Come and Join the Dance Read Free Page A

this unknown young man were not walking together. Soon he would be across 110th Street, and she would be walking on the other side of Broadway back to the college, since after all there was no other place to go. But she wanted to see his face. She almost cried out to him, “Turn around, please!”
    Just before the light changed, she saw him step forward as a car swerved around the corner. He stepped back almost casually and watched the car disappear. It was then that he turned toward her and she realized he was someone she knew—Kay’s friend, Peter. Kay had met him just a few weeks before she left school, and lately she seemed always to be going over to his apartment. Susan found herself running to catch up with him.
    â€œHello!” she called loudly. “Hello, Peter!” When he turned, he had the look of someone startled out of sleep. “I’m just taking a walk,” she said, feeling unbearably foolish. Why was he studying her so gravely? Could he tell that she had been running? “Somehow I always meet people on Broadway.”
    He smiled at her uncertainly. “I’m just taking a walk myself. Where are you headed?” he asked.
    She shrugged and laughed a little, feeling that she would choke if she answered him.
    â€œWould you like some coffee?” he said.
    â€œOh … ” she said. “Well, yes.”
    He had an amused look—she must have sounded awfully eager. “How about the College Inn? Is that all right?”
    â€œThat’s fine,” she said.
    They turned and began to walk back uptown. There was a silence between them that contented her, although she usually found silence uncomfortable, a kind of failure, especially if she was with someone she did not know very well. She barely knew Peter, although she knew a lot about him because of all the things Kay had told her. Kay had taken her to some of his parties, and a few times when she had met Kay at the Riverside, Peter had sat at their table. Yet she had scarcely spoken to him. This was the first time they had ever been alone together.
    When they passed Schulte’s Kay was still there, sitting all by herself at the counter. Susan almost said, “Oh, look—there’s Kay,” but without quite knowing why, she didn’t; the silence was left intact. When they were halfway up the block she wondered whether Kay had seen them pass, not that Kay would have minded—she was beautifully unpossessive of people, and just because she talked about Peter so much, it didn’t mean that she was in love with him; Kay had never said so… . Why should she have the uneasy feeling that she had done something wrong?
    They were the only customers in the College Inn. They sat down in a booth near the window, considered the menu and ordered coffee. For a while, Peter stared at her across the table. His eyes were gray, deep-set, almost blank at times. His mouth was very thin when he wasn’t smiling.
    â€œSusan,” Peter said abruptly, “do you have a quarter?”
    â€œI think so.”
    â€œWell, find it. We can have some music.”
    She began to search through her pocketbook obediently, as though young men had always asked her for quarters, and she heard Peter impatiently beating out a private rhythm on the table. “Here’s one,” she said at last, dropping it into his hand.
    â€œExcellent.” He walked to the jukebox, read the titles of all the songs, then turned to her. “What would you like to hear?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œAre you being polite when you say that, or don’t you care?”
    Was he attacking her? She had a moment of panic. “I guess I don’t care.”
    â€œIt’s your quarter,” he said in mock reproach. “But since you’re not interested, you’re at my mercy.” He pressed three buttons and walked back to the booth. There was a roll of jungle drums over the loudspeaker, then