Imagine

I have a multitude of things I'm thankful for, though it should certainly be longer. Two things that I often remember to be thankful for, though, are the gifts of reading and dance.

One of my favorite books is "The Giver" and the main character is a boy named Jonas. In the story, Jonas lives a very monochromatic life in a very controlled atmosphere until a man called The Giver gives him new memories and new experiences. This is my idea of what it would be like for Jonas to experience dance for the first time.

  

     "Jonas slides his eyes slowly over the polished wooden floor admiring the individual patterns to the grain of the boards that extend far away to the edges of the massive room, bigger even than the school auditorium. He keeps spinning in a slow circle until there in front of him he sees...Fiona? His stomach jumps as he catches her eye. She is positively glowing! He sees hues of red dancing in her cheeks as if reflected off of her long red gown. He straightens, stretching the vertebrae of his backbone as far up as possible and holding his chin high. He does not know how he knows to do this, but he knows. He quickly brushes his palms over the black fabric of his trousers, hoping she doesn't see. Then he extends a hand toward Fiona, bending at the waist to look at the floor. He wonders why he is doing this, but he waits to understand. Understanding always comes later. He realizes he has been staring at the floor for a moment so he again straightens. Something soft is being laid in his hand. It is Fiona's hand. A smile pulls at the corners of her mouth, and her feet tap against the wood floor as she nears and places her other hand on his shoulder and his arm wraps around to rest on her shoulder blade, almost instinctively. He waits for the next prompt. She waits too, the sound of her breathing soothing in the empty silence of the room. Feelings suddenly fill the room, grasping Jonas's feet and whirling him in perfect unison with Fiona. Other couples seem to appear, swirling randomly, gently with the same feelings Jonas hears. Were they there before? The high sound of his mother's voice mingles with the low sound of his father's voice, but it isn't voices he hears. It is the breathing of a giant...a giant? A giant what? A giant humming? Jonas doesn't know but he keeps swirling glancing around, filling with questions and gladness and joy. Pure joy tightens in Jonas' chest as the emotions sing louder and stronger then burst. Tiny pieces then go dancing throughout his veins and he throws his head back to laugh and hears Fiona laughing with him. He glides with her over every corner of the floor, brushing his elbow once on the wall. Then silence speaks. Jonas drops to the floor, the vibrant emotions no longer there to guide him. Loss, great loss, overwhelms him as Fiona, the others, and the polished dance floor fade into the distance. He opens his eyes."