Doing The Tango Texas Style (Persistence, Thy Name Is Cat Daddy)!

I'll try to add photos this afternoon. David had a great suggestion and I'm working on it as you read this latest installment of my Texas Two Step Love Story.

Act I,Scene 2

I got in bed late that night (ALONE!) after my first experience at a Texas honkytonk. To say I was tired was an understatement, but I knew I would be going back and soon. The Palms Danceland was nothing like anything I had ever experienced. Their "hook" was being open in the afternoon for the T.I. employees who worked the late night shift and a great house band. What does that tell you? This was no "Billy Bob's" or "Gilleys", but a true juke joint! I was getting to walk on the wild side and I was digging it, even if I did stick out like a sore thumb with my bell bottoms and clogs! The next morning (well more like afternoon since I slept until noon) the phone rang. It was Mr. Cowboy asking for a date. I had no idea how he had gotten my phone number. I certainly didn't remember giving it to him...at least I didn't think I did. I hemmed and hawed and really couldn't think of a reason not to accept...besides the fact that he scared the living fool out of me. My friend kept urging me to say yes, that he was a nice guy, safe, etc.!!! Finally after much hesitation, I said I'd go.

That Friday when he picked me up, he looked totally different in the light. He cleaned up real nice like and was able to stand upright without swaying. I thought he looked really sharp in his Stetson Silver Belly and freshly starched Wranglers. (I just have to say at this point...there is something about a cowboy's butt that is different from other men's. I guess it's all the time spent in the saddle that lifts it up almost to their shoulders...whatever the reason, all I can say is YOWZA!) He seemed harmless enough...shows how deceiving looks really can be! We went to the Gemini Drive-In...mistake # 1. I expected him to be a perfect gentleman...mistake # 2. He had more moves than a Sumo wrestler. I have no idea what movie was showing as I was too busy protecting my virtue! I had grown up in the small town of McKinney, but I wasn't a country bumpkin. I was, after all, a child of the '60's and had been on a date or two in my time, but this guy had more on his mind than just pitchin' a little woo! I later learned that he was so nervous and didn't usually behave in such an amorous way. Seems I brought out the beast in him or that's what he likes to say now. Whatever the reason, I knew I wouldn't be going out with him again...problem was he didn't know that. After the movie, he took me by his home to meet his mother which I thought was just a little bit odd, but I went along because I knew this was going to be our first and last date. On the way back to my place, he had a flat tire on his truck and had to change it in the pouring rain. That alone should have been an omen of things to come.

To call the mating ritual that followed in the next few weeks a courtship would be a joke. A high speed chase would be more like it. It seems everywhere I went, there he was. If we went to another club...he was there. If we left that club and went to another...there he was. This boy was nothing if not part blood hound. How he knew where I would be at any given time was, to say the least, a little bit unnerving. I think it's called stalking now, but back then I called it nervy! He'd call and I'd have friends tell him I was out. He'd call back. He was relentless in his pursuit. Finally I had enough. He called and my friend told him I was washing my hair...15 minutes passed and he called back, drying my hair...15 minutes, rolling my hair. Finally she decided to put him out of misery and told him I just wasn't interested. His reply was a simple thank you and I thought that's that. Nope...15 minutes later the phone rings. What can I say...I gave up, he won the first round and so the courtship began!

(to be continued)