Laura Ray (Ray Series) (12 page)

She shyly
acquiescenced, “Only if you teach me to dance before we go.”

Art thr
ew his head back and laughed. “Laura, when do you want me to come over?”

“Since we only have a week to practice, tomorrow night sounds good to me.”

“I will bring some pizza with me, and have some hard toed shoes on,” he advised.

In spite of his warning about the hard toed shoes, Art turned out to be a good dancer and Laura dis
covered that she had very little trouble following him until his tried to get her to do a polka. She told him, “We’ll have to try that one another day.”

By New Year’s Eve, Laura had enough confidence in her newly acquired skills that she didn’t think she would embarrass herself too much.

The seventy-nine by ninety foot Cain’s ballroom was decorated to the hilt for the New Year’s Eve celebration. Laura enjoyed the excitement that was palatable in the air. Balloons and streamers along with flashing colored lights enhanced the darkened hall. Art led Laura to a table along the side of the room where they could sit and watch the action. No sooner had they gotten seated when Bob Will’s and the Texas Cowboys broke out into a Hank William’s song,
Your Cheatin’ Heart,
and
then
Jambalaya
.

The
y watched many couples out onto the curly maple dance floor. The first time Art asked Laura to dance she reticently declined. She wanted to watch the other dancers for a while to get a feel for what they did. After seeing some others get their feet stepped on she began to gather courage.

When the band struck up
Wabash Cannonball
by Kay Starr, Laura laughed with confidence and held out her hand to Art. This was one of the songs they played when they practiced at home. Next came
Walkin’ the Floor Over You
by Ernest Tubbs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Laura noticed a nice looking man watching her as she danced with Art. He followed them a distance when they walked off the floor for a breather. She dismissed him from her mind as they reached the side of the room.

She noticed that the white painted ceiling had ornamental red diamonds painted on it. In the center of the room hung a blue and red neon star which lighted the dance floor. She pointed out the ceiling out to Art, who said, “The next time we go out to dance, I’m going to start underneath that big star.”

They danced to
Cry, Cry, Cry
by Johnny Cash and
I’ve Been Everywhere
written by Johnny Cash but sang by Geoff Mack.

The next melody floated out soft and slow. Art brought Laura in close and she felt the music drift in and she closed her eyes to enjoy the rhythm of their bodies moving together. She leaned her forehead against his chin savoring the moment.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes when the music stopped was that man she had noticed earlier. He was inching his way through the dancers toward them. “May I have the next dance?” he asked.

Art smiled graciously and backed away. Laura stood unsure of herself but yet feeling obligated to dance with the man.
She thought his dark brown eyes and sun-tanned complexion looked nice against his white plaid western shirt tucked into his blue jeans. She decided ‘why not?’ She smiled and held out her hand.

“I’ve wanted to dance with you all night,” he said. “By the way my name is Al Brunner.”

“My name is Laura Ray,” she responded. “Al, is that the reason you have been watching me all night?”

“Well, yes,” he nodded. “Me and half the other guys around here.”

“Really, why?”

“Honey, in case you haven’t looked in the mirror lately,
” he explained, “you’re a knockout!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Laura looked out among the others. Sure enough, three other men grinned and nodded at her.

“See what I mean?” he grinned, watching her reaction. “Where have you been, Sweetheart?”

“Mostly, home,” she laughed depreciatingly, “or at work.”

“You ought to come with me,” he nodded his head encouragingly. “I can show you a big wide world full of things to do.”

“Thanks, Al
, I appreciate your offer,” Laura quipped, “I have a date tonight and I can only manage one at a time.”

“Sweety, you give me a day and time,” Al offered. “I’ll be at your door step.”

The song ended and Laura left in search of Art. Before she found him the music began again, a short guy with a balding head grabbed her hand and asked, “Will you be my partner?”

Not wanting to be rude to the man already pulling her to a more convenient dancing area, she followed him. He pulled her into his arms for the
slow dance which the band had begun. She enjoyed dancing with the little man almost her own size. It sure felt different than dancing with tall men like Art and Al.

“Hi, my name is Laura,” she offered.

He smiled, “Happy to make your acquaintance, Laura. Mine’s Buddy.”

In order to make conversation, she asked, “Do you come here often?”

“Honey, I’m here every Saturday night.” Buddy boasted, “If you need a good time, I’m your man. I have a car parked outside with a nice big back seat.”

Not wanting to give offence, Laura kindly replied, “Not tonight, Buddy. Thanks for the offer.”

At the end of the dance again she went in search of Art, when another man stepped in front of her. She glanced up at him and he smiled at her with yellow smoke-stained teeth. He stepped toward her and put his arm around her.

Laura panicked. She saw Mr. Hudson in his face a
s he came toward her and put his arm around her. She screamed and hit him in the stomach with her elbow as hard as she could and ran toward the exit.

