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MYSTERY OF THE
TEXAS TWOSTEP
CHAPTER THREE:
THE VICTORIAN ERA
Written by Rick
Archer
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Rick
Archer's Note:
As I mentioned
in my Introduction, the Mystery of the Texas Twostep
picks up immediately where the Year of Living
Dangerously ends.
Everyone knows
about the frustration of coming into a movie that is halfway
over, especially if the film has a complicated plot. Should I assume that everyone has read my previous book?
Or do I throw in a recap as a way to bring new Readers up to
speed?
At the risk of
boring loyal Readers of my previous book, I think a recap is
in order.
The star of my
previous book was a woman named
Victoria. Since Victoria is a central figure in this book
as well, a review of her story will help new Readers make
better
sense of the strange developments soon to take place.
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Life can only be understood backwards; but it
must be lived forwards.
-- Soren Kierkegaard
It must be
disconcerting to encounter two totally different versions of
Rick Archer. In a sense, there are two writers of this
book. One is the hapless fool who stumbles from one
misadventure to the next. The other is the somewhat
wiser old man who breaks in to to put things in perspective
via the gift of Hindsight. That is why I admire
Kierkegaard's quote so much. The Reader can assume the
'hapless fool' is Rick Archer living his life forward
while the 'wiser old man' is Rick Archer looking
backwards.
I have a favorite saying,
'Time will Tell'.
This phrase deals with the curious nature
of cause and effect. Sometimes the 'Effect' is
known immediately, but with less dramatic events such as a
chance meeting,
there may be a
serious delay before the significance is understood.
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In the case of
Victoria, I was dealing with the most complicated woman I
have ever met. Sometimes she was brilliant, other
times she made the worst decisions I have ever witnessed.
Other than my parents, Victoria shaped the course of my life
more than any other person. Why is she so important?
Because much of what I write about Fate is based on
conclusions gained from observations of her behavior.
However, I did not reach reach these conclusions as the
behaviors occurred, but rather long after Victoria left my
life. That is why
I
feel fortunate to be in my 70s as I write about her. Many
of the stories I tell about Victoria did not make a bit of
sense at the time, but later in life I was able to gain a
better perspective.
I regret to say
that I am not a mind reader. It was difficult to
comprehend Victoria's strange behavior. As you read my
story you will see what I mean. Perhaps someday
Victoria will write her own memoir. Trust me, I will
be the first to buy a copy. I say this because there
is no guarantee that my interpretation of her actions or
mindset is correct. So let me begin my story
with an apology to Victoria. There is a possibility
that I misunderstood her motives. All I can say is
that I tried my best to understand her and that my account
of what happened is truthful from my point of view. As
for her point of view, maybe someday Victoria will share it
with me. I would like that.
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LABOR DAY 1978 TO LABOR
DAY 1979
THE VICTORIAN ERA |
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The 'Victorian
Era' began with Victoria's
appearance at my dance studio on the
day after Labor Day 1978. One
year later, her
reign as the Supreme Diva of Disco ended one day before
Labor Day Weekend 1979. Her demise was caused by
extreme marital difficulties and problems caused by
Urban Cowboy.
Saturday
Night Fever debuted in January 1978. I spent
the first eight months of 1978 building my Disco program
completely on my own. I was very proud of
my accomplishment at the time. However, the day Victoria appeared,
I discovered I still had a lot to learn. She became my
mentor.
There is a
saying that behind every successful man is the woman who put
him there. That is true for me. I am in great
debt to
Victoria. She taught me how to run
a dance studio. The story of The Texas Twostep would not make a bit of
sense without her.
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Victoria was
like the cat who walks uninvited into your house and makes itself
right at home. Victoria reminded me of a favorite
song, 'Year of the Cat'.
She
comes out of the sun in a silk dress
Running like a watercolor in
the rain
Don't bother asking for
explanations
She'll
just tell you that she came
In the year of the Cat
-- Al Stewart
Victoria was a stranger when
she joined my class in progress one day after Labor Day. She watched for five
minutes, then proceeded to offer a suggestion on how to
help the men
improve. I was not sure what she
meant, so Victoria grabbed me and made me demonstrate her
idea in front of the whole class. The students
were impressed. So was I. At the end of class
Victoria asked if she could be my official assistant on
Tuesday. Given the dramatic impact she had made on
my class tonight, I quickly assented.
By the end of the month my new assistant
was more important to the dance program than me. Did I
object? No. Why not? Victoria was
unbelievable.
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It is
important to note that Victoria was married. Michael,
her husband, was a highly respected cancer researcher.
He was also a nice guy. I liked him a lot.
One month after we met, Victoria signed Michael up
for dance classes. That is how I got to know him. They
had one child, a beautiful home, and lots of friends.
Michael understood that Victoria felt neglected.
Over the past few years, Michael had put in long hours at the laboratory.
Meanwhile
Victoria sat at home every day and many a night twiddling
her fingers. Well aware that Victoria felt
like she was wasting her life away, Michael was
supportive of Victoria's initial interest in the dance
studio. He was pleased to see Victoria use her
love of dance to snap out of her funk.
From the
moment she walked in,
Sunshine Victoria treated my dance program as her own.
Not once did she ask to be paid. She did this on a
voluntary basis because she loved to dance. She
also thrived
on the attention she was getting. What was her
motivation? Victoria was tired of being a stay-at-home Mom all
the time. She loved organizing social events
and dance parties, something I was not very good at.
Sensing my woeful inadequacy in such an important area,
Victoria adopted my studio as her hobby and put her
prodigious talent to good use. For the first
time in ages, Victoria felt like she was making an
important contribution. And contribute she did.
Over the final four months of 1978, Victoria doubled
the size of my dance program.
Beautiful
and charismatic, Victoria turned heads wherever she
went. Victoria was tall (5' 7"), exquisitely well-curved with brown eyes and blonde hair. In high
school Victoria modeled and entered beauty contests.
