First Dance

Have you ever been on a hay ride? No, not a fake one in the back of a U Haul trailer or something. I mean the real thing. You have to start with a wagon that hauls hay.

Okay, now you load some straw onto the wagon. It needs to be enough straw to cussion the bad bumps in a country road. Oh, and notice that it is straw instead of hay. Straw is the stalks from crops of grain. It is left over after the grain is harvested. It is so very soft compared to hay. Yeah, I know it is called a hay ride. Deal with it.

The next requisite is horses. No one appreciates the sound of a tractor on a cold moon-lit night. The sound of horses hoofs going clip clop is just fine. Other sounds you hear on a good hay ride are the creaking of the wagon, The visiting of the chaparons up front. They know not to be too intrusive, so they sit up front with the driver and chat. If they stop chattering, they could very well be looking back. You must behave for these infrequent lulls in conversation. And then there are the giggles of the girls. All girls have to giggle. God made them to giggle.

If you are smart, you will make a nice little nest in the very middle of the wagon. That way as the ride goes on and people are struggling to stay on the slippery straw, you can offer to let the cute girls move closer so there is enough room for everyone. I don't intend going on any more hay rides at age sixty, so I don't mind giving up my secret.

If you play your cards right, you may even get invited to listen to records afterward. Toni invited me and her older sister invited my friend Dennis to stay after this one hayride. Dennis and I were the same age, Toni was one year younger and Toni's sister was a year older. Everyone knew that guys were supposed to be older, so what was Dennis thinking?

In our house we had Tennesee Ernie Ford and Hank Williams, but these sisters had every record you could imagine. We listened to a lot of records. Eventually, you guessed it, they played a slow song. Toni said we had to dance to this. I was petrified. I think the song played out and I still had not gotten up the courage to dance. That was no problem for Toni. She started it again and insisted I dance. I did. To this day, I can remember vividly the feeling of holding Toni as we danced.

I moved from Minnesota to Oregon and lost touch with my first dance partner, but not the memory.

Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'