Step, Step, Step On

Today at line dancing class at a senior center where everyone but a couple of us were Black, a younger woman came across the room to stand next to me as the teacher started a new dance and she pointed to where I should stand so I saw her steps and then she said in unison with the teacher, right, right, left foot, right, slide, tap, half turn, not exactly like that because I couldn’t keep track but she kept moving and watching me and when the dance was over she went over the other side of the room to sit down, but then on the next dance, when she saw I was having trouble, she wove her way through the dancers to be at my side again, and I was the new girl at the Girl Scout troop that had been meeting for years but she treated me like I belonged and it felt good to receive this kindness.