A set of linked micros

playing around on a Friday night

Sky Dancing

Maggie called mamma at work one afternoon, said there was a dark cloud dancing on the hill behind the house and where is the peanut butter. Mamma called neighbor Henry who grabbed her just as they were sucked up up up and dropped on top of Miss Earline’s Chicken Shack where James Brown once got on the good foot. Miss Earline said the Lord or somebody musta been looking after Maggie, gave her a bag of wings and a red rooster feather for power and courage.

*

Flying Feet

Saturday afternoons while mamma was fetching groceries, me and Maggie flew to Hollywood to dance with the Soul Train dancers. We Bumped and Funky Chicken’d down the Soul Train line, weaving in and around flares and platforms, hips swiveling and back bones slipping - whooo-wee! When we heard daddy’s truck crunching the gravel down our dirt road we flew back to our living room, sat on the couch like good quiet girls, hands and legs folded together, reading the Bible.

*

A Feather to the Stars

One night we woke up to hear Patsy Cline singing Walking After Midnight on mamma’s stereo and daddy’s old truck rumbling down the road like the Big Foot. We peeked around the kitchen door to see mamma slow dancing, her arms wrapped around herself, fried chicken and mashed taters slip-sliding down the wall like the tears falling down her cheeks. Maggie took her red rooster feather and plaited it in mamma’s long hair while I took Patsy off the stereo and put on James singing Give it up or turnit a loose. Then we Soul Train lined our mamma up up up into the starry, starry sky.

*

Y’all got to watch these three young women dancing to Give it up or Turn it a Loose!! (Don’t know why it won’t post here.) Follow the link!

https://youtube.com/shorts/cPhItidyXJc?si=nHfsYypuLmkdFnAy

Photo of the road my parents & sisters live on in MS.