Werewolf Upstairs (11 page)

They laced the fingers of their free hands together and held them high.

“At least. This is a six-week course, and I don’t know if they take a break in between.”

Konrad advanced with his right foot a little early, and Roz hesitated. He felt the lump of her toes under his foot just as he was putting his full weight on it.

“Ouch!” Roz cried and hopped away holding her left foot. Her black stiletto teetered on the floor and fell over.

Konrad took a step back. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

She drew in a few deep breaths and rubbed her toes. “Yeah…I’m fine.”

The female instructor stopped the music and said, “I see we have Cinderella in our class. Where is your other shoe, Cinderella?”

Konrad retrieved her spike-heeled shoe and handed it to her. “It was under my other left foot, I’m afraid.”

“Ha! At least the prince admits he has two left feet.” The male instructor spoke with a Slavic accent. His female counterpart turned the music back on. “Everyone else, continue to practice. I’ll work with these two.”

How humiliating.

“
It wasn’t your fault, lover. I think I was supposed to get my foot out of your way before you crushed it.
”

“Roz, tell me the truth. Are you hurt? Because we should stop right now if you are.”

“No, no. I’m fine. Really. We can’t give up that easily.”

“I guess you’re right. I’m sure all dancers have had their share of injuries.”

The male instructor joined them. “It’s true. No one learns to dance well without a few spills and missteps along the way. Now take your positions.”

Konrad rested his right hand on Roz’s waist and took her hand in his left.
I can think of positions I’d rather be in.

“
We don’t have to do this, you know. I mean, if you’re not enjoying yourself
—”

No, I didn’t mean it like that.
He chuckled.
You were just reading my dirty mind.

The instructor frowned at Konrad. “Is something funny?”

“No, not at all.”

“
Pay attention, lover. We’ll get to those other positions later.
”

He grinned.

The instructor said, “I’ll count one, two, three, go. At that moment, I want you both to move your feet. Sir, your right foot goes forward, and miss, your left foot goes back. Now as soon as you’ve done that one move, stop. Understood?”

The couple nodded and said, “Understood.”

“Okay. One, two, three, go.”

They both took the one step they were supposed to take safely.

“Good. Now back to your original position, and do it again.”

Now I feel like an idiot.

“
Don’t. It’s no big deal. We can do this.
”

The instructor repeated his “one, two, three, go” speech twice more, and when they hadn’t injured one another, he said, “Good. Now one of you count to three and go, but this time follow with the rest of the steps to the count of three and make the box as we showed you.”

Konrad said, “I’ll count. Hopefully it’ll help my concentration. Are you ready?”

Roz nodded.

“Okay, one, two, three, go.” The two of them slid into the first and second steps perfectly, but when it came to Konrad’s taking a step back and Roz’s stepping forward, his stride was far longer than hers, and he pulled her off balance.

She stumbled, but he caught her before she fell. “Oomph. Damn heels.”

The instructor shook his head, slowly.

“Sorry. It wasn’t you or your shoes, Roz. I know what I did wrong,” Konrad said.

The instructor crossed his arms. “And what was that?”

“I extended my back leg too far.”

The instructor cocked his head and frowned. “You have front legs and back legs? No wonder you have two left feet.”

Konrad laughed nervously.

“Your partner has much shorter legs than you do. You must always compensate for that,” the instructor was saying.

“Okay. Let’s try again. I’ll take smaller steps.”

Roz and Konrad resumed their starting positions, and the instructor said, “I’ll count.”

After the initial “one, two, three, go,” he continued to count the beat of the waltz while the couple made the short steps in the shape of a box.

Are we having fun yet?

Roz laughed, but the break in concentration caused her to miss a step, and Konrad trampled her toes again.

“Oww!” She hopped over to the chairs lining the length of the dance hall, sat on one, removed her shoe, and massaged her toes.

Konrad followed her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll live.”

“This isn’t working out, is it?”

“Let’s not give up yet. Someday we’ll laugh about this.”

