Page 49 of Pride and Protest

From: EliteEvents

To: [email protected]

Ok, we went ahead and added the dance floor setup to the room. It was a last-minute request, so the price is more than quoted in the itemized list. Can we expect a dance floor for future events as well?

Awaiting your reply,

Tom, Elite Events

Dorsey spent the entire week blowing through his Treasurer cigarettes. When those were done, he chewed gum. Now, tonight, mere hours before the event, he was a bundle of nerves. He would ask Liza to dance, that he knew. But her reaction was hers. He hoped to publicly make up for the meme, for the embarrassment he had caused her. And to spend a few glorious minutes holding her without the crippling guilt or the threat of memes.

He wanted to rent documentaries and catalog his thoughts and cross-reference them with hers. He knew that was anincredibly nerdy fantasy, but he really was dying to know howshewould speak about issues he didn’t even know about. No doubt Liza had an opinion on them all and a riotous way of conveying it. He had told no less than ten people about her Electric Slide theory, and the surrounding discussions had been telling and hilarious. She was so opposite her diffident sister. Janae reminded him of a masterpiece behind layers of plexiglass, her beauty distant and inaccessible. David swore the woman was interesting, but Dorsey had only ever seen her light up during a conversation about regressive tax. But David had turned his entire life upside down for Liza’s sister, not even leaving DC and Janae when the news came down that his father’s condition was worsening. Dorsey picked up the phone and dialed David’s number.

“David, you need to tell your dad to stop working.” Dorsey’s voice was firm and deliberate.

“You know I can’t do that. This Paris deal means so much to him.”

“You take over that deal. It will give him peace of mind. He just wants to feel like everything will be taken care of when he...” Dorsey’s voice trailed off.

The phone fell silent, but Dorsey could still hear David breathing.

“I can take care of everything in DC,” Dorsey continued. “You can’t wait for Janae to feel something for you.”

“Dorsey, you’re so cynical. Just give me tonight. I’ll make my decision tomorrow.”

Dorsey hung up and held the phone. He had so many things he wished he had said to his father before he died. He would give anything for one more hour with him. One more minute. David was making a mistake staying in DC while his father spent his dying days trying to close a deal in France.

Anxious, he sent off a text to Liza, his thumbs dancing over the phone keyboard.

Question number 14: Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

He waited for a full five minutes and had almost put the phone down when it buzzed in his hand.

Building schools in Ghana

I haven’t done it because large efforts require coalition building, and I’ve stumbled getting people behind me for a cause

You?

Dorsey thought for a moment.

I have always wanted to slow dance with a beautiful woman.

You’ve never slow danced!!!?

This fact would kill in #NeverHaveIEver

She made him sound like a mutant. He supposed it was a strange thing to never have done.

Once in public. It was a disaster.

And dancing in public is kind of an exhibition, isn’t it?

Everyone can see just how much you don’t belong there

Dorsey finished, then waited.

You feel like you don’t belong a lot?