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Death Waltz

James Marino

    In our community we have two pools, one inside and one outside. The indoor pool--the walking pool--is in the Atrium. The atrium also houses lots of rooms for different activities.
    In the atrium the walking pool is next to the dance studio. Often as I set down my gym bag and towel on one of the chairs to take off my top and sandals before I go in to take my shower, I can see into the dance studio.
    Some days it’s full. Other days there are only three or four couples. The dance studio is sound-proofed so you can’t hear the songs. You have to see what the dancers are doing to figure out what it is they’re dancing to. Also, there’s a mirror wall on the far side of the studio so it looks like there are twice as many people in there as there are.
    I never paid much attention to the studio. Until last Wednesday.
    As I got my towel and set my bag down I saw at least twenty dancers. It looked like there were forty dancers in there, from the mirror. They were doing ballroom dancing from what I could see. I doffed my shirt and sandals and went in and showered, then did my one-mile walk. Done, I showered and dressed and was ready to leave. I glanced at the studio on my way out.
    Something made me stop.
    What.
    I looked at the couples one by one, and then their mirror images. I started to count them, for some reason.
    Actually there were twenty-eight dancers.
    So the mirror count should have been fifty-six.
    But it wasn’t.
    There were only fifty-four. There were twenty-six in the mirror.
    What.
    I looked harder, pairing up the couples with their mirror reflections. Most of them matched.
    Except for one couple.
    He had on a plaid shirt and she wore a blue blouse.
    Instead of the ballroom dancing, they were doing the waltz.
    Their reflections weren’t in the mirror.
    As soon as I realized this I saw the two of them turn their heads my way.
    They smiled.
    I thought of Jack Nicholson’s smile in The Shining.
    I raced out of there.
    It took me another week to go back.
    When I did I realized I’d chosen the one day of the week the studio was closed.
    I held my breath, hoping not to see anything. I did my shower and pool walk, not talking to anybody else there, then showered and dressed and headed out.
    As I said. The studio was closed that day.
    But as I headed out something in the studio caught my eye.
    The studio was empty, as I said.
    But those two dancers were in the mirror. Doing the waltz.
    What. How.
    It was then that they turned their heads to grin at me. Again.
    I could feel their pull on me. It was drawing me in. It was almost hypnotic. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
    I made myself look away.
    I felt their hold weaken and I got out of there.
    I’ve stopped using the walking pool.
    Now I do my walking along the edge of the outdoor pool.
    Because I knew the next time I went to the walking pool I would either be waltzing with the woman in the blue blouse in the studio, with no reflections in the mirror. Or the studio would be empty, with our images in the mirror waltzing.

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