Joel Rees Novels

Saturday, November 7, 2026

3809/2801: Dust Angels

2801
Dust Angels

TOC

Sapphire saw me while I was still a ways off, and waved. When I got to the vacant lot next to our house, she left the others practicing and came to meet me.

"Hec's saying he wants to go to OC to get a look at the manual for, uhm --"

"For the 1802," Hec said from where he was practicing.

"Yeah, and I want to look at the 8080 manual, too," Cyndy added.

"Should we go?" Sapphire asked. "You want to look at the manuals too, don't you? I think Mom would approve."

I looked over to Rick.

He said, "Hec seems to be in a hurry to get his letter of inquiry off."

"My fault for sending mine so early?" I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't throw a couple of well-behaved high school seniors out of the library, though."

Sapphire looked a little disappointed.

Rick replied, "We can go again on the weekend. I want to get a little more look at the manuals they have."

I lifted my carrier bags off my shoulders. "I've got some customers who just told me they wanted to pay tonight for September."

"Is that going to take long?" Sapphire asked.

"If I ride my bike, maybe fifteen minutes. Can you study by yourself while I go get their money?"

"I could go with."

Ivette said, "They'll think Joey is training a new carrier."

Sapphire looked thoughtful. I grinned lopsidedly.

Maralea added, "And they may make up reasons why the new carrier is Joe's girlfriend."

I lost my grin and Sapphire looked even more thoughtful.

Hec said, "Cyndy and I were planning to eat with my family tonight. Could we meet you back here about seven thirty?"

Sapphire's brow wrinkled slightly. "Mom was wanting us to eat at our house tonight."

I lifted my bags back up and over my head, covering my face. "Slow down," I complained through the fabric and leftover newspapers. (I usually had a couple left over.)

Sapphire reached her arm around my back under the bags and leaned her head against my chest.

I lifted the bags back off and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"Rick, don't you need to be heading out?" I asked.

"Yeah. Mara's pretty close by, isn't she? I could run her home."

Cyndy said, "You need to get something to eat, Rick. We'll make sure she gets home."

Mara said, "Well, if you guys are going to study at the OC library, maybe I could go with?"

I dropped my bags and reached out to bump fists with Rick.

He hesitated, not raising his fist for the bump. "Anyway, take notes." he replied.

"Gotcha."

He raised his fist resignedly, and we bumped fists. "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow. Give me a call tonight, Joe." He turned towards his car, then turned back. "Oh, and thanks for the coaching me today, Mara. You really don't mind doing this?"

"Not at all. See you tomorrow."

There was a chorus of "Tomorrow!" and "See you!" And Rick left.

"Ivette, are you needing to go?" I asked.

"I can give you a little more than a half an hour if we start now."

I calculated the time in my head. "Okay, Hec, we'll see you and Cyndy in front of the library about seven thirty. Sapphire, give your mom a call and ask for a rain check, and we'll eat here tonight so I can squeeze things in. I'll ditch out of dinner preparations to go collect after we work out with Ivette."

Sapphire turned to me and blinked slowly.

"Unless you have another plan," I added.

"Let me call my mom. Mara, you need to call your mom, too, don't you?"

"Probably. Can I eat with you guys, Joe?"

"I'm sure. No problem."

"I could study here while you and Sapphire work out, and then we could go to OC."

I nodded. "I think I can squeeze things in that way. If I can borrow the car. I don't want to give two girls a ride on the back of my bike."

Sapphire said, "Huh uh. Nope."

And Maralea gave me a sardonic smile.

Cyndy and Ivette laughed. Hec shook his head.

We all went inside and I got permission from Mom to borrow the truck since Linda Lee was using the Colt.

Sapphire called her Mom and motioned me close to listen in while the phone rang.

Her mother answered.

"Mom?"

"Yes, hun?"

"Cyndy and Hec are talking about going to the OC library to research their microprocessors, and it might help them get in if Joe and I could go with. Would it be okay if we studied with them for about an hour? Maralea will be there, too."

There was a pause. "Well, I'm glad you called now, because I was just going to get started fixing dinner, and I guess you're going to want to eat at Joe's house tonight?"

"Well, yeah."

"So I have to change dinner plans. But I can do that. Will you both come home to study after that?"

Sapphire looked up at me, letting the phone turn my direction.

"Sounds good," I said.

"Hi, Joe."

"Hello, Mrs. Andrews."

"I was planning to have you over for dinner tonight. How about tomorrow?"

"Sure. Thanks. I think that would be great."

There was another pause. "Okay. Dad will be disappointed."

"Thanks Mom!" Sapphire grinned in relief. "Tell Dad thanks, too."

"Hah. I'm sure he won't mind too much."

"Thanks, Mrs. Andrews. I'll be looking forward to tomorrow."

"We will, too."

Maralea called her folks and got permission, as well. With that settled, Cyndy and Hec took off.

Maralea took her books out into the den with Ivette.

Sapphire poked me in the stomach. "You need some support today."

"Support?"

"You're going to make me say it?"

"Ahh," I stalled while I cast about for ideas what she was talking about. Then I remembered. "Oh. That. You're making me guess about that? You had no problem talking about it at club."

"We're alone now. I'm glad you're not going to make me help you look for it."

I nodded sheepishly. "Hang on for a sec."

"I'm not going anywhere." She grinned.

I went to my room and shut the door, dug a clean jock strap out of my underwear drawer and changed into gym shorts and tee-shirt while I was at it. (I guess it might have been Bike brand instead of Jock.) And refrained from thinking about who was waiting for me around the corner in the living room while I was changing clothes.

"All protected?" she asked when I came back.

"I guess."

As we walked through the door to the den, she said, "Rick and Hec had questions, so we just worked over stuff we did yesterday and today with them. You don't have any questions, so I think you and I should work on your abs."

I gave her a quizzical look. "I don't have questions? Not that I think I'd know what questions to ask."

"You don't have questions."

"No?"

"You need to work on your abdominal muscles."

Maralea looked up from her homework. "Do I hear someone being pushy?"

Ivette, who was sitting at the table, said, "Nope. Joey needs to work on his abs."

"Am I being pushy?" Sapphire raised her eyebrows.

"Ah, yes, but I think I need to work on my abs. Questions will wait."

"Good. Let's start with the pushups we didn't do yesterday."

Maralea gave me a sideways look.

"I really don't know what questions to ask yet, and I think Sapphire is right about my abs."

"Oh-kay." She turned back to her books.

Sapphire grinned and said, "I think I might understand why my Mom gets worried. Sometimes I am pushy. Anyway, let's start with four knee push-ups, elbows out."

"Elbows out?" I held my hands up in front of my face with my elbows extended out, fingers touching in front of my nose.

"Like that, but put your hands below your shoulders, not below your face."

I got on my hands and knees with my elbows out away from my sides, hands below my shoulders as she said, then extended my legs to rest on my knees, and did four quick knee push-ups, ending in the air.

She knelt beside me, observing.

"Now on your toes, four more."

I brought my knees off the floor and remembered the previous evening's discussion of muscles pulling, not pushing, and did four full push-ups.

While I was doing those, she got down beside me and did push-ups, too.

"Stop in the air," she said as I got to the fourth.

I stopped after the fourth.

"Now think of your abdominal muscles contracting and pulling your chest towards your knees and causing your hips to rise."

"I'm thinking about it."

"You're hips are not lifting. Think about it with your muscles. Watch me."

She raised her hips up toward the ceiling without appearing to use her legs or arms.

I thought about it with my muscles, and my hips rose, too.

"Make a nice triangle with the floor." She showed me.

I made the triangle. "My abs, I guess, aren't used to this," I grunted with my hips in the air.

"Lower your hips slowly and go face down on the floor and extend your arms all the way out."

She scooted away far enough that our arms wouldn't bump into each other, and lay face down on the floor, and I followed her lead.

"Mmmph. This floor is dusty." I turned my face sideways. "I suppose I should go get a broom and sweep it."

"No time. Remember how we all used to make snow angels in elementary when it snowed?" She brushed her arms along the floor, above her head and then down to her sides.

