Fic: Terpsichore

[miriam_heddy]

Terpsichore
By Miriam Heddy

When I sit, you sit. When I kneel, you kneel. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!

"So what're you two up-"

"Charles, please reassure me on one point. You do know how to count to three in base ten

Comments

[miriam_heddy]

I found that terminology on a waltz instruction website. You need to proceed forward motion with a lean to signal to your partner where you're going. Oddly enough, on Wiki's site on manual transmission driving, they had this advice:
To avoid grinding, do the waltz: think 1-2-3. On the count of 1, press the clutch all the way down to the floor. On the count of 2, move the stick to the desired gear. On 3, release the clutch. To speed up the gear change, you must speed up these motions individually, and not "cheat" by trying to overlap steps 2 and 3. There is little room for that. In particular, the lever must be in the final position before the clutch moves off the floor. Where you can save time is by tightly combining 1 and 2. Push or pull on the stick while pressing the clutch, to get it moving as soon as possible. Practice the waltz: count 1-2-3 in your head. Try doing it very slowly, and then speed up the tempo.

So anyway--language is a fun thing, really.

And I think Alan and Don will adjust. Alan sooner than Don, in a way, because I think that Don's much more pig-headed (in ways that sometimes benefit him), whereas Alan strikes me as someone who tries consciously to be as mellow as possible (which, given his kids, is a good thing).

I'm glad you enjoyed the story!