Tabby the Tapdancer

Tabby trundled her shopping trolly along the pavement before spotting a pair of headphones in the window of an electrical store. She was feeling dull, droll, unexcited. She wasn’t looking forward to Monday morning when she’d have to dash out the front door and hit the street to be on time at work in a complex of offices snuggled out of sight in an enormous compound, several blocks away. The groggy effects of sleep swept into her brain as though worms had found their way through soil.
The phones, a latest model, were on special offer. Ten-pounds if you weren’t the first person to have bought them. Before snapping shut the decision that she really needed them, she strolled into the store and asked an assistant behind the desk to fetch a pair of the speakers on display. She came back from a backroom clutching them.
“Has anyone bought them yet?” Tabby enquired.
“No, you’re the first.”
“How much is the discount, then?”
“Two pounds.”
“Okay, so that'll be eight.” She hesitated some moments before snapping a decision. “I’ll take them.” She handed over a ten-pound note and waited for the change and the receipt.
“Would you like a bag?” The assistant asked.
“No, they’ll be fine.” She lodged them into her shoulder bag and finished the journey back to her bungalow at the top of a hill, an added chore which needed more energy.
Curious to know if thespeakers would work, she fetched out her lozenge-sized MP3 player, plugged them in and levered up the switch. A clear, hollow sound flew between her ears as a few pop songs played and went. The volume was that loud, in fact loud enough not to use the volume control. An unusual sensation took hold of her feet. They felt springy and started to alternate rapidly between the right, then the left. Then the heels and toes rapidly pressed against the carpet; heel and toe, toe and heel; back and forward, forward and back, like a tapdance.
These speakers, whatever magic formula they contain, will be useful while out jogging, Tabbitha enthused, and made her wonder for a few moments what the magical ingredient could be. What if I try them next Monday? Will they work while walking to work, driving away the grogginess and boredom. I’ll give them a try.
She cloaked on her jacket and forced her arms through the limpid sleeves and grabbed her handbag before she froze at the front door. Wait a minute…I’ve forgot the speakers and the player. She rushed back and swiped them from the top of a cabinet where she had left them and picked up the MP3.
On the street, she plugged the speakers into the player, placed them over her lobes and levered up the on-off button on the lozenge. The loud, clear, hollow sound came waving from the speakers. After a couple of songs played, the same effect happened. The spring-like sensation and stepping started, overtaking her footsteps as she made her way along the pavement, responding to the tempo and beats from each song as they played. She hoped the dancing wouldn’t interrupt her progress on the flagstones. No such uncertainty was needed. The sound and the stepping glided her along, and glided her along so well, she caught several astonished stares from passers-by, as though she was some eccentric weirdo, someone not the full shilling, and almost glided up the curved stairwell to the second floor where her office was located.
“You look in an sprightly upbeat mood this morning,” her boss commented. “Anything the matter?”
“No, Tabby replied. “Just a spring in my step,” she chuckled, her hand over her mouth, as she spilled out the words.