Dear Group, I have no business in writing down this story at this late hour but I just had to! This evening I was reminded of a dance routine my sister Norma and I had put together in the mid 1930s to show off our talents to our parents. Now in the first place, I was around five years old and Norma was around ten. Hey, Shirley Temple didn't know what competition she had in those days! The routine went like this. Norma and I would come out facing each other and as we sang the words to "The Dark Town Strutters Ball," we gestured to each other as we sang, "I'll be down to get you in a taxi, Honey." Then we turned our backs on each other while we gestured some more and sang, "You better be there about half past eight." Now I really can't recall what other exaggerated gestures and dance steps we made while we continued singing, "Now, Dearie, don't be late. I want to be there when the band starts playing." But I know that we went through the rest of the song in a most professional dancing manner as we sang, Remember when we get there, Honey The two-steps, I'm goin' to have 'em all. Goin' to dance out both my shoes When they play the "Jelly Roll Blues" Tomorrow night at the Darktown Strutters Ball And certainly we ended it with an exaggerated bow from both of us! OK, that was back in the 30s when the two of us made up that routine. But somehow both of us still remembered it back around 1973 when our mother was in her terminal illness. Because of Mother's illness, both my brother John and I had flown back to Niagara County where Mother was living with our sister Norma. And one evening between the three of us we decided that Mother needed to be entertained royally. That's when I suggested to Norma that it was time for "The Dark Town Strutters Ball" routine again. She kinda looked at me for a moment and then realized that she actually remembered it and all of the steps. And so Mother's little girls bounced into Mother's bedroom and once more performed their exaggerated dance routine for Mother's amusement. As a reward we received a great big smile on her face. We all knew that it was a silly thing for us to do, we all knew that the routine was a very amateur one to begin with when we were little kids, but the fact that Norma and I remembered it and wanted to show off in front of Mother again, it brought a smile to Mother's face. Mother died the next year in 1974. I'm 69 years old now and Norma will 75 on Jan. 12. But I'll tell you what. If anyone needs two professional dancers who know all of the words and dance steps to "The Dark Town Strutters Ball," we're available!! And a one and a two and a "I'll be down to get you in a taxi, Honey!! vee