“You don’t talk much, do you?” I said as I spun her around.

“What is the point of talking when it is far easier to listen and watch?” She said smoothly.

For a while we did just that. We did not talk but listened and danced. We followed the music and I spun her around a few times. A waltz, a quickstep and then a foxtrot- it all came easily to me, the girl had a little trouble at first, which surprised me. But with a bit of help she picked up the steps quickly.

“You haven’t been out lately?” I asked kindly.

She smiled, “I guess you could say that.”

We danced on, embracing the silence. My mind wondered, and I thought about my mysterious partner. She was rather shy and did not talk about her self.

We waltzed around the room. She did a triple spin and I waited for her to return before I asked, “Have you enjoyed this night?”

“Right now? Honestly it is the first time since I was a small child that I have had fun.” She replied coyly.

“Why is that?” we did another double waltz spin together and then fell into a Slow foxtrot.

“It’s just how things turned out.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mother died when I was a child. Things were never really the same after that.”

“I’m sorry!”

We stopped dancing and she smiled slightly with a faraway look on her face. “I planted a hazel tree on her grave; it is that which got me here.”

“Oh?” I was confused; I didn’t know what she was talking about.

I didn’t have to wait long for she started to sing a haunting song.

Oh hear my wish my hazel tree

Shake and quiver little tree

Oh hear my wish my hazel tree

Send a dove to comfort me

I wish for food so I can be

I wish for water so I’m clean

Oh hear my wish my hazel tree!