A dance

      Rudie was lying on the bed in his room, silently staring at the ceiling. He was crying. But why was he crying? Because he had made a complete fool of himself today.

***

      He had prepared a new dance for Christmas and was going to perform it in front of a large crowd of guests. He was nervous before the performance, he doesn’t deny it. The nervousness was always there, but with each successful performance it became smaller and smaller. Today's performance, in Rudie's opinion, had to go just perfect. He spent days learning and practicing the dance to make sure he wouldn’t forget any of the movements.       But everything was ruined by some stupid Christmas balls lying on the stage. They have been a part of the decorations during winter performances for years now, and no one has ever tripped over them… Until today. During a rather complicated dance move, Rudie accidentally stepped on one of the ornaments and, losing his balance, fell down.       And so he screwed up his act. All the people in the audience, especially the young children, started laughing. Some of them thought it was a part of the show, but that thought quickly vanished when Rudie didn’t get up from his fall. He didn't hurt himself, no. It was just the thought of making a mistake that made him feel sick… The toon’s vision darkened, his pulse quickened noticeably along with his breathing. He felt as if he was about to lose consciousness.       The toon handlers who were watching the show immediately came to the rescue. They announced to the audience that this situation was not part of the show, and they needed to stop it for a few minutes to make sure Rudie was okay. It turned out that he had hit something on the floor after all... His head, to be precise.       He was quickly given first aid and then taken to his room. Looey volunteered to take his friend to his room and make sure he was resting. During that short walk, Rudie had already started crying both from the shame and the sadness that he had failed the dance he had spent so much time preparing for. Looey tried to cheer him up by saying, "They're laughing with you, not at you," but it didn't help.

