Mum’s reaction to Michelle Ballroom dancing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t realise just how important it would become in shaping my future, until I had to take the place of one of my bosses following an accident. Dancing Queen A novel by Louise Anne Smithson Copyright © 2013 Louise Anne Smithson All Rights Reserved.

‘My wife does get a little bit carried away with her schemes at times, Mike,’ said Rob to me as we sat in a coffee bar together. ‘I want to assure you that you don’t have to do this, if you don’t want to. You just need to say the word and I’ll make that sure it doesn’t happen. The Society will just have to find someone else to do the demonstrations.’

I sighed. For the last few days I’d felt myself being steadily sucked in to one of Sarah’s schemes, in spite of Rob’s assurances to the contrary. But on the other hand I wasn’t sure whether I minded or not.

‘Th-Thanks, Rob. As I said, I’d like to help, although it rather de-depends upon how my mother reacts to the idea,’ I replied.

‘Well the decision is entirely in your hands, Mike. If at any point you wish to change your mind or pull out you are free to do so. I won’t let Sarah put any more pressure on you.’

‘Are you sure that it will be ok as far as work is concerned?’ I asked.

‘As you know, business hasn’t been too good for Estate Agents recently. You were lucky we took you on when we did, just before the crash, and that one of our negotiators has recently left us. However, I believe that things should pick up next year and in the meanwhile I don’t think it will impact on the business if you come in dressed as a girl for a while.’

L-Let’s see how Sarah gets on with my mother, then.’

We were waiting for a signal from Sarah that she’d spoken to my mother and that I should make my way back home. Between the three of us we’d concocted a story to explain why I was accompanied by my two bosses (whom she had never met before) when we met her at the station. I explained that I would be needed to help them move a new easy chair in the back of their car. They had seen it advertised privately and thought it might be useful to support Sarah’s injured leg. Of course, Sarah would be unable to help move it, or even ride in the car as it was being transported. I’d therefore volunteered to help after I’d collected Mum from the station. Thus we first collected Mum and took her home, and left Sarah behind with her whilst Rob and I went off to perform our fictitious removal job. Sarah had arranged to put in a surreptitious telephone call to Rob as soon as she’d had the chance to talk to my mother and the time was right for me to return and face the music. But it seemed to be taking a lot more time than I’d imagined.

Eventually Rob’s phone bleeped, and he quickly looked at the caller display and turned it off.

‘Alright Mike, it looks as if the deed is done; it’s now time for us to return to your mother’s house and for me to pick up Sarah.’

As we pulled up outside the house, Sarah was saying goodbye to Mum at the front door. She smiled at me as we passed one another at the front gate.

‘It’s up to you now, Mike. Give me a call tonight to tell me what is happening,’ she said quietly as I passed.

Mum was standing waiting for me at the front door.

‘So they are your bosses — they seem to be a friendly couple,’ she commented as their car pulled away.

‘Y-Yes, I suppose so.’

‘Sarah has been telling me what you got up to last week, and I must say that I’m very disappointed with you, Mike.’

This wasn’t a good start.

‘Wh-Why is that?’ I asked, although I could think of half a dozen possible reasons.

‘You know that I love ballroom dancing but you didn’t think to tell me that you would be dancing two demonstration sessions.’

‘But you were away in London,’ I protested.

‘I could have arranged to come back early.’

‘I- I only knew for sure that I was going to be dancing on Thursday, and it was only the Waltz and Foxtrot, which you have seen me dance many times.’

‘Not in the woman’s part,’ she added in a voice which I could not work out if it showed disapproval or disappointment.

‘To-To be honest, Mum, I wasn’t sure how you would react to the idea of me dancing the woman’s part.’

‘How do you think I would react to the idea?’

I tried to gauge from her expression what answer would be most appropriate: disapproval? disgust?’ horror? but was unable to do so.

‘Surprise?’ I suggested.

‘Yes, certainly I was surprised,’ she replied with a small smile and seemed to relax a little.

She looked intently at me.

‘I thought your eyebrows looked different when you met me at the station.’

It was now my turn to smile.

‘I only just managed to prevent my friends from doing anything more drastic to them,’ I said.

She laughed and that seemed to dispel the tension between us.

‘But if you’re ever planning to dance in public again, whether it as a man or a woman, I should like to know about it.’

‘S-Sorry, Mum. In actual fact I think we did quite well together.’

‘I know, I’ve heard all about it from Sarah. She even showed me a DVD of you dancing and has left a copy with me.’

My crimes appeared to have been forgiven. Perhaps it was now time to probe a little deeper.

‘D-Did Sarah mention to you that the Committee has invited me to take her part and dance a number of other demonstration sessions this year?’ I asked tentatively.

‘Yes, and she made it clear that it was up to you to decide whether or not you wished to do so.’

‘Wh-What do you think I should do?’

‘I think you are now old enough to make up your own mind,’ she replied without giving anything away.

‘It would be a big commitment in terms of practicing and sorting out my costumes.’

‘Yes, I can see that.’

‘S-Sarah thinks that the only realistic way I could devote the necessary time to practice would be for me to spend the next few weeks living as a girl.’

‘She told me that as well. I understand that if you agreed to do so the other ladies in the society would sort out your hair and supply you with some clothes to wear.’

‘Y-Yes, I believe so.’

‘I also understand that you spent two days at work last week living and working as a girl.’

‘That’s true,’ I replied blushing. ‘I needed to practice.’