She knew all the latest dance steps, was a
cheerleader and Prom Queen. As one might gather, Victoria was
comfortable in the limelight. She was a people
person who craved popularity.
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In January
1979 Victoria picked up where she left off before
Christmas. Over
the next four months Victoria doubled the size of my program again. Thanks to her, I
now owned
the largest Disco program in the city.
However, I feared it could all be gone in a
flash. Why was that? I had become far too
dependent on Victoria's help. Although I
taught all the classes and people made their
checks out to me, Victoria was the reason my
students kept signing up for more classes.
What was her secret? Right from the start, Victoria understood I was in the 'Boy Meets Girl'
business. This embarrassed me no end.
Why didn't I see this myself? Silly me, I
thought all I had to do was teach dance.
Victoria
was a master at the social side of my
occupation. She
scheduled huge meet and greet parties that
allowed students from different classes and
different nights of the
week to dance together. Victoria was sheer
magic with her emphasis on the 'Slow
Dance leads to Romance' angle. Thanks
to Cupid and Victoria, people began falling in
love right and left.
Prior to the Victorian Era, people
took
dance lessons to meet the love of their life
'at the Disco'. Thanks to Victoria,
people began to realize they could also meet the love of
their life 'at Rick's dance studio'. The
thought of meeting their next lover in
dance class gave
students an excellent reason to sign up for
a follow-up class whenever their current class
ended.
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Not
once did I breathe a word about 'Contracts',
standard procedure for most dance studios. Nor
did I need to use any sort of strong-arm
persuasion. Our students got in the habit
of signing up for the next 'group class'
of their own free will. Why?
Singles were always the core of my program. Although learning new patterns was
a fun challenge, friendship was the real reason.
The chance to continue seeing their friends plus
the chance to find their next love interest
was
the major incentive for singles to sign up for more classes.
For some students, taking classes and going out dancing with
their friends became so important they would wrap their
lives around my studio.
The funny thing
about solutions is that they always look so obvious after
you know the answer. I wish I could take credit for
the 'friendship' insight, but that would not be
truthful. The credit goes to Victoria.
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I
had mixed feelings about Victoria. One part of
me was full of gratitude. I would have
never achieved this level of success
without her help. Given my high degree of
respect, I made it a
point to watch and learn from the master. However, I
was intimidated by her brilliance. It was
painful to realize she possessed social skills I
could only dream about.
In my defense, there was a good reason why I was
so inept.
Due to my difficult childhood, I had grown up a
loner. After my parents got their divorce, money
became a real problem for my mother. In order
to avoid paying her mounting overdue rent bill,
she was forced to skip out once a year. I had 11 homes
in 9 years till I left for college. These constant
moves meant not
making neighborhood friends. Nor did I make
many friends at school. Thanks to a scholarship, I
was the token poor kid at a rich
kid's private school for nine years.
Just because I attended this posh private
school did not make me part of my affluent classmates' social circles. Pretty much ignored,
I cannot remember a female classmate ever
checking me out. Sad to say, I
graduated without a single date in high school.
College
was a near-repeat. I dated
very little in college. Since
Johns Hopkins was a men's school, finding girls
to date was always a serious challenge. I
expanded my search by visiting other colleges in the area, but didn't get
very far. In particular I found it very
difficult to approach college girls who were
strangers. Due to my lack of experience, the gift of small talk
and flattery escaped me. I botched so many early attempts that I
developed a rather intense
fear of rejection. As my frustration
mounted, I gave up
and concentrated on my studies instead.
Unfortunately I paid a serious price for remaining a
loner throughout high school and college. By
the time I entered graduate school, I was far
behind my peer group in social maturity and dating
experience.
I
entered the 'Clinical Psychology' program at
Colorado State University. I planned to become a therapist,
but immediately ran into trouble. After spending
23 years as a moody loner, I was great at academics, but
clueless at social interaction. The head of my department took a
dim view of my thin skin, my poor listening skills,
and my bad habit of disagreeing
with him during
class. Concluding my social acuity was far
too mediocre to be of much use as a therapist, he
sent me packing. My professor
implied that I flunked out due my shortcomings
as a human being. Seriously, how would you feel if
someone said you were too emotionally disturbed to be of
much use to your fellow man? That was tough to handle.
I also managed to get my heart broken thanks to a
deceitful girlfriend. Failure in love, failure in
career, I was a basket case when I returned to Houston.
I
was age 24 at the time. Starting with my
Freshman year in high school, over the past ten
years I could count all my girlfriends on one
hand. There was Emily in my Freshman year
of college. She ran off with a rich
sophomore after one month. There was
Arlene, my one bright star in an otherwise murky
past. She stayed with me for nine months.
I was an idiot to leave her behind, but I wanted
to take my chances in graduate school. As
punishment, I met Vanessa, the single most
deceitful woman I would ever meet in my life.
We all have our broken heart story, right?
I was so crushed by her betrayal, I was never
the same during my final months at Colorado
State. On my long drive back to Houston, I
reviewed my track record with women.
Pretty grim. Other than Arlene, my luck
with pretty girls was beyond abysmal.
Thanks to my fondness for gallow's humor, I gave
my bad luck a name, the Epic Losing Streak.
Ten years and counting, no end in sight.
Upon
my return to Houston, I was so distraught over
my problems in graduate school that I found
myself unable to work up the courage to look for
a new girlfriend. For nearly two months
all I did was sit in my apartment too fearful to
go to a club and face further rejection.
One day I ran across a self-help book with an
interesting suggestion. Let's say I spotted a
girl, but was too afraid to speak to her.
The book said the fastest
polite way to get her in my arms was ask her to dance.
Considering I was currently speechless around
pretty girls, that suggestion struck me as the
light at the end of the tunnel. Overwhelmed
with loneliness, I began dance lessons in 1974.
Always fearful of rejection, I hoped to use
dance as a way to get to First Base.
