Slow Dance in Purgatory(6)

Maggie hadn't had any formal training. No one paid for foster kids to have dance lessons. But she had watched and learned and practiced and no one would ever guess she had never had a single lesson. She loved to dance more than anything else in the world, and she really hoped Gus didn't come around the corner and see her dancing her heart out instead of mopping. If Shad saw her she would never hear the end of it.

Maggie spun and swayed down the long corridor; dancing always made her feel like her parents were watching, and so she performed for them. The song rose to its climactic finish, and Maggie, extending her leg high behind her, arched her back and caught it, holding it with her head flung back and her eyes closed. As she released her leg and opened her eyes, she caught a glimpse of someone leaning against the lockers about halfway down the swiftly darkening hallway. Maggie cried out and fell to the glossy floor, all grace abandoning her. She crab-walked frantically back and promptly banged her head on the lockers behind her.

"Crap!" Maggie said, rubbing the spot, her heart pounding in concert to the throbbing of her head.

"Gus? Is that you? I'll get back to work, I promise. You know I can't resist dancing to a good song. It's all your fault, you know." Maggie laughed nervously and rose to her feet. "Gus?"

There was no answer from the hallway where Maggie KNEW she had seen someone. Squinting and cursing herself for not having her glasses, Maggie rose to her feet and slowly moved toward the blackest part of the hallway. It was probably Shad, waiting to jump out at her and scare her to death.

"Shad? You know you wish you could dance as good as me. Come on! Come out, and I'll teach you a few moves." Maggie and Shad were always arguing about who was the best dancer. Shad was terrible, but what he lacked in talent he made up for in personality.

"Are you spying on me? Trying to learn something, huh?" No answer. It was not like Shad to remain quiet. In fact, Maggie thought it was probably physically impossible for him to be still for ten seconds. Maggie's heart started to pound double time.

Evening had suddenly descended on the school, and the high windows above her offered little light to aid her search. But even without her glasses, Maggie could see that someone was definitely there.

"Dumb! Dumb Girl!" she screamed at herself silently. "Danger ahead!" But she kept walking. The figure moved.

"You shouldn't be in the school! I'll have to tell Gus, uh, Mr. Jasper that you're here!" Maggie's voice came out scared and sharp, and she jumped as it echoed off the now silent hallway. Maggie stopped, suddenly very afraid and unwilling to proceed further.

"'Cause we'll be reelin' and a’ rockin’, rockin’ and a’reelin' all night!!" The music blasted out of the intercom above her, blaring and wailing, several decibels louder than it had been just seconds before. Maggie's hair lifted as if a strong wind had just swept down the hallway and wrapped around her. A flash of color and motion caught the corner of her eye, and she whirled, her legs leaden with fright, and fled down the corridor, skidding and sliding on the section of floor she had recently mopped. Without slowing at all, she raced to the emergency exit and flew down the two long flights of stairs. Bursting out the door and into the hallway below, Maggie didn't stop until she reached the gymnasium where Gus was laboring with a floor stripper. He was deaf to the world, or so it seemed, because he didn't turn until Maggie grabbed his arm.

` "Gus! Gus!" Maggie was breathless and gasping, and she had the almost irresistible urge to burst into tears. Gathering herself, she bit down on the tears and tried again. She had learned the hard way that crying got her nowhere.

"Gus. There’s someone in the upstairs hallway. I called out to him...I think it was a man...and he didn't answer. It scared me, and I thought I better come get you."

"What?" Gus switched his hearing aid back on, and Maggie heard a high pitched squeal. Gus winced in response.

"Darn thing," Gus muttered to himself, and then looked at Maggie expectantly. "You okay, Miss Margaret?" Gus always called her Miss Margaret. It was kind of cute when she wasn't scared to death.

Maggie repeated herself patiently, trying to appear calm and hoping that Gus wouldn't make her go back upstairs with him. On second thought, she didn't want to wait here by herself either.

"Hmmm." Gus took off his baseball cap and scratched his head in thought. “You sure it wasn't Shad? Sounds like something he'd do."

"I thought of that, but, no. It wasn't Shad."

"Did I hear the lovely lady say my name?" Shadrach Jasper, all ninety pounds of him, strutted around the corner with his mop and bucket trundling behind him. "Miss me, Mags? 'Cause I sure missed you." Shad tried to sound all Barry White, but the effect was ruined by the squeal that his voice made on the last syllable. Give him a year, and the deep honeyed tones that teased him with inconsistency would be his for good, but at the moment his voice sounded like a braying donkey most of the time.

"I said your name, Shad, but no, sadly, I didn't miss you," Maggie teased, ridiculously relieved to see him.

"It's a little early to quit, but I think we can call it a day," Gus reasoned. "We worked a long time yesterday. Let's go upstairs and see what's what. We’ll get your mop and bucket and call it a night."

Gus proceeded to wind up the long cord on the stripper machine he had been using and then pushed it into the janitor's closet before heading back up the stairs to the third floor where Maggie had seen the intruder. Gus didn't seem scared or upset, and he didn't hurry to get to the third floor. Of course, Maggie had never actually seen Gus hurry. Shad, on the other hand, buzzed between them, asking non-stop questions about the intruder. At the top of the stairs, he paused long enough to hide behind her and peek around when Gus reached for the door.