The Biscuit

My sister always liked to dance since she was a little girl, when there was music on the radio or the TV she would whirl around with little steps, keeping the rhythm. My father always invited her to dance when we visited friends and family. She even won a prize for dancing. She was graceful and she was older than me. I knew she could dance because every time there was music in the house I was under some table or in a corner where nobody could see me, because supposedly I should have been sleeping along with all the other children of the family. I liked to watch the grown ups dance and sing.

I grew up and one day I asked my sister to teach me how to use make up and lend me one of her old dresses so I could go to a party. I was fourteen years old. My sister reluctantly helped me with the make up and gave me a dress that was just right for me. I was nervous and excited, it was going to be my first outing as an adult. My sister was going outwith her group of friends. I did not have friends in this group. They were older than me.

When we arrived at the party, my sister left me and said “find your friends.” I forgot to tell you that I am very slim, timid and I believe that I am not attractive, so I looked around. The place was full of young people eager to have a good time. I did not know a single person. The music began to fill my heart with the melody and the noise crept into my blood. I could hear a cha-cha-cha. I could hear rock music. I wanted to dance but I thought I would look awkward and decided to watch from the corner where I found a chair to sit down.

After a while I decided to go to the buffet and someone handed me a biscuit. I ate the biscuit. It tasted sweet. I helped myself to another biscuit, and another, and another, and suddenly, when the music took off with rock and roll, my feet decided to direct me to the dance floor. I did not have a partner to accompany me but it did not matter. I wanted to dance. I danced by myself. I found my feet and allowed my arms make figures around my body and moved with measure and pleasure. I closed my eyes. I was enjoying this. I heard someone asking “do you want to dance with me?” I said yes and we danced together the whole night, until the moment my sister decided it was time to go home. I never knew what came over me that made me so forward, without inhibitions and so eager to dance. I told this to my sister and she said “I have an easy explanation.”

“The biscuits you ate were full of sugar, and remember what mother said, that you always reacted funny to sugar.”

I.