Valentine's Dance

Being members of the swim team and state caliber in the 200 freestyle, Coach Mach wanted Don, Rosa, and Lanh front and center where they can be seen, he expected a lot out of them, and he wanted the Woodcutters of Grant Valley High to know their future heroes. But Don, Lanh and Sydney wanted to stay as far out of the spotlight as possible. They settled on a table near where the chaperones were sitting which was good, Lanh and Don could lean over and chat with Bao and Kim-ly, and they were fairly close to the potluck table, so their waiter and waitress didn't have far to go.

Kim-ly and Bao had a lot of fun being chaperones, they were only three years older than the students and some of the younger students thought they were Seniors. They danced together to some of the fast songs and all of the slow songs and occasionally one of the students would ask them if they were married. At first Bao would laugh at the question, but later as the evening progressed, the couple would simply smile.

"Did they just kiss?" Don whispered to Lanh.

"Who?"

"Bao and Kim-ly, I swear they just kissed." Don was quite shocked.

"Oh, them. They've always been kissy-kissy," explained Lanh. "Má said that they were practically born holding hands. Do you have twins in your family?"

Don thought for a moment. "No, I'll ask dad and Grumpy, but I don't think so."

Lanh laughed, "Grumpy? Who's Grumpy?"

Don chuckled, "Haven't I mentioned Grandpa Odie? We all call him Grumpy because he truly is grumpy. Grumpy Odie and Hilde are my mom's folks. My mom was a bit like you, the youngest of seven, so I have a ton of cousins that are a lot older than me. Sandy knows Grumpy and Hilde and you'll be meeting them pretty soon."

Lanh shrugged nervously, Don has met so many of her relatives, but Lanh hasn't met any of his, what are they going to think when they come to the wedding and see their Norwegian/Irish relative marrying an Asian girl? What are they going to say when they find out that many of her relatives barely speak any English.

The kids that were serving the Juniors and Seniors generally congregated around the snack table and went to the senior that raised their hand to request something, but Don and Lanh's table had a self-appointed dedicated pair of Sophomores who waited on them constantly and were invited to sit with them. Angela Stanbury was a member of the Lanh Sharks, which is what the debate team called themselves after four winning years in a row under the direction of Lanh, and Rob Kemner a member of the swim team, he's heard the Dragon Lady "sing" as the swimmers called Lanh's high-pitched shouting at Rosa and Don as they practiced. It was annoying but it produced results.

"Miss... Nguyen?" asked Rob quietly.

When Lanh didn't respond Don gave her a gentle nudge with his elbow, "He's talking to you honey."

"Huh? Oh, I didn't realize, I'm not... heh..." it was clear that Lanh was not ready to be called "Miss Nguyen" by anyone younger than her. Finally collecting herself she asked, "What can I do for you Rob?"

"I was just wondering if you could train me in the 200-meter freestyle next year. I know you're graduating and all but..."

Lanh considered his request, he is a good swimmer, he just needs some discipline and a lot of practice. However,... "Rob, I'd really love to help you, but I won't be here."

"Oh, you're going to college I suppose," said Rob.

"We're getting married in May, and then we're going somewhere," smiled Lanh. She turned to Don and said, "Where do we want to go?" In all of their talks about what they want to do with this broad happy future laid out before them, they never once spoke about where they wanted to go while they were in the USAF.

"I want to go someplace warm," said Don, "like Florida, or Texas. Where do you want to go?"

"Someplace exotic like Tahiti or Hawaii," then she whispered in Don's ear, "I'll learn to do the Hula for you."

"That would be so nice, on the beach, under a coconut palm..."

Lanh and Don were talking softly while Rob and Angie tried to politely get Lanh's attention. "Ya blew it kid," grinned Rosa. "You let them start dreaming."

Besides Don and Sydney, Rosa Mendez was one of Lanh's only friends in High School. At five foot six Rosa is a full head taller than Lanh and she looks like a swimmer. She has strong, powerful legs, broad shoulders, and powerful arms yet at the same time is slim. She keeps her jet-black hair trimmed short and is planning to let it grow out the minute that swimming is over.

Sydney McCloskey nodded in agreement, "You let them get away champ."

