Read Online Lucky Break #6 by Cindy Jefferies - Free Book Online

still shouldn’t put any weight on his bad knee, but Marmalade managed to show Jack what he meant.
    â€œOh! I see now,” said Jack, very pleased. “You mean like this!”
    He did the sequence again and Marmalade watched closely. “Almost,” he agreed. “But you’re still not bringing that leg over far enough.” He tried to demonstrate and almost lost his balance. One crutch slipped on the floor, and Jack had to grab his arm to stop him from falling.
    Marmalade had frightened himself badly, and he was annoyed with himself as well. “I’m all right,” he told Jack, shaking off his help. But what if he had fallen on his already injured knee? It seemed he couldn’t do the simplest things without getting into trouble. While Jack hovered nearby, Marmalade lowered himself carefully onto his chair.
    â€œOh, go away,” he snapped, and then sighed. “Sorry,” he apologized at once. “I’m all right. You go on. I’ll see you later.”
    Mr. Penardos turned the music off and waited until everyone had left before he came to speak to Marmalade.
    â€œYou did well today,” he told him.
    Marmalade shrugged. He was annoyed with himself for feeling miserable again, but he couldn’t seem to help it.
    Mr. Penardos sat down and studied his student for a moment. “You are bound to feel frustrated from time to time,” he told Marmalade. “I un’erstand how you feel.”
    â€œDo you?” asked Marmalade bitterly.
    â€œOh, yes,” insisted the teacher. “You see, I did something similar when I was young.”
    Mr. Penardos was lost in thought for a moment, and Marmalade waited, intrigued to hear what his teacher had to say.
    â€œI was a lot like you,” Mr. Penardos began. “I had real talent, and a great joy of dancing in my native Cuba. I had such ambition, too. I was going to set South America alight with my dancing, and maybe I would even be invited to New York to perform! But none of these things happened.”
    â€œWhy not?” asked Marmalade.
    Mr. Penardos smiled sadly. “I was foolish,” he explained. “I had injured my knee in practice one day. But I had a girlfriend I wanted to impress very much, and I ignored my injury. I was dancing with my girlfriend, and it was painful, but I was determined not to stop. I was showing off so much . . .” Mr. Penardos shrugged. “I fell again, and that was it. I had injured myself too much, and the knee was never the same again.”
    â€œI didn’t know,” said Marmalade. “I just thought you’d retired from dancing because you wanted to teach.”
    â€œI came to love teaching,” Mr. Penardos told Marmalade. “But to begin with, I thought my life was over. Every time I tried to dance, my knee gave way, until I had to admit my career was finished. But you ...” He nodded at Marmalade. “I admire you, because you are being careful, however much you want to use that knee again. I am sure you will be fine because you are letting it heal properly, unlike me.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” said Marmalade. “It must have been terrible for you.”
    â€œIt was,” Mr. Penardos agreed. “But it was a long time ago, and I enjoy what I do now. But, you know, you can use your feelings since the accident to improve your dancing when you are better.”
    â€œI can?” asked Marmalade in surprise. “How can I do that?”
    Mr. Penardos smiled. “You have always been good at expressing fun and happiness in your dancing,” he said. “But you have found dancing sad roles much harder. Is that not so?”
    â€œYes!” agreed Marmalade. That was certainly true.
    â€œWell, this injury has given you feelings I bet you never had before,” Mr. Penardos said. “Would you agree?”
    Marmalade nodded. He had never been as miserable or as angry or as scared as he had been since