1965

She was nervous, but trying not to show it. She fiddled with the silver bracelets on her soft wrists as she sat on a hard wooden stool and waited for her friend to arrive at the desolate tavern at the edge of park drive. Anne was a beautiful girl with mahogany hair, blue eyes like the color of the quilt on her small bed, and a warm personality. Her smile was worth a thousands lives and she cared overwhelmingly for everyone around her. Sometimes, however she let her obligation to help out and care for others get in the way. That was what caused her to be here, the the dim lighting, the stench of alcohol and sweat in the stuffy air. She started tapping her black shoes on the wooden floor riddled with scratches and burn marks sighing over and over again as she became impatient. 

Jeanie, her very good friend, had a crush (Anne loved to tease her about it whenever she saw the opportunity). The boys name was Tommy Johnson. Anne thought he was rather facetious and Jeanie agreed, however Jeanie seemed to enjoy laughing at his less than appropriate comments and admiring him as he did something far less than intelligent, whereas Anne would frown softly and mutter her discontent but she always let it go after seeing her lovesick friends face. 

After what seemed like decades of shameless flirting, Tommy had asked Jeanie on a date, and Jeanie, forgetting that she would need to bring a friend (that's just the way it was in her time. It was strongly discouraged to go on any date alone), had said yes immediately. She had later come to Anne's house, bouncing off the walls. Smiling so brightly and heart bursting with so much happiness that Anne had laughed along with her. When Anne reminded her of the fact that she didn't have a friend to go with, rather timidly as she was afraid of Jeanie's response to her observation, Jeanie slowly turned to look at her with a glint in her eye that Anne was instantly scared of and and she had inwardly groaned. And then she groaned out loud for good measure. "C'mon Anne!"  Jeanie had pestered, pouting softly, looking her at eyes that could not be refused. Anne sighed and she agreed. She heard through Jeanie that the boy Tommy had aggravated into joining him was a boy named Jim. She also heard from Jeanie that he was rather good looking but in Anne's experience that usually meant he would have an abhorrent personality. 

Hence the nervousness and loathing for her position in her friends relationship that was swirling around her head at the very moment that Jeanie finally showed up. The wooden door opening had let a breath of fresh air into the small enclosure and Anne had stood up and rushed past her friend as Jeanie gave her a bewildered look, to breath in the cool night air by the door way. Then she wove her back through the tables ignoring the suggestive looks she got from a table of beefy men in the back of the room, to sit back at the bar, next to her friend.

Jeanie was looping the strap of her purse around the back of the bar stool when Anne reached her. Her nose was crinkled in disgust but only slightly. 

"I see why you needed the fresh air" Jeanie muttered, "I've seen stables that smell better than this". Anne nodded in agreement. 

"Let's just agree that your boyfriend is horrible at picking out date locations." Jeanie playfully glared at her.  

"Ok, Ok! I'm sorry for making you come." She said it in a way that made Anne doubt the seriousness of her statement. The door opened again and two boys confidently stepped through the door. Well, the first man did. The second man followed his friend with the same apprehension that was showing on Anne's face. The two girls instantly recognized Tommy and assumed the boy following was his friend, Jim. Jeanie quickly turned to Anne.

"Promise me you'll try to be nice?' She pleaded. Anne sighed,

"When am I not?" Jeanie opened her mouth to reply but Anne was saved by Tommy Johnson's voice loudly greeting the two of them. 

"Hello ladies!" Anne flinched slightly and in the corner of her eye she saw Jim shrug in her direction, embarrassment painted on his face. Jeanie was beaming. 

"Hello boys" She cheerfully spoke. her voice was coated in honey-like sweetness that Anne knew was reserved for men only and she clenched her stomach to stop herself from rolling her eyes and groaning. Tommy didn't take his eyes off of Jeanie's low neckline as he halfheartedly waved at the air between Anne and Jim that was apprehensive and cracking with tension. 

"Jim this is..." He hesitated and Anne inhaled sharply, eyes flashing.

"Anne" Jeanie supplied for him.

"Right, Anne. And Anne this is my friend Jim." Anne was pissed that Tommy hadn't remembered her name but she shyly waved at the boy next to him. Partly because she had seen him roll his eyes in distaste when he saw where his friends eyes were trained, and partly because she was a polite person who didn't want to gain a bad reputation at this point in time. 

By the time the two had finished their silent introductions, Tommy had slung his arm around Jeanie's shoulder's as they sat at the bar, drink's in hands, Jeanie's laugh, Which Anne knew to be fake, echoing on the walls of the tavern. Anne turned to Jim.

"So you want to..." She trailed off, pointing at a worn out jukebox in the corner of the room. It had been spitting out some dragging song the entire time Anne had been sitting in the dark room but it had been so boring that Anne had forgot it had existed. Jim shifted his feet.

"I...don't really...dance" He mumbled in embarrassment. Anne softened. 

