The Last Dance – Step One
How to describe my early feelings for Leah Shumaker…I may ask you, how long do you have?
My crush (not the right word, try worship) on Leah Shumaker lasted from the first day of fourth grade until I moved away during the middle of my eighth grade year. Just to make eye contact…to hold her beautiful gaze for only a few moments would make my week. I envied her parents, her home, her car, and anything else that got to share her rarified air. She was almost perfect with her button nose, delicious smile, and thick curls of dark silk.
I was always too shy (not the right words, try rejection petrified) to actually speak to her, which is why I was counting on the dance class the PE classes were planning. I never spoke to God much as a young man but when I approached the bulletin board that day I was in full prayer mode.
“Dear God, pleeeeeeeese put Leah in my PE class. You know as well as I that I’m going to need your help if there’s any chance of Leah and I to ever ‘go out.’ Anyway, I’m begging you.”
I scanned the list. There was S-H-U-M-A-K-E-R, Leah and almost directly below it…on the same page…please…T-I-T-L-Y, Matthew (That was me. The school never spelled it correctly. It was murder if I was ever called over the school PA system.)
Stepping back from the bulletin board, my head did nothing but spin. I could feel the blood as it sped through my body faster, and faster. Leah Shumaker was in my slow dance class! The class lasted for an entire six weeks. The law of averages said that I would get to dance with her at least once, maybe twice. My life was about to change!
The first day of class the boys crowded together near the bleachers with the girls clumped by the stage. Each group repelled the other like similar ends of a magnet. Each group wanted to approach the other but the stakes were too high. Kennedy faced less pressure during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Finally, the PE teacher lined us up with one long row of boys facing the girls. I knew where Leah was so I did my best to line up directly in front of her. Others must have had the same idea because the line clumped a bit across from her. The PE instructor had to come and iron us out a bit. I got the far outside.
“Ok, when the music begins you must choose a partner! Practice the box step or a simple waltz! Do you understand?”
Other than the teacher, no one’s heart rate was below five hundred. Mine was pounding so fast and so hard I couldn’t’ count the beats.
When the slow music began, the lines slowly converged and disintegrated like a kindergarten game of red rover. This was it! If I didn’t wet myself, there was a chance for me to snag Leah. Not just a passing glance or a “You left your book on my desk, moron,” but a dance!
I didn’t make it to the prize. Some fiend who was completely unaware of my feelings for Leah asked her first. It was a bitter taste but nothing compared to the blindside I had waiting for me when I turned around. There was Holly Katchmar with her long, paisley dress and three-foot long ponytails. She looked like an illustration torn from the Little House on the Prairie series.
COME BACK WEDNESDAY FOR THE SECOND STEP.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
bahaha… ah precious junior high memories…
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Titly? Really?
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Your such a stud Matt