Wednesday night dance night...

After coffee, Huib, with Anton's help, moved all the tables and chairs to the walls, creating a sizable space in the middle of the dining room. The men gave each other a high five and laughed.

"I'm looking forward to it again," Anton said. "Everything is great here, but the dance night is always the absolute best. I'll just get the lanterns ready and put them on the tables."

"Fine, then I'll grab the vacuum cleaner by its throat!" Huib responded enthusiastically. He too always enjoyed the dance night. The atmosphere... wonderfully relaxed, happy people all around you.

But first there was some work to be done. Vacuuming was easy when everything was on the side. That also was an advantage of the Wednesday evening. On all other evenings Huib was always the one who took the vacuum cleaner through the dining room, but then he had to root through between tables and chairs with that thing. Now the room got its weekly extra turn. What on other evenings had been left lying around unexpectedly, couldn’t escape the vacuum cleaner now!

The door opened. Margreet came in with a dishcloth. She went along the tables to clean them up quickly before the stall lanterns and dishes were placed on them. She was half bent over a table when Huib came near with the vacuum cleaner. She wasn't actually paying attention until she felt a bump against her hip and had to take a step to keep herself from falling.

"Hey! What are you doing?" she exclaimed startled.

"I'm practicing for tonight, a little swing, you see."

He dropped the vacuum cleaner rod, grabbed the dishcloth out of her hands and aimed it at a table, grabbed her hands and started dancing with his hips swinging. Margreet looked at him with wide eyes and open mouth. She had no idea what was happening to her or what he expected of her, but she tried to follow him just a bit.

"A little more swinging with your hips, Margreet. Just back and forth, imitate me."

She was trying seriously, and... maybe that was the biggest problem, that she was trying too seriously. It wasn't really smooth, more like stiff. It made her feel awkward.

"Put your hands on my shoulders, then I can guide you better," Huib instructed patiently.

Margreet did as he said, hesitantly placing her hands on his shoulders, while he immediately placed his hands on her hips. It made her feel uncomfortable, but Huib didn't seem being bothered by that at all. He helped her swing, as he called it.

The tension shone off Margreets face. She concentrated on doing it right, but that actually made it harder.

"Just relax," Huib whispered, "it doesn't have to be perfect, it's about fun. Just let yourself go a little bit."

Margreet tried, but was startled when the door opened and Anton entered with the first stall lanterns. He stood watching for a moment, a smile on his face, and then set the lanterns on the tables. He walked to the bar, looked for a CD and put on music that suited quiet swing dancing.

Huib and Margreet, both with their attention still fully on their dance attempts, looked up in surprise.

"Dry dancing, without music, that doesn't work Huib!" Anton shouted. "That's just a little foot movement and ass wiggling."

Huib chuckled, and Margreet felt herself turning red. Anton shook his head grinning and disappeared, only to come back in a moment later with another pair of stall lanterns. He looked at the dancing couple, still in the same pose and movement, but much more relaxed. He smiled, that CD had been a good idea! Only one more step was needed, but he couldn't arrange that: Margreet still had her head hanging a bit. If she would have the courage to lift her head and look Huib in his blue eyes... she would see what he saw too. The guy was madly in love with her. Anton chuckled softly: hadn't he noticed it on the first day?

.

The song had ended. Margreet stopped abruptly and tried to untie herself from Huib. Huib, however, was not allowing her to do so yet. His one hand slid to her back so she couldn't walk away immediately. With the other one he gently grabbed her chin and moved her face up so he could look her in the eyes.

"You did well Margreet! It was a good idea of Anton to put on that CD, dancing to music is much nicer. How did you think it went?"

Margreet had trouble looking at Huib, so close. Her eyes wandered in all directions. The whole thing had thrown her back into her uncertainty. Touching a man in this way, or being touched by a man, she had never experienced that before. It came too close, dancing together like that, and she found it scary. And then those words of Anton, ass wiggling... It had upset her for a moment, she was not used to such a way of talking. But because of the music this had fortunately passed quickly.

And now, Huib looked at her, so intensely, that she didn't dare to keep looking into his eyes, only now and then, in a flash, and then looking away again. She felt immensely uncomfortable!

Huib saw that within the span of a few seconds a lot was going through her mind. She still said nothing.

