Paired Text (Last Dance/The Tree)

Passage 1

Last Dance

Last Dance (Page 1)

1 Every evening before my older sister Becca and I went to sleep, we  would take five minutes to have a full-blown dance party. We took  turns each night picking which song to dance to, and no matter  what had gone on that day or how mad we would be at each other,  we would dance. 

2 It was a tradition my dad helped establish when we were little. One  day Becca and I were having a huge argument over who got to play  with Olivia the doll. A few minutes in time-out had not been enough  for us to stop being angry at each other, so before bedtime our dad  took us to the living room and turned on his favorite song. 

3 “You two are going to dance!” he exclaimed with a huge smile. “For  a full five minutes. No talking, only rhythmic movement. Then  you’re going to bed.” 

4 My sister and I shared the same expression as we stared back at my  dad. He had gone crazy. 

5 Nonetheless, he replayed the song until we both agreed to start  dancing. Becca went first—making a sarcastic, jerky movement—but  it was all I needed to break out my best moves. Becca and I both  started laughing and continued to dance as our anger crept out of  the living room. After the five minutes were over, we were laughing  so hard that neither of us remembered Olivia or why we had been  angry. 

Passage 1

Last Dance

Last Dance (Page 2)

6 Since that night, and up until recently, our five-minute dance party  was something we returned to every evening; it was a refuge in the  midst of our petty arguments and silly misunderstandings. 

7 Now it was the night before Becca moved across the country to  attend college, and it had been a whole month since our last dance  party. We were older now, and I understood that Becca had things  to do and was preoccupied with spending her final days of high  school with her friends. I never realized how much I had cherished  those nightly dance parties with my sister. I couldn’t shake the  feeling of how upset I would be if we didn’t get to have one last  dance party.

8 Becca and I sat with my parents at the dinner table as we had so  many nights before. It was sad to think this would be the last time  we all ate together for a while. 

9 My mom had made Becca’s favorite meal, but Becca seemed more  distracted than usual. She quickly ate her meal and asked to be  excused. 

 10 “I just want to go say bye to Alex and Jeanie one more time!” she  exclaimed. 

Passage 1

Last Dance

Last Dance  (Page 3)

 11 My mom sighed but agreed. I stared at the empty chair at the table  and started to reminisce about times with Becca as I finished my  meal. I thought about the days when our biggest problems involved  Olivia the doll. 

 12 Some hours passed, and I began to get ready for bed, giving up on  the notion that a last dance party would be happening. I felt childish  worrying about it in the first place. Maybe it was time to grow up. 

 13 Suddenly I heard a slight knock on my door. 

 14 “Are you still up?” Becca whispered and tiptoed in. 

 15 “Yes, I’m still awake. What are you doing?” 

 16 Becca chuckled and flicked on the light. “Julie, you didn’t seriously  think I was going to leave tomorrow without us dancing it out one  more time, did you?” 

 17 I tried to fight the smile from forming on my lips and threw a pillow  at her. 

 18 “I think it’s only appropriate that I get to pick the departing song,”  she declared. 

 5016 

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passage 1

Last Dance

Last Dance (Page 4)

19 I stood waiting, assuming she’d pick a song by one of those weird  groups she had been listening to lately. I was surprised when the  melody of Dad’s favorite song—the one that had started it all— began playing. Becca jerked her arm and started dancing, and I  laughed, following her lead. We didn’t even notice when Dad  stepped into the doorway, watching us with the same smile he had  on that first night. 

 20 I basked in the bittersweet, realizing that these were the moments  to cherish. Things would always be changing, and though I hated to  think of my sister leaving, the fact that this last dance was as  important to her as it was to me made the moment even more 

special. I pushed the thought of Becca leaving tomorrow out of my  head, and we danced. 

Passage 2

The Tree

The Tree 

by William Virgil Davis 
 Each evening for a full five minutes, 
when the light is right, the elm 
 across the street casts its shadow 
upon my neighbor’s house. 
5 The tree  seems to grow into the house, its shadow 
 alive in the solid stucco. The leaves 
 dance within the windows, filled, 
 fractured, by the wind, the twilight. 
 10 For years I never noticed. Then, 
 one morning, the saws awakened me. 

Passage 2

The Tree

The Tree (Page 2)

 That evening the tree was gone, 
cut up and carted off in trucks. 

 The gap it left created a silence, 

 15 an emptiness, along the street: 
 the presence of the absence of the tree. 
 That evening, before the darkness fell, 
 the sky burned brilliant red and gold 
 and the shadow of the outline of the tree 
 20 fell full against my neighbor’s house.