Episode 26: Romance on the Town

A black velvet sheath can go anywhere, and Sam’s soon makes the rounds of every dance floor from southern Maryland to the Virginia line.

Harry and Sam are great dance partners. Sam, like many a woman with a low center of gravity, is naturally light on her feet and knows when to follow. Harry learned as a child. You might, if you were a small boy in Louisiana, get far enough back in the bayou to escape ballroom dancing lessons, but you wouldn’t find anything there but alligators.

The nights are glorious, the bands a dream. Our lovers rumba, they tango, they waltz—Sam prefers counting by threes to any other mathematical configuration on record—they fox-trot. They lead every Congo line within a thirty-mile radius of Foggy Bottom. No one in the Washington Blue Book can hold a candle to them.

And especially, they samba. Years of lonely winter nights watching Jean-Louis Trintignant sidle up to Anouk Amiée in A Man and a Woman have taught them that there is nothing on this earth quite like the samba for pressing the flesh of the one you love.

Previously on The Rocky Road of Love… Episode 1: One Fine Day. Episode 2: Fate and Chèvre. Episode 3: The Rocky Road Ahead. Episode 4: Could This Be Lunch? Episode 5: I Only Have Eyes for Stew. Episode 6: Harry in Love. Episode 7: Dinner for Two. Episode 8: Sam, Line 2. Episode 9: Romance at Home. Episode 10: Barbecue, Beans, and Slow-Pitch Softball. Episode 11: Play Ball! Episode 12: How ‘Bout Them Dawgs! Episode 13: Mercy! Episode 14: Harry Gets Mad! Episode 15: Harry and the Hopelessly Inadequate Ballet Buffet. Episode 16: And Now Sam’s Mad! Episode 17: The Last Goodbye. Episode 18: The Big Breakup. Episode 19: Chocolate on Her Mind. Episode 20: Life without Harry. Episode 21: Life without Sam. Episode 22: Of Rice and Men. Episode 23: Lasagna to the Rescue! Episode 24: Together Again! Episode 25: Black Velvet!

Up next … Episode 27: Dancing!