Desert Messenger

12 www.DesertMessenger.com March 16, 2016 Traveling with Gypsy Jane by Jane Finley writer * artist * teacher (stretching, exercise, relaxation, meditation) Me? Dancing the Tango? I just woke up from a dream or should I say the next story? I feel terrible, experiencing what we in Quartzsite call THE QUARTZSITE CRUD. "Not fair," I thought, "I've already had it this season." Everybody's either got it or getting it while in Q. My choices for the day are drinking tea, doing chores for one-half hour max, sleeping, reading, watching a video, playing a computer game...REPEAT...RE- PEAT. The choices were few; I just couldn't manage anything else. Hey, but in my dream I felt great! I was at a saloon, some place unfamiliar to me. I was sitting at the bar (even though I hardly ever drink and only a beer food like pizza or tacos). I noticed this graceful couple whizzing by: smooth, like velvet. They were delightful to watch, and before I knew it, the man was asking me to dance. He was a wonderful dancer and easy to follow. Soon we too were dancing: smoothly, like velvet. We were doing a very compli- cated dance like the tango....kinda. I have always admired people who do the tango. When I was in Al- buquerque for a while, I attended informal opera evenings at a local restaurant where students sang opera. I lived for those evenings. Afterward, strangely enough, everyone danced the tango; every- one but me, that is. I just watched in amazement: all that staring into each other's eyes, all those fancy kicks behind the back, all those intricate twists and turns, all that INTENSITY. Wow! I could have been in Spain! I enjoyed watching but had no desire to join in; too complicated for me. Anyway, back to the dream. We sat down at his table after the dance. I was surprised to see a suitcase in the empty chair, topped by several items of clothing -- must have just come from work, I thought. (He didn't look home- less.) This was a really big guy. He was dressed in a suit and tie (so we know we weren't in Quartzsite!) I'm trying to figure out who he looked like -- not quite Jack Reach- er from the Lee Child novels -- and then it came to me: James Earl Jones, with that beautiful, melodic, deep voice of his. He had Jones' dignity too. I didn't question him about the pile of clothes, but I did ask him what he did for a living. "Attorney," he said, "Divorce, that kind of stuff," and he didn't look thrilled, just weary. He said he had to leave; so I picked up some of his things and walked him to his car, a big black sedan. There was a front seat, but the whole back area was flat and covered with a blanket. To my surprise, sitting on the blanket were five or six little girls about two years apart (trying for a boy, I guess). Each little girl was the spitting image of all the others: straight, brown hair and big, wide, brown eyes. They seemed content to wait in the car and play with their toys. When I realized that the man had left the children in the car while he danced, I was a bit taken aback, but just at that moment the woman he had been dancing with before me appeared at the car door, obviously his wife. We chatted for a moment, and then I woke up! Don't ask me how the couple could be dancing and still watching over the girls in the car. In dreams, ANYTHING can happen. No ex- planation necessary... ~*~*~*~ "Tango is the Everest of social dance. Impossible. Demanding. Intricate. And therefore irresistible." ~Margaret Putnam ~*~*~*~ Jane's book is WANDERINGS: Liv- ing the Ordinary Extraordinarily (Stories from the Road). For an update on Jane's travels and writ- ing, visit her website (janefinley. com) and/or read "Traveling with Gypsy Jane" and "Poems from the Road" in The Desert Messenger (desertmessenger.com) begin- ning March 5, 2014. (contact: janefinley@yahoo,com) Dave Boatwright retiring? The Smoke Shop Summer Residents & Visitors Thanks for Your Continued Support! WELCOME BACK WINTER RESIDENTS & VISITORS! HOURS Monday - Saturday 9:00 am - 6:00 pm Closed Sunday QUARTZSITE COMMUNITY THRIFT STORE 177 W. Main St. (end of Showplace Lane) Behind Silly Al's Pizza SUMMER HOURS April thru October Thurs. Fri. Sat. 9am-1pm Call us and schedule a donation pickup 928-927-6039 or 928-916-7338. 100% of our proceeds remain here in Quartzsite! WINTER HOURS November thru March Mon- Sat 9am-1pm Dave Boatwright's retirement party will be April 28th at the Park- er Senior Center 4:30pm to 7:30pm. Boatwright, of the La Paz County Health Dept., has issued hundreds of Food Handler Cards to volunteers, food servers and ven- dors over the years. The Environmental Health Divi- sion of the La Paz County Health Department provides a variety of services to the Community, and places high priority on consumer protection. Environmental Health Officers conduct routine inspections and complaint investigations relat- ed to environmental health matters in all food establishments, schools, swimming pools and spas, public accommodations, mobile home and recreational vehicle parks, camp- grounds and other recreational fa- cilities. Be sure to stop in and show your gratitude for his service to this community.

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