Unbeknownst to Laura, Art had watched her from the edge of the dance floor. He wanted her to have the opportunity to mingle with other men. As long as she looked happy he had no intention to interfere. N
ow he immediately rushed to her and grabbed her hand. She chopped his arm with her other hand.

“Laura, stop!” Art stepped in front of her to get her to look at him. “Laura, it’s me, Art.”

Laura began to blink her eyes and calm down when she realized it was Art she was attacking.

“It’s okay. Everything’s okay.” Art said in a soothing voice.

Tears sprang to her eyes, she stammered, “I saw Mr. Hudson. He put his arm around me.”

Art
rubbed her hand and spoke soothingly, “No, Honey. That was somebody else. He only wanted you to dance with him. Mr. Hudson will never bother you again.”

When she had calmed down, he suggested, “Let’s go bac
k and apologize to that man you thought was Mr. Hudson.”

As they approached the man who sat clutching his stomach, Laura said, “I am so sorry that I hit you.”

“Well, Ma’am, I certainly did nothing to deserve this,” he replied angrily.

“I apologize,”
she tried again, “You are right. You did nothing to deserve anything but kindness, Sir.”

Laura sat down in a chair next to him so she could speak more easily to him. “I had a bad experience with a man some time back. There was something about you that reminded me of him. I freaked out. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too, Lady. I promise to stay out of your way from now on.”

A
small crowd had gathered, Laura noticed. She hated to be the center of attention in a situation like this. She stood up, “I apologize for distracting everybody from having a good time. Please, enjoy dancing.”

The band
played on in spite of the little ruckus that Laura had stirred up. Only a few in comparison to the large group there had stopped to enjoy the spectacle while most of the people still danced. Nevertheless, Laura feeling embarrassed wanted to leave.

Art walked with her to the car and they left. He pulled over at a small restaurant and asked Laura, “Would you like some coffee and pie?”

“Sure, if you would.” Laura didn’t want pie after the big steak meal. If Art did, she would go along.

The opportunity that Art hoped to have
had opened up for him. As their waitress provided them with their order, Art asked, “How do you feel?”

“Mostly embarrassed,” Laura replied looking down at her chocolate pie.

“You want to know what I am the most happy about?” he asked.

Laura looked up surprised, “Happy? What?”

“You defended yourself. Unfortunately on an innocent and unsuspecting person,” he acknowledged with a grin. “But you hit him a good blow and then you got out of there before he could recover and grab you.”

Laura agreed with a twist of her head and a half sided smile. “I did, didn’t I
?”

He smiled proudly with a nod.

“I’ve had a lot of time to mull this over in my mind. Harold has taught Danny some self-defense tricks so it got me to thinking. I also needed a backup plan that I would be ready to use should the need arise,” She alleged. “It worked.”

“I’d like you to join my karate classes once we get started,” Art said hopefully.

“With the kids?”

“Well, for now.”

Laura declined, “No, thanks. If you start an adult class for dummies, I might consider it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he laughed.

Art contemplated on the way home. He knew that she had confronted her fears and made a plan to not be helpless in case of another attack from some man. That meant she was well on her way to recovery. He patiently had given her a year to heal physically and mentally. He hoped her emotional state would let him in. He hadn’t detected any fear directed toward him any time that he held her in his arms.

Chapter Twelve

Summer came and Art started his karate classes. Danny, Bobby, and Aaron claimed ownership of the building right along with Art considering they put their sweat, blood and tears in it too, they claimed. They already had ten students, thanks to the boy’s participation in bringing in more of their school friends.

Laura busily worked every spare minute on her drawings.
They lined the kitchen wall around the refrigerator and to the door into the living room. Art had suggested that she take classes. She hesitated not wanting to spend the money. She looked at her pictures all over the wall and wondered if maybe they had something in the library that would give her some pointers. That’s what Nora always did when she wanted to learn more about some subject.

Soon she came out of the library with her arms full of art books. She spread them on the kitchen table and began to read and cross reference subjects using little paper tabs as she had seen Nora do.

After two weeks of reading and trying to learn what the books explained, she felt no closer to the answers she needed than when she started. She drew in a deep breath and shook her head.

One thing she did know was art history and what they called art appreciation. The
Renaissance, Picasso, Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, The Sistine Chapel, the Statue of David, or the Mona Lisa no longer proved to be a mystery. She stepped back looking at the books
,
if anybody asks me a trivia question. I’m ready
.

I feel like I’ve taken the course
but I don’t know any more about drawing these pictures than I did before. She shook her head in frustration. She called Samantha, “Hi, I have a little problem. You might have an idea that I haven’t thought of.”

Samantha laughed, “Okay, I’ll help if I can.”

“I’ve picked up this little hobby,” Laura smiled, almost embarrassed to claim that she might have higher aspirations. “I have been drawing on a sketch pad. I want to know if you know where I might get a how to book or something.”

“Let me think a minute,” Laura said looking through her phone book. “I used to know a woman who lived not far from you when you lived in the country. Ah, yes, here she is. Her name is Deloris MacKinley.”