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Unfortunately,
my Dance Project failed to work. I
continued to strike out with women due to my acute
shyness. However I
stuck with the lessons anyway since it had become a
hobby. After a period of three and a half years I
had learned enough about dance to be offered a part-time job as a
Disco
teacher. Although I had a knack for teaching, I
had trouble connecting to students on a personal level
due my arrested social development. That is when Victoria
came to my rescue. Although my
social skills remained limited, she
had more than enough popularity for the two of us.
What
would happen if Victoria left the studio? Perish
the thought. I was no match for her skills Unfortunately,
in December
something happened that left her badly rattled. Victoria had arranged a
huge Christmas Party at our favorite Disco.
I estimate 350 people visited that night.
To Victoria's dismay, a woman named Joanne stole the show with
her flashy partner dancing. Considering Joanne was dancing with
me at the time, Victoria was apoplectic. Here I
was, the beneficiary of all her valuable assistance.
After all the work she did to organize this party, it
drove her crazy to see me turn
around and help some stranger steal her glory.
Although I meant no harm, Victoria had a tough
time forgiving me. That was a turning point.
Victoria was never the same after that incident.
After the Holidays, Victoria took a turn for the worse. Starting in
January 1979, Victoria abused her authority by taking an unhealthy interest in my love life.
Victoria's reign of terror began with Joanne. She
was my Monday night assistant as well as the best female
dancer at the studio. Our dance students met at the
Pistachio Club every Friday night, yet another
one of Victoria's many bright ideas. Crowds
varied from 70-100. Whenever Joanne and I danced, our students lined
the floor to watch us. Joanne made things worse by
letting the world know she had a serious crush on me.
Given that Victoria expected the Disco Ball to revolve
around her and no one else, she could barely control her
temper. Worse, Victoria feared being replaced if I
were to start dating Joanne. Nonsense. Given
Victoria's genius at promoting the business, I would be an
idiot to replace my superstar with this sweet but meek
and poorly
educated young lady. For some reason Victoria did not
seem to realize she had nothing to worry about. Instead she became intensely paranoid.
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Victoria also had her claws out for Patricia, my
glamorous girlfriend.
Perhaps the Reader raises an eyebrow. How exactly
does a young man who has confessed to a lifetime of
incompetence with women end up dating a beauty
like Patricia? To my great surprise ,
here in Year 14 of my Epic Losing Streak, my recent success
as a dance
teacher worked wonders for my confidence.
Surrounded by women at the studio, I made great strides
in my relationships during 1978. Now I was ready
for Patricia, the toughest dating challenge of my life.
Patricia was the mirror
image of the poised, highly intelligent young ladies
I had gone to school with at St. John's. Born to
prosperity, Patricia was a former debutante who aspired to marry
a wealthy husband.
Considering I was not particularly well-paid, what on earth was
Patricia doing with me? It was a fluke, a very curious accident.
When we met at the
studio, Patricia was surprised to discover I was just as educated as her. Even better, the
moment she learned I had gone to a rich kids school for nine
years, Patricia [incorrectly] assumed I too was rich.
This was a perfectly logical
mistake. All the other men she had met from St.
John's had been wealthy. By the time she learned
the truth, Patricia liked me too much to cut me loose
like she should have. Instead Patricia decided to
make me rich. Taking note of my excellent
education, Patricia did everything in her power to
persuade
me to give up teaching dance and become a lawyer instead.
When I resisted, fireworks ensued. Since
we were well-matched in many ways, we might have
overcome this issue if Victoria had not constantly
interfered. My relationship with Patricia
was strange to say the least.
A rocky one as well.
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Imagine my dilemma. Here at the
start of 1979 I had three women chasing me. I was
reminded of the lyrics from 'Take it Easy', a
song by the Eagles.
I'm
a-runnin' down the road tryna loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind
Four that wanna own me, two that wanna stone me
One says she's a friend of mine
Referring to my troublesome
threesome as the 'Temptation Triangle', I did my
best to play them against each other. My dangerous
game of Paper, Scissors and Rock worked fairly well
until the day came when Victoria decided to start
playing dirty.
Why did Victoria
resent Joanne and Patricia so much? Due to her
unhealthy obsession with my love life,
at first I assumed jealousy was the reason.
However I changed my mind. Popularity and
universal acclaim was her goal. Using her
ability to organize large dance parties, Victoria
was always the center of attention. This is
how she had built my program into a juggernaut.
In the process
Victoria accomplished her objective to become the
Supreme Diva of Disco. She was
widely
admired for her beauty, dance ability and
vivacious personality. Now we come to the
strange part. Even
though Victoria
had all the fame and acclaim any woman could hope
for, she feared losing her throne.
Why? It started with 'Camelot', my
nickname for the studio's weekly get-together at the
Pistachio Club on Fridays.
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Camelot
was another example of Victoria's genius.
Students from my various weeknight classes were
invited to meet for an evening of dancing and
romancing. On any given Friday we had crowds
of 70-100. Back when I was her bumbling, stumbling sidekick, no woman bothered to give me a
second glance. Now, thanks in large part to
Victoria's help, I was a star in my own right. A solid year of
non-stop dancing plus private dance lessons had worked wonders. I
had become a top-flight performer
who commanded the attention of a legion of single
women. In addition, thanks to watching Victoria's
social skills like a hawk over several months, I had
learned my lessons. For the first time
in my adult life, women viewed me as someone to
date, maybe even marriage
material. It had taken me quite a while to reach
my potential, but better late than never. Age 29 I found myself surrounded by women on a
nightly basis.
Now that
my popularity rivaled hers, Victoria realized her
tutelage had backfired. Having shed my sense
of inferiority, I now held the Keys to her Kingdom.
Victoria felt insecure because she needed my
cooperation in order to succeed. Her paranoia
made no sense because I needed her to succeed as much as she needed me.
What kept Victoria from
seeing that her position as Queen of the studio was totally secure?
Beats the heck out of me. I cannot begin to
tell you how many times I tried to reassure this
beautiful, multi-talented woman
that I had no desire to kill the golden goose.
