Belles on their Toes

you mean."
    "Sure you do," Fred soothed her. "You're a smart chick."
    "Okay," Jane surrendered. "How do you do it, then?"
    Fred and Dan, both six feet and none too graceful, started to dance, and Jack and Bob, not far from six feet and even less graceful, prepared to take turns cutting in.
    Mother now gave up all pretense of reading. Her book lay face down on her lap. She had that what's-this-generation-coming-to look on her face, and she seemed tensed, as if ready to make a game try at catching the vases and lamps, in case the boys should bump into them.
    "Now I'm leading," Fred told Jane, "and it's up to the girl to make small talk—about anything at all."
    "The only small talk I'd make if you were my partner," said Dan, "is to warn you that if you didn't put your right hand up higher. I'd leave you in the middle of the dance floor. You wolf you!"
    Jack stepped up and tapped Fred on the shoulder.
    "Remember, Jane, I'm playing your part," Dan explained. "Up to now, you've been following your partner. Now you lead just enough so you swing him around, and your back's to the boy who cut in." Dan swung Fred around.
    "Only it's not absolutely necessary to kick him like that when you swing him," said Fred, rubbing his shins.
    "Now," Dan continued. "See, my back's toward Jack. He can't see what I'm doing. So I look at Fred and I frown a little; I'm disappointed our dance had to end."
    He wrinkled his forehead and nose, and made a hideous moue at Fred.
    "See?" Dan asked Jane. "Now he thinks I hate to see him go. And he'll be pretty sure to come back and dance with me again."
    "The hell I would," said Fred. "After that last look, I believe I'd run to the locker room and see if anyone had a drink."
    "Then," Dan ignored him, "you separate from your partner. But notice you still hold his hand. Just before you let it go, you give it an intimate little squeeze, like this."
    Dan and Fred both squeezed, with all their might. They were always testing their grips, Indian wrestling, and putting their elbows side by side on a table to see which one could make the other bend his arm. The handshake ended in a tie, and they let go. "Now you turn around," said Dan, somewhat red of face but still intent on his instruction. "Your back's toward your old partner. Now you face your new partner; and your eyes light up. You've been rescued. You've been looking forward all night to this particular dance. You glide into your new part-liner's arms"—he stumbled into Jack's—"and you say..."
    "Not yet you don't," Mother interrupted, and she was so intent her book toppled to the floor. "You've got to be careful to dance a few steps from your old partner, first. You don't want him to hear you, do you?"
    Dan let go of Jack, and all of them turned with new interest to Mother.
    "How did you know that?" Fred asked. "You're completely right, but—why they didn't even cut in at dances when you were a girl."
    "They didn't cut in," said Mother, "but they came up to your chair where you were sitting with your old partner. I always danced away a few steps from the chairs, and then I said..."
    "Who's being hypocritical now?" Fred hooted.
    "What was it you said, Mother?" Jane giggled.
    "Nothing, I guess," Mother said primly, leaning over to retrieve her book. "Nothing that would interest this generation."
    "Aw, come on, tell us," Jane insisted.
    "Well," Mother blushed, "when it was your father, I guess I said something like, 'Why Mr. Gilbreth, imagine finding you here. Where have you been keeping yourself all evening?' "
    "Was that before or after you were married?" Jane asked.
    "Oh, both," said Mother, now apparently intent on her reading.
    "And where had he been keeping himself?" said Jane, refusing to let the subject drop.
    "What's that, dear?" Mother asked, as if she hadn't been paying attention.
    "Where had he been?"
    "Your father? Never very far away, dear," Mother smiled. "Not down in the locker room."

    Jane's debut at high school was a success, and Jack and Bob informed her she had passed the opening day scrutiny. Besides Jane, only a handful of seniors had worn bobby sox clothes. But the handful was composed of girls who admittedly set the fashions, and there was no doubt that the new style would take hold.
    Fred and Dan returned to Brown and Pennsylvania, respectively, and Jack and Bob continued the grooming of their youngest sister.
    She was to be friendly with everybody, including sad apples and teachers. She was to learn the names of everyone in