Light and Shadow, Part 2

Square Dance

* * *

It wasn’t until the Harvest Fair that he actually had a chance to speak with the new teacher. Like most ranchers, Dean spent much of the Harvest Fair doing business. A number of his prime Shadow Angus cattle were on exhibit, and between attending the bull calf judging event (one of his bull calves was awarded the blue ribbon on account of his excellent conformation, which pleased Dean to no end), auctioning off some of his two-year-old steers, arranging the sale of a freemartin, bidding on a new bull, and generally glad-handing all and sundry, Dean was plum tuckered out. Although he’d brought along a change of clothing, he considered calling it a night and skipping the Harvest Dance altogether. But that was before he overheard Miss Eugenia Weirleigh-Wigglesworth (why did the woman have to have such a gorra— dawg-gone nine-syllable name?) telling Penny Hwong that she was sure lookin’ forward to going to the dance that evening.

A minute later, Dean had slipped into one of the back stalls of the Heifer Barn to change into his glad-rags, and was giving himself a fresh shave.

* * *

Soon as he heard the sound of the fiddles, his tiredness evaporated. He didn’t know why, but something about fiddle music made his feet want to dance. His momma always told him, that a sure way to a woman’s heart was to ask her to dance, and to know how to do it properly. “Women like a man what knows how to dance,” she told him. “A man who don’t whine about how dancin’ ain’t manly, and don’t act like he’d rather be shooting the breeze with the men-folk out back than leadin’ his partner out to the dance floor.” Dean had applied himself to the task, and was a fine stepper. He stood up for every dance, and despite the sorry gender imbalance of the neighborhood, he rarely lacked for a partner.

The Harvest Dance was packed. Not only was it the social event of the season for the entire Northside, but Cottonwood Cousins was one of the finest string