The Dance (1939)

Abstract

The Dance (1939) George Ella Lyon (bio) 1 Mickey had just buttoned the last button of her navy blue polka-dot dress when her brother Ben hollered from the hall. "Aren't you too little to be going to a dance?" "Oh, shush," she said, coming out of the bedroom and giving him a playful push on the shoulder. She had to reach up to do it, and it didn't move in the least. "You're not the only one growing up," she said. "I won't be your kid sister forever." [End Page 9] "Yes, you will," he told her. "And I'm grown, not growing. Out in the big world earning my way. You're not even fifteen." "In December I will be," Mickey said, starting downstairs. Ben followed. On the sill of the window where the staircase turned, late-summer light caught the ruby rim of the bowl their mother kept there. ________ Born in 1924, the fourth child and third daughter in the Bruton brood, Mickey had settled easily into the life of this big family which until three years ago, was always moving from one mountain settlement to another, wherever her dad could be hired to cut and finish a boundary of timber. Mickey was too little to notice how the Depression pushed them into smaller and smaller houses, how it thinned the milk gravy and lined her father's face. It sharpened her mother's tongue, too, but Mickey didn't feel the slice of that. Her oldest sister Glynis mostly raised her. With Ben, Glynis and Eva all older than she was, Mickey felt sheltered wherever they lived. There were always arms to pick her up or a lap to sit in. Times were hard, but they weren't hard for her. Goose Rock, Manchester, Pikeville, Virgie—these were the little coal towns in Kentucky where Mickey remembered living. With this last move, three years ago, Dave Bruton had had the means to build a good-sized sawmill, and business was booming. The mines were working three shifts and constantly needed timbers to support the roofs and lumber for company houses. Their house on Cedar Street was a two-story bungalow with three bedrooms, a dining room big enough to seat them all, and a kitchen where Ruby Bruton said she finally had space to cook and breathe at the same time. [End Page 10] ________ Eva, the sister between her and Glynis, had just finished the dishes when Mickey came downstairs. Their mother was resting in her bedroom just off the living room, and their dad, still in khaki work clothes, was on the front porch with his pipe and the newspaper. "You need earbobs," Eva said. "White, to set off the dots." "I don't have any." "You can wear mine," Eva said. "Whit will be here any minute," Mickey told her. "Hold on," Eva insisted, moving past her and running up the stairs. Mickey stepped out on the porch to watch for Whit. Her dad looked up from the news. "I'm afraid you're growing up on me," he said. "Oh, Daddy." Mickey ran her hands down the sides of her skirt. "Here!" Eva huffed, coming through the screen door. She held out her hand where white earbobs nested like eggs. Mickey lifted them out, one at a time, and put them on. "Ouch! They pinch!" "Baby!" Eva taunted. "They make you look more put together, even wearing Glynis's old dress." "I love this dress," Mickey said. Aroogha, Aroogha! Whit had arrived. "Does that boy not have the decency—" Mickey's dad began, but then he saw Whit Daniels striding up the walk. When Whit saw Mickey, willowy in her navy dress, her dark curly hair pulled away from her face, he gave a wolf whistle before he saw Mr. Bruton, scowling up at him. "Sorry, sir," he said. "She, uh, your daughter, well, Mickey, looks so good all dressed up." [End Page 11] Dave Bruton stood. Whit held out his hand. They shook. "You're Tom's boy?" Whit nodded. "Behave yourself," he said, and Whit nodded again. "Have her back by ten," "Yes, sir," Whit...