AMATEUR NIGHT


The total remodeling job to get ready for her date found her dodging 
between cars trying to make up for lost time.  "I'm at the shopping 
center now, and it'll take me about another fifteen or twenty minutes 
to get to your place."

"The shopping center?  What gives, Michele?"

"No...I didn't mean I was at the shopping center...I'm just driving by it 
right now, and I'm on my way."

"Okay, I'll see ya when you get here."  (Praise God for cellular phones.)

"Okay, Badge, over and out!"

Michele looked radiant when she walked in the door.  She was wearing 
jeans, a blue on white print shirt, and a red leather vest.  The overall 
image she projected was one of a classy lady who had a flair for the 
somewhat unconventional.  When Badge commented on the vest, 
Michele said "It's pink, Badge!  You just can't see anything but red
leather, fella, since you got a glimpse of that barmaid in town the 
other day."

Badge had put on his newest jeans and his "fancy" shirt...one of the 
few he had that he was proud to wear...because he didn't want her to 
think him dowdy.  In fact, he would have done just about anything to 
try to impress Michele.  It must have worked because she puckered 
her lips and gave him a wolf whistle.

"I'm looking forward to going to Meadow to hear the 'amateur night'," 
he said.  "I've never been to it before."

"I'm looking forward to it, too.  Faye Ross told me about it, and I've 
been wanting to try it for a long time."

The ride from the Punderosa (Badge's pet name for his house) to the 
ittle village of Meadow didn't take long.  It's not but fifteen miles or so, 
but it was full dark when they got there, and it appeared that the town 
had rolled up its sidewalks and stashed them away.  About the only 
lights visible from the highway were the two soda pop vending
machines outside the local convenience store.

"I don't have any idea where the Meadow Music Hall is, do you?" 
he asked.

"Why don't you stop and ask somebody?"

"You're the one with the map!"  He dutifully pulled into the parking 
lot of the convenience store where its abandonment was confirmed 
for both of them.

"Well, let's just scout around a little bit.  Meadow isn't so big that we 
probably can't find it.  Just be on the look out for more than one car in 
a row."

They pulled back across the highway and across the railroad tracks 
nto the heart of the thriving metropolis.  "There it is!" she said, and, 
sure enough, the big building with the Christmas lights sported a sign 
that read "Meadow Music".

They parked and went inside.  There was a duet performing on the 
stage when they entered and they stood for a while at the back of the 
room to avoid disturbing the performers, and then moved toward the 
front of the hall and sat down.  The duet finished with their "gospel" 
rendition just as Badge spilled most of his cup of coffee into his lap.  
Michele let his klutziness pass without comment, and was silently 
thankful that she hadn't been up to her usual tricks and spilled her 
own coffee.

The next act was a quartet/quintet/sextet depending on the selection 
and who knew the song.  Their opener was a quasi-bluegrass fiddle 
number that was really quite impressive for local talent.  Then there 
was a song performed by the man who was obviously the "star" of 
the group.  Not bad, but the fiddler was better.  Then the "star" 
introduced "daughter number one" and a girl in a black dress strolled 
up onto the stage and grabbed a microphone and began to sing.  
Meanwhile, the piano playing lady made it clear who was the "real 
star" of this group with her vociferous instrumental renderings.  After
suffering a couple more wounds of this nature, Michele and Badge 
nodded that it was time for a smoke break.  "I don't think I can take 
much more of this," Badge said.  "Let's get out of here and take a 
smoke break before they let 'daughter number two' get started."  
Daughter number one had been sitting beside another young 
woman who was wearing a flashy gold shiny outfit complete with 
a matching headband.  "I think I see Sparkle over there," Badge 
confided as he glanced at the young woman.

They stepped outside into the crisp West Texas night.  They 
recounted the saga of "daughter number one" and the frustrated 
fiddle player, when they noticed a tall man with a "crusty" face 
and wearing a brown jacket approaching them.  Michele made 
the first offering.

"How come we don't see anyone dancing to this good music?"

The man-in-brown said "They's a law against it."

"No!  You've got to be kidding me," she said.

"Ah think it's all because of that damn Democrat mayor we got,"  
the man continued.  "The jail's across the street, but it ain't got 
no door in it any more.  See, it's right over there behind the tree."  
The slim man hooked his thumbs into his belt loops.

Michele poked at Slim.  "Are you a cop?"  The inflection in her 
voice seemed incredulous and Badge was once again astonished 
at the way she could play up to any role she chose.

"Naw, but Ah've always wanted to be," Slim drawled back.  
"They's gonna be a lot of dead people when they try to take mah
 guns."  It was all Michele and Badge could do to keep from 
laughing out loud.

Badge decided to try his hand at the game.  An idea flashed through 
his mind.  Cop?  No, wait...maybe...(Okay, here goes)..."Well, I used 
to live in this part of the country, but I moved up North and became 
a professional dancer."  