"Yeah. So you want me to make dust angels?"

I heard Maralea snort.

"Something like that, but just your arms. Four. You'll survive."

"Not swinging my legs?"

"Not facing down. That's not going to have results we want."

"Okay." I turned my face to the dusty floor and brushed my arms up over my head and down to my sides across the floor four times.

"Hands under your shoulders for push-ups, but bring your elbows in to your waist." She showed me what she meant, bringing her arms down by sides, with her hands under her shoulders. "And do four more knee push-ups, and four more on your toes, make a triangle again, and do four more snow angels." She laughed. "Dust angels."

I heard Maralea and Ivette both chuckle.

She started the set.

I brought my elbows in like she had and did the set without comment.

"One more time with your elbows out. See if you can get your arms in a straight line from your elbow to your neck to your elbow while you're doing knee push-ups and keep that line for the full push-ups."

I put my elbows out and she got up and traced the line from my elbow to my other elbow with her hand.

I adjusted my elbows to get the line a little straighter and she moved off a bit so she could do them with me. We did the set without comment.

"How are your muscles?" She got up and rubbed my back.

"Okay. Doing the dust angels seems to help my arms recover. Not the dust, though. Just the angels. Dust doesn't help."

She laughed. "Good. One more set with your elbows in."

And we both did another set with our elbows in.

She got up. "Roll over."

I rolled over. "Woof."

She rubbed my chest. "Good boy."

Maralea deadpanned, "I can coach Rick through the push-ups, the triangle, and the, uhm, snow angels, but I am not teaching him how to bark."

Sapphire and I laughed.

"And I'm not going to call them dust angels." Her tone was a little defensive.

I looked over at Maralea.

"Makes me think of dust devils," she said sheepishly.

"Mmm," Sapphire thought. "That would sound like whirling dervishes."

I said, pointedly, "I thought you were doing your homework."

She grinned lopsidedly. "Maybe I'm learning something, too."

"I really appreciate your help with Rick," Sapphire grinned back.

"Me, too," I added.

Maralea blinked and nodded.

Sapphire looked over at Ivette. "Thoughts?"

Ivette smiled and shook her head. "Looking good."

"Sit-ups or leg lifts next?"

Ivette shrugged. "You pick."

"Mmm. Okay, Joey, bring your knees up, together, with your feet on the floor."

"More triangles." I brought my knees up.

Again, she positioned herself where our arms wouldn't bump into each other, and lay down on her back to do them with me.

She looked over at me. "Mmmmh, arms out for balance."

I spread my arms out.

"Let your knees kind of fall together over to your left." She showed me.

I let my knees lean to the left.

"Push them all the way over to the floor, if you can. Gently."

I leaned my knees farther over. "I think I see what the supporter is for."

"Holds things out of the way a little?"

"A little. Do I let my hip come up?"

"Right hip up a little is okay. Keep both shoulders on the floor, though."

I pushed my left knee to the floor, keeping my knees together.

"Good."

Maralea asked, "How do I tell if Rick needs to stop before his knees get to the floor?"

"Let him tell you," Sapphire replied.

"And tell him that pain doesn't get him points in this exercise?" I suggested.

Sapphire said, "Good idea."

Ivette said, "If an exercise causes him pain, stop him and wait until you can have Coach Michaels or me watch him do it."

"Okay," Maralea nodded.

Sapphire said. "We're going to get stiff backs lying here like this. This floor is a little cold."

"Protected from the heat of the sun," I muttered.

"i guess. Let's swing back to the right, and then do it three more times, left and right, and stop at the left."

She swung her legs together from side to side, keeping her knees together and bringing them gently down to touch the outside knee to the floor, and I copied her, stopping, as she did, with my knees over to the left.

"Okay, now we're going to open and close our legs, side to side. Bring just your right knee up and over to the right, bring it as close to the floor as you can, then bring your left knee over to close again with your right knee on the right."

She showed me, and I copied her. With her legs open, she got both her knees almost to the floor before she brought her left knee over to the right. I couldn't get my knees nearly as close to the floor with them both open like that.

Maralea commented, "That's pretty flexible, Joe."

"For a guy?"

"Lots of girls can't get much more than that."

Sapphire said, "Now let's go back to the left." She swung her left knee back over, then followed it with her right.

And I swung my knees back to the left, one leg at a time.

"Does your back hurt?"

"Nah."

"Your legs?"

"Huh uh."

"The supporter keeping things out of the way okay down there?"

"I wasn't going to mention it again, but, yeah, it helps. I'll warn Rick."

Maralea said, "And warn him that he shouldn't take it personal when I check with him about the supporter."

"Right."

Sapphire said, "Three more." And we both did three more, left and right, one leg at a time.

"We're going to bring both knees up together, in front." She did that, and I copied her, closing my knees together.

"And we're going to let them fall gently back to the sides." Again I copied what she was doing.

"Seven more times."

We both did seven more.

"Extend your legs, but don't let them turn out." She slid her feet down, keeping her toes pointing up, and I copied her.

"Point your toes down." She extended both feet toes down.

"Both." She nodded towards my feet, and I copied her.

"Flex your feet." She flexed her ankle, bringing her toes back up, and I did the same.

"Point." She paused. "Flex." Pause. "Point." Pause. "Flex." Pause. "Point." Pause. "Flex."

"Now left foot in point, right foot flexed, raise your left leg, keeping your lower leg parallel to the floor as you raise it." She raised her left leg, and I copied her, both of us bringing our thighs up to perpendicular to the floor, lower left legs parallel to the floor.

"Bring your knee to your chest."

I reached up with my hands to grab my knee, and she said. "Don't."

She sat up and took my hands and put them on my upper leg, just above my knee, directing my fingers into my knee pit. "If you want to pull to get a stretch in your thigh, pull on your upper leg, not on your knees or shins. Pulling on your knee or shin is going to put stress on your knee joint."

"Got it." I put my hands back on the floor and brought my knee close to my chest without using my hands, then put my hands back on my upper leg with my fingers in the knee pit like she showed me and pulled to get a stretch.

"Lightly," she warned. "No need to stress the bones and muscles just to get a stretch."

I eased up.

"Okay, I think you've got that. Flex your working foot."

"Left foot."

"Right."

"Right?" I gave her a pretend naive look.

"Quit that."

"Mmmfff." Maralea suppressed a laugh. I heard Ivette sigh.

I grinned and flexed my left foot.

Sapphire patted my abs and lay back down beside me, bringing her left leg back up. She flexed her left and said, "Bring your leg back down, keeping your lower leg straight. Push down with your heel."

She brought her leg down with her foot in flex, and I could see the energy she was putting into her heel. "Not too fast," she added.

I put my leg down the way she had, pushing down with my heel.

"Now do the right leg."

We did a total of four sets of that, then she said, "Bring your left leg up again like we just did, but, instead of pushing down with your heel, push that heel up over you."

She showed me, bringing her leg up to her chest, then flexing and pushing up with her heel to extend her leg above her body, perpendicular to the floor. I copied her.

"Let your knee bend, and then push up again with your heel, four times."

We both did that.

"Bring your knee back to your chest and push your heel down, wait, let me show you."

I stopped with my knee at my chest.

"Push down with your heel like before," she said as she pushed down, keeping her lower leg parallel to the floor.

"Then, when your leg is fully extended, heel just above the floor, point, and sweep your leg up in front of you, straight over your body." She pushed down with her heel in flex, pointed, and swept her leg in front of her to perpendicular with the floor.

I thought for a moment, then copied her. "That could be used in martial arts,"

"It can. Other leg."

We both repeated it with our right legs.

"Usually, I just do one of these with both legs and then do other leg lifts. But, for today, let's do three more of these, just like we just did."

Which we did.

"Okay." She sat up and set her hand on my stomach with just enough pressure to force me to breathe out.

"Oomph."

"Let's do some sit-ups."

I raised my hands to put them behind my neck, but she stopped me.

"Cross your wrists, hands on your chest above your breast." She guided my hands to cross at my wrists as she had said.

I blinked, and glanced at Maralea and then Ivette, neither of whom seemed to have anything to say, and I looked back to Sapphire questioningly.

