Photo prompt: © Roger Bultot
It was going to be epic.
He could hardly sleep. His feet itched. His toes tingled. His fingers yearned to move.
“Count sheep,” his girlfriend grumbled. His tossing and turning was keeping her up, too.
“I can’t,” he breathed into the nape of her neck. Smelling shampoo and a hint of laundry softener.
When dawn finally neared, he crawled out of bed, exhausted and exhilarated, both.
He checked the locks and clocks. He stretched. Warming up.
His dream was coming true. The details. Permits. Plans. It had felt insurmountable. Yet here was the final countdown for the City-wide Rooftop Dance.
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Na'ama Yehuda 
Oh, I love the idea of that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Glad you do! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Alas, I can’t join in. No access to roof, at least not for we humans, only for the gulls
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, no real access to our roof, either – it is only for emergencies – there is an alarm on the door, because the roof is not safe for traipsing onto – no railing. But … one can dream …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too many American movies… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great idea 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
All that empty space to move about on! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, that sounds like a blast! I can just picture those cities where people live so closely that they could all go out on their roof patios and have a real dance party via social distancing and a long drop to the ground below!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know!!! We really ought, don’t we?! (minus the long drop, though … I think we can do without that part …) 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely idea. Put it on social media and it will happen
LikeLiked by 1 person
I bet it could!!! 🙂
LikeLike
Great idea! My blogging friend, Christine Goodnough, wrote about a “Drive-by ShOUting” to celebrate the birthdays of two elderly men in a nursing home. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have a 7pm “clap-a-thon” and “make-a-noise-a-thon” every evening here in NYC. People bang on pots and pans, hoot, clap, shout, sing, and honk … and any cars on the street participate. It’s a blast, and for some who are shut-in, an opportunity to wave at neighbors across the street and be part of the community of New Yorkers. Every. Single. Evening. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s awesome. There may even be some new friendships formed 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think time will tell re: friendships … but it sure is nice to recognize the same faces in the windows across the street, with the same pots and pans and all-manner-of-din-makers … 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love having something to look forward to!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is always a good thing to have something to look forward to!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie ~ Authors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am delighted to see it’s not all doom and gloom.
Nice one, Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
You won’t find all doom and gloom with me. … I’m too easily seduced by beauty, laughter, silliness, and too thoroughly convinced by hope. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Na’ama Y’karah,
I love the idea of a rooftop dance. What time? And what roof? I enjoyed the scent of shampoo and fabric softener. Put me in the moment. Well done. Rock on!
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m thinking, 7pm to match our NYC daily pots-and-pans-noise-a-thon? Wouldn’t that be fab if someone took a drone and filmed dancers on all of NYC’s rooftops, ‘physically distancing’ while moving us all on?
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 the idea makes me smile.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 Smiles are very good medicine! 🙂
LikeLike
Okey dokey here we go! Great story and I can hear music floating on the air for blocks 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay!! Glad you managed to comment!
Also, while in real life we don’t have much music floating on the air for blocks, we DO have a racket of hoots and claps and pots an pans and car horns and what not every evening at 7pm as a solidarity “Clap for Essential Workers” new tradition in NYC, which also serves to let out steam and connect with other #StayHomeSaveLives neighbors. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is SO awesome, Na’ama! They are the heroes in this mess!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Yep, they are, and I know some of them personally, as do many of my neighbors and city-fellows.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a fun idea. I’ve never even been on my roof. Just make sure everyone stays away from the edge. I know a woman who was dancing on a roof and fell off. She lost her leg.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oops. Yeah, no dancing on the roof of my building, either – the door has an alarm on it – it is only meant to open in case of fire or some such.
LikeLiked by 1 person
great idea although it sounds like a little over the top for those who can’t dance. 🙂
LikeLike
I hope he doesn’t fall asleep halfway through 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope so, too!!! I think adrenaline will keep him safe (hopefully for the duration!) 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah social interaction… what’s that again? Haha. The story captured his excitement really well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interaction is fine, corona-mingling is not … 😉 I figure, rooftops are isolating enough (as long as those on it are ‘distancing’ horizontally as well as vertically …). Glad it worked! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Terrific idea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Sandra! Wouldn’t it be lovely!?
LikeLike
Now that’s what I call reaching the heights. Nice one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! Reaching the heights indeed (who knows, maybe it’ll even take hold in Washington Heights … ;))
LikeLiked by 1 person
A great idea for some fun. I’m imagining entire blocks of people dancing on their roofs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wouldn’t that be fab!!!?? Imagine the drone footage! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely hopeful story with some memorable lines. I particularly enjoyed “I can’t,” he breathed into the nape of her neck. Smelling shampoo and a hint of laundry softener. They’re just the details you notice when you snuggle up to your partner!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 I’m glad it enlivened it for you! This was the intent! 🙂 YEAH!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love, love, love this!!!
Could you just picture it? Of course you can, you wrote it.. But now, WE can picture it too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
YAY! And … who knows … maybe one day we will “oh, let’s!” 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!! Let’s! 💃🏻💖
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, that’s lovely! Been a lot of this kind of thing happening, bringing communities together. Lovely
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 We can’t control some of what happens but we certainly can control our reaction to it! 🙂
LikeLike
Very true
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful idea! I wonder if, reading this, some people will be inspired to invent some version — Dancing in the Front Yard? Dancing down the street, six feet apart? We humans do keep trying to make this work, don’t we?
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Humans are creative. I say, dance for it! 🙂
LikeLike
It sounds like a perfect thing to do… especially at times like this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, and for those of us who have alarms on the doors to the roof … we can still make noise from the windows every evening at 7pm! And have been! 🙂
LikeLike