Leaving the food court full, satisfied, and slightly comatose, the Ballmans lingered long enough on its steps to find themselves witnessing a spectacle.
African dancers spread three deep and fifty-seven wide circled a small section near Big Tex's rear, attracting quite a crowd.
Apparently this was a scheduled official performance... the Ballmans had somehow missed this event on their Fair guides. Whether out of curiosity or merely postprandial somnolence, they ended up taking seats on the warm drowsy concrete to watch this flock of dark people sweat in the Texas noontime sun.
Drums. Drums and dancing. Dancing and booty shaking. Booty shaking and head swaying. Head swaying and tribal prints. Tribal prints and tribal riffs. Tribal riffs and lots of teeth. Lots of teeth... and guy coming to sit next to Lucy.
Ahh, she smelled just as sweet as she did in California. Maybe a little funnel cake, too. That's what he would call her when they got married.
He slowly realized an entire row of Ballmans was watching him stare at Lucy. Surprisingly, she was actually intrigued by this music, this dance, and so her normal alertness was subpar.
But slowly she realized her nephews were no longer bobbing in her peripheral vision, so she glanced toward her right to make sure they were still alive. Yes, and they were staring at her... or rather, past her.
She felt something was about to change.
Big Tex murmured "Howdy Folks" in the background. Lucy's eyes connected to this man's, and she felt a shiver run from the bottom of her palms, to the bottom of her feet, to the top of her head. She felt fuzzy, lightheaded, calm, and brighter. Everything glowed.
She saw him.
And then her father's hand mysteriously shot into the sky, pointing an index finger down at Lucy. Lucy could still hear African drums, she thought, or maybe a heartbeat. She gazed. And suddenly three large African dancers clad in purple brassieres and tribal print headdresses were plucking her from her chair in heaven.
This was the portion of the program where they recruited one lucky volunteer from the audience to come up and African dance on stage in front of all of Texas.
It was Lucy.
No comments:
Post a Comment