Dancing Rocks

By Liz Charles

In certain parts of Africa, because of war, families are forced to leave their homes. Taking only what they can carry, they walk hundreds of miles before reaching somewhere way safe. These places are called refugee camps. The people are hungry and tired when they arrive and there is barely enough space, shelter and food to sustain them. Sadness and misery abound. But there is also a strain of hope, hope for a better tomorrow.

“Look at all those glum faces,” the Rock said as he lay in an open courtyard surrounded by refugees seeking shade.

“We must do something!” he said.

“What can we do?  We are just rocks? We lay here until someone picks us up,” said the Other Rock.

“It is not enough. We can do something ourselves. Anything is better than nothing,” the Rock said in reply. Then he closed his eyes to concentrate.

The Other Rock watched with curiosity. The people sat unmoved.

After a long silence, the Rock opened his eyes and said, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!..We’ll dance!”

“Dance? Rocks can’t dance,” the other rock said.

“Just because rocks never have danced, doesn’t mean they can’t dance. Why there are rock sculptures, rock gardens, rock music, so why can’t rocks dance?”

The other rock sat skeptical, “Okay, dance then,” he challenged.

But because he had never danced and because no other rock had ever dance, this rock wasn’t sure how to begin. He tried this and that, but neither worked. And the people continued to sit unmoved.

But then the rock tried something else. And when he tried something else, he shimmied to the right.

“You moved!” said the other rock in awe.

“I danced!” shouted the rock triumphantly, as it he did it again.

And someone noticed. They moved, and came closer with their big brown eyes to see the Rock that shimmied.

The Rock moved in a circle around the other rock. “Come join me! This is fun!”

“I can’t,” said the Other Rock, as the two brown eyes watched with interest.

“But you can,” the Rock insisted and with that he slid full force into his friend and sent him shooting out the dirt circle. Two brown eyes laughed, the sound awakened the entire court, rock and person alike.

 “What are you doing?” other stones and pebbles questioned as the Other Rock slid by.

“Dancing?” he said, as he shimmied back to the center of the circle.

Now every rock and person in the courtyard moved to the center of the circle, to watch the dancing rocks. The browns eyes watched, they smiled, they enjoyed. The rocks, stones and pebbles were amazed.

Then the Rock did something I am sure no other rock has ever done in the history of the world. The Rock leapt. He leapt right off the ground and soared into the air, above the brown eyes which followed his arc as he soared until “bink”, he hit the tree,” rattle, rattle, clank, clank” he rolled down the tin roof, and  ”thud”, he bounced off the rain barrel.

Silenced followed. The movement stopped. But just for a moment, and then suddenly the brown eyes moved in all directions.” What’s happening? Is there danger?” asked the rock.

No one answered. He rolled back to the center of the circle under and between the moving feet. From there he saw it all.

The brown eyes returned one by one with their own music, color and sound. “Bum…bum,bump” and “rat..tat..tat”  and “ ding, dang, dong,” filled the air.  And the ground moved with the brown eyes beat.  And soon, not a single rock, pebble, stone or person sat motionless.

The gloom of the camp disappeared in the sounds and the movement of the dance. 

Of course, the dance eventually stopped and the brown eyes and rocks sat motionless again in the heat of the sun. But something was different because something happy continued to move, you might even say beat, within them.

That courtyard, the Rock’s home, still remains. The rocks, stones and pebbles are constantly changing the look, but otherwise it is the same. It was dedicated not long ago, and a sign was hung: “Dancing Rock Park: Dedicated to the Rock who did what couldn’t be done and made a difference.”