How I Learned to Dance

How I Learned to Dance

It was 1957 and I was in the 6th grade.

The cafeteria at my school was probably a lot like yours, big with many folding tables and chairs. There were two tray-sliding lines converging at the middle with two cash registers. One line snaked in from the hallway, the other actually formed inside the cafeteria.

The food servers, who may have been preparers as well, always had red, sweaty faces and names like Hazel. To me they were scary, trying to shove food at you and telling you what to eat.

Just like at your school certain groups always sat together. One day at lunch someone in my group had a eureka moment.

"This would be a great place to dance if the tables were shoved back."

"I've got a portable record player," someone else said.

All of us chimed in with names of 45's we could bring.

All that was left to do was get permission. I was unanimously elected for the job. I went straight to the top, Principal Feagin.

Now, Principal Feagin was not that fond of any of us, and he had reason. I had heard through the grapevine some practical joker had called a funeral home in the middle of the night with the news that the Principal had died and to send a hearse to pick up the body. The next day someone wished they were dead but it wasn' t Principal Feagin.

Before the bell rang ending our lunch period, I went to the Principal's office to speak to Mrs. Burris, his secretary. I figured I would need an appointment

She looked up as I opened the door and asked "What can I do for you?"

"I need to see Principal Feagin," I was beginning to lose my nerve.

"And what do you need to see the Principal about?"

"Some friends and I would like to play some music in the cafeteria during the last half of our lunch period. You know music is supposed to aid digestion."

I thought that would be hard to argue against. We could sneak the dancing in on our own.

Surprisingly, Principal Feagin did give us his permission and the very next day at lunch time, with each others help, we all learned to dance to Elvis's "Blue Suede Shoes" and "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hounddog".

And now, 52 years later, the "Cramp" has me reminiscing about a very happy childhood memory.