"If you get your hands behind your neck you're likely to pull on your neck and cause stress damage to it."

"Oh."

"I guess I need to show you." She lay back down. "Frog position. See how my legs are turning out, and my knees are relaxed, not pressed to the floor?" Her knees were slightly off the floor, pointing out, and her heels were close together on the floor.

I sat up to get a better look. "It looks like a frog position to me."

"Can you see that I'm in a natural turnout?"

"Not sure what you mean."

She tapped high on her inner thighs with both hands, and I looked away. "It would be easier to see if I were in a leotard," she said. "But there's a natural turnout. Not forced. You're not looking."

"I'm not sure it would be easier to see if you were wearing a leotard," I complained, as I turned back to look.

"You can't see my muscles through these culottes."

"Uh, yeah."

Maralea said, "This may be a little unreasonable."

Almost at the same time, Ivette said, "Flex your ankle, Sapphire."

Sapphire blinked, our eyes connected, and she flexed her left ankle with her heel on the floor, causing her knee to rise at an angle towards her left. And I could see in my peripheral vision how her legs were turned out at the hips without having to look too close at a part of her body that i really did not want to look at, just then.

"Thanks. I see the turnout now." Something passed between us that we agreed without words would have to wait.

"Sorry," she said. The word was slightly husky "I guess I wasn't thinking."

Maralea said, "Thanks, Ivette. I've got a feeling I'm going to need that little, uhm, trick, too."

Sapphire and I broke eye contact, and I turned my head to look at Maralea and Ivette. "Workaround," I said. My voice was probably a little in the gravel. "I owe you one, Ivette. You, too, Maralea. Thanks."

Sapphire took a deep breath. "Ivette, Mara. Thanks. We both owe you both one."

And she sat up. "So, Joey. Give it a try."

I lay back and let my legs imitate the legs of a frog stretched out on its back. "I feel defenseless."

"I don't want to hear about it." She lay back down, letting her legs do the frog position, and crossed her wrists with her hands above her breasts.

I sat back up to watch.

She rolled her upper body off the floor, starting with her head and shoulders and curving her back, until her lower back was off the floor. Then she straightened her back starting from her lower back going up.

Then she let her lower back roll back down, starting from her lower back, as if her body were a rope being laid out on the floor.

She turned to me. "Okay?"

"Maybe." I lay back on the floor and she got up and put one hand underneath the back of my head and the other under my neck at the base of my skull, but did not lift.

"What you want to do is roll your spine up."

"Mmm, that sounds painful?"

"One vertebra at a time, starting at the base of your skull. Your head should come up, but not far enough to stress your neck." She touched the top of my spine. "Then your shoulders should begin to come up with the next vertebra. One at a time."

I lifted my head, and she touched the next vertebra down, and I lifted that.

"Not too much stress." She touched the next vertebra down keeping the other hand under my head. "You're not trying to roll yourself up in a tight ball, just an easy curve that suggests a roll."

I lifted and tried to envision the easy curve, and she touched the next spine, and we continued until my sacroiliac was off the floor.

"Now think of unrolling your spine starting from your hips and going to your shoulders. Think with your muscles and your bones."

I thought about it for a second or two, then unrolled my spine from my sacroiliac up, until my upper body was perpendicular to the floor. And I stopped to breathe.

"Looks good. Now we are going to get you back down. But you aren't going to roll down from your shoulders and then unroll onto the floor."

"Rolling, letting my back drop, and immediately unrolling, starting from my lower back?"

"Unroll from your hips, but unroll each vertebra back onto the floor one at a time."

"Kind of like a rope against the floor."

She nodded. "It's a good image." She put her hand on the base of my spine.

I thought about the rope and then tried it, with her hand leading my spine back down one vertebra at a time.

"Slow down, careful not to slam your head on the floor."

I slowed down, and she put her hand under my head as it came down.

"Not bad, but not real good. Your head hit my hand too hard. My hand won't usually be there, of course, and if you let your head hit the floor, it's not going to be good for your brain. Let's try it again."

I tried it again, this time with less lead from Sapphire.

"Okay. Be a bit more careful with your head, and see how many you can do."

I did another.

"Slow down. And be more careful to hold your momentum up before you get to your head." She thought a moment "Don't even put your head down."

I did another, a little slower, stopping before my head touched her hand.

"That's good. One more."

She took her hands away, and I did one more, this time keeping my head from hitting the floor without her help.

"Okay, dust angels. With your legs, too, this time, since we're face up. Four."

I complied.

"How many situps do you think you can do like this?"

"With the dust angels every four situps?"

"Dust angels at the end."

"I dunno. Ten? Twenty?"

"Let's see."

I did thirty, and then she had me do four more dust angels.

She looked at Ivette.

"Are we in overtime now?"

"Nope, but now would be a good point to stop for the day."

After a little discussion of what we'd gone through, Ivette headed home.

"Can I borrow a sink to wash my face?"

"My dust angel is dusty?" I teased.

Sapphire gave me an eyeroll. "You probably need to wash your face, too. And change back to street clothes."

"Street clothes? OC doesn't really have a dress code."

She gave me a stern look.

"Okay, I'll change. The bathroom on this side of the house is in this hall, between Annabelle's room and mine." I pointed out the door to her.

"You can change while I wash my face?"

"That would be efficient use of time."

She poked me in the ribs.

"Towels are in the closet behind the door." We both peered around the bathroom door at the closet door. "You'll have to close this door to open the closet door, though. Take your pick of towels."

"Okay." She shooed me away. She cleaned up quickly while I changed, then joined Maralea in the kitchen to help Mom with dinner while I cleaned up.

After I washed my face, I headed out to collect subscriptions.

At the first customer's house, a woman came to the door.

"Hi, Joe. Thanks for taking time away from your girlfriend," she said.

"No prob."

"Good looking girl," her husband commented from behind her. What was it, still two seventy-five?"

"Hasn't gone up again yet."

"Gotta keep up with inflation. She's a cheerleader?" He brought the money to the door.

"Cheer dance," the wife said. "Right?"

"Yeah. I'm learning a lot." I wrote out their receipt and tore it off, trading it for the bills and coins. "I hope we're not bothering anyone with our practice."

"Heaven forbid anyone should complain," she replied.

They both grinned.

"Thanks."

We said good night, and their neighbor hailed me as I went to get on my bike. So I collected from the neighbor, as well. He commented on my new girlfriend, too.

The other customer was an elderly lady on another street.

"I don't like your new girlfriend," she said sternly as she handed me her check.

"Uh, ..." I filled out her receipt.

She smiled. "I'm going to lose my favorite paperboy. You're growing up." She laughed.

I laughed, too. "Thanks. I'll still be here for a while, though."

"You do what's right for you."

I was hailed by two more customers, and made two more collections. Both commented on my new girlfriend.

When I got back, I put my collection bag and receipt book away, washed my hands, and went into the kitchen.

"Twenty minutes. Sorry. Three more customers wanted to pay tonight. At this rate, I probably could have finished the month's collections tonight."

Sapphire was stirring a pot at the stove. She looked back at me with a worried expression. "You needed to collect more tonight?"

Maralea looked up from where she was slicing squash. She also had a concerned expression.

"With these five, I have enough to pay for September's papers. There's ten or so left to collect. Deadline Monday. I'll be fine."

Mom was standing with them. She grinned. "I feel spoiled tonight. I don't have anything to do."

"I'll get out the bowls," I said and turned for the cupboard.

Annabelle came in behind me and said, "That's my job tonight." She started getting dishes out. "Linda Lee and Dad will be late, so we only need five places. If we don't mind squeezing together, we don't need to move the table out."

Sapphire bit her lip and looked at Maralea.

Maralea looked at the table. "Squeezing together probably wouldn't hurt anyone."

I went over to the stove. "Smells good. A little different from Mom's. You've modified one of Mom's stews?"

Sapphire replied, "Maralea and I made a couple of suggestions."

"I always appreciate suggestions," Mom said with a grin.

"Can I stir?" I asked.

"No." Sapphire's tone was firm.