***

      And now he was lying on his bed and crying.       The reindeer toon thought that he had definitely disgraced himself if not in front of the public, but in front of his friends. After all, Looey had helped Rudie learn the dance; he was the first to see and appreciate it! And everything had gone down the drain just because of some stupid Christmas ball that Rudie had failed to notice in time. Shrimpo would definitely remind him of this mistake for a pretty long time.       The headache was already slowly going away, because before that the red-nosed toon had been given some painkillers. The toon handlers said that he wouldn’t perform anymore today, because he needed rest. He was sure that he was still physically ready to perform… But mentally he wasn’t really ready for this. After such a disgrace, he wouldn’t go on stage for another year.       Well, what idiot even suggested throwing these ornaments around the stage for a more "realistic" effect? Oh, right... It was Rudie. It was his idea. He was the one who confidently declared at the rehearsal two weeks ago that the stage lacked the Christmas spirit and needed even more decorations. And someone warned him that this could end in injury… It must have been Glisten.       Glisten was going to perform a Christmas song almost immediately after Rudie’s dance. The Mirror didn't like the idea with the ornaments, because "it could lead to a fall that could literally break his beautiful face." The reindeer didn't really listen to him, because he knew that the ornaments weren't any danger for him! But he should have listened to his friend's advice…       Why was he so stubborn? Why couldn't he just choose safety over fun for once? Why did he have to be-…       His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, after which a familiar voice was heard, "Rudie, dear, may I come in?"       Rudie quickly wiped the tears off of his face with his hand (or rather, his hoof) and took a deep breath, then exhaled. He hoped his friend wouldn’t notice that he was crying. The other toons were used to seeing him in a cheerful and happy mood, so he wasn't sure how they would react to him being sad.       "Yes, Glisten, you can come in," Rudie replied, sitting up on his bed.       The door opened and Glisten walked in, still wearing his Christmas outfit. Wasn’t he supposed to be performing now? Or was Rudie so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the beginning and the end of the mirror's performance? Or had he decided not to perform at all? The show couldn't have been cancelled just because of one stupid accident, could it?       Apparently, all these questions could be read perfectly on Rudie's face, because he didn't even have to voice them to get answers. Glisten sat down on the bed next to him and said, "I finished my performance and immediately asked for permission to go see you. Looey wanted to come with me, but he is participating in Vee's Christmas quiz, and there is no one to replace him. He will come to see you later, too".       "Okay," Rudie was glad that his friends hadn’t forgotten about him, but he thought that they shouldn’t have wasted their time on him... They’d miss the whole show that way. "Thank you for coming to see me".       "Oh, there is no need to thank me. I'm always happy to spend my time with you!" these words were said with a smile.       Smiling in response, Rudie replied, "I hope you came here of your own free will and not because Looey forced you, heh-heh!.."       "Ha-ha, my dear, it's hard to force me to do anything! I swear to you, I came here of my own free will. Besides, it's very quiet here, and there's too much noise at the show. My head always hurts because of it, and I was starting to worry that I'd shatter!       "Oh, don't worry, we would have picked you up piece by piece and glued you back together!" Rudie laughed, lightly hitting Glisten in the shoulder. "Even Shrimpo!"       "This bully?" the mirror said with a clearly feigned insult in his voice. "He'll put me back together somehow, and even then, crookedly! I'm afraid he'll just throw away one half of me and break the other!"       Rudie burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. If there was one thing Glisten could do, it was making good jokes; the red-nosed toon always laughed at his jokes. The mirror himself smiled involuntarily, hearing his friend's laughter. But then something entered his field of vision, causing the smile to slip slightly.       "Forgive me for asking a rather unpleasant question, but were you crying?"       This took Rudie by surprise. He had already forgotten that he had been crying recently! Only slightly reddened eyes and sniffling reminded him of this. And these two details didn’t go unnoticed by Glisten. The recent failure came to mind again, and the deer's mood noticeably worsened.       Glisten noticed this and, placing one of his hands on Rudie’s shoulder, said, "You don't have to tell me about this, but I just want you to know that I'm always here if you want to talk. And Looey is here, too, by the way!       "Yes, I know; thank you for that. But I don't want to talk about it yet…"       "No problem! Then let's talk about something else, for example…" he hesitated, not knowing what to say. Glisten understood that his friend hadn’t yet fully come to his senses, so he definitely needed to be cheered up somehow... And it was at that moment that an idea popped into his head. "You haven't hurt yourself, have you? Does anything hurt?"       "Only my head hurts, but just a little bit"       "Great!"       The mirror stood up from the bed and went to the big closet where the reindeer kept all sorts of old things that he doesn’t use that often anymore. A minute later, Glisten chuckled contentedly and turned to his friend, holding an old tape recorder and a couple of CDs with old Christmas songs. After rummaging through the CDs for a minute, he inserted the right one into the player and turned up the volume. A song started playing. It was Rudie’s favorite one.       Smiling, Glisten approached his friend and extended his hand, "I remember how we once performed together to this song. You still remember the moves, don’t you?"       Was that an invitation to dance? Wow, that was something new… Rudie still remembered the steps of the dance he and Glisten had done a couple of years ago; that dance was still one of his favorites. Rudie took Glisten's hand and stood up, a smile already forming on his face.       "Do you remember it yourself?"       "Oh, Rudie, you underestimate me!" the mirror led the red-nosed man to the center of the room. "I'm sure I remember this dance even better than you!"       "Oh, so this is a challenge?" the smile grew wider.       "Maybe!"       And so they began to dance. Were they in sync with the music? No. Were their movements precise and accurate? Also no. Would this dance look ridiculous to anybody else? Absolutely yes. But the two of them didn't care, especially Glisten. Everybody was at a show now, the music of which was definitely louder than what was playing on this old tape recorder.       Rudie’s ringing laughter and Glisten's giggling filled the room. This dance reminded them of such pleasant and cheerful memories of the past years; all their problems now seemed like mere trifles. They had each other, and that was all that mattered now. To hell with the opinions of strangers and the eternally grumbling Shrimpo! Who are these people (and toons) to decide what they should laugh at and what they shouldn't?       The deer toon had already forgotten all of his failures of today’s day, he had forgotten the failure that had happened earlier on stage. He no longer cared. Now he was happy, and the sad thoughts had completely left his head.       They were having fun, and that was all that mattered now.

***

      They danced like that for a couple of minutes. Then the door to the room opened and Looey looked in. Seeing the picture unfolding before his eyes, he declared with feigned irritation that he refuses to be the third wheel. This made the laughter even louder.       A few seconds later, the three toons were dancing together with each other. And each of them will remember this moment for a long time.