DANCING TALES

Hello neighbor, glad you stopped by.

 Dad put together a small dance band called” Foster Beach and the Dancemasters”.  He began playing at dance halls around the different towns.  These were real dance halls.   Some were quite elaborate, some were just a large building especially  made for dancing and some were real barns that were  fixed to be a dance hall. My sister and I got big enough so we could go along sometimes to join in the dancing. We would dance together and have a great time, waltzing? (trying) jitterbugging and whatever else the band would play. As we grew older we began to get asked to dance by fellows or relatives. These dance halls did not allow alcoholic beverages inside, but I am sure there was some out in the cars.  One of the best things at the dances were the hot dogs and cold drinks.  It seemed that hot dogs always tasted better at the dance.

There are some stories that go along with attending these dances. I will share a few that I can remember. After the dance is over, we had to wait around for the musicians to get  their instruments packed and Dad had all the music to  pack up, too. I remember one night as I was sitting along the bench around the wall of the room, that I noticed something shining under the bench across the room.  So I went to check it out. It was a diamond ring! I gave it to the people managing the hall. I think they knew the woman who had lost it. So I was glad that I found it.

One night as we were driving to the dance hall, the road to the town was flooded.  Of course there was no one with a cell phone in their pocket so we waited.  Dad figured someone from the hall would come once they learned that the road was flooded. Sure enough some people showed up with a boat or two to get us and the instruments and music across. Then we would have to be driven to the hall. And after the dance, the process was reversed.

Another night we were almost home when Dad saw something in the middle of the road. He stopped the car and got out to check it out.  It was a baby fox. We figure that the mother must have been killed. So he picked it up and we took it home.  In our house the stairs to go up to the bedrooms went up about four steps, then a platform, left,  and up the rest of the steps.  In that area under the platform, Mary and I used to use it as a play room. So we fixed that up for the fox. We kept it until it was big enough to take out into the woods and let it go.

I guess the one that takes the cake, this was after I grew up and had left home, Dad was having one of his bouts with tonsillitis. He never went to a doctor but this night he stopped at the local old fellow who had been doctoring in Winthrop for many years.  He needed something to help his throat because he had to blow the trombone all evening.  Well, the doctor handed Dad a few pills and told him to take these. Well, generally they mean a couple every few hours, but Dad took them all. The Doctor wasn’t sure what to do. When he asked Dad why he took them all, Dad said ,”You gave them to me and said to  take them, so I did.” Well, the doctor didn’t have a solution so Dad paid and left for the dance. Said he never had another bout of tonsillitis.

Well guess that tells the story about dance halls, good music and lots of dancing.

Hope you will stop by again for another little chat.