‘So how did you get on?’

‘Alright, I think. My colleagues and those clients that I came into contact with seemed to accept me.’

‘Sarah said that they were very pleased with you at work,’ Mum continued.

‘I-I work hard but am not so good at dealing with clients because of my st-stammer.’

She didn’t respond, or give me any indication what she was thinking.

‘Wh-What do you think I should do?’ I repeated.

Her face hardened.

‘Mike, I’m not going to help you with this one; you must decide what you want to do.’

‘It w-would be very helpful to the society,’ I suggested.

‘I can see that, but is that sufficient reason for you to sacrifice six weeks of your life?’

‘It wouldn’t exactly be a sacrifice, in fact it may be the only opportunity that I will ever get to dance at the highest level with a really good partner,’ I protested.

‘Well?’

‘I l-learned a lot about dancing last week,’

She didn’t respond. I took a deep breath.

‘I think I’d like to go ahead with Sarah’s suggestion,’ I murmured, blushing as I did so.

‘Are you sure?’ she said severely.

‘Yes, I’m sure,’ I responded, this time with a little more confidence.

Her face relaxed into a smile.

‘I’m so glad that you’ve decided to do so and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you dance once again. I was hoping that you might say yes, but didn’t want to influence your decision.’

‘Oh!’ I said in surprise at her response.

‘Now that you’ve made up your mind, I promise that I will help and support you in any way I can.’

That was a relief, especially as I’d only just admitted to myself what I wanted to do.

‘How w-will you feel about living with a daughter rather than a son for the next six weeks,’ I asked.

She thought for a moment then smiled at the prospect.

‘I always wanted to have a daughter and I’m sure there will be lots of things we will be able to do together, but you should understand that if you are going to be my daughter for the next six weeks you cannot also be my son at the same time.’

I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by that but I nodded my head, all the same.

‘I I thought you might worry about what the neighbours will think if I come and go dressed as a girl.’

‘They can think whatever they like. To be honest, I doubt whether most of them will even notice.’

She was probably right. We lived at the end of a terrace and the family next door had chosen to hide their house from ourselves and the road behind a high hedge. We barely knew any of our immediate neighbours.

‘So why don’t we have another look at that DVD together, and I’ll tell you what I think of your dancing?’ she said’.

‘Aright then,’

It was just like the two of us watching ‘Come Dancing together once again, but this time with a running commentary.

‘Your Waltz was pretty good, but as a female dancer, you’ll need to be aware of your costume at all times. See! You could have shown off your dress to better effect at that turn. Now let’s have a look at the Foxtrot.’

I was clearly going to benefit from the experience of an expert, who was noticing small details that might otherwise be overlooked.

At 8 pm I called Sarah, as she’d requested.

‘Well?’ she said impatiently as soon as she took my call, without waiting for the usual introductions or greetings.

‘It’s M-Mike here. I’ve spoken to Mum and decided that I’ll do the next three demonstrations.’

‘Are you intending to remain as Michelle for that period?’

‘Y-Yes, I guess so; that seems to be the only practicable way forward, as long as you can make the necessary arrangements and provide me with the clothes to wear.’

‘That’s brilliant news,’ she said sounding really excited. ‘I’ll tell Rob and the others.’

‘M-Maybe I’d better now call Alan and break the news to him.’

‘Just give me a quarter of an hour before you do, so that I can speak to Joan and see when she will be able do your hair and nails for you. After that you’ll be able to organise your first practice session together.

She rang me back after ten minutes.

‘You will have to come into work tomorrow dressed as Mike, but Joan can see you at four o’clock and continue after her salon closes. By that time I should have sorted out some suitable clothes for you to wear over the next few days so I suggest that you should get changed at the salon. I’ll also be contacting the other ladies in the Society to collect their contributions to your new wardrobe.

‘Mum says that she can probably loan me some of her clothes as well, if necessary.’

‘Good, the more choice you have about what to wear the better. So from tomorrow evening it will be Michelle full-time.’

‘Yes, until the middle of November,’ I added.

‘Hmm. Maybe we should extend it until the Society’s Christmas Dinner in mid-December?’ she said laughing.

‘S-six weeks is all that I’m agreeing to,’ I said.

‘Alright, I’ll be satisfied with six weeks and thank you very much.’

I next put in my call to Alan, only this time deciding to adopt the persona of Michelle on the telephone.

‘Hi Alan, it is Michelle. It looks as if you’ve found yourself a dance partner for the next three demonstrations,’ I said.

‘Really!’ he said sounding delighted.

It was nice to feel appreciated.

‘Yes really. From tomorrow night onwards I shall be available for any practice sessions.

‘You really want to do this? We didn’t bully you into agreeing?’

‘No, I’m doing it partly for the sake of the Society, but also for both our sakes. I happen to believe that you were right yesterday and that we could do great things dancing together.‘

‘That’s wonderful, Michelle, when shall we make a start?’

‘How about Tuesday evening at the Dance Studio?’ I suggested. ‘We’ll have just under two weeks to practise the Viennese Waltz and the Quickstep

‘That suits me.’

‘I’ve already worked out routines for both of them but I would really appreciate your input,’ I added.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

‘Me too!’ I thought to myself as I finished the call.

Next time: Mike’s last day at work

Thanks to Bronwen for editing and to everyone else for comments and kudos which are always appreciated. The next chapter will be published on 14 December. Louise