing for the next couple of weeks. I've had
enough of Victoria and her nasty friends for the time
being."
"Where will you
go on Friday?"
Joanne shrugged.
"I hear Western dancing is the next big thing. There's a kicker bar
called Cactus Club down the street.
Maybe I'll go there."
I nodded gravely.
The public rejection Joanne had endured was just as sharp as any
knife. But the worst blow was my failure to protect her.
Joanne suddenly
stood up and grabbed her purse. "Rick, please
forgive me, but I don't feel like helping tonight. Do
you mind if I just go home?"
My worst fear.
But what could I say? "Of course, Joanne. I
understand. But please come back next Monday. Please?"
Joanne was crying
again, but nodded yes. With that she left. Now that
Victoria had succeeded in driving this huge wedge between us, I
had lost my favorite dance partner. One more
blow like this and I might just lose Joanne forever. I
felt miserable.
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