However, it did no good. In March 1979 Victoria went on the
warpath to eliminate her rivals.
Joanne and Patricia had
a lot to do with her fears of being replaced.
Whenever our students met at the Pistachio Club,
Patricia was the only woman more beautiful than
Victoria. Joanne was the only woman who was
the better dancer. Victoria was unwilling to
settle for second best. Furthermore,
she knew Patricia hated her and wanted me to
get rid of her.
Victoria was unwilling to
tolerate any threat to her throne.
Fearful
that Patricia would manipulate me against her,
Victoria struck first. She went about eliminating
Patricia by spreading vicious gossip. And while she
was at it, she used her ability to use gossip to get rid
of Joanne too.
This
led to
an ugly surprise. Once her two rivals were gone,
Victoria was stunned to see other women line up to
take their place. This caused Victoria
to panic. Fearful of being replaced by a woman
who posed an even greater threat, Victoria decided something had to be done.
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Throughout
high school and college, I had a fear that women saw me
as a creepy loser. This fear
was greatly reinforced by my demise in graduate school.
This was the origin of my acute fear of rejection that tormented
me upon my return to Houston. I turned to dance lessons in search of a cure. To my
dismay, at first my solution failed to work. I was not a natural dancer
by any stretch of the imagination, so progress was
slow.
Fortunately, once I became a dance teacher, my dance career
worked wonders for my confidence. Like I say, even a turtle can get somewhere if you give him
enough time. It took four years, but once I got
the hang of it, the ladies began to take notice.
Dancing six
nights a week throughout 1978 helped me develop into one
of the best Disco dancers in the city. Each Friday
when the
studio met at the club, there I
was showing off. It is a well-known fact that
women are attracted to excellence.
Using the dance floor as my stage, I could tell by the
smiles of appreciative young ladies that they liked what
they saw.
Surrounded
by smiling women every night of the week, I
began to feel attractive for the first time in my
life. This was the
moment I realized
I would never have trouble meeting
women again. It was an amazing discovery.
Who would have ever guessed that learning to dance would
one day cure 14 years of insecurity around beautiful
women?
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Unfortunately, I was not the only one who noticed the
change. I believe it was my unexpected emergence
that unsettled Victoria the most. Even if she got
rid of Patricia and Joanne, there seemed to be no end to
other potential rivals. Not only were these
attractive women interested in me, they were SINGLE.
To her dismay, this was the moment Victoria realized her
status as a married woman left her at a serious
disadvantage. Her wedding ring
had become her Achilles Heel.
So what did
Victoria decide? My guess is she decided to have
an affair with me. Did I know this for a fact?
Well, not at the start. There were three stages.
Stage One, Victoria tolerated Joanne and Patricia's
place at the studio. However, she constantly
meddled and made things difficult for me and the two
women. In Stage Two, Victoria decided to clean
house. She was a master at using the telephone to
turn public opinion against Joanne and Patricia. A
stay-at-home mother, Victoria amused herself by talking
to her legion of studio girlfriends during the day.
Her malignant gossip stirred up so much hostility that
Joanne could not cope. She left the studio in
March. I was angry when Victoria sent her into
exile. This was a shame. I had a soft spot
for Joanne.
Patricia got
the same treatment, but she refused to quit. This
led to Stage Three. Despite the fact that Victoria
was married and I had a steady girlfriend, in May
Victoria announced she loved me. Frightened, I
asked her to back off, so she did. Were there
sparks between us? Yes. We started as
friends, but once Victoria began to pursue me, I was
sorely tempted to say yes. For the record,
I did not want Victoria. Now let me contradict myself
and admit I wanted Victoria. Of course I wanted
Victoria! I also wanted Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch.
There are certain women any red-blooded man would
desire. Victoria was one of them. So, as we probe
the depths of my mind, I admit I was strongly attracted to
Victoria. However, I did not feel guilty about my attraction. To me, it was
perfectly natural to desire a woman as beautiful and
talented as Victoria. However, at the same time I did not
covet another man's wife, especially a man I liked.
At the end
of June, Victoria tried again using a new tactic. Ignoring
the fact that Patricia was still in the picture, Victoria announced
that her
husband had given her permission to seek a relationship
outside her marriage. She referred to this as her
'European Arrangement'.
"I read an
article that suggests 33% to 50% of French marriages
include discrete affairs. The tacit, but
widely-accepted rules state that as long as the players
promise
their affairs will remain invisible, it is permissible."
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At that thought,
I began to tremble. Despite her
wedding ring, Victoria possessed considerable allure. In a joking manner, Victoria loved to
tell me about her high school heydays. At any given
time she had at least three, sometimes up to ten young men
asking her out. One look at her and I believed
every word she said. However, I was still dead set
against having an affair.
First and foremost, I
respected Michael too much to do this to him. I
did not believe for a moment that he had given her
permission. Furthermore, my childhood had been ruined
thanks to my father's mistress. Why do you think
my father suddenly wanted a divorce? The moment
Dad
married the bitch [pardon my French], she persuaded him to abandon me. Meanwhile, my mother had a nervous breakdown after the
divorce. There I was, 9 years old, an unstable
mother and no father at all. More or less on my own
from that point on, I turned into a moody loner with
low self-esteem. Now you know why they threw me
out of graduate school. I was too screwed up to be
of much help to anyone else. Thanks, Dad.
Victoria had
a daughter named Stephanie. Realizing Stephanie
could very well face the same trauma that had ruined my
childhood, I told Victoria I refused to have an affair.
That is when Victoria changed tactics.
"I am not
sure my marriage is worth saving. Michael isn't
sure either. He and I are leaving this
afternoon for our Fourth of July trip. We have
agreed to have a long talk at some point. When I
return from my trip,
I will explain what we have decided to do about our
marital problems. But first I want to make sure
of your interest because I expect to be free soon."
Hmm. What
would I do if Victoria separated from her husband? I
did not see that one coming. Victoria's declaration
that she expected to be free soon hit like a tidal wave.
