Famine

Chapter Seven

   When Rene put her things down at the table and asked Jonah if he knew how to dance, he answered, "Dancing must have changed so much in a hundred years that I might be completely lost."

   Rene laughed.  "Relax, Jonah.  I got the band to play the Twist.  The singer even sounds like Chubby Checker."

   "Won't we be the only ones on the whole dance floor? asked jonah.

   Rene said back to him, "Good music hangs around almost forever.  This band knows all of the oldies and standards from the twentiety century on.  Bill Haly, Elvis, Chuch Berry, Pat Boone, and Buddy Holley are all familiar to them."

   "Well, then," Jonah said with a laugh, "let's cut a rug!"  And away they went.  Rene wasn't a bit awkward as they went through gyrations that jonah had thought would have long disappeared from the public memory.  To his further surprise, the dance floor was full of enthusiastic shakers, doing the same pelvic motions that he and Michelle once enjoyed so much.

   The song ended and the band then played the Weather Dance.  Rene andJonah took seats but continued to look on the floor at the dancers in fascination.  "Watch the couples on the floor trying to act like certain types of weather."

   The band boomed out sounds imitating wind and even debris crashing about.  It echoed back and forth across the dance floor.  People raised hands in the air or moved them up and down to symbolize rain falling.  Then they waved their arms back and forth. to show the movement of the wind.  Another couple were holding onto each other and spinning around.

   As they neared the table where Rene and Jonah sat, he said to her, "Those two must be a tornado about to touch down."

   Sure enough, they spun out of control and crashed into the center of their table.  Rene and Jonah had gotten up and out of the way just in time.  They moved away laughing.  Robots emerged from panels in a nearby wall and mved in to clean up.

   Also laughing was the pretty brunette that Jonah had notice earlier.  She smiled at them and then gestured to Rene.  As if on cue Rene again took Jonah by his arm and took him to meet her.

   Rene said, "Cheryl, this is Jonah Mark of the twentieth century."

Jonah smiled and said, “Pleased to meet you.”

   “Jonah, this is Cheryl Newbauer, who holds the Women’s record for consecutive wins for the Tour de France.”

   “I’ve heard that you love to bike, Jonah.”

   As she brushed her hair back, she offered her hand to Jonah.  Their eyes met.  Staring a while, they smiled even wider.  They clicked.

   Jonah never thought he would feel attracted to someone as fast as that day that Michelle called out to him on campus so many years ago.  Deep down he still needed the intimacy they had once shared together.  Jonah’s mind raced with the speed of a teenager.  Perhaps he was ready for intimacy and so was she.  A bond was in the making.  They both felt it.

   “Cheryl, where did you ride today?”

   “I came from Louisville but had to stop at Cloverport.”  She looked from Rene to Jonah. “They made a bike path from the old railroad track along the Ohio River.  Normal riding time is down to about five hours.”

   Remembering his own hot summers on his own bicycle, Jonah asked, “How did you handle the summer heat?”

   Cherly answered, “My riding suit can safely use dry ice to cool me as I ride.  I had used it up by the time I reached Cloverport and had to wait a few minutes for a special delivery, which I had ordered ahead.  Not every place makes it nowadays.”