Michele glanced at Slim, who was already grinning.  When Badge 
peeked in Michele's direction, she was nearly guffawing at the 
outrageousness of Badge's fictitious claim, and he lost his 
composure to the mirth and spoiled the game for the moment.  

They walked back into the auditorium, and stood at the back of 
the room swaying to the beat of the music.  "I just can't believe 
they don't allow dancing in this town," Michele said.

"Welcome to West Texas, Sweetheart."  he drawled.  They sat 
down on the aisle near the back of the room.  

"Do you think there's really a law?" she asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out."

There was a woman walking back down the aisle toward them 
from the front of the hall, and Badge signaled to her that he wanted 
to talk to her.  The woman stopped beside his chair.  

"Is there really a law against dancing in Meadow?"

"Well, there is an ordinance!" she replied, and from the look on 
her face and the sound of her voice, Michele and Badge could 
both tell that the woman was extremely proud of this bit of 
conservative fanaticism.

"I just can't believe it!" Michele whispered again after the woman 
had gone on her way.

"Let's get out of here and do something else," Badge suggested.  
"If we're gonna get in trouble for dancing, I'd rather not go to the 
jail with no door.  We ought to do it right!"

"Okay, just let me go to the rest room first, and then we'll go."

When she reappeared, Michele said "The 'star' and the 'fiddle 
player' were standing over near the rest room and they were 
arguing."  Badge hoped that the fiddle player won the 
argument because he seemed to be the best musician of 
the whole bunch.

They got into the pickup and laughed aloud about how 
difficult it wasn't to escape the confines of Meadow, Texas.  
"Where do you want to go, Sweet Lady?" Badge asked.

"I don't know many places.  Where do you think?"  Michele 
answered.

"Well, there's the 'Midnight Rodeo', but it's pretty much just 
the college crowd.  The place that I'm thinking might be okay 
is the 'Villa'.  But I haven't been there in years.  Want to try 
that?"

On their way to the 'Villa' they passed a bank which had 
decorated the trees in the yard with thousands of Christmas 
lights.  Badge drove up close to one and they stopped and 
got out to look at the lights and were amazed at the amount 
of labor it must have taken to string all those bulbs.  "Are 
you sure you know where you're going?" Michele asked.  

"Sure," he said.  "I just need to run by the electric piggy bank."  
They drove up to an automatic teller machine to replenish their 
cash supply, and travelled on to the 'Villa'.

They found a table and Badge went to order a beer and a glass 
of wine.  When he got back he asked Michele if she wanted to
dance.

"I don't know how to 'two-step'" she said.

"Well, here, let me show you."  Badge imitated the dance step 
on the table top with his hands, and then stood up and shuffled 
off a few steps close to the table.  Michele stood up and joined
 in with him.

"You know, that's not so hard.  Hey Badge, you know what I 
really thought was funny about what you said to Slim back in 
Meadow.  I really was a professional dancer!"  Michele giggled 
and Badge was once again thunderstruck and could only gape 
at her.  "Well, maybe not a professional, but I was in a production 
in college as a dancer, and that's why  what you came up with to 
tell Slim struck me as so ironic."

"Why am I showing you how to dance, then?" he said.  "Come 
on to the dance floor and show me how it's done, Miss Rodgers."

"That song's too fast," she replied.  "Let's wait for a slower one."

The next song was one with a slower tempo.  "Come dance with 
me," Badge asked, and she rose from her chair and they walked 
to the dance floor.  She took his hand and they began swaying 
and stepping in time with the music.  When the song was over 
Michele said "It's been twenty-five years since I danced."

"That's a bunch of bull!" Badge shot back.  "I'm just glad you 
told me about being a professional dancer before we got on the 
dance floor.  You're a great dancer!"

"Well, it's been twenty-five years since I danced with a person.  
I haven't done this since I was first married, but I've danced with 
my cat."The next song was an up-beat swing tune.  "My cat's 
not very good at the jitterbug," Michele said.  "Can you jitterbug?"

"Not very well, but I love to try," Badge responded, and he threw 
himself into the playful spirit of the moment.  The crowd had thinned 
considerably on the dance floor because the college crowd had 
apparently discovered the 'Villa', and the youngsters seemed too 
"cool" to risk embarrassing themselves with trying an "old-timers" 
dance like the jitterbug.  Michele was a great dancer, and Badge 
was convinced that she was spoofing him about not dancing in 
twenty-five years.  He wondered if her cat was better at the
jitterbug than he.

They danced and talked and joked for hours, and when they left 
to go home, neither one of them could believe how much time had 
passed.  It was late.

And, although neither of them spoke of it that night, both of them 
were astonished at how much fun the evening had been.

                      END