Caught off-guard, I said something foolish.
"There will be
no sneaking around, but if you
decide to separate from her husband, yes, I would pursue
a relationship. In fact, if things work out, you are welcome to
move in with me."
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In Hindsight,
that was a pretty dumb thing to say. In my defense, I was not the first man to ever
have his conscience and libido fight a vicious civil war.
That moment led to one of the great mysteries of my life.
While Victoria was gone on her vacation, I did a lot of
thinking. Whenever I was not lusting for Victoria, I wondered why
we couldn't be just friends. Victoria had a perfectly good
husband, a man who by all accounts treated her well.
Okay, yes, Michael was becoming increasingly grouchy at
seeing her gone four nights out of seven, but who could
blame him? Why not cut
back a little at the studio? In other words, 'compromise'
for the good of the marriage. Up to this point, I
had told Victoria we did not have to be romantically involved.
Just let me find a girlfriend and we can remain platonic
partners at the dance studio. She could have the studio and
her husband at the same time. It seemed like a win-win
solution for everyone involved.
Unfortunately Victoria did
not want to be 'friends'. She said she was
in love with me. Since Victoria seemed unwilling to
make her marriage work, I had foolishly left the door open
ajar. I would pay dearly for that mistake.
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In
Hindsight, I confess I did not handle Victoria's "I
expect to be free" properly.
So what if Victoria was beautiful and a great
dancer, she was a married woman. Even if Victoria
was good for my business, why would I seemingly
welcome her advances? This is a very sensitive
subject, so let me explain. I did not
encourage Victoria to leave her husband. But
I knew they were having marital problems. If Victoria
wanted out, since we had so much in common, I would be foolish not to show interest.
Now for
a twist of Fate. While Victoria was gone over
the July 4th holiday, Patricia and I entered a dance
contest. When a drunk woman lost her balance
on the dance floor, she put her hand on my back
in an attempt to regain her balance. Her shove
caused my elbow to catch Patricia right in the
mouth, splitting her lower lip in the process.
With her face covered in blood, I took Patricia to the restroom. It was a bizarre accident to be
sure. Humiliated, disfigured, full of pain and deeply
frustrated, Patricia abruptly broke up with me when we reached her apartment
later that night.
Who could blame her? Thanks to Victoria's
constant meddling, our relationship had been
on life support for some time. Given that this
bizarre accident felt like a very bad omen, I
decided our breakup was for the
best.
After
the breakup, I was free to date whomever I
wished. I had a list of candidates, but
hesitated. Before starting something new with
another woman, I decided to wait
for
Victoria's return and see if she was sincere about
her promise to leave Michael. If Victoria was free,
I would be hard pressed to find a woman superior to
her. I had known Victoria for ten months at
this point.
Talented, warm, sexy, a fabulous dancer, Victoria was the woman of my
dreams. Given her business sense and dance
ability, she fit my life like a glove. So, if Victoria was available, of course I was interested in dating
her.
In
Hindsight, I should have looked for the new
girlfriend when I had a chance. When Victoria
returned to Houston after her trip, I expected she
would follow through on her flowery promises to seek
a romance. Guess again. Instead she
pulled the rug out from under me.
Thanks to a stern lecture from her father during her
vacation, Victoria developed
a strong case of Cold Feet. Victoria
claimed she was still interested in me, but needed time to
think about it. I was so angry. This felt
like the proverbial bait and switch. Promise me a
rose, lead me by the nose, then leave me hanging. Thanks a
lot. Profoundly embarrassed by her
switcheroo, I suggested we stick to being friends and
let me move on. And what did Victoria say to that?
"Oh no,
Rick, you need to stick around. My feelings
for you are too strong. You owe it to me to be
patient while I sort out my future. I would
prefer you not date anyone else."
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THE INFAMOUS HUSBAND LIST |
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Victoria's Cold
Feet was a major turning point in our relationship.
Unfortunately, this was shaping up to be a classic Love-Hate
relationship. I did not appreciate being jerked around
nor did I like being told to wait while she made up her
mind. Where did she get the nerve to tell me to avoid
looking for a girlfriend? Nor did I trust
Victoria very much. I had a hunch she
was far more interested in fooling around than
actually
leaving her husband. In addition I
was still mad at Victoria for chasing off Joanne
and Patricia. I also disliked being bossed around
regarding the dance program. Due to my lack of experience at dealing with a strong
woman, Victoria had a bad habit of
asserting her will over me whenever it pleased her.
So why didn't I simply tell her to shove off?
Due to her
penchant for viciousness plus her octopus-like control of my
dance program, I feared Victoria would leave the dance
program if I stood up to her. This was not a good time
to be taking risks. As one Disco after another closed
thanks to the Urban Cowboy menace, I noticed
that attendance had begun to drop in May and June. I
could help but worry what would happen if Victoria left now.
For this reason I chose to appear her rather than stand up
to her.
In
mid-July one morning Victoria dropped a
bombshell. One morning she asked me to meet her at a coffee
shop. After we sat down, she handed me
something she called her 'Husband List'. Insisting that we
review this List together, Victoria pulled out a
pen, then used it as a pointer to go over the
List one line at a time.
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Victoria said her father greatly admired
her husband. In her father's eyes,
Michael was a Prince among men while I was a
playboy/gigolo who he was certain would use her, then
discard her when I was ready.
Victoria compared my socio-economic status to that
of her husband.
I came in second.
Make that a 'distant' second.
Victoria compared the social
status of my job to her
husband.
Again I came in second.
Michael was a much-praised researcher in an
important field while I was a lowly dance
teacher on par with gypsies, tramps and thieves
(according to her father).
Victoria
compared our educational background.
I came in second.
Her husband had a doctorate, I had a bachelor's
degree.
Victoria almost added 'graduate school failure',
but bit her tongue at the last second.
I got the point.
Victoria compared our
job stability.
I came in a poor second due to
Urban
Cowboy.
I could lose my dance
job any day now.
Victoria compared our houses.
