Women were brought up to believe

That men were the answer.

Julian Barnes

When I was four years old, my mother enrolled me in Patricia Heineman’s tap- dance class and I fell in love with Dickie Hertzberg. Dickie was my Aunt Tick’s nephew but I never paid much attention to him at family dinners because he was as unobtrusive as the living room rug. I couldn’t ignore him in our dancing class because he stood right next to me and I had to watch his feet if I didn’t catch on to the steps. I can still remember the two of us standing in that bare, cold room with goose bumps on our arms, both so tiny we had to stretch to reach the bar. Dickie watched Miss Heineman demonstrate a brush, a tap and a shuffle with solemn eyes and quivering lip. “Don’t be scared, Dickie,” I whispered. “You can do it!”

“Heads up,” commanded Miss Heineman, “Backs straight! Arms out! Five, six, seven, eight, begin!“

The minute Dickie heard the downbeat, he was transformed into a smiling Bo Jangles. His eyes lit up and he thundered across the room, the rest of the class huffing and puffing behind him. “Hop-shuffle-step! “ called Miss Heineman. “Very good, Dickie! Tummy in, Lynn Ruth! Brush, kick . . No! No, darlings! Not each other!”

After class my mother brought Dickie home with us to wait for his mother to pick him up. Dickie’s mother loved little girls and she always brought me a feminine gift like a lace petticoat or a cute doll whenever she came to our house. She burst into our kitchen like an explosion of light and kissed the two of us. “Let’s have a recital!” she’d say and we would sail around my mom’s kitchen into the living room while the two mothers clapped out the beat and sang the melody.

“MARVELOUS!” Aunt Sue said every time. “The two of you are even better than Mickey Rooney and Margaret O’Brien”

That Halloween, Dickie and I decided to be dancing ghosts when we went Trick or Treating. In those days, children entertained their neighbors on Halloween Eve. If you performed well, you got a lot of applause and a home made treat. My neighborhood was such a child friendly place that I felt no stage fright, but poor Dickie didn’t know how sweet everyone on my street was and he was very worried. “What if I mess up?” he whispered.

I took his hand in mine and my four-year-old heart went pitty pat. “I’ll cover for you,” I promised.

Dickie looked at me with those large brown eyes of his and when I took out my hankie to wipe away his tears, I could see that he loved me too.

Halloween Eve, my mother and Aunt Sue dressed us both in long white sheets. My mother insisted that I wear a pink ribbon on my sheet. “Otherwise they’ll look like two identical mounds of laundry,” said my mother.

“Do you think East Side, West Side is spooky enough?” I asked.

Aunt Sue nodded. “Definitely,” she said. “The two of you are so adorable that your audience will be enchanted the minute you start your routine!”

“Will they give us chocolate cookies?” asked Dickie. “I just love the ones with marshmallow inside.”

“They will give you exactly what you deserve,” said my mother, the only realist in the crowd. ”Now off you go. Remember to smile! Bow when they clap their hands and say thank you when they give you a treat. Tuck in that tummy, Lynn Ruth!”

She pushed us out the door and I felt as though I had entered heaven. There I was holding hands with my first boyfriend on a star filled moonlit night. My little pink ribbon quivered and I smiled a private smile under my sheet. “Ready?” I whispered.

“Do we begin with shuffle, tap, hop or hop, flap?” asked Dickie.

He held my hand tighter and I thought my heart would explode with love for him. “You’ll remember when we begin,” I said. “Why don’t we go over to Aunt Tick’s house first because she’ll give us candy kisses.”

“But I want chocolate cookies with marshmallows inside,” said Dickie.

“Maybe she’ll give us those too if we do a really good job,” I said. “I know she has some because Mother got her a package of them when we went to the A& P.” The two of us ran down the street to my aunt’s house and rang the bell. Aunt Tick opened the door and she covered her eyes. “My God, Harry!” she cried. “Come quick! There are two ghosts standing on the porch and I am scared to death.”

“Did my mother tell you we were coming?” I asked.

“That is a very familiar voice,” said my aunt. “If I didn’t know that Lynnie Ruth was alive this afternoon when she delivered my groceries I’d swear she was the ghost on the left.”

“Those shoes look just like Dickie Hertzberg’s” said my Uncle Harry. “You don’t suppose the witches got them both and turned them into ghosts after dinner!”

“Hold my hand, Harry,” said my aunt. “I think I’m going to faint.”

“Ready, Dickie?” I whispered. “Five, six, seven eight! East side, west side. . . “

The two of us tapped a brilliant tattoo across the threshold. We kicked, shuffled and brushed into the living room and up the stairs. I twirled around at the top step and my sheet flapped like a tornado at the height of a storm. Dickie took my hand and whirled me down the steps into the kitchen in front of my Aunt’s cookie jar.

We bowed.

“WONDERFUL!” cried my aunt. “Weren’t they superb, Harry?”

Uncle Harry nodded. “Better than the movies,” he said.

My aunt took us both in her arms. “I am very proud of you both!” she said.

Dickie pulled away from her embrace. “Aren’t we going to get a cookie?” he asked.

My aunt shook her head. “Harry ate the last one for dinner,” she said. “But I have something even better for you!”

She reached into a basket and handed us each a little pumpkin with a smiling face. “I made these myself,” she said. “See? Lynnie’s has a ribbon on hers and Dickie’s has a bow tie.”

Dickie frowned. “But they aren’t chocolate,” he said. “Do they have a marshmallow inside?”

“Happy Halloween!” I said and I pulled Dickie after me out the door. “That was very impolite,” I told him. “Aunt Tick made those little pumpkins just for us and you didn’t even say thank you.”

“Maybe they’ll have chocolate cookies at the next house,” said Dickie.

“Don’t worry, Dickie,” I said. “We have lots of those cookies at my house and I’ll give you all you can eat as soon as we get home.”

Dickie smiled and gave me a great big hug and kiss right there under my Aunt Tick’s porch light. “I love you Lynnie Ruth!” he said. ”I never want to dance with anyone but you!”

That was when I learned that performers should be grateful for anything they get, and that your dance partner will never leave you if you promise him chocolate cookies with marshmallows inside.



One is never too young for romance!

Lynn Ruth and Ingrid Bergman