84 Ribbons (37 page)

Marta took Mrs. B.’s hand and gave her a small ballerina figurine she’d found in the second hand store. “I hope you’ll come for a visit. My mom and I would both love it.”

Mrs. B. hugged Marta. “You take care of yourself. You’re talented in many ways. You’ll find a way to dance again or something else to wrap your heart around.”

A cab pulled up in front of the boarding house. Marta climbed in and waved until it turned the corner. Her head and her heart ached as she headed to the train.

The early evening train vibrated in readiness to depart. Passengers boarded, dragging luggage and children through the aisles. Marta sat in a window seat looking out at the depot, thinking about her life heading in an unknown direction. Her years of dancing and dreaming swirled around like dust. She fidgeted with the bracelet from Steve and touched the Christmas necklace tucked inside her blouse. She smiled, thinking of these tokens of their future together. Would that piece of her future hold together across so many miles and unknowns? She hoped so.

Marta caught a movement along the platform. She leaned forward to look out the window. Lynne and Steve smiled and waved as they opened a long, hand printed banner that read, ”We love you, Miss Fluff.” Lynne shrugged as if to say ”how could we not come to say goodbye?”

Laughter filled Marta’s heart as tears filled her eyes. Inside she broke apart, but she stifled a hysterical sob inching up her throat. She wiped her eyes and raced to the stairway and leaned out. She waved and waved shouting, “I love you both!”

The train lurched. The clatter of its circling wheels began. Her friends ran beside the train until they reached the end of the platform.

Marta stood in the stairway watching Lynne and Steve grow smaller and smaller. Within  a short time, the entire city of Billings shrank away. Even The Rims dissolved into the prairie countryside. She returned to her seat and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes as the train rocked from side to side heading west.

“Miss? Miss?”

Marta awoke with a start, trying to remember where she was. On the train. A porter stood next to her seat, waiting for her to come fully awake.

“Excuse me, miss, but your friend handed me this package and asked me to give it to you when we’d left Billings.” He handed her a small wrapped box.

“Thank you,” she said.

Marta untied the ribbon, undid the wrapping, and lifted off the lid. A envelope inside said “Read this first.” She opened the envelope and read:

Marta, you left me more than your dirty clothes and the little girl costumes in that box. I thought you’d want to take this home with you as well.

  Lynne

Under the card she found another wrapping; so like Lynne to make things complicated. Inside that wrapping she found one pink ribbon with a tiny note attached that read:

Found this tucked in the pocket of a blouse you stuffed in my take-away box. Best of luck on collecting your next eighty-four ribbons.

Tears streamed down Marta’s face as she ran her fingers along the silky pink ribbon. She’d gotten her eighty-four ribbons after all. Did it matter anymore? Yes, it still mattered a lot.

She sat back, fingering the ribbon and watching the small mountain towns pass by as if playing on a large movie screen. Soon they’d start the climb into the Beartooth Mountains, leaving the prairie, Billings, and her career with the Intermountain Ballet Company behind.

Marta opened the pouch of stones she carried in her pocket, coiled up the ribbon, and dropped it inside. Dad wouldn’t mind her sharing space in the pouch for a new treasure. Would he have agreed with her decision to return home? She hoped so. She missed him every day. Now she’d add Steve, Lynne, and Mrs. B. as people she’d also miss.

As she slid the pouch back into her pocket, a small kernel of expectation settled inside her, pushing away the sadness she’d been holding onto so tightly. She’d lived her dream of becoming a professional dancer and reached one goal. Now it was time to reach for a new one.

Marta curled her legs up under her skirt and turned to watch the scenery. The gentle rocking of the train, like the motion of a rocking chair, soothed her.

Next stop, home.

Author Notes

A book is like a ballet. I took the lessons and practiced over several years before I was ready to audition and actually write the book.

My mentors provided ongoing inspiration like a ballet summer camp, building up my skills. Lauraine Snelling invited me to join her intensive workshop. She stressed the importance of stepping into the characters’ lives to understand what they were thinking and why. The Snoopy Dancers, the writers I met there, became my first cadre of support. Thanks, Ceil, Nancy Jo, and Eileen.

My second mentor, Kirby Larson, asked probing questions which highlighted my strengths and what I needed to continue to practice.

Like ballet, I had numerous practice sessions, sharing my interpretations in an effort to receive honest, useful feedback. Thanks, critique groups: Karen, Dusty, Dick, Sue, Gail, and Bill and Gretchen, Maureen, Nicki, and Emily. I appreciate your acting as my corps de ballet and supporting my debut novel.

Special thanks go out to my parents for providing me the opportunity to dance and to my dance teacher, Margie Speck, who taught me to love ballet. My first editors Ceil, Gretchen, and Nancy Jo and my early readers, Linda, Marilyn, and my husband trusted me to follow my dancing spirit through to the final bow.

My developmental editor, Sarah Overturf, acted like a ballet master in a dress rehearsal. Together we smoothed out the movement of the story.

Lastly, my publisher and creative designer, Karin Hoffman of Tendril Press, choreographed my performance. She brought the story to life as a completed work. Now, I’m waiting in the wings, hoping the audience, my readers, enjoy all the acts of the performance.

