Chapter 11
The Diary, Early morning, June 28
Well, here goes. I am not very good at writing dancing is my strong point, so forgive me. I want to do this for you, Frannie, when you get older.
Baby and I met four years ago at Kellerman’s when she was sixteen years old. Two months later, she would turn seventeen and she was looking forward to her first year at Mount Holyoke College for Women.
Penny and I were the dance instructors that year, supposedly in charge of the others in the ensemble. We had seniority, it was my fifth time there, and for the rest of the dancers, their second. My cousin, Billy was there to help organize activities and set up dance routines, even direct them in my absence.
My first partner became pregnant and had to quit, so my old friend, Penny took over. This was, if I hadn’t mentioned it earlier, her second time at Kellerman’s.
Penny looked the same as she had the year before, the only thing different was that she was pregnant with Robbie Gould’s baby, but at that point, no one knew.
Baby had come in with Billy and the rest, as they say, is history.
I think I was attracted to your mother right away, Frannie. She was different from most of the girls that I knew and she was a natural. She could move, in fact she substituted for Penny when she had gone for a back street abortion.
If it weren’t for Baby’s father, love, Penny would have been dead.
I think that I fell in love with her…
Wait, one minute. I think your mother is moving, Frannie. Her fingers gripped mine, tightly for a moment, and her eye’s fluttered open, looking up at me.
“Johnny!” she said breathlessly and smiled. I felt as if we were back at Kellerman’s all over again.
“Yes, Baby?” I said, smiling at her. She was alive. Thank the Lord.
“Where am I, Johnny?â€Â? she said smiling at me, still gripping my hand. “And what are you doing here? I thought that you had gotten married?”
I had no idea what to say, she took me by surprise.
“Baby,” I whispered, my hand gripping her fingers. I wanted to cry.
“Rest now, my love,” I told her, kneeling beside her. I stroked her hair. “We will explain everything to you in the morning. Right now, I want you to get some sleep. I will be here when you wake up, I promise. I am not going anywhere.”
The nurses came in at that point and closed the curtains to shut me out, but that was not a problem. I went outside the room and told Dr. Houseman. Lisa and her husband had arrived by then as well as her mother. It was going to be a long night.