The Shuggle
By Paul Winum
The hallway was long and narrow. Even in the dark light, I could see her figure approaching, with a steady lilting gait. There was an entrancing rhythm to it and her features grew more distinctive with every step closer. I could tell now that she was stunningly beautiful with a self-assured air. As we were now almost upon each other, it happened. The shuggle!
In an effort to pass each other, we did that dance, that shuffle left and right, struggling to get by each other but locked in a trance of movement for a few seconds. How many times have I shuggled with others before – coming out of or going into an elevator, crossing a street, even shuggling with a pedestrian in a crosswalk when driving my car. Yet, here I was, shuggling with maybe the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, much less within touching distance. I didn't want it to end.
Usually, shuggles last only two steps. In fact, a shuggle requires at least two steps, simultaneously taken in the same direction. It is only broken when one lets the other make the third move, then moving in the opposite direction. Our shuggle now had gone on for five moves. We smiled at and with each other after the third move. After the fourth, we both chuckled. Now, with the fifth shuggle, I wondered if she thought I was intentionally prolonging the shuggle.
Perhaps part of me was, out of my awareness of course. Not wanting to erode any fondness she may have developed for me in our brief encounter, I purposely stopped my movement immediately before the possibility of her suspecting me of purposely shuggling with her entered her mind. SO DID SHE! We both stopped shuggling at the exact same instant.
We laughed out loud this time and felt this momentary physical/psychological sympatico much like when you are playing Rock, Paper, Scissors and both players put out Rock 5 times in a row. Or Scissors. Or Paper.
We were now, in the blink of an eye, engaged in a different choreography – a reverse shuggle. Who would make the first move? Who would break this momentary stalemate? Time seemed to stand still. Neither of us moved for what felt like an eternity. Our eyes now were locked, in smiles - in a staring contest. We playfully kept the contest on for a few moments more, enjoying the brief escape from the routine of walking a path we had taken many times, from the trance of our inner thoughts, replacing that trance with another, unusually pleasant.
Starting to feel uncomfortable with the intimacy now, we both broke off our eye contact and looked down. Slowly, we both moved sideways around each other, in opposite directions, again perfectly synchronized.
Several steps now down the hallway, I felt both elated to have had such a special shuggle with her and sad that the shuggle was over. I had never shuggled so memorably before. To savor the memory, I looked back at her over my shoulder – only to see her turning to look back at me – at the exact same moment.