Dancing under the street light

Sitting here at my computer pondering what to write. Makes me wonder if all writers have the same problem in the beginning. I know I have a lot to say and many subject matters to write and tell about. So, I shall begin.
I will begin today with a story of "The Dancing Couple". A true story told as I remember it.
When I was very young our neighborhood was very quiet. It was in the mid-late 1950's. We didn't have fences in our yards. We as children especially, were not allowed to just go from yard to yard but as a child my curiosity would bring me to the very edge of our property line at times. Especially when our neighbor Helen was outside gardening in the summer. With patience and a smile she always gave me a "Hello, how are you today" and of course I usually had the same very shy "fine" answer. She would ask me polite little questions I would answer with yes or no or I don't know.
Helen had very blond hair. She and her husband Gorden were much younger than my parents. They were both attractive and friendly. They had a daughter who was a few years older me and an only child. She also had very blond hair usually in the Shirley Temple style with bows or ribbons. But I was too young for her to want to play with and we talked very little, so I think Helen tried to be as friendly as she could without encouraging the idea I could come over and get my feelings hurt by her daughter and her older friends who didn't want a little kid around.
Many times she would let me over and swing in her glider in the far back of the yard while she gardened and sometimes she would sit with me,she'd tell me I could stay even after she went in.

We all had these little extra cement or concrete walks with a step up that came from the side walk and lead to the side door. Helen's went to their breezeway door. They had a huge double driveway up to their garage. Helen's house had a street light in front of it so it was nice and bright there.
Sometimes I would walk over to their walkway when my parents would let me sit outside after dark. Just sitting there by myself watching cars in the distance from the main road drive by.
Then one summer evening I heard the breezeway door close and I looked behind me. Helen and Gorden were in the driveway dancing. The shadow from the street light cast four images of them. I know they did not see me there. I watched as they stood very close to each other their every move was together at the same time. They turned around in big circles and went almost the full length of the drive way at times. A couple times I turned my head back to the road in case they thought I was snooping, and if I was snooping my parents would know and I wouldn't be able to come out again. So I never told anyone for a long time. They seemed to be in a place only they knew of, a world of their own. I don't believe they ever knew I was there. Of course for that entire summer I wanted to sit outside whenever I could and watch this graceful dance. There were nights that they didn't come out and some nights I just wasn't outside, but for most of that summer I watched in silence and in awe of how beautiful their dance was. Every once in a while I thought I could here them say something to each other, but it wasn't much just a word or two.
Summer was soon over and fall came so quick .. Back to school and busy with homework and schedules, winter came with us kids going outside in the day time to play on our sleigh or try to skate on the homemade ice rink my dad made. Spring came with all the budding flowers and trees. Then summer was finally back and everything forgotten returned...,except for Helen. Helen had died sometime during the spring. She had a brain tumor. I later found out that Helen and Gorden weren't Dancing at all. He was helping her move around because she couldn't anymore on her own. I never saw Helen again after that summer. Gorden and their daughter sold the house and moved away after a year or so. He tried to be friendly during the time he was still there. But He wasn't the same. In my mind even today almost fifty years later, I still very clearly remember the couple dancing in their drive way. I will always you remember Helen And Gorden as the beautiful people next door where ever you are.