"Margreet? How did you experience it?" he repeated softly.

Margreet looked at him for a moment and said, in a stammering voice, "I found it difficult, I've never done it before and you obviously have. With music it did go a bit better, then I could relax a bit more, but..."

She stayed silent, how was she supposed to tell him about the struggle that raged inside her?

"But? Will you tell me what happened, what you felt?"

Margreet bit her lower lip and suddenly shook her head adrift. "No, no! Sorry, I can't!"

She yanked herself free and ran out of the room, came back again, grabbed the dishcloth from the table and disappeared into the kitchen. She threw the cloth into the sink, plopped down on a chair, and started crying loudly.

"I can't do this, I just can't do this," she cried totally devastated to Annerieke. With a frown on her forehead, Annerieke put a chair angled next to her and sat down on it.

"I really can't do it, dancing like this! Huib just wanted to teach me to dance, but I can't, it's driving me crazy! I felt so weird, so... I don't even know how to describe it!"

Annerieke, hoping that Huib wouldn't come into the kitchen for the time being, asked her, "So what happened?"

Margreet started to tell with hiccups and sobs in between.

"He meant well, I know, but I can't do this, so with my hands on his shoulders and he... he with his hands on my hips... I don't know, it was so... so..."

She searched for words, but couldn't find them.

"Intimate?" asked Annerieke.

"Yes, that’s it, intimate, like we were a couple in love. And that..."

"That was the problem? That it looked like you both were in love?"

Margreet looked at Annerieke with wide eyes. The penny dropped with a jingle. What she had felt was more than just physically feeling that a pair of hands had been on her hips. It had awakened something in her, something she had also felt briefly at their introduction but had not recognized. Now it had been stronger, he had been closer to her and they had touched. He had touched her before, but she had only experienced that as brotherly. She had felt safe. But tonight it was totally different!

Thinking back, she recalled how she had felt a warm current arise in her belly. A glow she had not recognized, simply because she had never experienced it before. She had had a courtship before, and that boy had touched her too, more than she cared to; she had been afraid he would overwhelm her. But all his touches hadn’t done anything to her, there had been no reaction in her body, no warmth, nothing!

She looked at Annerieke and began to tell, about that courtship, and about that warm feeling she had felt tonight. "Do you really think I'm in love? Damn it! I don't even know myself. Huib is a fine man, and I certainly trust him so far. But in love with him?"

"That warm feeling does seem to indicate it Margreet, but of course I'm not sure. Let it rest, don't fret about it." Laughing, she interrupted herself, "As if you could stop that! I hope you manage to carry on as before with Huib for the time being, that you can be relaxed when he's around. I won't tell him anything about this. When the time comes, you'll be much better off doing that yourself. Dear girl, it comes as it comes, it goes as it goes. If you're really in love with him... you know what I think? It might be different. It could well be, that you are indeed not in love, not yet. And certainly not like an adolescent girl, so giggly and all. It could well be that you have experienced something deeper, a touch from soul to soul. I'm not sure, I'm just saying what I think... You'll figure it out Margreet, we'll see what comes of it! Are you still in the mood for tonight?"

"Well... at most a very little bit. I think I'll mostly sit on the sidelines and watch what everyone else is doing. Kind of cheating on how they do it."

"Nice thought, but you don't learn to dance from copying, you know. You only learn to dance by doing, by being guided by your dance partner. But that doesn't matter, Joke, Anton's wife also sits on the sidelines more than she dances. Maybe being a spectator is more than enough for you at the moment. Just try to follow your heart! And if someone asks you for a dance, and you don't want to, feel free to say no. You don't have to explain anything, saying no or shaking no is enough. These evenings are supposed to be relaxing and not cramp us up!"

"Okay, I'll try!" And relieved, she moved on to another subject, "Can I help you fill the bowls?"

Annerieke nodded, pointing her to the pile of bowls and the bags of pretzels and peanuts. Together they got to work, putting peanuts and pretzels in bowls, cutting cheese into cubes and sausage and cucumber into slices and distributing them on plates. They brought everything to the dance hall and put them on the tables. Huib was nowhere to be seen, and to be honest Margreet was glad of that for the moment.

To chapter 24. His soul speaks of Margreet

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