Maralea picked up the plate full of squash and I moved out of the way so she and Sapphire could put it in the stew. Sapphire stirred once with all the squash in, put the lid on, counted to ten, and cut the flame.

I got into the fridge and got out milk. I also got out a couple of apples. "I can chop some apples if Maralea will let me use that plate.

She handed me the plate and the knife, and held her hand out for the milk. We traded, and she took the milk to the table while I rinsed the plate off and got busy with the apples.

Sapphire and Maralea and Mom chatted while I cut.

When we sat down, Mom said, "Joe, you're the priesthood tonight."

Sapphire gave me a puzzled look. She was sitting beside me at the north end of the table.

"Mom, you're the Mom."

"And I'm asking you to be the priesthood."

"Well, I said the blessing last night as I recall." I looked over at Maralea, who shrugged, then at Annabelle and Mom.

Mom said, "Your call."

I thought a minute. "Well, I'd ask Sapphire, but I'm not sure she'd feel comfortable with it. And I don't feel like putting Maralea on the spot, --"

Maralea said, "You wouldn't be putting me on the spot, and I can explain to Sapphire after."

"Well, in that case, Maralea, would you mind being voice tonight?"

She offered the blessing fairly simply, then turned to Sapphire and said, "We don't have any set prayer for grace."

"I noticed. It's just like telling God thank you, and then asking for the food and the people to be blessed?"

"Right. It may seem a little random, but we kind of try to listen to the Spirit, and say what we feel directed to say."

"That's a very nice explanation," I said.

"What did your mom mean about you being the priesthood, Joey?"

"Personification, conflating priesthood with those who are ordained to it."

She gave me a blank look. "Priesthood? You're ordained?"

Annabelle said, "We ordain young men to the priesthood at twelve."

Maralea added, "If they are worthy."

"But Dad's in charge when he's home," I elucidated. "And Mom thinks, since I'm a priest and she hasn't been ordained to anything, that my priesthood trumps hers for things like calling on prayers. But I think Mom doesn't need to be ordained to exercise the priesthood."

Mom said, "Mmmmaybe it's more like, I may be vice president of the home, but, as vice president, when Dad isn't here, I can ask you to conduct on my behalf."

Maralea looked at Mom and me and Annabelle. "Sister Reeves, did you and Joe just debate doctrine?"

Annabelle said, "They did."

I said, "We could start digging in and passing the food around. It was not a debate. It was a short discussion of how doctrine applies. Mom corrected my understanding."

Sapphire's eyes widened.

Mom said, "Maralea, could you dish yourself some stew and pass it around?"

"Sure." Maralea reached for the pot and the ladle and served herself.

I gave Sapphire the plate of apples and she helped herself to a couple of slices, and the food got passed around.

"Seems like everyone on my route has noticed you, Phi."

"Oh?" She ladled herself some stew.

"At least, all five of the customers I collected from tonight commented on, and complimented, my new girlfriend. You're very popular around here, already." I gave her a grin.

She looked at me with a perplexed smile, then raised the pot questioningly. i indicated the other direction, and she handed it to Mom.

Maralea handed Sapphire the bread. "In my house," she said, "the guys always run things when they are around. If Dad isn't home, Tom decides who asks the blessing, because he's a deacon. Different families do some things differently."

Sapphire nodded as she got her bread. "So are all the boys ordained in your church?"

She handed me the bread.

"Guys twelve or older who are worthy," Maralea answered.

I get myself a couple of slices and twisted the mouth of the bag under what remained of the loaf, and set it down.

"Worthy?" Sapphire thought about it. "So, Joey, if we kissed, would that make you not worthy?"

"Just kissing, probably not a problem. Depends on what we did after that," I answered. "If we started making out, that would take us both away from the Holy Spirit."

"So you have to feel holy to be worthy?"

"Feeling holier than other people is actually an indication that one is not worthy," Annabelle commented.

Sapphire's forehead crinkled between her eyebrows. She glanced at Maralea, who was busy eating and missed the unspoken question.

She turned to me. "How do you know you're worthy? Is there some sort of test?"

"You're my test," I replied without thinking.

Her face fell and her mouth dropped open slightly, and my conscience pinged me.

"Uhh, bad joke." I laughed a little lamely. "Everyday life is our test. We answer to God. And I did not mean that you are tempting me."

Sapphire blinked and her lower lip tightened. Again, my conscience pinged me.

"Not tempting in a bad way, anyway."

Maralea spoke up. "Joe, you're just digging yourself in deeper. No tests, Sapphire. We talk things over with the Bishop, and the Bishop decides whether we are worthy or not."

Sapphire put her spoon down and looked a little uncomfortable.

I said, "The bishop interviews us in private, so nobody can tease us about our answers. He asks us whether we believe in God and Jesus, whether we support the work of the Gospel and the Church, whether we are following certain important commandments as we understand them, and whether there is anything we are doing in our daily lives that would take us away from the Holy Spirit of God. If our answers indicate that we are doing our best to live the teachings of Jesus, that's what he bases his decision on -- that and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. And he has to keep worthy, too, so that he can receive the necessary inspiration."

Sapphire tried to absorb all that. "What if the bishop doesn't like a member or something?"

Mom said, "If the bishop has ill feelings towards a member of the ward -- the congregation, he must get on his knees and pray for the bad feelings to go away before he can interview that person. That's part of his worthiness."

"So, Bishop Kirk decides if you're worthy, Joey?"

"Bishop Kirk is bishop of the other ward. Bishop Fermat is our bishop."

"Vermeil Fermat? My dad works with him."

"At Phillips. That's him."

"I've met him. He's a good person."

"He is," Maralea responded.

We talked kind of randomly about church and school and other things while we ate.

When we were done and dishes were washed and put away, it was time to go, and Sapphire, Maralea, and I grabbed our books and went out to the truck.

I opened the door for Sapphire and Maralea and Sapphire looked at the bench seat.

"Not bucket seats." Sapphire grinned and climbed in, and slid over to the middle.

"Bucket seats would be awkward. I'd have to sit in your lap." Maralea climbed in after. I closed the door behind her and went around and climbed in the driver's side.

"Automatic." Sapphire was looking at the hump of the transmission/drive shaft in the floor beneath her. "No shifter for my knees to bump into." She looked at the shift lever on the steering column, and then under the steering wheel. "Where does it show if you're in drive or low or reverse?"

"It's manual. H pattern shifting, three on the column." I put the key in the ignition switch, put my right foot on the brake pedal, clutched with my left foot, and shifted with my right hand into neutral.

She gave the shifter and the transmission hump a small regretful frown while I cranked the engine.

The engine caught immediately, and its almost brand-new straight-six 300 cubes rumbled into life.

"No radio?" Sapphire asked.

"Just us singing if you want music. We didn't have a radio installed."

Maralea gave Sapphire a nudge from the other side and Sapphire scooted a little closer to me.

"Sorry. My elbow's going to be in your face."

"I can dodge. Want me to shift?"

"Do you drive a manual transmission?"

"I can shift."

We challenged each other with our eyes.

"Okay, I need to be in reverse to back us a little away from the curb." I pushed the clutch peddle down to release the clutch.

She put her hand on the lever and thought, and gave me a sweet smile.

"Towards me and up." I motioned with my finger.

She moved the lever into position, and checked my mirrors and the blind spot before I lifted my left foot to engage the clutch to move the truck away from the curb.

"This is awkward." I clutched again. "First is down from reverse."

She moved the lever and I let the clutch out and the truck moved forward smoothly enough.

I reached over her shoulder with the hand that was freed from shifting, and she leaned against me.

"Second. Towards the dash and up." I clutched and she shifted. The timing wasn't quite right and the truck bucked a little, so I had to clutch twice. "We'll get this."

"Careful, guys," Maralea warned.

Sapphire and I managed to get the timing down, and we drove to OC.

TOC		Next
Where it starts

[Edit record here: ]

Friday, October 9, 2026

3809/2801: Practice Makes Practice

2801
Practice Makes Practice

6502 Indexed Addressing,
Including Memory Indirect

TOC

"You guys are fast," I said quietly while I plinked at the typewriter keyboard, trying to process the character to type, its location on the keyboard that I was trying to memorize, and the finger that was supposed to reach that key.

