Moon Dance Read Free

she was hooked up to skatey-illion tubes and IVs, and yet she was talking about coming back in six weeks and taking over her old spot."
    "And she probably will." Lee shrugged. "Surely you know that she's not the only member of your troupe who thinks she's found an easy means of weight control?"
    "Easy?" Georgia's eyes widened, recalling Mallory's hollow cheekbones, pencil-thin fingers, large eyes set in a gaunt face. "If that's the easy way, I'd sure as hell hate to see the hard way."
    "Well, I do not have to tell you, of all people, how unreasonable Ivan can be where his dancers' weights are concerned."
    Georgia met his eyes across the table, but did not answer. She herself had been the victim of Ivan's tyrannical rages when she had weighed in a pound or two above the director's limits. For each of his dancers, Ivan kept a notebook in which he recorded their weights on a daily basis. Those whose weight fluctuated by a pound or two might be ridiculed in front of the other dancers, but those whose weight gain might exceed that would be subjected to humiliation of the cruelest form. Ivan could indeed be terrible.
    "No," she told him. "I know that a lot of the dancers do dreadful things to themselves to keep their weight down. Not just in our company, but in just about every one that I know of."
    "Eating disorders are as old as the dance, Georgia. Consider yourself fortunate that you never were afflicted."
    "I do. But Lee, there's more." She averted her eyes again.
    "Isn't there always?" Lee sighed and gestured for her to continue.
    "Yesterday Ivan announced his choice to fill Mallory's spot. He made a big deal out of it in front of everyone."
    "Let me guess." Lee narrowed his eyes and pretended to think. "His choice was… Georgia Enright."
    " How did you know that?"
    "Ivan is a petty, wicked little man and is as transparent as a beam of light. Somehow he must have found out that you had visited Mallory in the hospital. Ivan being Ivan, he will want to punish Mallory for disrupting his routine. How best to punish her? By replacing her with the only person who has shown her any kindness."
    "I didn't realize that you knew him that well," she said softly.
    "I have known Ivan for more years than I like to recall. We were in the same company in Boston, and then again in Houston. It was only coincidence that we both ended up in Baltimore together. Oh, yes, we go back a very long way. But that's old news." He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Did he give the other dancers the opportunity to challenge you for the role?"
    "You do know him well, don't you?" She nodded glumly.
    "He's done this before—set several dancers against each other. Offer one a part, then ask if any of the others would like a chance to win the role away. Divide and conquer, so to speak. It's a means of maintaining control, you know. And it never fails to create a little drama, a little tension. Ivan, as we know, thrives on both."
    "Well, so far, only one dancer has asked to audition. Sharyn Heffe rn . She was new last year. She's a wonderful dancer, Lee. She deserves the role much more than I do."
    "What is the role, by the way?" he asked.
    "Giselle."
    Lee rolled his eyes to the heavens. "A very important ballet. A challenging one. And definitely not a role for novices. What in glory's name could the man be thinking? Giselle is demanding, it's difficult. It's dramatic ballet at its best, and it's—" He paused. "Did you accept Ivan's offer?"
    "I didn't accept or not accept. I was stunned. I couldn't respond. And he did his usual, you know, drop the bombshell, then turn heel and leave the room."
    "Well, how do you feel about it?"
    "I feel like … like I'm being used. It's just like you said. Like he's trying to hurt Mallory. And at the same time, he's humiliating me. He knows I don't deserve the position, he knows I'm not good enough. Sharyn can dance circles around me."
    "I wouldn't be surprised if he had suggested to Sharyn that she