He Could Have Danced All Night

Chapter 20 of Snowbirds, a serialized novella-in-flash by Margo Rife

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Mar 16, 2025

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You are reading Snowbirds, a serialized novella-in-flash by Margo Rife. Go here to start at the beginning. You’ll find the linked table of contents here.

I’m dancing with a dreamboat. No. This isn’t a dream. I only dream of sharks. This is real life—my new life as a Floridian. I’m standing so close to handsome guy I can smell his aftershave. He shaves! I observe a faint five o’clock shadow on his cheeks.

It’s five o’clock and I’m at Taboo Bar dancing with Sterling Roberts. My sister stood him up after my aunt arranged the date. In the awkward confusion, Sterling had turned to me at my aunt’s house and asked, “Do you like to dance?” My aunt pounced on this. “She is a most accomplished dancer. Right, Lyla?”

For the past six songs, Sterling and I have been dancing. Not cheek to cheek. But my “date” is an accomplished fast dancer. How is that possible? He plays football for the University of Florida, and everyone knows large muscular men can’t dance. Wrong. Out on the floor, he feels the beat (snap) and moves to the rhythm (clap). And he has tremendous stamina.

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A guest post by

Margo Rife

Margo Rife is a playwright and fiction writer. Her work has been published by New World Writing Quarterly and other literary publications. Margo’s novella-in-flash Snowbirds will be serialized at Fiction Attic Press.