thinkingingallifreyan:

• You are the last person without a partner for the first dance.

  You are the last person not on the dancefloor. More and more couples join the floor. You are still the last person not on the dancefloor.

  The music gets faster.

• How many glasses of water have you drunk? five, ten, a hundred, three hundred and seventeen… Your mouth is parched and dry. The music gets faster.
• Your partner is someone you’ve not seen at the ceilidh up to this point. after one dance together, you never encounter them again. The music gets faster.
• The ceilidh band calls for groups of five couples. There are no more people sitting by the side, but groups of four couples keep joining the floor. The music gets faster.
• There is a dance where you swap partners. Again and again and again and again… Each time a new face, new colours, a new scent… how many people are at this ceilidh? You guess that the hall couldn’t hold more than a hundred. The music gets faster.
• The music is a blur of rhythm and the screeching of blazing fiddles and discordant accordions. The music gets faster.
• It is the last dance. The Orkadian Strip the Willow. How long has it been the last dance? How long have you been spinning? How long is the hall? You keep spinning.

  The music gets faster.