Sapphire laughed quietly without breaking rhythm.

Cyndy said, quietly, also without breaking rhythm, "We didn't get this fast overnight."

Sapphire added, "Patience is a virtue."

"I know, but it's still frustrating." I kept plinking. "You guys are working on practice material to take you over fifty words per minute, but I'm struggling to get to fifty characters per minute. More than half an order of magnitude difference, and I keep making mistakes."

Sapphire looked over at me and grinned without breaking rhythm.

Something in my brain momentarily glitched, and my fingers stalled.

Ms. Williams looked over at me and said, "Focus, Joe. Don't focus too hard that you can't move, but you do have to maintain focus."

I lifted my hands from the keyboard in resignation and sighed, then put them back and returned to the practice exercises.

I subvocalized as I read each letter and matched it first on the keyboard layout in my mind, then to the finger that the touch-typing method specified:

"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'b', "o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> 'p';
"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'b', "o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> 'v';
"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'v'.

I let a "Woops" spill under my breath.

"o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> ' ;', "Woops."

"Quit saying woops," Cyndy whispered without breaking rhythm. "Just keep typing."

"I can't help it."

Sapphire whispered, still without breaking rhythm, "Should I threaten to kiss you once for every woops?"

"Arrgggh!" I lifted my hands from the keyboard again.

"Sssshh!" someone said from behind us.

I glanced over at Sapphire and she winked at me, still without breaking rhythm.

I took a deep breath and put my fingers back in position.

"Time!" Ms. Wilson announced. "Get ready for the last timed exercise."

We all hit the carriage return key a couple of times to move the paper to a blank line, and Ms. Wilson held up the stop watch and said, "Start."

After the last three-minute timed practice, we calculated our word counts for each practice and wrote them in on the practice page margins in pencil. I actually managed 152 characters without a miss on the last practice. Ten words per minute clean.

"Clean is a success," I muttered to myself.

"Uh huh." Sapphire affirmed quietly. While we waited for the pages being handed in from behind us, she looked over from her desk and read my numbers. "Not bad for a beginner."

Ms. Wilson started us on un-timed practice, walking around the room to check on the other students. After a few minutes, she stopped behind me. "Cyndy, if you and Joe could help after school, I could handle more of your classmates from the electronics class at a time. But I guess you're busy with cheer dance team practice."

Cyndy and Sapphire stopped typing and glanced at each other from either side of me while I continued to try not to hunt-and-peck while typing the practice page I was working on.

Cyndy said, "We can ask Coach Michaels, but I'm pretty sure she's going to want Joe in practice every day for a while. Maybe either Sapphire or I could help, one at a time."

"Oh? Mr. Mori wants to focus on technical use. They'll be using technical jargon. Sapphire, do you think you'll be okay with that?"

"I think so." Sapphire returned to her practice.

Cyndy also returned to her practice. "Sapphire's good with tech. She wanted to take the electronics class, too, but she decided to make the sacrifice and stay with the cheer dance class so I could take it."

I glanced over at Sapphire while I continued trying to type without looking at the keyboard. "Cyndy did say something about you thinking about taking the electronics class."

"Yeah, but I'm the one who pushed to get the cheer dance team started. I can't abandon it. And, besides, Mom and Dad don't think they want me going into engineering."

"Oh?"

"Mom tells me men in engineering can be real pigs. Dad says he wishes he could disagree."

"Dang. I want to defend my fellow pigs."

Cyndy and Sapphire both snickered.

"But we have a pretty good class, don't we, Cyndy?"

"Basically because you and Rick are in there. And Hec, of course. But Hec has his moments. Sometimes I've doubted him. It's hard for you guys not to be male chauvinist."

"Our autonomous nervous system often betrays us. But," I filibustered. "In the first day in calculus, Professor White told us engineering requires hubris."

Sapphire and Cyndy both smothered snorts.

Ms. Wilson said, "Joe, you're talking while you practice."

"Sorry."

"No. That's good."

I turned and looked back at her.

Sapphire said, "Multi-tasking is good. Back to work."

"Oh." I checked my place and went back to trying to process the practice material through my fingers.

Ms. Wilson said, "Mmm. I'll have to think more about this. Well, you guys keep at it." and she returned to walking around the class while we continued to practice.

"So, you know something about electronics?" I asked Sapphire quietly.

"A little. Watching Dad and Mom work. Mom does engineering consulting and sometimes works at home."

I practiced in silence for a minute.

"Does it bother you?" Sapphire asked quietly.

"It intrigues me. And I wonder what else you're hiding."

"Not hiding anything."

"No? What's the derivative of X squared?"

"What?"

"X squared. Derivative."

"Is that like, back in eighth grade when you were telling some of your friends in geometry that just because the slope wasn't constant didn't mean it wasn't there?"

"Ah hah."

"I've seen my mom doing something that looked like drawing slope lines at various points on a curve. She'll draw tangent lines and measure their slopes. Then she matches the slopes to some lists of series of known slopes for formulas. She told me she was working out a derivative the hard way."

"And you connected the dots in your head, and connected the slope of the tangent to the derivative. And you remember that she said 'tangent lines' and 'derivative'. So what's the derivative of X squared?"

"I don't know that. But it is the slope at a point on the parabolic curve, right? The derivative, I mean."

"Yes. Parabolic for X squared. You remembered that."

I glanced at her at the same time she glanced at me. She nodded.

We kept typing.

"It's called instantaneous slope when we talk about derivatives as slopes."

"That sounds like something my mom said."

Cyndy interjected in a whisper, "So why are you even bothering with the calculus class at OC, Joe?"

"Why are you two practicing typing? Besides, just knowing the idea doesn't mean I know what to do with it."

"Exactly," Sapphire whispered in reply.

Cyndy whispered, "Unfortunately, typing is probably going to be more useful to us girls than calculus."

"But you're in Hec's calculus class here."

"True."

"I hope it turns out useful," I said quietly. "I hope you'll be able to use the technical skills."

"So why does it matter to you if Sapphire or I know a little calculus?"

I noticed that I was able to think about our conversation while my fingers and part of my brain were processing the practice material. Not completely without mistakes, but I kept typing. And it seemed to be working, sort-of.

"Sometimes, when I'm trying to understand something, it helps me to try to explain it to somebody else. And I'm going to feel a lot less silly trying to explain to Sapphire something that she already knows if I know she already knows."

After typing a line, Sapphire whispered, "I can see that would be true. But, no, I don't have the derivative of X squared memorized."

I failed to stop my tongue. "It's less something to memorize and more a principle to remember by applying."

"Lower your voice. And I'm busy applying other principles."

Sapphire and I both stopped typing and looked at each other.

"Dang, but you're beautiful," I whispered.

"And you're cute. Stop that. Back to practice."

We both started typing again.

"So," I whispered, "it's a deliberate choice not to take the tech?"

"Yes."

I smiled a small, wistful smile. "Will you mind if I ask you to listen to me working out problems sometimes?"

"Can I ask the same thing from you?"

I reached my hand across the aisle and she raised her hand and we touched fingertips.

(I should point out that there was no way I would have been prepared to suggest, much less accept, the commitment discussed here. But Joe and Sapphire have to be able to make it, to make the plot work.)

"PDA!" Cyndy whispered.

We dropped our hands guiltily and returned to practice.

Ms. Wilson smiled and shook her head without saying anything.

We finished out the typing practice, class ended, and Sapphire and I picked Rick up on the way to the field. Cyndy went to meet Hec.

When we arrived out on the field, many of the girls were already stretching and warming up.

Maralea got up from where she was stretching and came over.

"Ready to be taken under my wing, Rick?"

"Will it hurt?" Rick asked.

Maralea laughed. "No promises."

"Oh well. I'll just have to try to survive." Rick chuckled doubtfully.

Maralea gave him a sideways grin and they went to join Tussa's group.

Cyndy and Hec moved off to Cyndy's group.

