Samson and Delilah Edited April 2022
Copyright Oggbashan June 2021
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.
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"Sir? You know what you are doing."
"I should hope so, director. My mother was Alice Hughes."
"And she was a founder of our company. How is she?"
"Very well, thank you. She should be here later with her husband."
Our amateur Rugby club had arrived early on World Ballet Day for an event hosted by the local ballet company. Our coach had suggested that some of us could benefit from ballet training.
We had arrived, in force, in our official logo-covered tracksuits. We had been watching a petite ballerina demonstrating the basic ballet moves and she had invited us to copy her. Despite being by far the largest of all our Rugby club's players, not only had I matched her moves, but I knew all the terms for them.
"Could you do a duet with Myfanwy?" The director asked.
"I think so," I replied, "But I am rather out of scale."
"You are, but it could be interesting."
The event was being recorded by two Steadicam video operators. The director, Myfanwy, and I discussed which duet to do and decided on the duet from Act 2 of Don Quixote.
Because Myfanwy was so small and light, I found the lifts very easy. But my hands seemed so large that I almost surrounded her waist with my fingers.
As we danced, the audience had to move back to give us room. They watched in complete silence, but my Rugby mates broke into a storm of clapping and cheering when we ended.
"That was amazing," the director said. "I wouldn't have thought that was possible for someone as large as you. You know we will be staging a community event in three months' time?"
"Yes. My mother will be part of it."
"I would like you to be too. And? Are you free this afternoon?"
I looked at my coach. I should be at Rugby practice.
"I don't see why not, Huw." He said. "You are fit enough that missing one practice won't matter."
"Then, yes," I said.
"I would like you to repeat that duet when we have a larger audience. If you are wearing what you are now, and apparently Myfanwy gets you out of the crowd it will be a surprise."
"OK. But my mother will be watching. If I'm not perfect, she will tell me off..."
"I'm sure she will be pleased. Two o'clock?"
"Yes, director."
I stayed talking to Myfanwy as the rest of my teammates moved off. We agreed to do a second standard duet this afternoon. I was aware that Myfanwy was tiny, but she was a very adult woman. Her ballet costume flattened her breasts as much as possible because they were large for her small frame. She saw me looking at her cleavage.
"Like what you see, Huw?" she asked with a giggle.
"Yes, Myfanwy. I know you are a woman."
She snuggled up to me.
"And you are a lot of man, Huw."
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I moved on, pleased that I would be back with Myfanwy that afternoon. In another room two male dancers were demonstrating leaps. I joined them. I appeared to jump higher than they did. It was an illusion. I started out head and shoulders above them. I can't leap as far with 300lbs of muscular body but since my head ended up far above theirs it looked as if I could.
When I moved on, I had attracted a group of young male fans. I am used to that as one of the Rugby club's star players, but these were following me for my ballet.
One plucked up the courage to ask me:
"Ballet and Rugby? How do you do that?"
"The ballet came first, lad," I replied. "I started ballet at age three, and Rugby at age eight. I had good trainers for both."
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At two o'clock I was back with Myfanwy. This time the audience seemed even more impressed than my Rugby mates who were at their practice session. My Rugby friends knew I could dance. This audience didn't.
At the end of the second duet, I had Myfanwy cradled in my arms. She leant forward and kissed me to cheers from the crowd.
"Thank you, Huw," She whispered in my ear. "You made me look special, and I'm not, just one of the corps de ballet."
"You're special to me, Myfanwy," I replied, "and anyway, that's the male dancer's job, to make his partner look great, and I think you are. Small, perfectly formed, but wonderful and I don't want to put you down."