Thanks also to my husband, Rich, and my family for supporting me as I created Marta’s ballet world.

Author Notes

A book is like a ballet. I took the lessons and practiced over several years before I was ready to audition and actually write the book.

My mentors provided ongoing inspiration like a ballet summer camp, building up my skills. Lauraine Snelling invited me to join her intensive workshop. She stressed the importance of stepping into the characters’ lives to understand what they were thinking and why. The Snoopy Dancers, the writers I met there, became my first cadre of support. Thanks, Ceil, Nancy Jo, and Eileen.

My second mentor, Kirby Larson, asked probing questions which highlighted my strengths and what I needed to continue to practice.

Like ballet, I had numerous practice sessions, sharing my interpretations in an effort to receive honest, useful feedback. Thanks, critique groups: Karen, Dusty, Dick, Sue, Gail, and Bill and Gretchen, Maureen, Nicki, and Emily. I appreciate your acting as my corps de ballet and supporting my debut novel.

Special thanks go out to my parents for providing me the opportunity to dance and to my dance teacher, Margie Speck, who taught me to love ballet. My first editors Ceil, Gretchen, and Nancy Jo and my early readers, Linda, Marilyn, and my husband trusted me to follow my dancing spirit through to the final bow.

My developmental editor, Sarah Overturf, acted like a ballet master in a dress rehearsal. Together we smoothed out the movement of the story.

Lastly, my publisher and creative designer, Karin Hoffman of Tendril Press, choreographed my performance. She brought the story to life as a completed work. Now, I’m waiting in the wings, hoping the audience, my readers, enjoy all the acts of the performance.

Thanks also to my husband, Rich, and my family for supporting me as I created Marta’s ballet world.

Chat, Comment, and

Connect with the Author

Book clubs and schools are invited to participate in FREE virtual discussions with Paddy Eger.

Chat:

Invite Paddy to chat with your group via the web or phone.

Comment:

Ask thought-provoking questions or give Paddy feedback.

Connect:

Find Paddy at a local book talk or meet and greet. Visit her blog and website for dates, times, and locations or to set up your group’s virtual discussion. For more excerpts, backstory chapters not found in the book, author interviews, free books, news on latest releases and more visit PaddyEger.com/84Ribbons

About the Author

Paddy Eger’s debut YA novel, 84 Ribbons, springs from her years of dance lessons. Between age three and twenty she performed ballet, character, and tap routines for local recitals, hospitals, area musicals, and for a World’s Fair.

Although she never became a professional dancer, she is an avid supporter of dance and the arts. 84 Ribbons explores how one young dancer handles such stresses as overwork, eating disorders, depression, and competition. In the 1950s setting of the book, some of these health issues were nameless, but they did exist.

The world of ballet is a wonderful, graceful place peopled by extraordinary dancers, musicians, directors, and choreographers. Through her creative imagination, Paddy constructs a controversial ballet company where the director has little respect for new dancers. Fortunately, most directors value their dancers.

Paddy’s love of story, coupled with her years as an educator, encourage her to write for young readers, giving them glimpses of reality through a fictional world.

General Reader’s Guide

All of us lead complex and multi-faceted lives.

What are Marta’s strengths? Her deficits?

What factors contribute to Marta’s reluctance to begin a personal life?

What advice would you have given her during her recovery?

Marta is seventeen when the story begins and eighteen when its end.

What growth do you see in her over the ten months she dances with the Intermountain Dance Company?

What do you imagine happens over the next ten months?

The world of ballet and American society have made major changes since the late 1950s.

What changes have you noticed or heard mentioned?

How have those changes affected your life?

Check out additional information on paddyeger.com/84 Ribbons. You will find articles, information on ballets, Marta’s blog, contests to name future characters, and much more as this ballet trilogy continues.

School Reader’s Guide

For an extensive guide that follows the Common Core State Standards for ELA 6-12, download the guide file from paddyeger.com/84Ribbons

The guide covers:

  Key Discussion Questions

  Post Reading

  Creative Writing Prompt

  Internet Resources

  Related Readings

  Select Interdisciplinary Activities

Coming Soon from Paddy Eger

When the Music Stops

Marta’s life: Part Two. Marta struggles to regain her ability to dance. As she finds a job to support herself, her dance and her personal life take several unexpected and harrowing turns. Will she be able to find a deeper well of strength to meet these new challenges head-on?

Letters to Follow

Marta’s best friend Lynne begins a grand adventure when she travels to Paris on a dancer exchange. Her move to a wacky boarding house is not a good fit for an outspoken American dancer but it creates humorous encounters with the tenants. At the end of the exchange, Lynne becomes the travel companion for her harebrained Uncle Leo. She sends postcards and letters to Marta to retell her madcap adventures.

Tasman

In 1850, sixteen year-old Irish lad, Ean McCloud, steps off the boat, his legs in iron shackles, and steps into serving a three-year sentence at the Port Arthur Penal Colony in Tasmania. Falsely convicted, he must now survive the brutal conditions, the backbreaking labor, and time in the silent prison—a place that breaks men’s souls. Follow Ean’s adventures as he seeks not only to survive but to escape!