The Hot Cheeks Mystery

 

Summers, Argeles has street dancers in the square where the music school is. There are two cafés serving wine, beer, and more. For those who don't want to buy anything, the village has chairs where they can rest between dances.

The music can vary from 1960s rock to Latin American salsa and tangos. People of all ages including little children whirl around on the cement tiles.

We went to the last ball of the season Saturday night, found friends to sit with as we watched the dancers. 

My first ball was in the early 1990s when on holiday. We'd eaten couscous at one of the cafés. That was many cafe owners ago. We were surprised when a band appeared. Soon we were dancing with the locals.

Now after being a regular part of village life, we go to most of the balls. There are tourists galore, but also regular residents.

There is the Asian man who always wear suspenders who spins his slightly taller wife. They never do a misstep and we guess they've taken lessons.

My former neighbor shows up with his chunky wife -- and -- a tall sleek women. He dances every dance, alternating the two women. He's good. When I see the wife at boulangerie, I want to ask her about the two women thingie. 

Friend, mistress, sister? 

It is not a matter of asking in French, which I could do, but a politeness that keeps me back as I buy my bread. 

One old woman dances every dance by herself.

There's Texas line dancing which in a Southern French village says something about globalization...I'm just not sure what.

And then there's Hot Cheeks. Her age could be anything from 29-50 and she has a magazine cover girl figure. Her hair is long. She and her partner, also with long hair, would have been at home at Woodstock in 1969.

We christened her Hot Cheeks because of her short-short shorts. I doubt if a cell of fat would have dared to appear on anywhere on those legs and lower rear end. The name we gave here, Hot Cheeks, wasn't so much jealousy as admiration. They would dance every dance, but never talk with any one.

We never, ever saw her in the village. Not at the marchés, the fetes, the stores. 

As for her dancing. They were the best of them all.

This year she wasn't at any of the balls until the last one. We wondered where they'd gone. 

Rick spotted her first. She was with a new partner. At first we thought it could have been the same man, only with short hair. However, he was no where as good as the former partner.

For the first time, she wasn't wearing short-short shorts, but slim-legged jeans. It may have had something to do with the cool evening.

Unlike before, she didn't dance every dance. The couple retired behind the people-filled chairs where the man sat while she danced by herself.

Like the man with two dancing partners, I would love to know more about her. Even if she appears at a ball next year, I won't...or will I.