Insert 3

April 12

One, two, three… One, two and a three… The five-piece band and a lone muted trumpet… Mellow notes drift through the air, catching the corners of ancient acoustics. The couples move slowly, gracefully around the floor… somewhat… at the Coliseum. The faded streamers twist in the evening breeze… And it’s one, two, three, one, two, and three… One, two, three… Dull sequins sparkle under the fade of passed years… And they’re in their twenties again… One two three, one two and three… 9:39 pm…

Green bottled cokes sit on the emptied tables… Lucky Strike butts line the ashtray… A lone Gerber daisy bent in the wine bottle… trails of colored wax… One, two, three… One, two, three… and a sliver of smoke ascends from the ashtray… A small black pocketbook rests on the table… its owner squeezing the light fantastic… A lace wrap Spanish shawl, made in South Korea, covers a chair… One, two, three…

And the couple sways to the waltz. One, two, three… one, two, three… Toes touching… knees bumping, occasionally… Around and around… the tilted dance floor… around… One, two, three… Memories of dance hall queens… Feather boas… silky lengths of trained gowns… whirling and waltzing, one, two, and three… one, two, three… One, two, three… They are young again… just after high school graduation… Smiling… lines radiating from upper lips… criss-crossing cheeks and eye corners… One, two, three… 9:42 pm…

A second couple bumps… into, in slow motion… No damage and exchanged smiles… The waltz step off, by two beats… The Hero and the Angel, at 9:43 pm…One, two, and three… Pink lamé and yellow polyester… Light blue serge pants… and their eyes follow the couple. The single spot bouncing from the twirling mirrored disco ball… with the muted trumpet warbling memories… One, two, three… The guitar player strumming the tune of the waltz… One, two and a three…

One… and the music stops… Silence and a light catch-up applause… The couple moves to their table. They sit. The lace Spanish shawl made in South Korea falls to the floor, unnoticed… A heavy breathing commingles in unison and echoes in the acoustic corners… The dancers breathe… and sit… A pacemaker beeps… The Hero and the Angel are at the red-Coke cooler by the front door… The Hero buys two green bottles from the redheaded youth… and gives him two quarters… A Connecticut one and a Florida one… They exchange grins… and at 9:46 the Hero wipes the bead of sweat from the line crossing the forehead…

At the table the couple lights their Lucky Strikes… A pacemaker beeps… Once…The partner places the Lucky Strike in the ashtray… An eye connects with the Angel at the entrance door… Eyes close… The Hero and the Angel exit… at 9:47 pm…