The instructor glanced away and mumbled something under his breath.

“I think our teacher is ready to quit.”

Roz chuckled. “Well, I’m not.” She slipped into her shoe again and stood, taking Konrad’s hand. “Come on, let’s do this.”

They counted and danced, successfully this time, for several turns. The instructor smiled and clapped. That was enough to interrupt their concentration, and the couple went down with a thud, landing in a tangled heap of arms and legs.

Roz gasped and yelled, “Frig!”

“Oh, crap.” Konrad rolled off of her quickly. “I hurt you that time, didn’t I?”

She breathed deeply through gritted teeth.

Both instructors rushed over. “What happened?”

Roz managed to compose herself enough to say, “I twisted my ankle.”

The male instructor extended his hand to help her up. She tried to stand and winced.

Konrad jumped to his feet and picked her up off the floor. “I’m taking you to the emergency room.”

“No, I’m sure it’s not that bad. Just give me a couple of minutes to rest.”

“Your ankle is already swelling.”

“No, they’re just fat.”

Konrad gave her the hairy eyeball and said, “No, they’re not. And since one is getting bigger and redder than the other, I’d guess you have a sprain. Now don’t argue. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

He strode toward the door.

“We should call an ambulance,” the female instructor said.

“No need. We’re close to the New England Hospital. I can carry her there, if you’ll get the door.”

“Wait, my purse.”

Konrad paused by the chairs they sat in earlier and let her point it out, but he refused to put her down. One of the instructors handed it to her.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance?”

“No, I can get her there faster than they can.”

“Okay.” The male instructor opened the door for them and held it while Konrad carried her down the stairs to the sidewalk.

“Hang on, hon,” he said, and as soon as she’d locked her arms around his neck, he sprinted down the street.

The emergency room doctor delivered the good news as she studied the x-ray. “You’re lucky. Nothing’s broken. It’s just a sprain and should heal in a few days.”

“I feel like a complete klutz.”

“Roz, it wasn’t your fault. It was mine,” Konrad said.

“No, it was mine. I tripped you.”

Konrad placed his hands on his hips. “Well, clearly dancing isn’t our thing.”

The ER doctor laughed and finished winding the bandage around Roz’s ankle. “There you go, Rosalyn. Now stay off your feet and keep your right ankle elevated. Use ice to bring down the swelling and Tylenol every four hours as needed for pain.”

Roz sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”
Tylenol. Ice. Nothing really numbing, like Demerol, huh?

“Do you have any crutches?” the doctor asked.

“No, but I’ll buy some.”

Konrad patted her back. “I have some you can borrow.”

Roz snorted. “Oh, that would be fun to watch. I’ll look like a pole vaulter in the Olympics, except with two poles.”

The doctor grinned. “I’m sure the crutches are adjustable; most are. Anyway, you’re all set to go, but call us if you have any questions or your condition changes. How are you getting home?”

Konrad plucked her off the exam table and cradled her in his arms. “I’ll carry her home safely.”

The doctor let out a deep sigh. “I wish I had a big, strapping, hottie to—”

Roz raised her eyebrows.
She’d better not be after my guy. I might sprain a wrist punching her, and then who’d patch me up? Probably not the doctor I’d just knocked out.

The woman cleared her throat and looked away. “Oh, sorry. I guess that wasn’t very professional.”

Roz finally had a reason to chuckle. “Yeah, well you’ll have to get your own. This one’s taken.” She turned her face to Konrad’s for a full-on kiss.

The doctor said, “Hey, get a room. I mean, another room.”

Konrad broke the kiss. “I think that’s a great idea. Let’s go, angel.”

“Aw, he even calls you ‘angel.’ You don’t happen to have a brother, do you?”

Konrad grinned. “As a matter of fact, I do. How do you feel about cops?”

“Really?” The doctor’s eyes lit up. “Health professionals date cops all the time. Something about serving the public and understanding the need to put the job first, yada, yada, yada.”

“Well, give me your number, and I’ll pass it on to him.”

“Does he look like you?”