For a long time, Syd was Lanh's only friend in High School. Syd is five foot two inches tall, putting her six inches taller than Lanh. They befriended each other on the first day of their freshman year, the day that Don fell in love with Lanh but didn't have the courage to say anything to her. Syd was just on the edge of being chubby, she had large breasts and a round face which makes her appear to be fat (which she is not) and the guys avoided her throughout high school. Right now, she and last year's senior swimming champ, Craig Lewicki, are making eyes at each other, but Craig is currently seeing Cindy Reece the outgoing head cheerleader.

"What do you mean get away, they're right here," sputtered Rob.

"Their bodies are here," said Kim-ly, "but their brains are on a beach somewhere." She snapped her fingers loudly next to Don's ear breaking him out of the trance he was in, discussing topless hula dancing with Lanh.

"What?" asked the startled Don.

"You have guests!" said Kim-ly as she leaned over between Lanh and Don giving Rob a nice eyeful down her neckline. Unlike her mother and her little sister, Kim-ly has marvelous breasts for her slim frame, so does her sister Tam. Kim-ly often teased Lanh saying that the boob fairy passed her and their mom by.

"I'm sorry," said Lanh, "what did you say?"

Blushing, Rob asked, "I was asking what I could do to improve my times in the two hundred."

Lanh thought about it for a while, then she brightly said, "swim faster." She waited and looked around the table for a reaction, and when she didn't get a laughing response she said, "What's wrong with you guys, that was a good joke!"

"No," said Rosa, "I know jokes, that one wasn't a very good effort."

"Nope," said Syd shaking her head, "I expected more from you, I really did." For his part Don was having a tough time keeping a straight face.

"Aww, I thought it was pretty good," moaned Lanh, then suddenly the whole table started laughing. "You guys!" she pouted. She had been had. "Ok, you need a personal coach, someone like Angela." Lanh knew Angela from the Debate team, she was cute, smart, and she was crazy about Rob. "Angie, you need to come to swim team practice on Tuesday."

"I what?" asked the surprised blond.

"You're in training to be the team timekeeper for next year."

"What about debate?" asked Angie.

"Do both," said Lanh, as if it were the easiest thing in the world to do. She didn't realize that there were people on earth that considered maintaining an A+ average, planning a wedding, captaining the debate team, coaching two swimmers, working on a farm, and waiting tables in a restaurant an insurmountable challenge for a teenager. For Lanh it was fun, and she was blessed that she found a lover who was able to keep up with her.

It was a wonderful evening, their friends and teammates from the debate team and swim team stopped by their table to greet them. A few of their classmates came to taunt them, a couple came by to harass Lanh for the grief she got last semester in Miss Weberman's AP Literature class. Berniece Weberman, known to many of her students as "Beached Whale" is a teacher who for some reason chose to harass Lanh over her Vietnamese heritage. Most found themselves intercepted by Bao and Kim-ly who were looking out for their little sister.

"Who was that blob?" asked Bao interrupting a conversation Lanh was having with a couple of girls from the debate team. The girls were shocked and delighted to see that their team captain had shown up to a dance.

"That was beached whale," said one of the debate team members without looking to see who Bao was indicating.

"Weberman?" said Kim-ly shocked that they came to that conclusion. "You didn't even look; how can you tell?"

"You said blob," which caused laughter throughout the table, but Don glanced in the direction that Bao indicated.

"Yes, that is Miss Weberman," he said.

"You're kidding me, that's a teacher?" gasped Kim-ly. "She looked at me like I was some kind of leper. I'm going to talk to your principal about this!"

"Kim-ly, please," Don implored, "Not during the dance. We're having a nice time. Monday you can storm into her office and raise hell about the beached... uh... Miss Weberman."

Kim-ly finally gave in, but she spent the night intercepting Miss Weberman whenever Bernice got it in her mind to go speak to Lanh. Having minored in Literature Kim-ly was able to come up with an abundance of questions to ask Bernice should the beached whale come close. Most had to do with the abundance of patriotism in the works of civil war era writers like Ambrose Bearce and Walt Witman which were engineered to get under Miss Weberman's acres of socialist skin.

Another target of Kim-ly and Bao was Cindy Reece, a blond, cheerful cheerleader who absolutely hated Lanh. Sadly, she came with her boyfriend, Craig Lewicki, Don's mentor in the swim team. Craig graduated last year but he is still around, Don had asked him to be his best man. When he came by to speak with Don and Lanh, Cindy remained silent because she had promised Craig that she would behave and hold her tongue around Lanh. She just tapped her foot and rolled her eyes like a petulant child as Don and Craig spoke.

