{"id":1217,"date":"2019-07-10T21:01:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2019-07-10T20:49:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T03:49:02","slug":"welcome-to-the-watch-rwisa-write-showcase-tour-rrbc-rwisa-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/10\/welcome-to-the-watch-rwisa-write-showcase-tour-rrbc-rwisa-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the WATCH “RWISA” WRITE Showcase Tour! #RRBC #RWISA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RWISA<\/p>\n

SHE DANCES WITH A MEMORY
\nJAN SIKES<\/p>\n

Gertrude McNabb placed a gnarled hand on her arthritic back as she bent over to take a chocolate cake from the oven. She inhaled the sweet aroma and put it on a rack to cool.<\/p>\n

A black-and-white photograph of a dark-haired man with twinkling eyes sat nearby on the cabinet. \u201cThis is for you, Hiram. I didn\u2019t forget it was your birthday. It\u2019s your favorite. I\u2019ll always remember how your face would light up when I baked this special recipe for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gertrude picked up the framed snapshot, held it against her heart, and shuffled into the living room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might as well make use of the time while I wait for your cake to cool. Then I\u2019ll frost it with your favorite French vanilla icing. The kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids are all going to be here in a couple of hours, and it will be nothing but pure chaos,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The mahogany stereo cabinet from the 1960s occupied the same spot in the living room that it had since the day Hiram McNabb brought it home as a Christmas surprise. They\u2019d spent many happy days and nights listening to record albums. Hiram never tried to hide the fact that he adored Rosemary Clooney. But, not Gertrude. For her, it was ol\u2019 Blue Eyes himself that got her blood going.<\/p>\n

Oh, the wonderful and countless hours they\u2019d waltzed away across the living room floor to the beautiful music that wafted out of those state-of-the-art stereo speakers.<\/p>\n

She adjusted her glasses and thumbed through a stack of record albums. It seemed to take forever nowadays to do even the simplest task. She pulled out a favorite and held it up in front of the photo she\u2019d perched on the coffee table. \u201cSince it\u2019s your birthday, my dear, and such a special occasion, how about Nat King Cole?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her fingers, once nimble and efficient, struggled to remove the round disc from its package.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember how this one caught my eye in the record store, but we didn\u2019t buy it?\u201d She chuckled. \u201cAnd then you brought it home the very next day.\u201d She blew out a sigh.<\/p>\n

Once she had the disk secured on the turntable, she took the pins from her silver hair, and it tumbled down her back.<\/p>\n

She clicked on the stereo and waited until the tiny red light turned green, then gently placed the needle onto the black groove.<\/p>\n

Then with a great flourish, she picked up the photo and held her arms out for her imaginary dance partner.<\/p>\n

Even though she hardly moved from the spot where she stood, with her eyes closed, she was transported back in time, back to days of youth when it had been impossible to imagine ever growing old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fascination, I know, seeing you alone with the moonlight above,\u201d Nat King Cole sang.<\/p>\n

A smile graced her lips.<\/p>\n

She whispered, \u201cHiram Edward McNabb, you swept me off my feet the first time I saw you. You were so handsome in your Army uniform. I\u2019ll never forget that night at the county fair. My older brother and sister took me, and since they wanted to stick around for the dance, I got to stay with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She paused and steadied herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou asked me to dance and didn\u2019t let me sit down one time the whole night.\u201d She giggled. \u201cFrom then on, I knew we were meant to be together. I\u2019d always hated my name, and you agreed that Gertrude sounded like an old lady, so you called me by my middle name. I was your Rose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memories swirled around in her mind. Sweet remembrances of laughter, of falling in love and of daring to live the fullest life imaginable flew by the way scenes from a movie might do.<\/p>\n

No, they hadn\u2019t been wealthy, but Hiram made a decent living for them, and they always had what they needed. However, it was his steadfast love for her, for life, and the music they embraced that kept her excited and happy for over sixty years.<\/p>\n

As impossible as it seemed, he\u2019d now been gone over two years. Never a day passed that she didn\u2019t carry on a conversation with him. It started with a good morning greeting and ended with a good night declaration of love.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, she could swear that he answered her.<\/p>\n

The needle reached the end of the record. She set the photo back down and focused her attention on choosing another album.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosie.\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned around. \u201cHiram?\u201d<\/p>\n

No one was there. Then she heard it again. Was she going daft?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve certainly let my imagination get the best of me. I guess that\u2019s what happens to old ladies when they\u2019re alone too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she reached for her favorite Frank Sinatra album, a hand brushed against hers.<\/p>\n

Now she was sure she was losing what little bit of sensibility she had left.<\/p>\n

When she was a child, her relatives shared stories about spirit visits from beyond the veil. To her, it was nothing more than hogwash and products of overactive imaginations. After all, what did old folks know?<\/p>\n

As hard as it was to admit, she might have been wrong about that, and a little hasty to judge. Perhaps Hiram had shown up to celebrate his birthday.<\/p>\n

Whatever it was, she would enjoy it and soak up every moment, even if it wasn\u2019t real. She could make it true in her mind.<\/p>\n

With Frank Sinatra crooning a love song, she reached again for the photo but instead, chose to leave it sitting and simply held out her wrinkled and trembling arms.<\/p>\n

Her feet moved, and she twirled just like she\u2019d done thousands of times before. She threw back her head and laughed. She was twenty again, as Hiram swept her across the big wooden dance floor inside the SPJST Hall.<\/p>\n

Song after song played, and still, they danced, they laughed, and they kissed.<\/p>\n

Then the record reached an end and she was met with deafening silence. She opened her eyes, surprised to find that she stood in the same spot where she\u2019d been. She truly had been waltzing and twirling with Hiram.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired now, my love.\u201d She moved toward her easy chair. \u201cI just need to rest awhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps one day before long, she\u2019d be waltzing again with her sweetheart for the remainder of eternity. But for now, she had the memories, and she\u2019d continue to dance with them until that day came.<\/p>\n

She reached for the photo and pressed it to her heart.<\/p>\n

Her eyes drifted shut, and she smiled.<\/p>\n

\"Jewel<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Voodoo<\/a><\/p>\n

View Jan’s book trailer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JanThank you for supporting this member along the WATCH “RWISA” WRITE Showcase Tour today! We ask that if you have enjoyed this member’s writing, please visit their Author Page on the RWISA site, where you can find more of their writing, along with their contact and social media links, if they’ve turned you into a fan.<\/p>\n

We ask that you also check out their books in the RWISA or RRBC catalogs. Thanks, again, for your support and we hope that you will follow each member along this amazing tour of talent! Don’t forget to click the link below to learn more about this author:<\/p>\n

Jan SIkes’ RWISA Author Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHE DANCES WITH A MEMORY JAN SIKES Gertrude McNabb placed a gnarled hand on her arthritic back as she bent over to take a chocolate cake from the oven. She inhaled the sweet aroma and put it on a rack to cool. A black-and-white photograph of a dark-haired man with twinkling eyes sat nearby on … Continue reading “Welcome to the WATCH “RWISA” WRITE Showcase Tour! #RRBC #RWISA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1,466],"tags":[680,537,657,677],"class_list":["post-1217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-jan-sikes","tag-rrbc","tag-rwisa","tag-showcase-tour"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wA33-jD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1241,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}