Little Story #15

One birthday I had a Hawaiian themed party.  I wish I remembered why. I remember I wore a big woven grass hat and a grass skirt. We all had plastic leis. There were hollowed out pineapples with an orange sherbet punch. I think we bought a coconut and I was sad to discover it didn't taste like the inside of a Mounds bar. I think we had a hula contest. We definitely did hula. Badly.
The mommie said something to be about how I moved when I was doing the hula. Something to the effect that I didn't move like a fat girl. I don't think she said it exactly like that but I do remember wondering what it meant and if it was good or bad. I was fat. I was moving the way I was moving.
Years later I was dancing at a concert and someone told me I danced like a Black person. I don't think they were complimenting me but that's how I took it.
I loved dancing. I went to Wee Teen dances in the big hall at the rec center. Mostly the girls all danced in a mob and the boys stood in the corner trying to look disinterested. We danced until we were drenched in sweat.
If a good song came on the radio when I worked at Dot's I'd dance with stove door, opening and closing it. Not smart because the heat would escape. At the Cafe I had a picture of Don Johnson on the wall (it was the eighties) and when a slow song came on the radio I'd press my cheek against the picture and rock back and forth.
I bought a waterproof IPod last year. I filled it up with bad pop music. I dance at the end of the pool in the shallow water. Even with my bad knees and lack of balance.
I dance.