My house
finished somewhere around 100 in a two-house competition.
Victoria compared our
track record as husband.
Michael was rated as superior.
Beside my name was "does not apply".
Victoria compared our track record as father.
Michael was an
excellent father.
Beside my name was "does not apply".
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Was I superior to
Victoria's husband in any way? No, not
according to Victoria.
I was stunned by the utter cruelty of her
ambush.
I was also furious.
Although I basically agreed with
everything Victoria had written, was it really necessary
to rub these shortcomings in my face?
If Victoria
thought so little of me, then what was all this
nonsense about separating from her husband?
Stop wasting my time! Bitter
towards Victoria for deliberately humiliating me,
I slammed my hand on the table so hard I
made the coffee spill.
"Damn it, Victoria, don't you have
anything better to do than find new ways to
insult me? For crying out
loud, if Michael is so much better at
everything, then what do you want from me?
Why don't you just leave me the hell alone
and get out of my life!?"
I was ready to call it
quits right there, but Victoria said not so
fast. She used her importance at
the studio to force me to continue
discussing the possibility of a serious
relationship. I was incredulous.
Victoria had just made it clear that if I
tried to walk away, she would withdraw her
support at the studio. As I had
feared, Victoria was more than willing to
use threats. Well aware of
her importance to my business, my hands were
tied.
This Husband List
marked a seismic shift in my attitude
towards Victoria. I knew Victoria craved comfort, security and
wealth. I also knew Michael could provide these
things to a far greater degree than me.
So
what prevented Victoria from following
through on her
own logic? Any woman in her right mind
could see that Michael was the better
choice, so what was Victoria trying to
accomplish with this bizarre holding
pattern? I thought of the lyrics from
Diana Ross and the Supremes.
"Set me free, why don't you, babe?
Get outta my life, why don't you, babe?
You just keep me hanging on."
What did Victoria
want? If forced to guess,
Victoria wanted to
be married to Michael and use me for
entertainment. Given that I held the
key to her Disco fantasies, I was more or
less a means to an end. I understood
that. But what I did not understand is
why Victoria felt the need to pursue a
romance. I was more than happy to make
her Disco Dreams come true on a
friendship and business basis. So why
deceive me into thinking
I was more important than I really was?
Victoria was playing a very nasty game.
However, since I saw no easy way to extricate
myself due to my economic dependency, I gritted
my teeth and reluctantly continued to play
along.
For fear of
retribution, I did not tell Victoria that
her
Husband List was the final straw. Yes,
I was sexually attracted to Victoria, but
I was not remotely in love.
I could have been in love, but I did not
trust her. Why not? BECAUSE
VICTORIA'S DECLARATION OF LOVE MADE NO
SENSE. In a sense Victoria
did me a favor with her Husband List. Everyone says that Love does not have to
make sense, but I disagree. In my
book, Love has to make sense. After
reviewing the Husband List, I could not fathom a
single reason why Victoria would prefer me
over Michael. Okay, maybe Michael
did something bad. Cheating?
Drinking? Gambling? Bills? Lying?
Nope. Not once in ten months had
Victoria suggested even the slightest
shortcoming. The only thing
Victoria complained about was Michael's
tendency to work too hard. I was
aghast. Of course the man works long
hours!! How else can he afford to give
Victoria her life of luxury? And look
how she repays him! Indeed, I was so
disgusted with this woman that the Husband
List marked the end to any illusion that Victoria
was the woman of my dreams. I NO
LONGER HAD THE SLIGHTEST DESIRE TO MARRY
THIS WOMAN.
The
thing is, I agreed with Victoria's List. Michael
was a great guy. I liked him.
And I agreed with every one of her points.
Michael provided the status, affluence and
security that Victoria craved. In
addition he was a great father. Okay,
so maybe Victoria was infatuated with me or
more likely the world I inhabited.
However, I
would never come in FIRST in her mind.
At best I was 'Mistress Material'.
Or maybe we should call it
'Mattress Material'. I was unwilling to accept this role. I wanted to find a
woman who would put me FIRST. But
that would have to wait till later.
Right now my priority was to protect my
dance program. I had seen what
she did to Patricia and Joanne, so I knew
what Victoria was capable of. If I
tried to remove Victoria by force, I would
be taking a huge chance. So I had a
better idea. The Husband List made it
clear that Victoria was nowhere near as in
love with me as she claimed.
Given that Michael was BY FAR the better
choice, I decided that sooner or later Victoria
was going to come to her senses and choose
Michael.
Rather than break it off and risk
infuriating Victoria, I decided to wait her out,
sort of like they used to do with a medieval
siege. Time was
on my side.
So what happened next?
During July and August Victoria and I
entered a period known as 'Car Talk'.
Victoria was gone from
her home four nights a week. She
taught dance class on Tuesday and Thursday
night. She went dancing at Pistachio Club
on Friday and Annabelle's on Sunday.
After we finished teaching class on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, Victoria insisted that we sit
in her car and talk things over. Using
me as a sounding board, Victoria began to
actively discuss leaving Michael. Why
did she want to leave? Because he was
always mad at her these days.
Personally, I thought Michael had every
right to be angry. But did I say that?
No. The less said, the better.
As I listened to her endless complaints, I
tried to imagine what was going through
Michael's mind. Here we were sitting
in Victoria's car in the dark late at night.
His wife was getting home at least a half an hour,
more often one hour longer than necessary.
Big car, large inviting seats. What
the hell was going on in that car almost
till Midnight? We never kissed or
touched during Car Talk, but how was Michael
supposed to know that? Why did Michael
tolerate this? Victoria's behavior had
to stretch the limits of Michael's trust way
beyond the breaking point. There
is a legal term, 'Alienation of affection'.
I am quite sure Michael blamed me for causing the breakdown
of their marriage.
|
In
August, Victoria and I had three accidents in a row while
performing. The strange thing is that each accident
was due to a problem totally out of our control. Let
me add that these were SERIOUS accidents. The first
accident was caused when the rotating blade of a ceiling fan
clipped her foot while she was upside down on my shoulders.
