July 28, 2023 - When I was a teenager several of my girl friends tried to teach me to dance. You know, the various dances typical of the 1950s era. Although I was musically inclined, I never quite mastered the dance steps, at least not confident enough to ask a girl to dance at a party.
In college I discovered that I needed a final Physical Education course in order to graduate. I opted to take “Ballroom Dancing” as my PE course that year. It was an interesting class of males and females under the tutelage of a female dance instructor. We all learned, at least to a small degree, the steps involved in the dances popular at the time. I really never put my newly acquired talent of dancing to good use during my college days.
I married a Baptist preacher’s daughter in 1958 and you know how Baptists feel about the fine art of dancing. I don’t think that Clara had ever set a foot on a dance floor in her life. So, we made a good pair, I was not a good dancer and she was not a dancer, period. So we entertained ourselves with other activities during our courtship and early marriage. However, we never envisioned the strange dancing test that she would encounter in the year 1977.
My company had purchased a life insurance company located in Ft. Worth, Texas. They owned a casualty company specializing in providing “high risk” automobile insurance. I was transferred from Denver to Cow Town in order to head up that particular company. After we purchased a new home and Clara had moved down and joined me, the company gave us a “welcome to the company” reception in downtown Ft. Worth at the Cattlemen’s Club, a rather swanky private club. I felt uncomfortable right away, not being used to such celebrity.
After the meal was over, several of the couples began to dance a few steps out on the special tiled floor. Clara and I sat at our table enjoying our coca cola on the rocks drinks. Suddenly the president of the company walked over to our table and asked Clara to dance with him. She hesitated but he insisted that she accommodate him. She tried to tell him that she was not a dancer but he would not take “no” for an answer. Suddenly she was out on the dance floor with no idea as to what she should do. I felt pain for her and wondered what I should do to rescue her from the embarrassment. I could not think of anything I could do without risking my getting fired. After all, he was the king of the hill.
I watched the couple on the dance floor and it appeared that Clara was handling herself good enough to make it through at least one number. After the music was over, he returned her to our table and gave her a gentlemanly “thank you for the dance.” I noticed several sweat beads on Clara’s forehead. She did not speak, so I asked, “Well, how was the dance?” “That’s not funny,” she retorted. I decided that I had better let the matter rest at that point.
Since we were the subjects of the “welcome” party, we felt that we should not leave early. I heard Clara say under her breath, “If he comes back for seconds I’ll just die.” Fortunately, about that time someone in the group announced that we should all leave as the facility was closing down. That was music to our ears as we could leave with no further incidents.
After all the years have passed, this dance still stands out as the number one incident creating great embarrassment. However, we can now laugh about it, at least just a little. I thought about teaching her to dance in order to save face the next time, but Clara insists that there will never be a “next time”.
“The Dance” By Neal Murphy