Finally, as they stepped away from Don and Lanh's table Cindy said, "Did you see that? She had chopsticks in her hair!" she rolled her eyes in disgust. "Third world animals! It's like if I used a fork and a spoon in my hair!"

"Those aren't chopsticks," said Kim-ly who was following Cindy. "You can't eat with them, if you noticed they were sharpened to a point." Which was true, they were sharpened to a very sharp point, the point made it easier to push through a tightly wound bun of hair. "In Vietnam they're called Gậy giết người, which means murder sticks." When Cindy gave her a shocked look, Kim-ly continued, "you know, many hair products are fatal if introduced into the blood stream."

When Cindy and Craig were out of ear shot, Cindy nervously trying to convince Craig that Lanh was going to kill her, Bao said to his twin sister, "Gậy giết người? Nghiêm trọng?" (Murder sticks? Seriously?)

Kim-ly responded, "Hoạt náo viên, họ sẽ tin bất cứ điều gì." (Cheerleaders, they'll believe anything.)

As the opening strains to "Right Here Waiting For You" started, Bao chuckled and led her out on the dance floor, "You're so bad."

"That's why you love me," Kim-ly smiled, as he led her in a dance through the sweet love song, but she noticed that his eyes were straying to Rosa Mendez all evening long. To break herself out of a mood she was swinging toward, Kim-ly said, "We need to get Don and Lanh out onto the dance floor."

"I take it you know a song they like?" asked Bao.

Kim-ly smiled and gave her brother a quick kiss, "It's their song." At the end of the song Bao made sure their dance ended at the DJ's table.

"Hey buddy, we have a request," said Bao.

"I got a ton of requests," said the DJ as he held a list up. "I don't know if I'll get to them all by the end of the evening." A twenty-dollar bill appeared, and the DJ brightened up. "I got the top of the stacks, the best in wax, a slot two songs down opened up, what would you like to hear?"

Lanh had been wearing a shawl all evening long claiming that it was chilly, but it was actually warm in the gym. Lanh was afraid to show off her dress. As she and her friends laughed at something silly Rosa just said, the DJ announced, "Here's a special song going out from The Twins to Don and the Dragon Lady, your love is a symbol to us all... here's Elton John..." then the words of their song started:

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside...

Suddenly Lanh's self-image and fear of the other students fled, this was their song. She left her shawl behind and as Don led her out onto the dance floor the crowds of students that tortured them for four years because of their appearance faded away.

This song is the song that brought her a gift from God, a man that loves her and protects her, a friend she can sit up with all night long and talk about books and movies, a soul mate that doesn't mind if she pours out her heart to a goldfish, a fiancé that will hold her hand and guide her for the rest of her life. The feel of her hand in his, his hand on the small of her back, leading her to the soft melody of pure love, the smiles, the whispered encouragement, this is what she wanted and dreamed of without actually realizing how wonderful it would be when it happened.

For their part, the students and faculty of Grant Valley school paused... this was Lanh? Don? The butt of the jokes? The target of slurs and innuendos? This couldn't be real! They were transformed from nerds to an elegant Asian seductress and a broad-shouldered young man that had a series of freshman girls swooning! They looked so beautiful together, gone was the acne of their pre-teen years, the glasses held together with electrical tape, his worn and faded clothes, her braces. Now he was wearing a tailored tuxedo and she was beautiful in a dress that makes her Asian heritage a thing of mystery and beauty. They still wore glasses, but Lanh wore wire rims that framed her beautiful eyes like a set of twin masterpieces. They moved together in perfect harmony alone on the dancefloor, the other students watching in slack jawed admiration forgetting that they were allowed out on the floor also.

They were soon joined by Bao and Kim-ly, the students didn't know them, but a few members of the faculty remembered Kim-ly, a troublemaker who had the "in-crowd" shrieking in terror with her antics and pranks at their expense. They were also remembered for being science and math wizzes that soared through everything that Grant Valley had to offer and were gone in two years headed to Minnesota U. at Bemidji. They looked elegant also, and maybe a bit close for brother and sister, but then they were always a team that prowled the halls of Grant Valley together.

Kim-ly wore a form hugging gold colored formal gown that looked far too formal for a school dance. The dress left her left shoulder bare and the fabric that swept over her right shoulder crossed over her right breast, was gathered in a belt at the left hip then swept straight downward in folded pleats that left her left leg bare as she danced. The gold color highlighted Kim-ly's lightly tanned skin that showed her visits to a tanning parlor perfectly. Bao wore a tan suit that matched her gown beautifully and it too was tailored wonderfully letting Don and Lanh know that he too made a trip to visit Aunt Suong.