“We’re twins. Identical.”

The doctor fanned herself with the sheet of paper in her hand. “Oh, wow. There
is
a God. Here, I’ll write my name and number on your girlfriend’s discharge instructions.”

She scrawled something on the back before Roz had a chance to say yea or nay. Roz hoped the good doc wasn’t trying to find a subtle way to slip
Konrad
her phone number.

The doctor folded the paper, tucked it into his shirt pocket, and gave it a little pat. “This is my weekend on, so I’m off next weekend. Don’t forget to tell your twin to call me.” She then hurried off toward the nurse’s station.

“Awesome,” Roz said, deadpan. “We can double date.”

“Not gonna happen. I want you all to myself.”

She wound her arms tighter around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go home.” She’d forgotten to worry about her heaviness until that moment. Putting her full weight in his arms seemed nearly natural.

***

On the way to their apartment building, Konrad shared the brilliant idea of consulting the witches about what jobs might work for them. Roz wasn’t so sure it was brilliant, but couldn’t put her finger on why not. They were still discussing the subject when they reached their building.

Roz considered the possibility from different angles, and even though she was open-minded, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go to the mysterious women upstairs. “Don’t witches predict the future with Tarot cards and stuff? They aren’t career counselors.” Still in Konrad’s arms, she used her outer door key to open the front door. His broad back braced it open as he maneuvered them inside.

“True. But maybe they can look into our futures and tell us what we’ll wind up doing. Then we can cut out all the trial and error.” He reached her apartment door, and as soon as she unlocked it, they made their way inside.

“Hmm. I’m not sure that’s how it works, either. What if we check online? Then if it’s not a great way to make this kind of decision and we don’t want to take their advice, we won’t insult our neighbors.”

Konrad set her on the sofa and fluffed up a throw pillow. He carefully placed it under her ankle. “That’s not a bad idea. Do you mind if we use your computer? I don’t have one.”

She pointed and said, “Be my guest. It’s in the top of my desk.”

As soon as he’d laid the ice pack on her ankle, he strolled to the roll-top desk. Roz admired his strong grace.

“I haven’t seen one of these desks for ages.” The top clickety-clicked as he opened it. “I always liked them.” He took the laptop to Roz and asked, “Are you as into antiques as it seems, from your living room furniture?”

“Kind of. I mean, I like a few nice pieces, but I don’t want to clutter my place with dusty old junk.”

“No, you have a nice balance between old and…older.” He smiled, and she knew he was kidding.

“Thanks.” She opened the laptop and turned it on. “Give it a minute to warm up. What keyword should we search?”

Konrad stretched. “I don’t know. Why don’t you Google
tarot
?”

As soon as the machine was ready, Roz typed in
tarot
. Up came thousands of hits. “Okay, we might have to narrow this down a bit. What should we look for? An online reader?”

“That sounds about right. Try it.”

Roz went back to the search function and added
card reader
. “Well, the good news is there are still thousands to choose from.”

Konrad looked over her shoulder. “What’s the bad news?”

“There are still thousands to choose from.”

He rolled his eyes. “We’ve got to start somewhere. What’s the first link?”

“Wikipedia.”

“That’s not what we want. Find one that says something about giving consultations.”

Roz handed him the laptop. “Why don’t you pick one and see if you like the website?”

Konrad took a seat on the ottoman, and Roz watched as he clicked and clicked. He seemed comfortable with the laptop, despite his big fingers. She hadn’t noticed a typewriter in his apartment, but maybe he kept one hidden away, or maybe he was just used to typing from his former days as a teacher.

“Here’s one I like. Tarot by Arwen. Professional, compassionate tarot consultations.”

Roz reached for the laptop. “Let me see.” She scanned the site, and it seemed well set up and maintained. She looked at a few blog postings from the archives and decided the woman seemed as advertised, “professional and compassionate.”

“I like her picture. It looks like a candid of her laughing.” Konrad smiled as he said it. “So many psychics seem overly serious, with no sense of humor.”