14
Henry had just returned from his morning run. He thought getting his workout in before eight o’clock would be enough to beat
the heat. But with the sun already bearing down on the desert neighborhood, he was dripping in sweat. He reached for the door
just as it opened from the other side.
Standing in the doorway was his grandfather in a green tracksuit that looked about twenty years old and a bit too snug in
the belly.
“Granddad? Where you going?” Henry said. He took a quick look around, taking stock of the order in the house. His grandfather’s
walker was off by the back door. The TV was still on, but Henry believed that might be intentional.
“Just gonna go out for a bit. I left the cereal box out on the counter. Eat yourself some breakfast, and I’ll be right back.”
His voice was a bit too controlled. But Henry could tell from the ghost of a smile on his granddad’s face that he was excited.
“Off to do something fun? Someone coming to pick you up?” Henry assumed that was the case, considering the walker being left behind.
“Nope, just gonna head over to the community center. There’s a Zumba class at eight thirty.”
“Zumba?”
“Yes, it’s a very fun exercise where you shake your hips and dance the pounds away. It’s one of the most popular new classes
at The Sunset, and I wanna make sure I get a spot. So gotta walk over a little early. Catch you later, kiddo.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea with your hip—”
“I’ll be fine,” Dennis called back as he shuffled his way down the front walkway.
“Granddad, wait,” Henry called out. His grandfather was already to the sidewalk, obviously trying to hustle away from Henry.
“You forgot your walker. You can’t make it all the way to the community center without it.”
“Sure I can, Hank. It’s not that far,” he insisted.
“Granddad, you’re gonna walk all the way over there, do a Zumba class, and then walk all the way back? Without your walker?
I don’t think so.”
Dennis lifted his hand to shoo him off and continued on his way.
Henry’s patience was running thin.
He turned and ran inside. He grabbed the walker and quickly picked up the remote control and turned off the television. And
with a tiny hesitation, doubled back to the kitchen, put the cereal box back into the cupboard, and ran outside. Henry locked
the door behind him and rushed to catch up to his granddad.
“You promised me that you’d use the walker more. It’s important. I don’t want to get all the way back to New York and get news that you’ve fallen or gotten hurt. Please, for your safety and my peace of mind.”
“Henry, I love you with all my heart. But I’ve been doing all right on my own. I love having you around, but you’re a bit
of a wet blanket.”
Henry stopped in his tracks. So he was being a little overprotective right now. It was only because he’d seen with his own
eyes how much older Dennis had gotten. If he could make things easier for him, he would. He wasn’t there just yet, but Henry
could see a day when he’d need a lot more help taking care of himself. And it stressed Henry out just thinking about that
future. It would break Dennis’s spirit if he had to be moved into a nursing home, that much he knew. He was a stubborn old
goat and valued his independence more than anything. “I’m sorry, Granddad. But I’ll be honest. I sometimes worry that you’re
not paying close enough attention to take care of yourself. You’re not getting any younger. You’ve got to be more careful.”
There. He’d said it. Dennis needed to hear it.
His granddad let out a deep sigh and dropped his shoulders. His posture suddenly looking wilted. “Fine, Henry, I’ll take the
walker.” He stepped between the frame and used it to push himself forward. His pace significantly slowed down.
He looked and moved suddenly like a much older man.
Henry felt like shit. But he knew he was right. Better safe than sorry.
They entered the community center where the main room was already quite crowded.
His granddad wasn’t kidding when he said this class was popular.
Henry examined the crowd. Some of the older women were in tights and leotards and had clearly got their inspiration from Jane Fonda.
Others were in satiny track suits that looked more like Sue Sylvester from Glee.
What surprised Henry was that there were a good number of men in attendance as well. If he didn’t know better, he’d think
there was a bit of flirting happening between many of the residents. But that was not something he wanted to be contemplating.
“Dennis, you made it!”
Mimi’s voice called out from across the room as she headed toward them. Her hair was perfectly curled and coiffed as it always
seemed to be, and her makeup, including the bright pink lipstick, was also all in place. Mimi wore a light blue terry-cloth
set with Juicy written in sequins across her hoodie jacket. It was a flashy look for an octogenarian at eight thirty in the morning.