Their dances complimented each other, because both couples had been practicing in Don and Ralph's hayloft getting ready for the big wedding, they didn't want to be shown up by the other couples. Mai and Duong have been dancing together for decades, Ralph and Sandy were often seen dancing at country bars, and it was rumored that Trung and Angela had been taking lessons! At least they could show up Tam, as far as they knew she didn't have a date for the wedding.

However, Lanh and Don weren't paying attention to Kim-ly and Bao, they were lost in their own world. Don held his tiny love close as the song changed from Elton John to Lionel Richie. Don ran his hand up and down Lanh's back and realized that she wasn't wearing any underwear. "Commando?" was all he said. In response Lanh just pulled him closer and let the romantic song carry her away. As the song reached its romantic peak, Don grasped Lanh's hair bun and she looked up to his eyes with adoration in her eyes and they kissed long and sweet, there in the middle of the gymnasium where their love first took hold two years ago.

As they kissed, Miss Weberman saw what they were doing and headed toward them, like a broad beamed aircraft carrier turning into the wind, Miss Weberman advanced on the couple in the middle of the dance floor, leaving dazed couples choking on the exhaust fumes of her cheap perfume in her wake. Just as her bulk drew within striking distance of Don and Lanh, Kim-ly and Bao drew up. "Miss Weberman!" said Kim-ly far too cheerily. Anyone who knows Kim-ly knows that this particular tone of voice means that Kim-ly is up to something.

Bernice turned to Kim-ly and said "Yes, Miss... I'm sorry, I missed your name at the introductions before the dance began." It was a lie, Bernice knew that Bao and Kim-ly were Lanh's siblings, which made them Vietnamese and detestable, they were beneath her. She held all Vietnamese people responsible for her father's injury during the war and therefore inferior beings. Probably not human at all.

Seeing that she had Weberman's attention, Kim-ly trained her guns on the portly killjoy. She ignored Bernice's response and said, "Miss Weberman! My kid sister tells me that you know more about American literature than any other teacher here!"

"Why yes, I'd have to agree with your sister's analysis." Miss Weberman's voice sounded like a Saturday Night Live parody of a chubby teacher.

Target acquired. Open fire. "In 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' do you think Ambrose Bearce was trying to out Poe Edgar Allen Poe? Or was he commenting on the utter failure of the proto-Marxist leanings of the failed Confederacy that modern socialists should strive to learn from and ... Miss Weberman? Miss Weberman?"

"She left," said Bao.

"Damn!" chuckled Rosa who was dancing with a Junior, "I didn't understand a word of what Special K said, but I wanted to hear the answer."

"I was saying that it is time to head out," said Kim-ly as the lights came up and the freshmen and sophomores started cleaning up.

"We have to stay to ensure that the cleanup happens," said Bao. He handed a card to Don and said "Suite 103 at the Deep Woods Inn. Please don't tear the place up before we get there."

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

It was an hour later after the dance was cleaned up, trash hauled off and leftovers shared with the workers, that Bao and Kim-ly could head over to the Deep Woods Inn. When they got to the motel, Kim-ly and Bao found Sydney McClosky and Rosa Mendez sitting on the couch watching TV, each had a wine cooler in their hand and a few empty bottles sitting on the table before them. Both girls were dressed in T-shirts and jeans. On the love seat was a blanket which probably covered Lanh and Don. There was a lot of motion and suppressed laughter under the blanket but so far, no faces emerged.

The suite was pretty awesome for a rural Minnesota motel, it had a large living room/dinette, kitchenette, and two bedrooms, each one with a bathroom that has a tub and shower. It was a better living space than a "luxury" studio apartment in the area. "We come bearing chow!" announced Bao as they placed several aluminum trays on the kitchen counter.

"What did you bring?" came a voice from under the blanket.

"Ambrosia, Norwegian meatballs, and 'tater tot hotdish," said Kim-ly as she popped a tiny meatball in her mouth. Ambrosia is canned fruit salad drained of syrup, mixed with whipped topping, mini marshmallows, and shredded coconut. Tater tot hotdish is a casserole containing tater tots, ground beef, cheese, and quite often the staple of northern plains cooking, cream of mushroom soup. As for the meatballs, any bland dish that contained ingredients she can't identify is labeled as "Norwegian" by Kim-ly.