First Dance

I thought of one good last memoir type writing, and then I think I’ll writing pure fiction from here on out. But not to worry, I’ll still write memoir type entries whenever anything exciting happens in my life. Oh but wait… that means I won’t be writing anymore memoir type entries… =( We’ll see how my life goes. Play it day by day here Dalz….Dave…

For this story, we delve back into Dalziel younger days. No longer is he in high school pumping out the calculus and AP chem, but he is now back in junior high, living out his naïve little life to his hearts content.

It was almost summertime and Dalziel had no plans out what he was going to do with his long free time. So his mother talked to all the other Asian mothers, and tried to find some good camps for Dalziel to attend. Her search was well rewarded when this popular camp was referred by the other Asian mothers, New England Chinese Summer Youth Camp, which is now to be referred to as simply, camp.

So upon hearing this deliciously long name, Dalziel was filled with dread, “Chinese camp? What do you do? Sit in a classroom and learn Chinese all day? Hell no. I’m not going to any Chinese camp.” But after he conferred with the children of the mothers his mother had talked to, his fears were completely dispelled as they all seemed to enjoy it very much and this year would be their 3^rd year attending.

So Dalziel gladly decided that he would attend this so-called Chinese camp. When he arrived he met up with his group, all kids around his age, and he was surprised to meet his friend Jagjit. From this point on Dalziel spent his time hanging out with his group and Jagjit. He attended the classes which they had been assigned, having fun in every single one of them. And to his surprise, they were speaking very little Mandarin if any at all. This was the single greatest camp experience Dalziel had ever had!

Not only was Dalziel surrounded by other fellow Asians, but he was also surrounded by fellow female Asians as well! Now that his mom was not around to keep the “anthrax” away, Dalziel could mingle and flirt to his hearts content. His 7^th grade hormone were running wild and he quickly became close friends with every member of his camp group, everyone, not just the men, he became friend with all the females as well.

Dalziel felt as if he had finally experienced the joys of being with girls, but he was not yet ready for the thrills he was yet to experience. On the last night of the week long camp, Dalziel found himself for the 1^st time, sitting in Jagjit’s room, applying wax liberally into his hair attempting to mold his hair into the perfect shape. He was preparing himself for the end of the week dance! No matter how nervous Dalziel was, he was excited to attend such a glamorous event as he had spent all week bonding with his fellow group members, but now he could chill with some of them in a “club” environment.

The dance was everything and Dalziel had expected and more, blaring music, flashing lights, and pretty girls. The night continued on, and Dalziel kept to his circle of guys rhythmically bending their knees and bobbing their heads to the music. But lo and behold, a slow song was bound to appear on the scene, and as it did, a low sounding groan echoed across the room as the populace of the dance floor cleared off to the sides to make room for the minimal couples.

Dalziel was unfazed by the slow song as he expected that no one would ask him to dance, but being as inexperienced as he was, he did not know how extremely, extremely, ridiculously good looking he was, and he was unaware of how all the ladies went crazy over his hot bod and cute face.

Being who he was, Dalziel stood nonchalantly staring into the abyss and was extremely surprised when he saw a girl he did not know walk up to him and say, “Hi, I’m Marissa, I think you’re cute. Wanna dance?”

Dalziel, scared out of his mind, but too hormonally driven to deny such and opportunity, slipped out a quiet, “Sure…” As the song commenced, Dalziel did not know what to do, but as he was following this Marissa girl out into the dance floor, he glanced around and saw what the other meager dancers on the dance floor were doing and got an idea of what he was supposed to do. He awkwardly grabbed onto Marissa’s waist and held his arms at a 120 degree angle and slowly swayed back and forth to the music. One thing Dalziel did not catch from his quick observation was where the dancers’ eyes were placed. He had no idea where he was supposed to look, he thought that if had actually knew who this Marissa girl was, he would be looking at her, but since he did not know her, he would glance around at the other dancing couples, glance at Marissa, who also seemed to be in the same dilemma as Dalziel, and then quickly glance away at another dancing couple.

After what seemed like an endless swaying back and forth, the song finally came to an end and Marissa said, “Was that your first dance?”

“Yeah…?”

“Wow! You’re pretty good at dancing!”

“Thanks.”

“Okay bye, cutie!”

“Bye…” Dalziel slowly shifted back into his normal crowd and the night continued on and Dalziel danced with a few more girls before the night was over. At the end of the night, Dalziel feet were killing him from four straight hours of standing, occasional dances, and knee bends. He was content with his life at the moment as he had finally had his 1^st dance, not to mention the other four or five he had participated in. Dalziel would never forget this dance nor would he forget the wonderful times he had had at NECYSC. He was determined that he would return the next year, and that he did.

Year after year, Dalziel tried to attend this camp again, but finally after three years of attending, Dalziel’s mother finally realized why he loved this camp so much: he was free to interact with all the girls he wished because she was not there to keep him under her enormous gas mask and away from the girls who emitted the deadly toxins.

To this day, Dalziel has still not returned back to the wonderland of NECYSC, but he has grown up and his mom has finally realized that her gas mask no longer applies to Dalziel as he has outgrown it and she no longer keeps him away from girls. For that Dalziel is glad.