Chapter 4
The Diary June 4
Well, here we are on the Great White Way. Rochelle and I are standing in front of the St. James Theatre where the show “Dancing Feet� is playing. We were looking for Penny’s name on the poster out front, but it wasn’t there. She was only a part of the chorus.
What we did see was the name of the choreographer. It stood out like a sore thumb in large black letters so that the all of New York could see.
“Johnny Castle,� Rochelle read off the poster. She looked at my face to catch my reaction.
“Johnny Castle,� I repeated stupidly. I felt as if I was back at Kellerman’s, the day after Penny’s abortion. He walked away from me that day and I thought I would lose him and never see him again, so I called his name hoping he would stop and turn around.
And he did.
At that moment, a feeling of excitement swept over me, one that I have never felt before and haven’t felt since.
And now, here it was again. That same feeling, just from looking at his name on a poster.
Rochelle looked at me. “Frannie?� she called, “Frannie?� She waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you alright?�
I turned back to look at her. “Of course, Shel, I’m fine.�
The show was about to start so we headed for the entrance doors.
“Wow,� she said, looking at me as we walked in, “the two of you must have hit it off immediately. I mean, you don’t look at my brother that way and he is your fiancé.
I smiled. “I love him nevertheless,� I said, feeling a little guilty. I never realized how much I still became excited as the mere mention of Johnny’s name. Suddenly I was anxious to see if I could catch a glimpse of him and see if he remembered me.
We hurried to our seats in the orchestra, eight rows from the front. These were expensive tickets, eight dollars each. I was hoping that they would be worth it.
Penny had secured backstage passes for us. Maybe Johnny would be there; I was so hoping that he would be and that he would recognize me. But I would have to wait and see.