Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
S arah
After a long, luxurious shower, a petite, plump woman with heavily highlighted brown hair knocks on my door.
“Hi. I’m Marie.” She’s holding several white paper shopping bags, which she proceeds to hand to me. “When you’re done dressing, I’ll be out here to show you the way.” She steps back and closes the door quietly, leaving me staring blankly at it in confusion.
Turning my attention to the bags, I find they hold all of the ballet equipment I asked for. Tights and leotards and warmups, even six brands of point shoes and all the things to customize them. A small note is taped to the top box.
Apologies, your preferred brand was not in stock locally, but I have pairs on order. I got one of every other brand I could find instead. Hopefully this is satisfactory.—Marie
Holy shit.
I dress, tie my hair up, pull on a set of sweats that I didn’t ask for but she thoughtfully provided, and find her in the hallway as promised.
“Shall we?” She sweeps her arm down the hall.
“Lead the way. Especially since I don’t know what’s going on.”
She laughs. It’s a genuine, cheerful sound, and I decide that I like her. “A better room will be set up to your requirements, but for now, everyone is meeting in one of the smaller ballrooms.”
“Rooms? As in there is more than one?”
She smiles. “Mhm. Six to be specific. But one has a giant Persian rug in it and a table that seats 25, so that’s the formal dining kinda by default.”
“Oh, well that’s clearly the sensible thing to do.”
Marie laughs again.
“So, also, who is everyone?”
“Your partner Robert, an adorable girl named Bella, and Madame LeReoux, who may be the scariest woman I’ve ever met, which should be telling, given my overall employment status.” She winks at me, as if there is an inside joke I’m now privy to.
“Wait. Antoinette LeReoux?”
“The one and scary.”
Marie opens a set of double doors that are a dark stained wood, like every other door we’ve passed. Inside, a polished wooden floor shines and tall mismatched dressing mirrors have been arranged along one wall, the stands side by side. A small table is next to the door with a pitcher of ice water with lemon and mint mixed in and a tray of glasses. Several chairs line the wall opposite the mirrors.
“As I said, it will take a few days to arrange a proper studio for you. But it’s in the works. I’ll grab everyone else.”
She spins around and disappears down the hallway. I stare after her, wondering what twilight zone I’ve fallen into. Then I flop on the floor and begin to sew the ties on my shoes, scuff the toes a bit with the scissors, and bang them repeatedly against the floor to try and soften the shank up a bit.
“Oh thank god.” I hear Robert’s excited voice over my shoulder and turn to see him running towards me in a full sprint. He makes a dive bomb at me and pulls me into a bear hug. “Are you okay? Really okay?”
I smile. “I’m fine, Robert! Completely fine.” Looking past him, Bella is standing in the door, nervously playing with a strand of her hair. “Hi, Bella!” She looks borderline terrified and just blinks at me.
Marco and Alessandro are still outside in the hallway. Turning to them, I chastise, “What did you do? She’s terrified!!” I glare at Marco.
“Hey! Don’t look at me, I was a gentleman. And this one is a priest, for god’s sake. Literally. God’s sake. Blame your little friend if he convinced her we were the big bad wolves before we arrived at the apartment.” He nods at Robert.
“Okay, okay, I might have slightly exaggerated,” he confesses.
Alessandro outright laughs.
All of this is interrupted when Marie returns with a petite woman, who appears to be in her fifties. She uses a cane and walks with a slight limp. Her brown hair is streaked with grey and pulled back into a tight bun. She begins yelling in French before switching to heavily accented English. She bangs her cane loudly on the glossy floor.
“I am Madame LeReoux. Do not waste my time.”
We spend the next several hours perfecting many of the core movements that make up any ballet before we transition to practice for the actual performance.
“No! Again!” Madame yells, her cane banging on the floor once more. “You,” she points to Bella. “This is not a happy dance. You are not happy. You play both parts. Your choice is to be evil, betrayed, or die. Which of those make you happy?”
“None of them, Madame,” Bella whispers.
“Speak up, child! You are not a church mouse! You are the main character in one of the most influential ballets of all time.” She slowly walks over to stand in front of the much younger dancer. Placing her palm flat on her breastbone, she locks eyes with her. “You can dance with your feet, and you will be good. But you dance with your soul, and you will be legendary. Never settle for good when you have the chance to be legendary.”
Bella sniffs and nods her head. Madame then walks to one of the mirrors and removes a marker from a pocket. She writes out a very detailed, very long list.
“You will practice these tomorrow. And you—” she points to Robert, “will have one of those Italian gorilles show you how to exercise. You can never be too strong. You don’t need to drop someone like me.” She thumps her cane again. “Speaking of the gorilles .” She thumps off down the hallway, her voice shrinking in the distance. “Who is taking me home?”