Posted November 4, 2020 | Addy & Jay

There was something about a waltz that was both elegant and freeing, which was why Addy liked it among the dances. Well, she did like a good polka, but it was a bit more raucous and energetic.

Jay was a great dancer, and his lead helped her to recall the steps and move easily with him. She might not be the most coordinated of dancers, but she did well enough.

"Beautiful..."

"That it is," she agreed, shifting a bit closer, although the dance didn't lend itself to intimacy, nor did the setting. "Real pretty, havin' everyone havin' a good time an' dancin' so smooth."

So far, no one had collided with anyone else, and there was something to be said for that, although Addy had to allow that a massive tripping-colliding-falling might add a little spice to the evening!

Posted November 4, 2020 | Present: Clara, Charlie

As she glumly chewed on the cookie who should approach but Charlie from the Lost Lake Ranch. Oh great, so what did he want? To give her some fresh grief?

Taking off his hat, he half-bowed, "Evening, Miss Clara," he said in a pleasant tone, "before you say anything, can I apologize to you in advance just in case I say something that might upset you. I don't mean to do it, it's just that well...darn it, you're just not the type of person I want to lie to and that's why I guess I'm sometimes too direct and too honest when I talk you."

Alright, she had not expected that to come out of his mouth, though at the same time she was wary that this was his way of preparing to say something to upset her. Still, she wasn't the sort of person he wanted to lie to? She was not certain what that was all about?

"Evening, Charlie," she nodded, " Rather than accept your very unexpected apology, might I instead suggest you simply do not say anything to me that would upset me? Believe me, I can do without the aggravation right about now."

"But do not get me wrong, honesty is a good quality to have. Normally..." she left that last part unfinished, her point was complicated and he probably wouldn't get it anyhow.

"So....how are you on this fine evening?" she changed subjects then.

Posted November 5, 2020 | Arabella Mudd | With: Ralph Flandy, Melissina "Cookie" McMahon

He gave the woman a look, "Then go ahead and dance with her. I can't just leave the tent right now what with these customers wanting to get served."

Cookie rolled her eyes, was this man serious?!

He then glanced down at Arabella, "Tell ya what, missy, I'll dance with you later when Tildy comes over to spell me for awhile. You got my word."

“But I just gotta have the first dance with you Mr Flandry, see my Daddy…” started Arabella with her complicated explanation, but an impatient customer cut her off.

Another customer piped up, "Hey bartender, gimme a whiskey, not the expensive stuff."

A chorus of shouts joined in and the girl’s face fell, bang went her dream of dancing the first dance with the nearest thing she now had to a Father figure; the evening wasn’t going like she’d hoped at all.

Then Cookie waded into the fray.

As a teenager on the plantation, Messalina McMahon had stood up to Marse McMahon when the young master had assaulted her sister, and paid the price with a whipping; she had braved the underground railway in the 1850s, risking life and limb and the possibility of being sold upriver if she was caught in her bid for freedom; she had faced rabid anti-black mobs in New York during the draught riots of the War years. Ralph and a line of impatient men wanting booze held no fears for the formidable woman.

“Now, Ralph Flandry, you know very well that I can take care o’ this bunch o’ rascals!” she bellowed, and when the impatient man at the front tried to shout his order again, silenced him with a wag of a plump finger and a yell of “Hush you!”

They she laid into Ralph again. “Why you know that little girl ain’t got no Father and no Mother, she just wants the first dance with you because she respects you like her Father, an’ you should be proud o’ that! And as for this rowdy bunch o’ rapscallions, I’ll handle them!”

At that point, an angel, in the form of the town drunk, Jim Jarman, shouted from the back “Dance with her Flandry, don’t be a piker!” and much of the mob, as is its nature, fell in with its lowest common denominator.

“Whiskey – cheap!” cried Messalina, pointing at the man at the front of the line, grabbing the bottle and a glass. “How ‘bout a boilermaker so’s it lasts you longer?!” she suggested. She knew her stuff.

Posted November 5, 2020 | Barnabas Pike | With: Emeline

Being in the South during the war, Barnabas had learned to dance, as early on there were a number of balls to attend, and girls to chase, he became the master of the waltz, learning to lead his partner smoothly across the floor as he was doing, when he realized that yes, it was far more natural with Em in his arms that it had ever been.

They had never danced before, and what he was sensing with her was far different than anything he had ever felt, even with Julia Dey. There was a new comfort in the way the moved together, one he’d not experienced before with anyone.

This just might be as close to Heaven as he was likely to get.

Posted November 5, 2020 | Speed Guyer | With: Leah

Speed had hired a buggy in the hopes that she would agree to attend the dance. It was not as if he held in interest in Leah, not in that way, but he did believe that she needed to get more involved locally. He was convinced that if people had the chance to get to know this woman they would see as he had, she was not her father, and what she had planned was no threat to the town.

They arrived, he parked the buggy, dropped the weight the keep the animal where he stood and went around to let her down. “And why might I ask have you no companion for this soiree, or should I say, stomp or perhaps, shindig?”

“No,” He began as they started toward the door, “Soiree is probably a more appropriate title for what will transpire here. The ladies are dressed as one would expect, and the men have on their Sunday best, for the most part. Quite elegant.”

“Then the ladies have had an effect upon their opposites. This is good.” Leah remarked as they passed through the barn doors and paused. “I would agree, sir, most elegant.”