Those 70ish Girls

I like to dance. The band can help a lot. There was a dance in hometown Murdo on July 18 after the parade, after the meetups for different graduation groups from MHS, after the silent auction and the big luncheon at the Auditorium. Now for a young person this is all fine because they have energy to keep going like the energizer bunny. However, for we 70ish people, the dance was a country too far. I didn’t admit that to friends, Ralph and Judy, so I went dragging my sorry impostor’s body to the street in front of the auditorium and to the people crowding under the tent thingys across the street. So that night after attending all those activities, in hot prairie weather, we old friends went to check it out. I will stress “old.” We were all “over the hill” and couldn’t be found even over many hills.

It was around midnight, which I’ll call past bedtime. I was pushing myself to keep moving forward, backward, to the side, anywhere.

There were barely four people out on the floor and I use the term floor loosely. The dance floor was the paved street.

Two young teenagers were out there doing their western style dancing. They were fun to watch especially when the youthful cowboy flipped the girl over. It was like gymnastics. Also a bunch of youngsters were dancing with parents, being goofy and so my friend from Mexico and former famous Murdo High alum, Judy Dykstra-Brown, and I went out there to show these whipper snappers. I told her, “I’m gonna dance like it’s the 1960’s – let’s show ‘em!” We did.

As we rocked out dancing doing the hippie hippie shake, the jerk, the mashed potatoes, the electric slide and once I tried to spin around in a jerky old lady way, we pretty much stopped everything. The band took a break, we cleared the “floor” and when we ended our dance routine, nobody was left out there except us. The other dancers must have been embarrassed by us or else they thought we were so good that they couldn’t be seen dancing with us and they couldn’t keep up with the old experienced dancers . Hmmm. Naw, not a chance on that last guess. But we had fun! Judy got into her dancing and seemed to throw caution to the wind.

It was fun and that’s all that mattered. We went inside the auditorium to use the restroom plus there were cookies sitting out so we took a couple of those to sustain us. Ralph had fled to talk with people he knew but we caught up with him across the street where he introduced us to some guy he knew and we had to pose for pictures. The fine young man was kind and put up with us. It all had something to do with this kid’s family babysitting the Thomas kids I think.

By this time I was parched something awful so I asked at the big food truck set up in the Circle E Drive- in parking lot. But they didn’t sell water bottles.

By this time I was a zombie and just walked mindlessly around asking at a private bbq back across the street by the school if they had water. They ignored me. Who could blame them? I looked like a vampire with no soul nor heart with my dry throat kinda raspy, looking like a lizard.

I don’t think the people barbecuing heard me. I think I was melting at that point kinda like the witch in Wizard of Oz, except they threw water on her and I was beyond hoping water was coming. All I could think about was wishing I could get in that comfy big bed in my room at Range Country with all the soft pillows and warm quilt covering my sad melting lifeless danced out body with a big glass of Murdo water.

Ralph drove Judy and me back to Range Country finally as they talked about how the auditorium had been built and I chimed in that Uncle Jerry and his brother and crew had built it and Uncle Wayne had graded the site for it, however, they said the community played a huge part in getting it built as well. Students even pitched in helping with cement footings or something like that. It made me stop and think how lucky we were to have spent a large part of the day centered around this beautiful old auditorium and how it had brought us much joy and friendship over the decades.

Thanks, Uncle Jerry and Uncle Wayne and everyone who helped long ago build a landmark in Murdo for people to gather.