Sapphire began her stretches, stretching her tendons in a standing stretch, and I began copying her as Coach Michaels came over.

"Sapphire, I have some business with you two."

Sapphire gave me a guilty look as she leaned forward, deepening her stretch. "It's not Joe's fault."

I copied her stretch.

"Of course. But I have it on good authority that you and Joe were practicing lifts and drops last night."

Sapphire ducked her head. "Yes, Ma'am." She stepped her forward leg farther forward, deepening her stretch some more, putting her hands on the ground in front of her.

I looked around and muttered, "Who on my street would have --?" before I copied Sapphire.

"Your sister, Joe."

Sapphire switched legs and I switched, too.

"Ivette knows you?" I asked.

"I've been coaching here for more than a couple of years, you know."

Ivette had attended Permian High. All my siblings attended Permian High. I could have attended Permian High because of my siblings even though we moved into the OHS busing area while I was in grade school, but I decided to go with OHS.

"Oh."

Sapphire let her legs spread forward and back over the grass until she was in full front splits.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that." I laughed.

"I should say not, Joe." Coach Michaels was emphatic. "Sapphire, what are you doing?"

"Joey knows when to stop." She rotated sideways until she was in full-width straddle splits. "Okay, Joey, go from where you are to this, but legs only as wide as your body lets you."

I thought for a moment, leaned over my knee and put my hands on the ground as Tussa had done the day before, walked my upper body around with my hands until I was perpendicular to my legs, and then used my hands to lower my posterior to the ground in straddle splits, but with an easier leg angle something greater than a hundred degrees but well less than a hundred eighty.

"Good. Now don't do this." She leaned forward until her elbows were on the ground.

I leaned forward, but stopped a bit before my elbows touched the ground.

Coach Michaels said, "Careful with that, Joe. Sapphire, is Joe really flexible enough to be doing all of this?"

"He is, and he knows when to stop."

"It doesn't hurt," I added.

Ms. Michaels gave us both a doubtful look. "Ivette called me last night. We caught up a little on life. And then she told me what Sapphire and you had been doing."

I raised my hands from the ground to the sky and cried in mock distress, "My own sister finked on me!"

Sapphire laughed and said, "Careful, Joey, you're going to hurt yourself."

I grinned and put my hands back on the ground and shrugged. "I think I'm getting some good stretch in my thighs and my calves."

Coach Michaels laughed, too, but shook her head and became serious.

"Can I get a little personal, Joe?"

"What?"

"It's explained in the information packet I'm going to be giving you and Rick, but can I recommend you start bringing an athletic supporter of some sort?"

I cocked my head. "It's going to be necessary?"

Sapphire said, "You should get a dance belt. Let me take you to a store where they sell dance supplies."

"Dance belt?"

"Kind of like a bikini, but more support for men who dance."

I thought about that. "A regular jock strap wouldn't work?"

"Better than nothing," Coach Michaels said. "But a dance belt would be much better. Are you sure you're okay stretching like that?"

I did an internal assessment. "Yeah. No problems so far."

"Well, anyway, listen to Ivette, and don't try anything too extreme without asking Ivette or me."

Sapphire and I looked at each other questioningly.

Sapphire tucked a leg in and stretched over the extended leg, and I copied her.

"I called your house this morning, Sapphire, apparently after you'd left for Joe's church. I think your mom understands."

"Maybe that's why Mom was suddenly worried again when Becca dropped me off back at my house before school."

"No more lifts and drops for a while?" I asked.

Ms. Michaels said, "No drops, anyway. And be careful with the lifts, don't get Sapphire or her little sister up standing on your shoulders again just yet. Wait a little while, just 'til Ivette and I are confident you really understand what you're doing, and that your muscles can handle drops properly. And that you have enough muscle memory for the inevitable disasters."

Sapphire and I looked at each other again. Then she switched legs, and I copied.

"Promise," I said with a nod.

"Me, too, I guess," Sapphire said.

"You guess?"

"It's just -- Joey is too easy."

Ms. Michaels gave me a quick look.

I tilted my head, questioning Sapphire with amusement.

"I don't mean that. Not that kind of easy. We did talk about that last night, but not that. He's just natural with dance."

"Sapphire, you wouldn't let any other member of the team take risks like this. Your dad wouldn't, either."

"That's how natural Joey is." Sapphire stood up, and I did, too.

Ms. Michaels breathed a deep sigh, then turned to me. "Joe, can I talk to your parents?"

"Sure. Just for the record, my parents and Sapphire's are in the loop. We aren't keeping secrets from them."

"Speaking of which, I need the three of you guys to have your parents fill out permission forms anyway, now that I know you're serious about joining us. Can I send you home with one today?"

"Yeah. No problem."

"And listen to Ivette. Both of you."

Sapphire and I both nodded agreement, and Sapphire called out, "Crews!"

Becca moved up to lead and Sapphire stayed with me as we reviewed the previous day's workout. Sapphire was very hands-on as she checked the way I was using my muscles.

Cyndy was also more hands-on than the day before, but Hec took it in stride.

While Tussa led her group, she coached Maralea's coaching for Rick. They kept it somewhat less physical, never pushing either Rick or Maralea too far -- although Rick did look over to me a couple of times for encouragement.

When we finished the review and gathered around Coach Michaels, she said, "Due to certain --" She paused and looked my direction. "not-quite unexpected circumstances, we're going to shift our focus for the rest of our practice today. We need to practice working with and articulating our centers.

"Stand in second position, feet under your shoulders, hands on your hips. Try to feel your center of gravity." She paused while we all checked our feet and thought about what feeling our center of gravity meant.

"Imagine," she continued, "headlamps mounted on the front of your hips and shoulders, pointing front. We're going to keep those headlamps pointed front as we do this. Especially your hips.

"This is a lateral upper-body stretch. Raise your right hands over your heads and let your arms arch overhead. I'll be doing this in mirror."

And she proceeded to demonstrate. We copied what she was doing, our right arms arching until our hands were over our heads.

"Keep those headlamps pointing front. Let the side of your body under your right arm open up into a convex arch over your head. You think you know what you're doing, but don't crunch the left, keep air under your left arm. You'll naturally lean sideways to the left, but you don't want to think of it as leaning. You're making a concave arch with the left side of your body, getting that air. Keep those headlamps pointing front. Your backs should be forming three concentric arches centered to your left. See how much stretch you can get without crunching."

She waited while the crew leaders went around checking our posture, stretch, and air under the inside arch.

Sapphire told me, "You want to feel this arch when you do these," as she traced along the inner arch under my left arm.

I curved my rib cage and spine to the left.

"Too much. You're crunching your left."

I backed the curve off a bit as she put light pressure under my armpit.

"Drop the center point a little and move it out."

I responded to the image of a circle that she suggested.

"Hold that without crunching."

She traced along the external curve under my right arm. "Feel the stretch?"

"I think so."

"Good. Now the other side."

I straightened up.

"Reach."

I got the image of reaching in my mind and stretched laterally to the right, and she traced the curves I was forming.

Others of the less experienced students watched and copied what I was doing. Becca and some of the more experienced members of the crew coached them.

"Okay, I think you have it figured out. Come help me coach some of the others."

She walked around her crew and I followed.

"Joey, can you give Thea some support here?" She patted Thea's spine between her shoulder blades. "Don't push, just let her feel your hand and follow it as she stretches."

I put my hand up to her spine. "I'm not sure I'm going to be very useful."

Thea said, "Just keep your hand there. It helps me figure out where my body is." So I held my hand there while she worked on her stretch and Sapphire went to help someone else.

Cyndy coached Hec much as Sapphire coached me, while her second, Tina, coached and advised her crew. Then Hec also got drafted into helping.

Tussa coached her crew while Maralea coached Rick. When Rick got it down, Maralea dragged him over to help others, as well.

When everyone had pretty much gotten the idea, Coach Michaels explained, "This is a basic lateral upper-body stretch, one which we want to become second nature. We want to keep our arches and curves open and airy even while we are emanating power in the cheers."

Then she had us do ten repetitions of this stretch to each side, maintaining our focus on posture and form.

