The ball at Captain Georg Von Trapp's home was a success. The ballroom was filled
with laughter, smiling faces, and best of all, music. Men and women of all ages filled up
the elegant room. The men were dressed in tuxedos. The women were dressed in elegant
dresses, and children were fancily dressed as well. People were dancing, standing, sitting.
At the front of the house, Captain Von Trapp was greeting his guests and introducing
Baroness Schrader. "Good Evening, Herr Zeller." Captain von Trapp greeted his arch
rival coolly. "Baroness Schrader, this is Herr Zeller. Herr Zeller, meet Baroness
Schrader." Herr Zeller smiled wickedly and said, "How do you do, Baroness." The
Baroness smiled politely. "Fine, thank you. It's nice to meet you." Herr Zeller walked
away, looking around the room critically. Georg looked at Herr Zeller at the corner of his
eye warily. Herr walked into the ballroom, noticing the Austrian flag. He looked around;
spotted someone he was looking for, and walked over. Meanwhile, the children of
Captain Von Trapp were standing at a corner of the ballroom, watching people dancing.
Their governess, Maria Rainer, joined them. "Children, what are you all doing, just
standing? Why don't you dance?" The children looked startled at her question. "Well,
nobody asked us to dance." Kurt explained. Laughing, Maria said, "You don't have to get
asked to be able to dance! Why don't you children just dance with your own siblings?
That way you can dance while having fun, and not having to worry about looking bad."
The children looked at each other skeptically, but after a little bit of urging from Maria,
they agreed. However, they realized that there were five girls, and only two guys. They
decided to take turns. Liesl and Frederick went over to the dance floor, while Kurt went
with Gretl. Liesl and Frederick had no trouble dancing, but Kurt and Gretl realized that
they couldn't dance because of the wide range in their heights. Maria and the rest of the
children laughed while watching Kurt and Gretl attempting to do a dance. After a while
of trying and trying, Kurt and Gretl gave up and walked over to the children. "We give
up." Gretl announced. "Kurt is too tall for me." "And Gretl is too short for me." Kurt
answered grinning. After the music ended, Frederick and Liesl joined them. "You were
right, Fraulein Maria." Liesl said breathlessly. "That was a lot of fun, even though I had
to dance with my brother." Frederick glared at Liesl. "Oh yeah? Well, at least you HAVE
a partner. If I didn't do it, no one else would." Liesl glared back. Before the two got into
an argument, Maria stepped in. "Liesl, Frederick, that's enough! Now apologize to each
other this minute!" Sulkily, the two siblings muttered, "I'm sorry" Satisfied, Maria said,
"Well, does anyone else want to dance?" The other children shook their heads. Sighing,
Maria said, "I tried." Changing the subject, she said, "Is it just me, or is it awfully stuffy
in here?" "It's you" Gretl said, grinning. Maria grinned too. Liesl noticed that Maria
looked a little too pale. "Maybe you should go outside. It'll help you breathe a little."
Liesl suggested. Maria smiled. "Would it be ok with you?" Smiling, Liesl nodded. "Go!"
Obediently, Maria left for the gardens. The children watched the other people dancing
once again. This time, they noticed that children were starting to come in. "Hey! Look!"
Brigitta pointed to some children their age. There were five boys and two girls. The
oldest boy was around Liesl's age. He had sandy blond hair, with blue eyes. The next
tallest boy was around Louisa's age, and brown-haired. Another had brown hair, while
the other two had blond hair. The two girls had curly black hair and green eyes. They
looked to be a little younger than Frederick, but older than Brigitta. As the von Trapp
children stared at the new arrivals, the other children looked around, uncomfortable.
When they noticed the Von Trapps, they walked over to them, hesitantly. "Hello," The
oldest boy said politely. He said this to all the Von Trapp children, but it looked like it
was aimed at Liesl. Liesl blushed, and said, "Hello. I'm Liesl, and this is Frederick,
Louisa, Brigitta, Kurt, Marta and Gretl." The Von Trapps smiled and said hello. The boy
smiled and said, "Hi. I'm Chris. These are my brothers and sisters, Matthew, Markus,
Samantha, Tara, Eric, and Benjamin." His siblings smiled and waved hello. "I'm very
pleased to meet you." Liesl said, smiling at all of them.
Meanwhile, Maria decided to go back to the children. She had gotten some fresh air and
was feeling better. When she reached the ballroom, she noticed the children talking to
some other children. What was interesting, was that all of the children were paired up,
boy and girl. Hmm… Maria thought, smiling. She walked over to the children, curious to
know what was going on. Marta saw her approaching and ran over to her. "Fraulein!
Come and meet our new friends!" She said, dragging her fraulein's hand over to the
others. "These are our new friends: Chris, Matthew, Markus, Samantha, Tara, Eric and
Benjamin." She said, pointing to each one as she spoke. Smiling, Maria said, "How do
you do?" The children smiled shyly and said hello. Just then, the music started up again.
Chris immediately turned to Liesl, held out his hand and asked, "Would you like to
dance?" Liesl smiled widely. "I would." She said, and she took his hand in hers and
allowed him to lead her to the dance floor. The other children watched as the two danced
to a waltz. Matthew turned to Louisa and shyly asked, "Would YOU like to dance?"
Louisa turned red, but nodded. The other Von Trapp children giggled, causing Louisa to
turn even more red. Matthew nervously held out his hand, which Louisa hesitantly took,
and Matthew led her to the dance floor, where they also began waltzing. Liesl noticed
Louisa on the dance floor, and shot her a surprised look. Louisa noticed Liesl staring, but
ignored her, and focused on dancing. Too soon, the song came to the end, and the two
couples walked back to the other children. Maria asked, "Did you have a good time?"
The four children smiled and nodded. "Well, why don't you keep on dancing?" The
children's faces lit up, but Liesl hesitated. "Are you sure?" Maria firmly nodded. Liesl
turned to Chris and smiled. "Shall we?" Chris, relieved, took her hand and led her to the
dance floor, yet again. They were soon joined by Louisa and Matthew, Brigitta and
Markus, Gretl and Benjamin, Marta and Eric, Kurt and Tara, and Frederick along with
Samantha. Maria smiled as she watched the children whom she grew to love have a good
time. The Captain was also watching the children, as he had come into the ballroom just
in time to see his children dancing with the children of his friend, Patrick Von Schneider.
He smiled to himself. His children were growing up right before his eyes. The girls were
dressed beautifully, and his sons were as handsome as ever. His eyes drifted to Maria,
also watching them. He saw how beautiful SHE was. He also saw how alone she looked,
despite the happy glow in her face. He decided to go ask her to dance when Elsa showed
up. "Darling," She purred. "We haven't danced at all yet. Shall we dance now?" The
Captain sighed and said, "Alright." He turned to Elsa, offered her his hand, and led her to
the dance floor. Though he was dancing with Elsa, he couldn't help but look at Maria, to
see how she was doing. Somehow, I'm going to find a way to dance with her. He silently
vowed. But for now, I better please Elsa. She is, after all, the person I am going to marry.
He groaned inwardly. Thankfully, Elsa didn't seem to notice. She began to talk. "Darling,
this is very nice, don't you think?" oh great. There she goes again…