“Heel and toe and shuffle you go!”
Tater’s voice ricochets through the barn. “Swing your partner left, now right!”
McKenna and I attempt to switch directions and lose our grip on one another. I bump the couple behind us and McKenna knocks into another.
“Sorry!” I shout, grasping for McKenna’s outstretched arm.
“Spin ’em once and hold on tight.”
McKenna shouts, “I’ve got to spin you! Hold on tight!”
I’m already laughing so hard tears are starting to come to my eyes.
“Swing ’em wide, then pull ’em near.”
She swings me out and I whack into a guy.
“Sorry!” I shout again.
“It’s okay!” he yells back over the music. McKenna’s already yanking my arm to pull me near.
Tater barrels on. “If you lose your hat, we don’t stop here.”
“What hat?” I shout over the music.
“Swing that partner, heel to toe!” Tater shouts.
I stare at McKenna and swing her while she tries to do a heel-toe move, she topples into me and I catch her. We bend over in hysterics.
Tater yells, “If you’re dizzy now, just fake it—go!”
“Bow and jump and shout out, ‘Joe!’”
No one questions it. The crowd bows and jumps, crashing into one another, and the barn fills with a deranged chant of “Joe! Joe! Joe!”
“Swing ’em low, swing ’em high!”
McKenna drops into a squat and I laugh so hard I can barely breathe. I try to squat with her. Everyone around us does the same, attempting to swing while we’re down here, but we all just look like waddling, drunken ducks who’ve lost the will to migrate.
“If you step on boots, just wave goodbye!”
“Who’s stepping on boots?” I ask McKenna.
She bursts into another peal of laughter.
We stand when Tater shouts. “Swing your partner, round and round!” and McKenna tucks her elbow in mine and starts skipping in a circle, swinging me with her.
“If you miss a step, just blame the sound.”
“Now switch your partner, do-si-do.” Tater’s calls are getting louder and faster.
I look around. Jamison from the hardware store reaches out for me. I let go of McKenna and lock elbows with him.
“Do-si-do, real fast, not slow!”
The music speeds up.
Everyone spins like we’re in an emergency do-si-do contest.
