#rivervale_lodge

Sally Mae comes in a depressed mood.

"Damn..we should have enough time to practice... "

Sylvi is sitting in the main hall, reading a magazine. She looks up at Sally Mae's arrival. "Practice what?"

"Line dancing, there's a contest I was hoping to win... the prize includes a years worth of covering the cost for college textbooks. Not to discourage you from higher education, but that adds up"

"Dancing? We used to do some line dancing in elementary school. When's the contest?" She's put down her magazine.

"In a week and a half...but the farm has some drama and..argh"

"Well...can I help? I'm a DeBuke, too, honorarily."

"I..so you are.. " A surprised and happy look, "Of course, the mortals might see it as cheating... lined danced in Elementary eh?" It's clear she's thinking of using Sylvi for the performance. "If you are willing. How do you look in a country outfit? Like daisy dukes or tight jeans with a cowboy hat?"

"Well, I guess we can find out, but I look good in a lot."

"I'm a cheerleader, Sally Mae! I bet I can make it work. Plus, I can do the smile." And she puts on her Winning Cheerleader Smile. "That woks for country, right?"

"Oh! Is it all girls? Or have you got some hunky guys in the lines?"

"You maybe a life saver, honey. And ..all girls, I'm afraid. " She admits, "Part of the contest."

"Oh..." A shrug. "Okay. Just thought maybe Colton might be willing. But that's cool. What's the biggest problem so far?"

"Enthusiasm.. and coordination.. you could help with both" A smile "Oh, if you're on the winning team you get a gift card for 50 bucks worth of a meal"

"Oh! Oh, hey! I could...oh, that could make up for the Sadie Hawkins thing earlier this year...I could take Colton out for dinner!" she smiles.

"Ha! There you go" She beams, "now...we're recreating a dance from a music video... I..." She reaches for her phone then sighs "I forgot. Mara has it, and Clem won't let me have it back. I understand why but it's a pain"

"Oh...um...do you know the name of the video? I can look it up..." She pulls out her own phone.

"Midland, Mister Lonely heart line dance should do it" she says

Sylvi tappity taps at her phone, and looks at the results.

Wellll.... that's... ah... a lot of women strutting

Sylvi watches....and starts nodding along...and as the pattern of the line dance repeats, she starts murmuring along "...and turn...two, three, four, sliiide. hip-and-hip-and-hip-and-hip...."

She pauses to point out, "I am not showing my dad those shorts."

"You've got it.. see, it's not particularly hard, that's hwo I knew my cousins could do it"

Then she laughs "Good idea. Jeans are allowed though..but..." Low whisper "As tight as they'd be you mightw ant to hide that from your dad too"

"You're not wrong! You're going to dance in it?"

"If it will keep me from paying another 600 bucks in books next year? I'd dance in less than that"

Sylvi considers the video again. "What's the exact contest? Just any line dance? Or everybody doing this line dance?"

"Any line dance, but I happen to know one of the judges likes that one. And I like the song" she admits

"Okay, so...are you thinking of doing it just like the video? Or...maybe something to make it unique."

"You have an idea? " She's curious "They do give us some flexibility"

"Wellllll...it depends. My opinion? If our group's dancing is just mediocre, we might want to try something like an unusual costume theme or props or something. But if it turns out we're just damn good? Then we should rely on our skill and just wow them with pure perfection."

"Well... I have less and less time to train them... but it's supposed to be country western line dancing so ..if we get too weird with the costumes, it might disqualify"

Sylvi bites her lip. "Yeahhhh....but we could...." She stops. "No, that's a bad idea."

"Wait, what?"

"Um...well...we could come in looking all kind of dowdy and, y'know, church-lady-ish...and, uh...striptease, kind of."

"Actually..." SHe says "I think... I think some of the cousins would like it"

"Well...yeah, but would the judges? Or would they think it was offensive?"

"The name of the business is the Whistle and Holler... it has a bit more dignity than a hooters"

"Ah. Okay. Um...oof. Okay, If I do this, and I don't tell my folks, I'm going to have a problem afterwards if they find out. So I've gotta figure out how to do this carefully. But I really think I can help make this really good, Sally Mae."

"Well, if you feel you can't or shouldn't dance, maybe you could still help us with the choreography and costume reveal training?"

"Yeah...yeah, I can totally do that. And we don't have to do the reveal...but we can suggest it and see what the other girls think. When's your next practice?"

"That depends on how soon Mara gets done with her own plans and if Clem feels we're ready for the Big Aggro Corp to try their little intrigue" She frowns "I should have gone into law so I could sue them into oblivion"

"Little intrigue? What's that all about?"

"Well, it's a banal bunch... but apparently they're going to set up fake drug search on our property and then try to tamper with our water supply... hurt our crops... and then buy us up cheap"

"of course, as a DeBuke I'm ready to go to war... as a college student hoping to get a contest one I resent their timing"

And Sally Mae relates what was learned thanks to Mara tinkering with her phone

"Okay...that's just ridiculously obnoxious. Seriously? They don't have enough, they need your stuff, too?'

"They're like gluttons denied the last roll at the table" Sally Mae sniffs

"Hm. So...there's no connection between them and this dance contest, right?"

"Oh no, none" She says