“Back again,” Steve said when Jim and Alan found seats at the bar Friday evening. “You’re gluttons for punishment. Your usuals?”
They said “Yes,” with Alan wanting a lemon twist with his club soda.
For a few minutes, they watched the men on the dance floor. Then Alan hopped off the barstool. “Come on,” he said. “We’d better get out there while there’s still some room left.”
Jim followed him, saying, “You do realize this is a fast song.”
“I have to learn some time, right, if I’m going to keep up with you?”
That didn’t turn out to be as hard as Alan had anticipated. Jim was a good, and very patient, teacher. By the end of the second dance, Alan was keeping up, and having a ball doing so, even if it was exhausting. So when the band began playing a slow song, he was relieved—and ready for