Henry was beginning to think that either he’d always had the wrong idea of how seniors dressed or the people at Sunset Hills
were the outliers.
“I’m so glad you’re here. And Henry, you made it too. Fun!” she said with a brightness that made Henry a little uncomfortable.
Did she wake up in a good mood every day? Henry was reminded of another perpetually happy woman. Cleary it ran in the family.
Mimi gave Henry a once-over from head to toe. “Nice,” she said.
Henry was still in his running shorts and tank top. He felt a little underdressed, to be honest. Not just in terms of coverage,
but this was the fanciest group of exercisers he’d ever seen . . . and he lived in the Upper West Side.
“Dennis, come over here and stand next to me,” Mimi suggested.
His granddad followed Mimi away, but Henry gently grabbed him by the elbow. “Don’t forget your walker,” he said.
“But it’ll get in the way,” Dennis replied.
“We can stand over here,” Mimi suggested, pointing toward a corner in the back where a few of the other class participants were seated in chairs, some with their own walkers beside them.
Henry appreciated that they made room and accommodations for those who needed more help.
“Okay, okay, everyone,” a very loud, very bright voice came through the sound system. “Who’s ready for some ZUMBAAAA?”
He winced at the volume.
Henry scanned the room, and there standing at the front of the class, lavalier mic wrapped around her ear, in a bright pink
one-piece leotard with a tutu wrapped around her waist was Jia Chung.
Of course she was teaching this class.
And what was she wearing?
“It’s her old ballet outfit! Can you believe it still fits her? We found it in the back of my closet, and what with her not
having her luggage, we made some adjustments, and now it’s her Zumba outfit,” Mimi explained as if reading Henry’s mind.
“Huh,” Henry said. He wasn’t sure what else to say.
The music began to play overhead and the energy in the room buzzed.
“This is the start of the very best day! Who’s with me?” Jia enthused over the speakers.
Cheers erupted in the room as people all stood and took their spots.
Henry wasn’t sure what to do. He should leave. But he wanted to keep an eye on his granddad and make sure he wasn’t pushing
himself, or being pushed, into a dangerous situation.
“All right, we’re going right then left, right and left, in four, three, two, one.”
The crowd moved and followed her lead.
“Jia,” a group of women called out. She looked over her shoulder at them as they began to point . . . in Henry’s direction.
Jia’s back was toward the crowd, but when she faced forward into the mirror, her eyes caught his. It wasn’t hard to spot him.
The entire crowd was moving.
But Henry just stood there stock still.
She narrowed her eyes at him in the mirror.
“What’s the first rule of Zumba?” she called out.
“Everybody moves,” the crowd called back, the ladies that had ratted him out to Jia answering her the loudest.
A wicked smile crossed her face.
“And when someone doesn’t move?” she asked.
“They go to the front!” someone squealed.
“Keep it going. Step right, step left, step right, step left. In the next eight count, we’re going to add a clap. In four,
three, two, one!”
The room moved right and clapped. Then left and clapped. It was a basic dance. Even those sitting in chairs leaned to the
right and clapped and then to the left.
Henry looked at his granddad trying to step right, but he was bound by his walker, like a cage.
“Sunseters, I spy someone not moving!” Jia called out.
“Front, front, front, front,” they began to chant. Those tattlers. If Henry didn’t know better, he’d suspect they were trying
to make a fool of him.
But he couldn’t think much more on that because, suddenly, Henry was being pushed by the crowd toward the front.
“Wait a minute, wait, oh no, I’m not going up there,” he tried to refuse. But the crowd kept nudging him and pushing and chanting,
“Front, front.”
Next thing he knew, he was standing face-to-face with a tutu-clad Jia.
“Everyone moves in Zumba,” she said.
“I gathered that,” Henry said. “But I’m not here to Zumba,” he insisted.
“You’re here early in the morning at a Zumba class. I beg to differ,” she said. Jia continued to move, right clap, left clap,
while talking to him.
“Well, if I promise to move from back there . . .” Henry suggested, leaning his head toward the back of the room where he’d
once stood.
“Are you gonna try to escape?” she asked.
“Maybe?”
