Water Signs: A Story of Love and Renewal

Maddy focused her eyes straight ahead as she crossed over the Walt Whitman Bridge on her way back into New Jersey. She'd driven to

Malvern from Ocean City earlier that Saturday afternoon to teach country

line dancing for the Cowboy Ball at the Chester Valley Golf Club, where

two of her Pottstown students, a sweet couple named Ellie and Paul

Johnson, were members. Around the same age as Madeline's parents,

they'd been students of her ballroom dance classes since their inception

four years prior, and had been immediately struck by Maddy's poise and

professionalism.

Each semester when the school district mailed out the Adult

Education curriculum, Ellie and Paul would enthusiastically register for

another ten-week session, eagerly anticipating Tuesday nights, which often

came with the added bonus of sharing a pre-class meal with Maddy and

Monica at the local Pottstown Diner. So when fellow country club

members noticed their tremendous progress at a formal dinner dance one

evening, the pair had attributed most of the credit to the wonderful young

woman and her mother-who would good naturedly, "lead" the single

female students to make up for the lack of male participants.

The Tuesday night ritual had quickly become one of Maddy's favorite

activities as well. She'd pick up her Mom after work and the two of them

would make the scenic, 45-minute trek west on Route 422, where they'd

laugh and chat about nothing in particular, while singing along with the

radio. As they'd pass by the rolling green hills of Montgomery County,

Maddy would regale her with funny stories of Betty-who was always

entertaining, or the latest incident involving a crazy client, or a flaky temp

who hadn't shown up for work. Oftentimes, they'd laugh over the antics

of some of Maddy's quirky dance students, wondering what he or she

might say or do during that evening's lesson.

But no matter what was discussed, the drive offered quality one-onone

time for mother and daughter, free from whatever family dramas

might be unfolding at that moment. During those carefree hours spent in

the car and in the elementary school gym, Maddy forgot all about her

insecurities, career dissatisfaction and romantic troubles, uplifted by the

warm, receptive class and the sheer joy of the dance.

However, during last winter's semester she'd started to experience

those weird physical twinges, where all of the sudden she'd feel as if she

were having an out-of-body experience. On a few occasions prior to the

start of the lesson, she'd actually feared getting sick in front of the class,

though-blessed with a strong stomach-Maddy could only recall two

times in her entire life when she'd actually thrown up. But as had become

her habit, she'd excuse herself to step outside or into a ladies room, take a

few deep breaths and then rejoin the class, without uttering a word about

the episode to anyone. It was a pattern that would eventually come back

to haunt her.

Now cruising effortlessly down the Atlantic City Expressway, she

sang along to the latest Vince Gill and Colin Raye cassettes, still very

much in a country mood, thanks to the evening's events. It had been a

pleasure teaching the nice people at Chester Valley, who'd in turn, raved

about her exuberantly to Ellie and Paul. The Johnson couple had been

extremely pleased-though certainly not surprised-by her excellent

performance that evening, for which Maddy had been handsomely

compensated.

However, the best satisfaction for her had been the knowledge that

she'd done her friends proud; after all, they'd truly stuck their necks out to

the members of the Board, most of whom had insisted on hiring someone

with professional experience. Maddy cracked up as she recalled a meeting

involving her, Ellie and a very finicky and skeptical woman named

Suzanne, who'd grilled her relentlessly about her dancing skills. Maddy

had passed the test with flying colors, teaching them an impromptu class

in the middle of Ellie's living room.

After Suzanne left, Ellie apologized profusely for the woman's initial

behavior, but Madeline had taken it all in stride. The only downside to

getting the job had been the accompanying necessity to tear herself away

from the beach, all too aware that precious days in the summer sun would

soon be coming to an end. Thankfully, the weatherman was promising

another hot, clear day tomorrow; Maddy planned to take full advantage.

And as she drove on through the night, she tried to focus on the good

things in her life, even as memories of last summer and Ken's recent

phone call hung over her like a black cloud.