Emma

Emma's Ballet Blues

Emma's started her debut as a dancer, at 10 years old, a good recital should get her some attention from her peers and it's certainly the kind of thing she could perfect into a talent. However, Emma's truest talent doesn't lie with dancing. Given her father was a sportsman before hand and a construction worker now, and her mother was an artist, she doesn't have prior dancing experience. Can Emma do it? Let's find out.

As Emma grew up, she started noticing things. Stuff like talents, groups, and behaviors. She didn't look too much into it, but she knew she had one good friend and no talents. She thought she'd inherited at least some of her mothers artistic skills, but the other half of that inherited artistic skill came from her father who was incredibly artistically impaired. She tried drum, but she couldn't keep rhythm like her mother or her father.

She may have had a lot of her parent's physical characteristics, but she was nothing like them at all. She wanted to be good at something. She wanted to write books and do art like her mother, or she wanted to play sports and build things like her dad - but sadly, she had tried too many times and came back with no natural talent to start with.

She kicked the dirt under her feet as she walked into the dance studio. She wanted to be good at something, so when she saw the poster for dance lessons, she ripped it off the wall at school and brought it home to her mom and dad.

She sat down for about three hours at the dinner table, begging to be a part of dance lessons. They couldn't argue with her. They signed her up immediately, and now was the day of her recital. The classes had officially ended, and this last dance was going to be the big event.

She invited her friend Jeremy to come see the show, and he had been waiting with her by the door for a few minutes. She was wearing a black sparkled tutu, and had her hair back in a ponytail. The teacher had already done her makeup and helped her put on her accessories.

Jeremy sat down, trying to read a book he'd been reading consistently for over a month now. He read very slowly when he read aloud, and he often tried to read some of Emma's mothers books when he could. He sat there reading the book 'A Standoff in Brook Park', a short novel by someone who didn't publish themselves with a name. Emma listened to him try to read the first page of chapter 8, and it moved along rather slowly.

Emma tried to grab the book from him once, just to see if she could read it faster. "Do you want me to read it for you."

"No, my mom says I need to learn to read better." He said. He turned the page and kept reading, while Marie sat down with them and handed Emma a PB&J. She quickly handed Jeremy a sandwich two and waited beside them until the teacher came over to talk.

"It was nice of you to come to Emma's recital," Marie said.

Jeremy smiled and sat his sandwich down next to him. It was already in a ziploc bag and he was far more focused on finishing a chapter in one day.

Emma got up from her stairs and started dancing around. She couldn't remember what her moves were, and that was just the sort of thing she didn't want to tell her mother. She wanted to be the best, but she knew she wasn't a talented dancer. She wasn't a construction worker, or an artist, and she certainly wasn't a dancer.

Her only experience with dancing were these past few lessons and a dance-a-long video she saw on TV. She didn't know much else and once she was on stage with everyone else it was too late to run now. Emma stood still with her slippers pressed to the floor. The rest of the auditorium was dimly lit or completely dark, up on stage it was bright and it was so bright every screw up might just be visible in that darkness.

Oh no oh no, Emma started shaking while the rest of her class started looking at her. The music hadn't even started yet, and Emma almost started dancing her part. She stopped quickly, watching her parents as they glare in concern.

It was getting warm on stage. The more Emma stumbled around the more off key her dancing was with everyone else. She watched the audience, not many people seemed impressed with anything. After all of the stumbling, Emma's part of the show was over. She quickly took her bow and stepped off the stage.

She immediately tackled Jeremy while yelling 'I did it! I danced!' He seemed happy for her and so did her parents. The minute she spotted Carter she ran forward with fire in her steps.

"Daddy!" She called as she jumped at him.

He caught her by the arms and let her sit on his shoulders. "You did great kid! Should we get pizza?"

"Yes! Can Jeremy come two?" Emma asked. She turned around and found her friend stumbling though a crowd of people that were determined to leave.

"Of course he can." Carter replied. "Just keep in mind he'll be helping us with chores when we get back to the house."

"Okay." Emma agreed. And with that they were off.

I'm very glad that there have been readers for my few works and now Emma is well on her way to figuring out what her life is about.