The Dancer That Lived In The Street

Once upon a time there was a little baby. The parents decided to name her Lily. The Hudson's lived in a big mansion. Mrs. Hudson was a famous movie star and Mr. Hudson was a big jazz mission. It was 1933 and many people were poor. Not many people could afford to go see a movie. Not many people could afford to go into a bar and listen to a jazz band. So no movie offers were made to Mrs. Hudson, and Mr. Hudson came home empty handed each day.

A year passed and today was Lily's birthday. Lily didn't receive anything except a pair of jazz shoes her mother had found in a dumpster. The Hudsons were going broke. So that night, after they had tucked Lily in bed and Mr. Hudson had drunken a lot and was now drunk, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson had to talk about what they would have to do about Lily.

"Why can't we just keep her!" Mrs. Hudson yelled while crying. "We can just go live in the streets! Who cares what other people think. As long as we stay together as a family, we will do just fine!"

"I don't care about the family!", screamed Mr. Hudson. "We are doing just fine here! Me and you at least. I don't want the stupid baby anymore! Let's just put her in the orphanage!"

"No!" Screamed Mrs. Hudson, "I want her!"

And without another word Mr. Hudson pulled out a rifle and shot his own wife. He waddled out of the room to go and find something to do.

After he walked downstairs, Lily crawled next to her mom. She looked at her mom's dark blue eyes and said "Mama?" Mrs. Hudson looked up at her baby girl and said "Step, step, jump, leap, step, step, step." Mrs. Hudson closed her eyes, and never woke up.

A month later Lily found herself at an orphanage. She didn't yet know where she was, but she sure wasn't happy. One night, when everyone else was sleeping, Lily woke up and rolled around her crib until she found herself falling out of the three storey high open window. Before Lily could know what happened, she found herself standing up in a dark alley. She waddled around until she found herself in the arms of a woman she did not even know.

For 19 years she lived with this strange lady. The lady turned out to be poor, but she raised Lily as her own child. On days that Lily got bored she would walk around alleys and start to move her feet to what she heard around her. The moving cars, people banging on trash cans, the opening of soda pop. She danced all day until the poor lady called her to come back to the cardboard box.

Pretty soon Lily started dancing for money. She drew a lot of attention to herself. She made about 20 cents a day. One day while she was dancing, a movie director from Hollywood was watching her. He liked how she danced and asked her "What's your name?"

"Lily." she said.

"Lily what?"

"I don't know sir, just Lily."

"Well we'll have to do some research on ya' Just Lily. Hey, how'd ya' like to come to Hollywood to perform a show?"

"Sir, I've only lived in Chicago all my life, I was only lucky if I got food. I've lived on the streets my whole life and I don't have a clue where I was born, who my parents are and where I really belong. Do you really want me?"

"Of course I do! You belong in Hollywood! So what ya' say?"

"OK", Lily said. The next thing she knew, she was on a plane to Hollywood.

"Are you ready?!" asked the director before she went on stage to perform.

"I think so", said Lily. All of a sudden a woman's voice was in her head saying "Step, step, jump, leap, step, step, step."

"And now Lily Hudson!" announced the announcer.

"Hudson?" Lily said.

"That's your last name!" said the announcer. Your mother was a movie star and your father was a musician! Now get up there and dance!" Lily did just that. She followed the steps in her head and eventually, she became a famous dancer!