“The class seems to like having you up front.” She raised her eyebrows at him, as if asking for permission. He let out a deep
sigh and gave in.
“Fine. Use me and abuse me.”
She laughed and then squealed with delight. An honest-to-god squeal.
“Henry is gonna help us with our next move,” she announced to the class. “The snake.”
Oh, this did not sound good.
“Right, and left,” Jia called out as she pulled Henry right and then pushed him left. “Now snake it out, snake it out, that’s
right.”
Henry watched as Jia snaked it out, moving her upper body in a wave that seemed almost too risqué for a group of seniors. But as he looked up in the mirror
and those dancing behind him, everyone was swaying their bodies in delight, including those seated.
“I don’t see you snaking it out,” she said.
“My body doesn’t move like that,” Henry tried to convince her.
There was a twinkle in her eye that matched her wicked smile. They were thinking the same thing—Jia knew very well how Henry’s
body moved. She laughed it off and goaded him on.
“You’d have to actually move it to try.”
Henry suddenly felt two hands land on his shoulders from behind him, and before he could react, Jia was pushing his right
shoulder down. And then his left. He was alternating shoulders to the beat, an awkward and choppy motion. But he definitely
was not dancing.
The crowd hooted and hollered for Henry. He heard Jia laugh behind him.
This was humiliating. And for some reason, he thought maybe that was exactly the point.
“Gotta loosen up, Hank. You’re carrying around too much stress for all that very important work you do,” Jia said, mocking
him.
A tiny twinge of guilt crept up his neck, but he tried to ignore it.
“Sunseters, let’s give Henry here a little more encouragement. He needs to loosen up the shoulders and sway!” she shouted.
“Sway! Sway! Sway!” the crowd shouted to the beat.
“You can do it, Henry,” someone cheered.
“You got this,” someone else encouraged.
It was the most positive reinforcement Henry had gotten in his life, ever.
And though he was utterly embarrassed at his lack of coordination, he didn’t think that everyone was having a good time at his expense. No, actually, everyone was just having a good time, period. The fact that he was terrible at Zumba but giving it his best shot seemed to just heighten the mood.
Jia moved to stand in front of him, facing him. She had a small smile on her face, this one not wicked or nefarious like her
others. It was kind and patient. Like he’d seen her be with so many of the others here at The Sunset.
She held her hands out between them. “May I?” He wasn’t exactly sure what she was asking, but he nodded.
She put her hands on his hips and pushed them from side to side. “Keep the shoulders going,” she encouraged. He did as he
was told and followed her directions. “That’s it, there you go,” she said. Her smile spread to cover her whole face like she’d
seen a miracle happen right before her eyes. “You’re doing it!”
Henry did not want to see himself in the mirror. So instead he focused on the faces of those behind him in the mirror. Everyone
was smiling, laughing, having the best time. And people moved their bodies to the best of their abilities, dancing to the
music.
He found his granddad in the crowd. He’d pushed his walker behind him, and standing on his own without any support, he’d found
the rhythm. Dennis had the step, the clap, AND the sway down like clockwork.
Henry hadn’t seen him look this happy, or mobile, in a very long time.
Jia had left Henry and moved among the crowd. He snuck a peek at her as she walked up and down the rows of people encouraging
every single participant. She danced next to some. Hip-bumped others. Gave a high five to a few. And was met with enthusiasm
and joy by every single person.
And though Henry was quite possibly the worst dancer known to man, he did know how to follow instructions. Whatever move she called out, he tried to follow. Step right, clap, sway. Step left, clap, sway.
The women in the front row cheered him on and wolf-whistled in delight.
It was ridiculous.
It was hilarious.
And as Jia made her way back up to the front of the room next to Henry, giving him his own look of encouragement, Henry couldn’t
help it.
He smiled.
Jia watched as the left corner of Henry’s mouth crept up slightly, despite him trying to hold it back. About as close to a
smile as she’d seen from him to date.
And goddamn if it wasn’t the sexiest thing she’d seen. She felt that smile down to her toes. She remembered one other time
she’d encountered that same level of attraction for this man.
If he kept that up, Jia was going to be in some serious trouble. Nothing good could come from a smile that sexy.