Waltz of Her Life

"What the hell is this shit?" Greg shouted.

A loud buzzing came through the speakers and Linda saw two men in glittery costumes ride flashing motorcycles across the stage. A woman with her blond hair pulled into a high, glamorous ponytail strutted toward the center. She wore a glittering high-cut maillot magician's assistant outfit, high heels and glittery hose. Something shimmered and flashed in her hand as she lifted it above her head and flourished with it, pointing the guys criss-crossing each other on the stage floor.

A trap door opened on the giant metal ball and one motorcycle aimed toward it.

The wheels leaped inside the ball, where the rider guided it in circles inside, riding sideways and upside down. That brought "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd. The second motorcycle entered the trap door and Lauren shrieked. "No way! Those guys are going to crash into each other. Seth waved a hand dismissively at the motorcycle riders. "I could do that! That ain't nothing."

Linda stood up with everyone else. She'd never heard of a concert beginning with a daredevil act before. A pink poodle suddenly appeared onstage. Linda wondered if she was hallucinating, if she'd inhaled so much pot smoke that she'd gotten stoned herself. At the spangled lady's command, the poodle stood on its hind legs and jumped through the silver hoop while the men continued to ride the motorcycles around inside the metal ball.

The crowd soon tired of watching the lady with the dog. The motorcycles had escaped from the metal ball. People started to chant "Zeppelin! Zeppelin!" The neon lights turned off and the entire area went dark. Little flickers of light illuminated the sea of people on the floor.

The sparkles extended up the rows of seats to the metal rafters overhead. Lauren, Jeannie, Seth and Greg had joined in by flicking their lighters into flame and holding their arms high. Music started to play, but it sounded different from the rock and roll that had played on the system minutes before. Linda recognized strains of classical violin and majestic cymbals as, in front of them, the stage took on an eerie, bright pink aura. The large metal ball had receded backstage behind black curtains.

Linda strained on tiptoe to watch drums and guitars float forward from backstage, in the shadows. Greg had lifted Lauren onto his shoulders and she shrieked and whooped with the other jubilant people around them. Someone poked Linda on her arm and when she turned she saw Seth's pleasantly grinning face. "Hey doll," he said. "Wanna get a better view?"