Gpa: “So, how’s that Korean girl you’re dating?”

Me: “We broke up.”

Gpa: “Oh. That’s too bad. You find anyone new yet?”

Me: “Nope.”

Gpa: “Well, your cousin Gary is hosting a barn dance tonight. You’re invited, of course.”

A barn dance? What the christ?

Me: “I think I’ll pass.”

Gpa: “Are you sure? They’re lots of fun. And there’s gonna be a lot of girls down there.”

What are you implying, that I’ll go for the promise of meeting a member of the opposite sex?

Me: “What time is it?”

You bet.

For those of you who know me, you know that dances arent exactly one of my areas of expertise. This was almost a completely new experience for me. I didn’t know what to wear, what music they played, or even how to dance for that matter. So, I decided to blend in as much as I could, despite my lack of white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. I took a quick shower, put on a t shirt and jeans, did my hair, and rushed out to meet my cousin who was waiting in the driveway.

Gary, like most people in that region, is a farmer. On the way to his farm, he talked about, well, farming. He talked about how great grandpa Oscar Hoxeng had built the barn, church, and house with his own two hands, the proud heritage of the Hoxeng Clan, and the area in general. Quite uninteresting. It was about 6 o clock by now, 4 o clock real time. We strode into the barn to be greeted by a throng of people. The barn was two stories: the top for dancing, the bottom for drinking and eating.

“HEY DERE GARY!”

A rather husky fellow came out from the crowd and gave Gary a mighty slap on the back.

Gary: “Hey Mike. This is my second cousin, Brian.”

Mike: “Pleased to meetcha there!”

This guy’s hand was like a vice grip. I struggled to avoid wincing in pain.

Mike: “This is my niece Sara.”

And there she was. A 5’6” blonde beauty turned and looked at me. Her hair was cut short, a rarity in those parts. Her beautiful brown eyes met mine for a moment before I realized she had her hand out.

Sara: “Pleased to meet you.”

Me: “Likewise.” Much better than my typical “You too.”

Then she turned and continued whatever it was that she was doing. I lost sight of her, so I followed Gary to the tables to have some dinner. After dinner, I decided to head on upstairs before I was bored to death by the farmers talking about their alfalfa crops and their winnowers or something like that.

After ascending the single flight of stairs, I was at the second story. The dance was arranged in typical teenage fashion, casual dancers outside, freakers in the middle. It was some strange country song, and, not being much of a dancer, decided to sit this one out. I found a nice hay bale close to a group of people and sat. Then, I saw Sara sitting with her friends on an opposite bale. I, being a dork, started to think of lines to ask her to dance. Hey, do you wanna dance? No, to direct. May I have this… naa, to formal. This continued for about 5 minutes when the song changed to Edwin McCain’s “Crying Shoulder.” I walked to her (amazingly, no other guys had asked her to dance) with my stomach in my throat and my brain a blur

Me: “Do you want to dance?” I knew it. I’d blown it already. This makes, what 3 times?

Sara: “Well, I ain’t much of a dancer, but sure.”

>_<;; => O.O

Sara: You ain’t from round here are you?

Me: What gave that away?

*points to hair*

Me: Yeah, that would be one thing.

Sara: So where you from?

Me: Southern California.

Sara: Must be weird for you, I mean, being out in the country with us simple folk and all.

Me: Its actually pretty nice getting away from all the crap I have to deal with at home.

Sara: Like?

Me: You know, stupid people, family, school, etc.

The song ended and cut out to some Happy 2b Hardcore crap. Wow, DJs out here are crappy too.

Me: You wanna go outside?

Sara: Why?

Me: This song sucks. That and it smells like kids.

And so, we took a walk around Gary’s farm. Instead of being hot and smelling like kids, it was humid and smelled like animals.

Me: *looks out over 10 acres of corn* Too bad I’m gonna be leaving it soon

Sara: Whenya leavin?

Me: I’m leaving South Dakota in a couple days. It feels like I just got here, and I haven’t done anything worth remembering at all.

Sara: Huh. We’ll have to make this night memorable then, don’t we?

Me: O.O;;

Holy crap is she? No, we’ve only known each other for 4 hours. The punch wasn’t spiked I don’t think. She’s way out of my league. She can’t be suggesting anything…

Sara: Follow me.

We walked off of the farm and down the road a while. I had no idea where we were: Filipinos navigate through landmarks. Out there, there are no landmarks, just corn. We arrived at her farm. It was about the same size as Gary’s, but her family grew soybeans. She walked with a grace I can’t really describe. She floated over the rows of crops while I stumbled over the plow lines. She stopped next to the equipment shed and looked at me.

Sara: After you.

I realized she was standing next to a ladder

Me: Why do I have to go first?

Sara: *clears throat, glances down*

Oh, the skirt.

Me: Right.

After a brief climb, we were on top of the equipment shed roof. The view was breathtaking. In South Dakota, there are not very many streetlights: light pollution is nil. As such, the stars take their place.

Sara: I used to come up here all the time when I was little. I would stay up here for hours, just staring up at all of the stars, naming constellations and stuff.

Me: Its beautiful.

We sat there for a few moments, which was actually a couple hours.

Sara: Look, there’s a shooting star.

Me: What do you want me to do about it?

Sara: *hits my arm*

Me: gah, alright fine.

As childish as it may sound, I actually did make a wish. When I had finished, I opened my eyes and looked at Sara. Her eyes opened and met mine. The starlight only made her more radiant.

Sara: What did you wish for?

Me: If it comes true, you’ll know it.

I looked down at my watch. It was 2 AM. We rushed back to the farm to find Mike and Gary at the tables, still talking about farming stuff. They weren’t concerned at all. That’s dedication. So, they walked towards their trucks while Sara and I went back in to retrieve our stuff. I stopped at the barn door and looked at Sara.

Me: Thanks.

Sara: For what?

Me: For making this night memorable.

Sara: You too.

Me: What?

She looked into my eyes, leaned over,

and kissed me.

O.O

She smiled and skipped off to her truck, leaving me in the barn doorway stunned speechless.

Moral of the Story: Disney was right all along…..