Big Spooky

“It’s not about the dance. It’s about energy, son.” Alfredo explained. “Everyone is different. I can’t teach you your dance. For that, you need to look inward.”

Bernardo nodded and began to shuffle his feet. His hips started to move and he closed his eyes to feel the rhythm. One step was out of sync and he turned off the music, frustrated. “Everyone in the family can dance but me. What am I going to do at Titi’s party? I’ll look like such an idiot.”

“Honey, you can dance. You’re just learning, it’s okay.” Bernardo’s mother Jasmine comforted her son as he left the courtyard of their home.

Bernardo walked around the wall and sat behind the open window. He was just short enough that his parents couldn’t see he was still there. Though unintentional, he overheard them speaking.

“Dance is his destiny. You have seen it too. We have to get him to really focus.” his father said.

Bernardo didn’t understand why it mattered so much that he learned to dance. He felt upset that his father didn’t believe he was focused because he truly was. After going to bed, once his parents were asleep, Bernardo awoke and began to practice, alone in the courtyard.

When the sun came up, everyone found music playing and the moves of an expert dancer. Bernardo was grooving hard to song after song, ignoring his parents and sister until they started to dance around him.

“Bernie! Look at you!” Jasmine looked at her son, then her husband, tears in her eyes. She whispered to Alfredo. “This is it - his dance.”

Bernardo continued to dance until the last drop of energy left his system. He walked straight into the kitchen and filled up on food from the fridge. Then he went to sleep, awaiting the following day; Titi’s party.

Eighteen hours passed. Bernardo’s family felt he should sleep to recover from his long first dance.

He rushed to get dressed and out to the patio for the party but was horrified to find the backyard in ruin. Tables and chairs smashed or flipped, food everywhere. No people were there, though clearly everyone had been before.

“They’re gone, Bernie.” said a man in a suit stepping out of the house. “You would have been too.”

“Gone where?”

“Gone gone. While your family was dancing, we were attacked. Not just here. A war has begun, Bernie. We need you.”

“My family!?”

“You’re gonna have to process this quickly. Here, your father left you this.”

An envelope was handed over with the words ‘Open When you Return’ written on it. Bernardo followed the man into a helicopter and rode to a military base where he was debriefed alone.

“There’s a relentless enemy out there that we need you to defeat. They’ve stepped to us and we need to step back. Problem is, you’re the only hot stepper. We’ll back you up with all we got, but you are what’s gonna win us this war.” a typical military admiral explained the situation.

“Why me?”

“This is why.” the admiral pressed a play button on a speaker. Music started to play and both men tapped their feet, watching Bernardo sit there. After five songs they decided to just nudge him in the right direction. “You were supposed to dance.”

“Oh, okay, sorry. Missed that.”

Bernardo stood from the chair and began to hit the nastiest moves on the planet. Each pose sent energy flying at the two other men.

“He's ready.” the man in the suit stated.

Into battle Bernardo went, dropping out of helicopters in the most stylish fashion. Even when he descended into combat he was already making a large impact. Bullets danced around him and rockets dismantled themselves.

The enemy had constructed a military robot to fight their battles for them. It walked on two legs and danced on all fours. It was the most powerful piece of equipment used in a war in the history of mankind. Bernardo watched waves of them approach and strike a pose to challenge him. Each robot began to play music, which only served to empower him.

Bernardo not only did party dance moves, he began to breakdance. When he spun on the floor, his motion destroyed a robot with each rotation, and he did many.

For twelve years, Bernardo fought. The war was won by his hand and he was deservedly honored for it. Many nations called him to help fight their battles afterwards and he entertained a few before returning home.

Bernardo walked into his childhood home in Big City. He stepped into the open courtyard, seeing the ghosts of his family dancing around him. He stood in the center and tore open the letter his father left him.

‘Do your dance, son, and we’ll be with you soon.’

Bernardo shed a couple tears before reaching for the old speaker and pressing play. As the beat hit, he began to do his dance. He heard from behind the sound of a machine bending. While still dancing, he turned to see the man in the suit who once took him from this place. The suit tore at the waist, where he saw wiring. The dance move the man did blasted Bernardo through the courtyard, though he felt he never landed.

Bernardo stood again in the center of the home, which was alive with music, family and friends. He had the opportunity to dance with his parents and sister now.

As the years went by, he would see others enter the home. When he tried to dance with them, they would always run away from ‘that Big Spooky thing’.