Dance with Me

we need to talk
, the words
that came after weren’t going to be good. Nobody ever said, 
“We need to
talk. So how about a raise and this plate of warm cookies?”
With a sinking feeling, Kasey sat down in the booth.
Jimmy folded his hands in front of him. “Brenda has told me that, since
you started working here, she’s been getting a lot less money in tips. Do
you know anything about that?”
The hunger in Kasey’s stomach was replaced by fear. “How am I
supposed to know what Brenda makes in tips?” she asked.
“Well,” Jimmy said, “customers leave their tips on the table, and
sometimes the money’s still on the table when you bus it, so—”
“I know you’ve been stealing my tips off the table!” Brenda interrupted.
Her face was red with rage. “Not all the money, but enough so you think I
won’t notice. But I do notice! I know my regular customers. I know what
they order, and I know how much they tip.”
Kasey remembered the first rule of the Thieves’ Den: 
If suspected or
caught, deny, deny, deny.
“Look, Brenda, I know you didn’t like me from
the moment I walked in the door. And it’s okay. You don’t have to like me.

---

But that doesn’t mean you have the right to accuse me of things I don’t
know anything about.”
“See?” Brenda elbowed Jimmy. “Shifty, like I said. Aren’t you gonna
fire her?”
Jimmy closed his eyes and massaged his temples like he had the world’s
worst headache.
He was quiet so long that Kasey finally broke the silence and said, “Am
I being fired, Jimmy?”
Jimmy opened his eyes. “You’re not being fired. You’re being watched.
If there’s anything to what Brenda says, cut it out, or you will be fired. Now
get back to work.”
“Yessir.”
“ ‘Cut it out?’ ” Brenda said. “That’s it?”
“Like I said, I’m watching her,” Jimmy said, then looked at the door.
“Here comes the early-morning crowd. You’d better get to work, too.”
On the way home, Kasey walked past a grassy area where the autumn
leaves rose and swirled in a circle. 
Fine,
she said to herself, and put on the
glasses. There was Ballora, spinning nearer than ever. Clearly, there was no
getting away from her.
Dizziness overcame Kasey. “Why?” she yelled. “Why do you keep
following me?” Several people turned to look at her like she was crazy. Was
she crazy? She didn’t even know anymore.
That night, Kasey dreamed she was sitting in a red velvet seat in a
beautiful theater with a golden domed ceiling. The theater was empty
except for Kasey. The lights went down, sending the room into blackness,
and orchestral music swelled.
The lights came up on the stage, and Ballora danced out on tiptoe. She
danced to the left side of the stage, and a huge purple-and-gold satin banner
unrolled from the ceiling. It was printed in fancy letters with the word
“
LIAR.
” Ballora put her hands to her cheeks as if startled, then lifted her
arms for a long pirouette. She danced over to the right side of the stage,
where another large purple-and-gold banner unrolled. This one was printed
with the word “
THIEF.”
Ballora put her hands to her cheeks again, then
danced to the center of the stage, spun, and looked directly at Kasey. She

---

pointed at her, and one more banner unfurled itself center stage. This one
said, 
“YOU.”
Kasey woke up gasping, in a cold sweat. She got up, threw on some
clothes, yanked open the dresser drawers, and stuck the rest of her clothes
in her backpack along with the coffee can of cash she’d saved up from
working at the Royal Café. She couldn’t go back there. They were onto her.
She threw a couple of bills on the nightstand to cover the rest of the rent,
then walked toward the bus station.
The fresh air calmed her a little. She shoved her hands in her pockets.
There were the glasses. She decided to take one last look. This time, she
was really leaving Ballora behind. With a shaking hand, she took them out
and put them on.
Ballora was dancing just a few feet away from her. Kasey could see
every hinge, every tiny flaw in the paint job. If she walked twenty steps, the
two of them would be close enough to touch. Kasey shuddered and took off
the glasses.