"Okay, now check your feet. If they are not in second position, move them to back to second position. Bring your arms to second position as well. The arms don't want to be straight out, get some rounding in them. See what your neighbor is doing, and then check yourself."

We did so.

"Get a smooth curve in your arms. Keep your elbows level with or just below your arm pits, and your hands level with or just below that. Don't force it, just let your bones and muscles do what's natural. And try to maintain a smooth curve all the way across your shoulders."

She gave us some time to try to get nicely curved spread.

"Your knees should be engaged, not bent and not locked. Your whole legs need to be ready to absorb or generate energy."

Again, she gave us time. Sapphire and the other leaders went around giving pointers.

"Your spine needs to be centered. Not too much forward bending from your sacroiliac, not too much pulling back. Stack your vertebra up neatly in smooth curves so your spine can hold your weight better. You need smooth curves to absorb and generate energy without hurting yourselves.

"Each of you will have slightly different curves."

When the crew leaders were somewhat satisfied with everybody's stance, she continued.

"Okay, what we're going to do next are often called breathing exercises. Martha Graham made them one of the points of focus of her technique, so some people call them Martha Graham breathing exercises. You should not," she said with emphasis, "be sucking in your gut or pushing it out, even though many of you will immediately try to do that. It's a habit we get into as kids, but it gets things out of line and makes it easy to hurt ourselves."

She paused to let us think about that.

"So, imagine a chain passing magically through your skull to the top of your spine, suspending your shoulders from the top of your spine, and the rest of your body dangling below that. See if you can feel a lift on your shoulders."

Again, she paused, this time to let the crew leaders give pointers.

"Now imagine a chain attached to your lower spine, just above your sacroiliac, coming out of your body behind you. it has tension, it's pulling back on your spine. Let your spine and your muscles respond to the tension, drawing your spine and your muscles and your abdominal cavity with it. Your arms can become more rounded. Hold that," she paused. "... and release the tension in the chain, letting your spine move back to its natural curve. Your arms might naturally adjust."

She paused again to give us a little more time to try to figure out what it meant and let the leaders give pointers.

"Let's repeat that. Tension, count two. Release, count two. While you're doing this, let your diaphragm move the air in your lungs, like you're singing in the choir. And keep your body suspended by that other chain that's holding you up."

Sapphire put her hands on my abdomen and the base of my spine, not pushing, just watching what my muscles were doing. "More energy in your abdominal muscles. The chain image is good, but you don't want your shoulders sinking into the ground," she said. "Your back is stronger than your abdominal muscles. We're going to have to work on that."

Then she went around helping others on the team. Rick and Hec also got similar help, and again Rick checked with me. I shrugged, and he looked perplexed at first. But I watched his shoulders relax as he let his mind relax, so that he could focus on what Maralea was telling him about what the muscles just above his hips were doing.

Maralea, once satisfied with Rick's work, also went around helping others.

Coach Michaels continued, "We're helping you today, but you'll need to be able to listen to your own body, to figure out what your spine naturally does. And your muscles. Everyone is little bit different.

"Arms and feet in second position. Remember, while we do our repetitions, keep your abdominal muscles energized. Do not suck your stomach in. And keep that vertical chain pulling your body up."

Coach Michaels and the leaders demonstrated again.

"Energize and hold. Relax, but stay suspended, and hold. Repeat."

We did something like twenty repetitions.

"Now imagine that you're holding one of those big earth balls we all played with during field days, back in elementary school. There's a smooth arc running fingertip to fingertip through your shoulders and spine. The ball is on the ground and you're going to pick it up.

"It's like your upper body is hovering, but you aren't seeing hovering in your mind. You're picking up this ball that is wider than your arms can reach. Now, lift the imaginary ball in front of you, over yourself, until your arms are wide open to the sky. Your center of gravity is going to shift from in front of you to behind you, of course."

She and the leaders all demonstrated, and the more experienced members of the team went around helping the less experienced members figure it out.

We practiced lifting and lowering the imaginary earth balls for twenty or so repetitions.

"Now we're going to old that ball to the sky and shift it to the left. But we won't let our upper bodies rotate or curve. We will keep our arms parallel to the ground. We don't want to drop the ball to the side. Center of gravity shifts left, shoulders stay parallel to the ground, headlights remain pointing front."

She demonstrated and the crew leaders coached.

"Now right." And she demonstrated while the crew leaders continued coaching.

We did probably ten repetitions, left and right.

"Now we are going to hold the ball over us and face the sky. Center of balance will shift back a bit. Rotate your upper body to face the sky to the left."

She demonstrated this, too.

"Now to the right." Ten or so repetitions left and right.

"Take a breather everyone. Joe, come over here with me. Hec, you and Cyndy, too."

She moved over to where Tussa was leading her group. "Joe, you're going to demonstrate the fireman's carry with Tussa. Hec, you can demonstrate with Cyndy."

I looked at Sapphire. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a conspiratorial grin and nod that I couldn't decode, and a pat on my glutes.

"C'mon Joe. I'm waiting." Tussa's command had a jocular tone.

I went over and stood in front of Tussa.

Just for the record, Tussa had, as some would say, curves in just the right places, solidly built. She stood eye-to-eye with me.

Hec and Cyndy moved to join us, and Cyndy stood in front of Hec.

Coach said, "Let's see how you do, Joe. Hec, you and Cyndy, too."

Hec started to reach down, but Cyndy motioned for him to wait and watch and follow me.

"Okay, Tussa. Turn sideways," I said. There was probably a little resignation in my voice.

Tussa gave me an "Oh, yeah?" look, but turned to her right.

Cyndy turned to her left in front of Hec.

"Can I ask you to raise your arms?" I asked.

Tussa did so, deliberately making me dodge her right hand as she raised it. I grinned, and she grinned back. I moved under her right arm and got myself centered, letting my knees flex just enough that I could get my left arm around her back under her shoulders.

Cyndy suppressed a laugh as Hec copied me. She did not wave her hand in Hec's face, though.

Rick watched us all attentively.

Tussa's right arm remained suspended above my shoulders.

Cyndy chuckled while she wrapped her arm around Hec's shoulders.

I said, "You can put your arm on my shoulders."

"Oh!" Tussa smiled broadly and rested her arm around my shoulders, just kind of letting it dangle, and grinned expectantly.

"Are you going to hold on or are you going to make me do all the work?" I asked, with a lopsided grin.

She gave me a moue and wrapped her arm around my back. That moue would have been scary the day before.

I dropped in a narrow plié and put my right arm under her hips, with my right knee under my arm, gently pushing her knees forward with me knee.

Hec watched what I did and copied it while Cyndy checked his form.

Tussa sat back into my arms, and I used my legs to lift. She relaxed deliberately. I had the leverage, and she rose cleanly.

"My hero!" she said with a big, sardonic grin, spreading both arms wide.

Hec also got Cyndy up in good form, but Cyndy did not copy Tussa's dramatics. She did open her arms wide with a grin.

I turned so that all the members of the team could see how I was supporting her weight by centering our combined centers of gravity.

Hec hesitated before turning, but he also let everyone see what he was doing.

"Textbook demonstration, both of you," Coach Michaels pronounced. "Now set them back down, gently."

"Grab hold again," I warned.

Tussa brought her left arm back to my shoulders.

Again, I used the leverage of my legs and flexed in plié to get Tussa back to standing cleanly on the ground.

Again, Hec watched and followed me, and got Cyndy cleanly back on the ground.

Tussa gave me a quick hug. "When I heard what you two were up to yesterday, I was sure Sapphire must have been helping you," she said with mock severity.

"She was."

"But I wasn't."

"Sure you were. You definitely aren't a sack of potatoes."

She grinned. "How do you like my body?"

I looked at the sky with a sideways grin. "I plead the fifth."

"Joey, you've got to quit flirting with my friends!" Sapphire joked from behind me, giving me another pat on the glutes. She and Tussa exchanged palm slaps.

I noticed Maralea did not join the scattered laughter.

Coach Michaels said, "Rick, do you think you could lift Sapphire in a fireman's carry?"

Rick cocked his head. "Maybe?"