It took a miraculous save on my part to protect her. Victoria
narrowly escaped breaking her neck. The second time she went flying through my arms thanks to
her ultra-slippery, skin-tight new dance leotard.
Crashing head-first against a barrier, yet again Victoria
narrowly escaped breaking her neck. The third
time Victoria nearly broke a spectator's neck with an
accidental Karate Chop to the woman's jugular during a
performance.
The crowd surge
behind a woman named Benita
had pushed her onto
the lip of the dance floor. Victoria never saw
her as she threw out her right hand to
hit a pose known as the 'Explosion
Position'. It was horrifying to see the
poor woman collapse to her knees and
grasp her throat in pain.
Personally, for a moment there I thought
the woman was dead. And when I
heard those gurgling, rasping sounds in
her throat, emergency room here we come.
It took 10 minutes, but fortunately Benita
recovered.
However, Victoria was never the same.
She
fell to pieces afterwards, bawling
hysterically in her car. I felt
a shudder inside. Talk about a bad omen!
No matter how hard I had tried to avoid
having any
further accidents, this one happened
anyway. It felt like there was a
dark cloud hanging over both of us.
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 |
The following
morning Victoria called me at home.
When she immediately began ranting about
my 'Dance Curse', I could tell
she had flipped out during the night.
Victoria knew
about Patricia's busted lip plus a
previous bizarre failure. Given
that the Karate Chop incident was my
fifth performing accident in a row,
Victoria accused me of being
cursed. Gee, thanks a lot.
But then Victoria decided she was
cursed too. Convinced her three accidents were
a sign that God was angry at her, Victoria
decided to chuck it all. She was
done with Annabelle's on
Sunday, she done with dancing at Pistachio
on Friday, she was completely done with performing,
and she was done with our private
lessons. Then she summed it up.
"I am done
with dancing period. From now
on the only place I will dance is at the
studio. However I still
want to teach on Tuesday and Thursday in September.
And don't get any ideas. I
still haven't made up my mind about
your relationship."
I groaned.
Not only was Victoria
determined to hang on to her classes,
she also intended to
keep me hanging on. Sick to my
stomach, I wondered how I would ever get
rid of her. That was not the only
thing that bothered me. The Karate Chop
felt like a death blow for my
dance program. Disco was already
on its death bed thanks to John
Travolta's Country dance movie.
Now my so-called business partner was
abandoning me at the worst possible
time. My gut warned me that losing
Victoria's presence at the weekly social
events would send a terrible message to
the students. Given how the story of the
Victoria's lethal accident spread like
wildfire, I feared people would take
this as a sign that it was time to move
on in September. If Victoria was
quitting, then maybe they should quit
too. That is why I was furious with
Victoria. Her timing could not be
worse. Since I
expected her September classes would be
small, what was the point of Victoria sticking
around when it was obvious her heart was no
longer in it?
We needed to part, so
let's get this over with.
|
THE DANCE CURSE: FIVE ACCIDENTS IN A ROW
|
|
080 |
Serious |
Strange Accident
Dance Curse 5 |
1979 |
|
Victoria's inadvertent Karate Chop at Annabelle's nearly puts a spectator in the
hospital. This was the 5th serious dance accident in a row for Rick, 3rd
in row for Victoria. |
|
|
078 |
Serious |
Strange Accident
Dance Curse 4 |
1979 |
|
Victoria's Greased Lightning Disco pants cause her to go flying at Foley's and
narrowly miss serious injury |
|
077 |
Serious |
Strange Accident
Dance Curse 3 |
1979 |
|
When a
ceiling fan blade nips Victoria's toes at the Lighthouse, Victoria narrowly
misses breaking her neck. |
|
|
075 |
Serious |
Telekinesis
Dance Curse 2 |
1979 |
|
When a drunk woman shoves Rick in the back during a dance contest at
Spats, his elbow gashes the inside of Patricia's lower lip, thereby ruining the
performance |
|
|
065 |
Suspicious |
Cosmic Blindness
Dance Curse 1 |
1978 |
|
The Ritz Debacle is caused when the Ritz DJ loses his mind and
turns out the lights during Rick's performance |
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RICK'S 'STAY WITH
MICHAEL' SPEECH |
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I
often wondered what Michael was thinking.
As if Victoria's frequent nocturnal absence was
insufficient to drive Michael to madness, the Dance Curse
had surely put more strain on their marriage.
I could just hear him screaming.
"For Christ's sake,
Victoria, will you please stop this idiotic
dancing obsession of yours before you kill
yourself? Your daughter needs you at
home, I need you at home. I am begging
you to quit the studio and try to make this
marriage work again."
Did
Michael really say that? No, but I wished
he did. I suspect Victoria was very
careful what she told me about Michael.
For that matter, I suspect she was equally
careful in what she told him about me. My
theory is that Victoria had a different version
for both men. Since Victoria was able to
keep us in the dark, this allowed her to play
both men against the other. As I said,
Victoria was a fairly brilliant woman. She
was especially crafty when giving reign to her
dark side.
I
kept hoping Michael would put his foot down and
insist Victoria quit the studio. That way
he could be the bad guy and spare me the
trouble. However, that never happened.
Either Michael spoke up and she defied him or
Michael was too weak to put his foot down.
I will never know the truth. What I did
know is that the time had come for me to do it
instead.
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On the Friday
before Labor Day Weekend, I
confronted Victoria at the coffee shop.
"Victoria,
this Dance Curse is the final straw. Between
Urban Cowboy, Sunday's accident at
Annabelle's
and your decision not to join me at
Pistachio tonight, the writing is
on the wall. Without performing, we have lost the tie that binds
us.
Therefore, the time
has come for me to step aside.
There's no reason
for you to teach in September. I
will simply merge your small classes
into mine. The end of the Disco Era is upon us,
so what is the point of continuing?
