B. Alexander Howerton by The Wyrding Stone Read Free Book Online Page B

filled with revelers. 
Pink and white balloons and streamers adorned the hall, and at one end a long
buffet table groaned under the combined weight of all the food spread upon it. 
Jim and Jane stuffed pieces of cake in each others’ mouths, and the guests
cheered and shook the small sleigh bells that had been passed out to them as
they entered the hall.  Alan shook his bell, tied at the end of a loop of
ribbon.  “Cute idea, huh?” He remarked to Steve, then absentmindedly looped it
over his ear.
    “Here, you need a matched set.”  Steve looped his bell over
Alan’s other ear.
    “Do you think it’s me?” Alan asked with mock demureness.
    “Only if you complement it with pink nail polish,” Steve
responded in a lisp, flipping his wrist down.
    They laughed and finished their cocktails.  “I’m going to
get a refill,” Alan said, “then join the rest of the gang.”  He wandered off
toward the bar.
    Carol brought two mimosas back to the table where Julia was
sitting, and handed her one as she sat down.  “Isn’t this fun?  They really
went all out to decorate this place.  I love that lattice archway by the door,
with the flowers and greenery all over it.  And how long do you think it took
to blow up all these balloons?”
    “Thanks,” said Julia, taking a sip from the plastic cup. 
“Are you ready to get in the food line?  It’s gone down a bit.”
    “Sure.”  They got up and joined the end of the food line,
looking around at the various tables.  “Who are those people over there?” Julia
asked Carol.
    “Those are Jim’s friends from Grand Rapids.  You’ve met some
of them before.  Remember Fred’s bonfire last summer?”
    “Oh, yeah, now I recognize some of them.  That’s Jeff and
Sandy, right?  But who’s that guy talking with them, the one with bells on his
ears?”
    “That’s Alan Mead.  He was in L.A. for a while, then moved
back here.  I talked to him a little bit at Fred’s bonfire.”
    “Funny, I must have missed him then.  What a goof, anyway.”
    Carol reproachfully slapped Julia’s shoulder.  “Come on,
now.  How are you going to meet anyone with an attitude like that?”  She rolled
her eyes in mock disgust as she reached for a plate.
    After the guests had eaten, the tables in the front of the
hall were cleared away, and the disk jockeys began playing disco tunes from the
1970s at a considerable volume.  “Come everybody,” The DJ screamed into the
microphone.  “Get up out of your seat and start moving your feet!”  At first,
only the young children jumped out onto the dance floor and started awkwardly
jerking under the multi-colored, ever-changing lights.  Before long, however,
the floor was filled with revelers dancing to music they would have otherwise
sworn that they were glad had disappeared from the popular scene.  Alan and his
gang of friends were in the midst of the dancers, and it was not too long
before he had his jacket and tie off. 
    A particularly boisterous rap tune came on, and an impromptu
circle formed as various dancers tried their best to moonwalk or perform some
other feat of dexterity beyond their capacity.  Alan was struck with a sudden
inspiration, and he threw himself down on his back in the middle of the circle
and tried to spin around in an awkward attempt at break dancing.  The other dancers
clapped and cheered as Alan spun around on the floor as best he could, in an
awkwardly comical imitation of a street dancer.  He hopped back up and rejoined
the circle as other revelers jumped into the middle and spun each other around,
or pretended to limbo, or some such activity.
    “Not too shabby,” Steve leaned over and yelled in Alan’s
ear, over the throbbing rhythm.
    “Not bad for a white boy, eh?”  Alan grinned back.  He
grabbed the front of his shirt and flapped it vigorously in and out, trying to
cool off.  “That wore me out.  I have to go get some air.”
    He broke away from the dance circle and made for