"Hey I don't either, I'm terrible!" She wasn't. In fact somewhere in the middle of the mess of Anne's mothers death and the transferring of houses to her drunk uncle and her silent aunt's two story, what Anne called a mansion, Anne's father had spent his monthly weekends to support and cherish his kids, to teach his young daughter how to properly dance. Moments that Anne held onto, as her childhood innocence had been slowly faded away. 

"Come on we can be terrible together" Anne dragged the man behind her to the jukebox. She gazed at the list of songs displayed on the face and narrowed her eyes at her options. She pointed at on of them.

"Time of the season" she said looking at Jim expecting him to agree with her, regardless of whether he liked the song or not because it was only a song. He looked at her like she had suddenly gained a third eye.

"Are you insane?" He exclaimed. Anne was taken aback by his tone but her surprise quickly turned to exasperation.

"Excuse me?!" She retorted. Jim ignored her outburst.

"Obviously it should be bad moon rising!" Anne shook her head, her eyes wide in disbelief. 

"Who are you!" She exclaimed. Later she would look back at this argument and laugh at the stupidity of their overreactions but right now she was angry at the good looking man before her. 

"How do we dance to that!" 

"I thought you said you were terrible at dancing!" Anne groaned. 

"Fine, Compromise," She offered, "My Girl, Temptations." Jim hesitated not wanting to agree but he couldn't deny that she had chosen a catchy song. He sighed in defeat. 

"Middle ground has been reached" he announced to the air. Anne looked at him weirdly.

"Your weird," She announced and he deflated a little bit, "But I kinda like it" She finished and his shoulders straightened back up again just as the music started flowing from the speakers, replacing the damp attitude of the Tavern with something much brighter cheerful as chatter and laughs seemed to grow when the music came on. Couples stood and swayed to the music drunkenly and a few groups cheered. 

"Good choice girly!" A man in the back called to Anne and she flinched in discomfort and then glared  at the man. Jim noticed and called out,

"Get lost!" While making an impolite gesture with his hands, out of Anne's line of vision.  She smiled at him, than grabbed his hand.

"Come on greaser" She smiled tugging in his arm. Jim reached and hand up to touch his hair self consciously. 

"I was kidding Jim, come on lets dance". 

Anne tried her hardest to mess up the steps. She laughed along with Jim every time one of them would trip or bump into someone. after a while, Anne started singing along with the men in the speakers.

"I've got so much honey the bees envy me, I've got a sweeter sound than the birds in the trees, well I guess you'd say," She extended her arm and pointed at Jim with a smile on her face, moving her feet to the music, "What can make me feel this way? My girl (My girl, my girl), Talkin bout my girl (My girl ohh)"  Anne got so into the music she forgot that she had told the young man before her that she didn't know how to dance and her feet started moving on their own accord to the beat. Jim stopped and gazed at the woman in front of him in amazement. After a few moments he had come to the conclusion that Anne had been pretending to mess up to make him feel better, a fact he was both embarrassed of and grateful for. But at that pint he felt to self conscious to move his feet. and opened her eyes smiling and then frowned when she saw that Jim had stopped moving.

"what's wrong? She asked timidly. Jim raised an eyebrow.

"You lied to me" He stated and Anne looked at his questioningly, slightly taken aback.

"When...?"

"you said you couldn't dance" Anne bowed her head slightly to hide the pink creeping onto her soft cheeks. 

"Oh" she mumbled "I'm sorry I just really wanted to dance with someone." he shrugged.

"It's ok, I just don't think I can dance anymore." Anne rolled her eyes.

"Now that is something I cannot let happen." She grabbed his hands and laced her fingers with his, spinning herself around and then guiding his arms along with hers. 

"Right foot" She said out of nowhere. 

"Excuse me?" Jim asked incredulously, unsure if he had heard her correctly. 

"You need to move your right foot when your left hand goes out." He glanced down at his feet and saw them clumsily trying to keep up with her movements. He followed her advice and suddenly the dance became ten times easier. He smiled softly trying to hide his bushing face from the gorgeous woman before him. He didn't do a very good job. Anne laughed sweetly. 

"Spin me" She whispered. Jim circled his arm around her as she twirled. When her body turned around and her blue eyes met his green ones, the spinning slowed. The lights strung about the tavern twinkled a little brighter and Jim's head cleared of every thought. He laughed and the dancing became like water, each person suddenly knowing exactly what the other was going to do. Everything seemed to work perfectly where it didn't before. They spent the rest of the night in a golden world ignoring everything else. And when sweet Mary's date started to o south she looked over at the two on the dance floor and smiled despite her misfortune. She had trouble calling her friend off of the dance floor. 

   Later that night, when the chill of the night was freezing everyone in their beds, Anne and Jim were warm with happiness, smiling as they fell back on their beds, one soft and feathery and the other crisp and cold, at the exact same time.  

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very entertaining story shared. I liked the interaction of two people leading to good ending. Dance and song. Always a gentle way to find kindness and friend. Thank you Kate for sharing the wonderful tale.
Coyote