Besides, you said it yourself, there
is no way I can match what Michael
offers you. You
are the Golden Wife with the Golden Life. I
beg you to give
Michael another chance."
Privately I
thought Victoria should do the begging, but
kept that to myself. I thought I had
made
a good speech. By claiming I was stepping aside
for the good of her marriage, I hoped to make it easier for
Victoria to do the right thing and
leave the studio. To be honest, I expected Victoria
would agree. However, I was wrong.
Victoria
exploded in rage.
"Damn
it, Rick, you just don't get it, do you!?!
My husband is sick of me,
you idiot!! Get it through your thick head that Michael
doesn't want me anymore! How am I supposed to give him another chance when
the jerk keeps trying to
shove me out the door? If you're so damn
smart, then you go talk to Michael and tell him to give
me another chance! I am desperate because he
says I have burned my bridges. There
is a part of me that believes he
actually wants me to move in with
you."
|
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I stopped breathing. I did not
realize the rift was that serious. Does
Michael really want Victoria to move in
with me? Is Victoria bluffing or
telling the truth? I hated to say
it, but she might be right. What
man can tolerate two months of watching his
wife flagrantly pursue her dance
instructor? What goes on at night
when Victoria comes home one to two hours after
classes have ended?
Victoria explained
that it was all very innocent, that all
we did was sit in her car talking (which
was the truth).
But why should Michael believe that?
It might be true that
Michael was so fed up with Victoria that he didn't want
her anymore. Well, that was Victoria's problem,
not mine. However, given her rage, I did not dare say that out loud and
hope to leave the coffee shop alive.
"Then get a divorce, Victoria. That's
what grownups do when they have unhappy
marriages. You have a college degree
and a teaching certificate. Keep the
house, get a job, receive child support for
your daughter Stephanie. You will do
just fine. After your divorce, come
see me if you still want to. We can
talk about our relationship then [I
wasn't serious].
But right now I am looking at
three dance accidents in a row. These accidents
are not
only frightening, they are weird.
Stuff keeps happening beyond our control.
To me, these bad omens suggest any future relationship is
a big mistake. Don't you see? The Universe is
telling us to walk away! As far as I'm
concerned, we
are star-crossed lovers."
I
was positive this argument would bring
Victoria to her senses. First her father
had told
Victoria it wouldn't work. Now I was telling her
it wouldn't work. Even God was telling her
it wouldn't work. For crying out loud,
read the damn tea leaves! What more did Victoria need
to see the light?
"I don't agree with your
conclusion. I still want to be a part of the
studio, but right now I am very confused. Michael says he wants to talk to me over the
upcoming Labor Day weekend. Stephanie is spending the weekend with a friend so we can
be alone to hash
things out. Please don't force me to make
any decisions until I have my weekend talk."
Oh no. Not this
again. Why should I wait? I wanted to tell
Victoria to leave the studio in the worst
way. If so, there was little she could
do about it. What did I have to lose?
The energy on Friday nights was already down to a mere
trickle and the diminished attendance in
September would be equally depressing. Thanks to her Karate Chop
decisions, she already had one foot out the
door, so why not put the other foot out as
well? Losing Victoria would not
make enough difference to matter any more, so
let's get it over with.
However, before I
could speak up, Victoria said, "Look, Rick,
you owe it to me to see what Michael has to
say. And you don't have the right to
make me leave the studio before I'm ready."
That is when I hesitated. Given her
vast contributions to the program, I agreed
with
Victoria. She deserved the right to leave on
her own terms. Since I expected her to
depart of her own accord following her upcoming
talk, I preferred to part on
friendly terms.
"Okay, Victoria, have
your Labor Day talk with Michael and call me
when you make your decision."
|
LABOR DAY 1979
THE VICTORIAN ERA COMES TO AN END
|
Victoria was fearful, beaten,
and depressed. Victoria
interpreted the recurring Dance
Curse catastrophes as a
sign that God wanted her to change
her ways. Victoria was
like the baseball player who has
been hit in the face by a pitch and
fears it will happen again. Or
call it PTSD. Fearful of
breaking her neck if she tried
performing one more time, Victoria
refused to take another risk.
Everything
Victoria said made me sick to my
stomach. If Victoria was not
so blind, she would realize God was
actually telling her to leave me.
Not only that, without Victoria, the
studio's social program was in
serious jeopardy. Victoria was
the heartbeat, the leader, the
Supreme Diva of Disco. Ain't
no sunshine when she's gone.
Victoria's bad news suggested the
end of my Disco dance career would
come a lot sooner than I had
expected, a fear I was certain would
come true.
Victoria did offer one ray of hope.
She intended to talk it over with
Michael over the Labor
Day Weekend. Maybe, just
maybe, Michael could find a way to
get his stubborn wife to give their
marriage another try before it was
too late. That sounded like a
good idea to me. Since we had
not crossed the all-important
Forbidden Line, that was a distinct
point in Victoria's favor. The
way she spoke about her upcoming talk with
Michael, Victoria seemed willing to
consider trying again. Or
maybe that was just my wishful thinking.
Even if she did return to
teach her two small classes in
September, Victoria's power over me was
gone. Victoria was facing a
deadly one-two-three punch. The Dance Curse would
probably finish her off, but if
she rallied, Michael was
certain to furnish the death blow
this weekend. And if that
didn't work, Urban Cowboy
was an extinction-level-event. Victoria had made it clear she had
no interest whatsoever in
Country-Western music or dancing.
Count her out. Meanwhile the
clock was ticking. Based on
the number of Discos that had closed
during the Victorian Era, soon there would be
no place for us to go dancing.
Without a Disco, her days as the
Supreme Diva of Disco were over. If the Dance Curse and Michael's
demands did not finish her off,
the Cowboy Curse surely would.
Famous
baseball player Yogi Berra once said
it ain't over till it's
over. Nonsense. I was convinced
Victoria was finished. This
was the end of the studio's Victorian
Era, a memorable
year, a crazy year, the Year of Living Dangerously.
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