Miss B's Big Secret UFLI Foundations Lesson 128

Miss Bell walks very slowly with a cane. Her cane goes clack, clack, clack on the oak floor of her dance hall. Every day, Miss Bell watches her three young girls leap and spin across the room. 'Up higher!' she calls to them with a smile. 'Be light! You are dancers, not big tractors!' The three girls laugh. They think kind Miss Bell is so funny. But they do not know who Miss Bell truly is.

Because Miss Bell has a big secret. Young Miss Bell dances in the city streets in the darkness. She swings around a tall lamp post with one hand, her other arm reaching out. She leaps swiftly past the clock tower and over the old stone bridge. Nothing but the bright stars watch her. Young Miss Bell does not walk anywhere. She glides. She floats up high!

One day, Miss Bell finds a partner. His name is Ted. No one is faster than Miss Bell, but Ted can keep up with her. Most dancers can't. 'So fast!' says Ted, the first time they dance. 'Not bad, Ted,' says Miss Bell. 'Not bad at all.' And she means it. When Miss Bell and Ted take the stage that night, something happens. The two of them move as one. The crowd goes silent and still.

Soon the whole world knows about Miss Bell. People from far away ask and ask: will she come and dance? So Miss Bell packs her suitcase and leaps across the whole world. One far city, then another far city, then another! Every new city has a big new stage. Every stage has a crowd that claps and yells with excitement. The whole planet knows her name.

But here is the part no one tells you about being a great star. Miss Bell trains even when her feet beg her to stop. She dances past midnight, past the high moon, past the point where her body begs her to quit. It is painful. It is so hard. 'Not yet,' she whispers softly. 'Not yet, not yet, not yet.'

And on the big night, the biggest night of all, Miss Bell takes the stage one last time. The crowd claps and claps so hard that the walls shake. Ted holds her steady as they float across the warm golden light. 'Wow!' the crowd yells. 'Ooh!' The crowd can't stop. And Miss Bell can't stop smiling.

The bright spotlight wraps around Miss Bell like a warm cloak. Red roses rain softly down at her feet. Miss Bell closes her eyes with a dreamy smile and soaks it all in. Then a big voice booms across the hall: 'Prima Ballerina Assoluta!' That name is for Miss Bell. It is the highest title a dancer can ever earn. And she has earned it with years of hard work.

Now, back in the dance hall, one of the three girls stops spinning. 'Miss Bell, were you ever a real dancer?' Miss Bell looks down at her cane. She looks at the oak floor. Then she looks at three young smiling faces, full of bright fire. Miss Bell knows that fire well. She winks and says, 'What do you think?' Then she taps her cane on the floor. One, two. Right on the beat.