"Want to give it a try?"

He nodded hesitantly as Sapphire moved to stand in front of him.

Sapphire gave him pointers, and pretty quickly he had her up in good form. She spread her arms so that we could all see that Rick was supporting her stably, and then he got her back down cleanly. Then he lifted Maralea up in fireman's carry, just for good measure.

The next ten minutes were spent in a workshop in both how to lift and how to be lifted, with the three of us boys engaged in unplanned participation. We probably lifted ten of the girls each, and were in turn ourselves lifted several times. Since you ask, Sapphire was the first to lift me. Tussa also lifted me, of course. Gave me a heft and got a half foot or so of clearance, to pretty much everyone's laughter. And Tina, who was one of the smaller girls on the team, also had no problem lifting me and keeping me up.

While everyone was stretching to cool down, Coach Michaels called Hec and Rick and me over.

"Hec already has a packet, but, Rick, you and Joe need one."

Rick and I accepted our packets.

"This describes our team goals and plans and what the team members should expect and what the team expects. I've made a permission form just for you boys, because there are some details that aren't quite the same as for the girls. And I need your signatures, as well as both your parents, or your legal guardians' signatures. Rick, I'm not familiar with your family situation. Do you think there will there be any issues getting the signatures?"

"No. Dad adopted me when he married my mom, and they both seem to like this idea. For some reason. I thought they would have religious objections, but both say it's not the same as dance hall dancing."

"Okay. Read it with your parents and make sure you all understand it before you sign it and bring it back."

She paused.

"The games. Hec, you say he can make it for some of the games, right?"

Hec nodded.

"But we're still discussing whether we can have Joe and Rick out on the field or the court performing at the games or not. We're thinking we need to discuss it with the administration at OHS, too."

Rick and I nodded.

"One more thing, Rick, the packet mentions that we strongly recommend that men on the team use a dance belt during both practice and performance. An athletic supporter might be enough, but we strongly recommend a dance belt. Do you know what a dance belt is?"

"Just me?"

"Cyndy has already taken Hec to get his, and I talked with Joe about it just now while you were warming up."

I said, "Sapphire said it was like a bikini brief, but better support for dance than a jock strap."

Hec nodded. "Feels a little weird at first. 'Specially 'cause I know Cyndy knows I have it on. But I pretty much forget I'm wearing it."

Rick did not look convinced. "You're wearing it now."

"Yep."

"Why do I think it sounds a little kinky?"

"It's no worse than a Speedo."

"I don't consider that high recommendation."

Tussa came up just then. "Dance belts? You'll look great in one of those, Rick!"

"Merry? Help?" Rick put a hand to his eyes.

"Tussa!" Maralea came up behind her. "Quit that!" She laughed. "You'll scare the boys away!"

"I'm afraid, Tussa, that Maralea is right." Coach Michaels' tone was just a tad sharp. "You'll need to be a little more careful with your jokes."

Rick's hand dropped, and he looked askance at Tussa.

"Jokes? What -- ouch." Maralea's elbow to her ribs interrupted her, and she laughed. "Okay! Okay. I'll behave myself. But you really shouldn't worry about the dance belt. It's just protecting your family jewels."

Rick closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Tussa!" Cyndy cautioned as she and Sapphire came up. "Quit teasing!"

"I guess I'm outnumbered. Coach Michaels, a couple of my crew have questions." Tussa gave Rick a wink just as he opened his eyes.

Rick gave me a look again. He subvocalized another "Help?"

I shook my head."If you're not careful, Tussa, you're going to have Rick falling in love with you."

"Oooh, is that so?" Tussa grinned. "Just teasing, Rick." She wagged her eyebrows.

Coach Michaels wrinkled her brow and sighed. "Well, I'll let you guys figure it out. I guess I'm needed over there."

"Bye now, lover boy." Tussa gave Rick a finger wave and followed Coach Michaels back to where some of her crew were discussing something.

Rick took a deep breath as she left. He said a quiet, "Uh, thanks, guys," and gave me a sideways look.

"She is cute."

"Joe." Hec cautioned me, this time.

"Way more than cute." Rick rubbed his forehead. "I really don't know how to deal with this, Merry."

Maralea started to respond, but stopped to check with me.

I tilted my head to give her a go-ahead.

She said, "Just let it go Rick. Don't take it personal. Her teasing is what she does when she doesn't know what else to do. It's kind of self defense."

"Ride, ride, ride, let it ride." I intoned in a low sing-song.

Maralea wrinkled her brow at that.

"Maybe you're right, Mara. I just don't know how to protect myself from that."

"I think Mara'll run interference," I suggested. "How about it, Mara?"

"Sure." She didn't hesitate.

"What was it Ivette said about crushes, Joey?" Sapphire interjected. "It was Ivette, wasn't it?"

"Ah, yeah. Ivette's words. It's okay to have crushes on lots of people. Crushes aren't what we marry for."

Rick gave me a "Gee, thanks." look, and then smiled a wry half-smile. "I guess I'm still standing."

"Do you need someone to go have a look at dance belts with you?" Maralea suggested.

Rick looked at the sky. "No!" He looked around at us and added. "Maybe. Da-ang, I'm glad I'm among friends."

The conversation stalled for a few seconds while we all quietly chuckled.

I said, "I don't think we can go get dance belts today, though. Rick and I have work, and I think we were planning to do some more practice at my place?"

Cyndy said, "Mara, you're riding over with us, right? Just in case we get lost?"

Mara nodded, and we all picked up our books and headed for the parking lot.

Sapphire took the navigator's position. Rick didn't want her sitting in the mess, so I sat in the back seat.

Rick traced the usual route, and Hec and Cyndy followed us out of the parking lot in Hec's car, with Mara in the navigator's seat.

Rick visibly relaxed as he concentrated on driving.

"So, you're named after John Wayne?" Sapphire looked back at me.

"No, actually, I'm named after a guy named Marion George Romney."

"Who's that?"

"A Mormon leader," Rick said, glancing back at me in the mirror. "I think you said he was an apostle, Merry?"

Sapphire gave me a puzzled look.

"We claim that God has called new apostles -- special witnesses of Jesus Christ to the world, leaders of the Church."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"You're named after an --," she got stuck. Then she started over, "So is that like supposed to one of your life's goals?"

"No, I don't think my parents expect me to become an apostle. That's a lot of responsibility. And you need a lot of preparation. They definitely have not pushed me that direction."

"Hmm." She was quiet for a moment.

After that, the three of us talked about dance.

As we drove up to the house, Rick asked, "Did your sister actually say that?"

"About crushes?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Yep. A couple of years ago. I had told her I thought I had a crush on her."

Sapphire said, "I think I have a crush on her."

Rick looked thoughtful as he shut the engine off.

I checked the sidewalk as I got out. "Oh, there are inserts today."

I opened the passenger side for Sapphire before Rick could get around.

"Of course there are inserts today," I said to myself as she got out. "Every week there are inserts today. No big deal, it'll take me about ten, maybe fifteen minutes longer than yesterday."

Rick joined us on the sidewalk as Hec parked his car. The street had lots of room to park, especially with the empty lot we owned next door.

"Want me to help with the newspapers?" Sapphire suggested.

"Who's going to lead the practice?"

Hec, Cyndy, and Maralea joined us and we headed for the front door.

Sapphire tilted her head. "Not Ivette?"

"She wouldn't appreciate it."

"Okay, I guess that wouldn't work very well. Well, let's get their practice started, and you and I will have our little practice when you get back."

Ivette was waiting in the living room and everyone but me headed back to the den. I went into my room and grabbed my carrier bags and went back outside.

I counted the bundles on the sidewalk. The ads were small enough to insert there on the sidewalk instead of taking them inside. I lifted the completed load onto my shoulders and set out. The papers were heavier than the previous day's, but not too much so.

While I was delivering the papers, a couple of customers stopped me to ask me to come by that evening so they could pay their subscriptions for the next month.

The route took me just a little longer than the day before, and I could see my friends practicing out on the front lawn when I rounded the corner to finish my home block.

TOC		Dust Angels
Where it starts

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