| |
"Okay! Now keep the rhythm. One. Two. One. Two. One. Turn, shift!" Pamela yelled from across the rink. "That's it! Good. Good. One. Two. Shift. Shift. Reach. Excellent!"
She clapped her hands to the beat of the music floating through the empty skating rink. The duo had been practicing their preliminary routine. Finally, they were making enough progress that Brenda noticed slight changes in Scott's stance or how he held her hands to indicate she needed to adjust her position or alter her course slightly.
They'd worked hard for several weeks, mastering the easier steps and slowly integrating more complex moves a little bit at a time. Finally, making their way around the far end of the rink, Brenda and Scott moved in unison like one elegant, exotic bird. They complemented each other perfectly.
Alive and proud as she moved along the ice, Brenda felt like herself. The doctors' words telling her that her skating days were over pulsed in her head like a powerful mantra. She showed them. She proved them wrong.
Sure, Brenda didn't make as quick a comeback as she would have liked, but she was making a comeback nonetheless. Counting to the beats of the music, her feet moved in smooth steps, pushing her faster and then slower, while her hands felt for any indication from Scott that she needed to pull away from the wall or lean a little more to the right or left. As they transitioned into the next move, Brenda took his other hand and readied herself for one of their spins. Then she smiled at him, feeling light like a feather.
Scott also noticed a difference. He'd been a solo skater with his bookcase of trophies and medals and had experience skating with a partner. When he was a junior in high school, he was paired up with Joelle Buehler. She was a lovely girl who wasn't very chatty but could pick up routines with relative ease and wasn't afraid of hard work. For three years, they skated together, and, for three years, they just missed the bronze medal, coming in fourth. Scott could tell Joelle liked to skate, but it wasn't in her veins. Not like Brenda. She didn't eat and sleep skating. She didn't practice routines over and over in her head. She didn't know the strengths and weaknesses of the best skaters from all over the world, picking and choosing which ones she wanted to claim as her own.
It was this dedication that brought out the best in Scott. It radiated from Brenda and seemed to seep into his skin when they touched. Of course, he told himself it was the skating that was bringing them closer, but the fact was he'd been hoping for years for another chance to win her heart. There was so much he wanted to tell her. But this wasn't the right time or the right place.
"Okay." Pamela skated up to the pair as they panted a bit, catching their breath. "If we compete, you guys know what we have to do."
"Add a little more pizzazz!" Brenda squealed, clapping her cold hands together.
"I was thinking of a side-by-side shotgun spin after the step-sequence mirror portion. It will feel like a natural transition as you pick up just a little speed to try a throw jump."
Brenda's eyes popped as she thought about performing these moves. The shotgun spin was a good one that she'd always enjoyed, feeling the stretch of her leg as her body became a blur of motion. But the throw lift was something completely new.
"Brenda? Do you think you're up to it?" Pamela asked. "Be honest. We've got time. Don't just say yes because you feel you have to."
"Oh, gosh! Of course, I'm ready!" Brenda gushed, placing her arm on Scott's to reassure him of her confidence.
Pamela nodded her head and explained the move. It was deceptively simple but required much concentration to pull off. Brenda still had a little trouble judging distance, so, on the first try, when Scott pulled her into the shotgun spin, her timing was off, causing them to nearly collide. But, trying it again, the subtle hints in Scott's body language allowed Brenda to find the rhythm, and she sank into it as if she were easing into a soft chair.
After settling into this new routine, Pamela explained the throw lift.
"Just a toe loop, Brenda. Don't try for the axel. Not yet. Just get the basic move down." Pamela skated out of their way but stayed within shouting distance. "Now, take it slow, keep your signals open to each other, and let's see what happens."
Brenda nodded, took Scott's hand, and began skating from the middle of their routine. They glided around the rink, counting their steps, stretching their arms in near-perfect unison as they eased into the shotgun spin. Emerging from that, Pamela counted off the steps as she watched Scott.
There was a step, step, lunge, and into the air Brenda went—into a single axel. Scott nearly tripped as he watched Brenda complete one perfect rotation in the air before landing perfectly on the edge of her blade.
A scream of joy came from Brenda's mouth, and she nearly had to stop the routine from the giggles of happiness that were bubbling over, almost into sobs.
Scott took her hand, leading her through a few more steps of their routine, his mouth agape from what he'd just seen until they came to a stop at the end of the rink where Pamela was waiting, her hand on her hip, shaking her head with a smirk on her lips.
"I knew as soon as I said for you not to overdo it, Brenda, that I'd said too much."
"Did you see that? I did it. I did it!"
Scott stood there with a dumb smile on his face. "It was perfect," he managed to mutter.
"Actually, it was a little to the left, but I can fix that. I know exactly what to do. So let's do it again, and I promise it will be perfect," Brenda said, breathing quickly with excitement.
"No," Pamela said, shaking her head.
"No? Why?"
"Brenda, you did great today. And I could be knocked over with a feather after seeing you do that. But, I think we should call it a day. You guys have been at it for two hours. Now's a good time to stop. On a high note."
"Miss Pamela?" came the small voice of one of the little girls from the tiny-tot classes Pamela sometimes watched and taught. She was bundled up in a pink coat with a matching scarf, and the girl pointed with a mittened hand. "Miss Pamela. Uhm. That man says there's a phone call for you." She was pointing to Henry, the Zamboni driver. He waved the cordless phone, looking at Pamela.
"You guys get some rest, and I'll see you both here the day after tomorrow. Same time." She sat down, removed her skates, and then walked across the carpet, disappearing through a side door that led to her office.
Brenda and Scott nodded, but before Scott could get to the skaters' corral to begin taking off his skates, Brenda took him by the hand. "Just one more try," she said, pulling him into the center of the ring.
"No way. You heard what Pam said, and I think she's right. We don't want to overdo it."
"Where's your sense of adventure, Scott? Look, I've been doing axels since before I could walk. I want to do one more, and then we can call it a night. Or a day. Whatever."
Brenda wasn't sure if Scott knew there was a chance she could black out. She assumed Pam had told him everything he needed to know about her condition. However, Brenda was starting to believe her condition was a hyped-up diagnosis by paranoid doctors. So far, the only thing that she'd noticed was that she leaned a little toward the left. Or sometimes the right. But it was hardly anything like the doctors made it out to be. Her skating career was anything but over.
"I promise, Scott, I won't do anymore. I just wanted to feel that feeling of being up in the air." Her eyes twinkled, and she looked beautiful, with her cheeks flushed and her bright lips red from the cold.
"Once. Just one more time. I don't know about you, but I'm tired. So let's make it quick before Pam returns, and we both get busted."
Clapping her hands again, Brenda took Scott's hand. They skated into position. Hesitantly, Scott followed her. A veil of worry covered his face. They went into the routine and completed the preliminary steps for the maneuver. They came to step, step, lunge, and into the air Brenda went. Just as he let her go, she saw the room go black. She managed to get her feet down onto the ice, but they buckled underneath her. She collapsed and slid several feet.
"Brenda!" Scott shouted as he skidded to an abrupt stop by her side. He slipped his hand under Brenda's head. But all he saw was the fluttering of her closed eyes.
