America Dreaming

I’ll dance the next cha cha cha they play,” said Memo.
  Ricardo and David could not wait to see Memo dance. David went to one of the girls and requested a cha cha cha.
  “Here’s a cha cha cha, let’s see you do it.”
  “Yeah,” said Ricardo, “show us how is done, maestro.” And they pushed him into the middle of the dance floor.
   He was too embarrassed to return. With his heart in his mouth, he went to one of the girls and asked her to dance. To his relief, as well as his dismay, she said yes. He only knew two steps but that was one more than anyone else knew, so he was immediately labeled a good dancer by the girl with whom he was dancing. At last, the dance ended and Memo, as he had seen done in the movies, walked the girl to her seat. She immediately labeled him a gentleman. Triumphant, Memo returned to the two laughing hyenas.
  “You weren’t as hot as I thought you would be, maestro,” said David. Both,   
  Ricardo and David thought that was hilarious and howled some more.
  “At least, I didn’t step all over her feet, as you did.”
  “Yeah,” said Ricardo, el maestro didn’t step on her feet like you did David.”  
  This time Memo and Ricardo did the howling.
  “Okay okay okay. I’ll admit it. How did you manage that?”
  “I don’t think I’m going to teach you that.”
  “I think she’s fallen in love with you,” said Ricardo.
  “How can you tell?” No one had ever fallen in love with Memo.
  “I think your walking her to her seat did it.”
  “You think so?”
  “I’m sure. I have to remember that. It also helped that you didn’t step on her.” 
  Ricardo and Memo burst out laughing.
  “No, seriously guys,” said David. “How did you do that?”
  “I’ll tell you after Ricardo dances. He’s the only one that hasn’t.”
  “That’s right, man. Your turn, Ricardo. You gotta dance.”
  “This is a merengue,” Memo said. “It’s the easiest.”
  “Next week,” said Ricardo.
  “No, now!” And they pushed him into the middle of the floor.
  “Come on, you can do it.”
  Ricardo had no choice. He asked the nearest girl he could find. As he danced, the other two hyenas laughed.

  All the way home they praised themselves for their achievement.
  “Now that we danced with them, when do we kiss’em?” asked Ricardo.
  “You gotta talk to them before you kiss’em,” said Memo.
  “In that case David’s never gonna get to kiss’em because he can’t dance without stepping on them. How are you gonna dance, avoid stepping on them, and talk to them, all at the same time, David?”
  “Okay now, you promised to tell me how to avoid stepping on their toes.”
  Memo took a pause then, as if he was sharing a national secret, he whispered.
  “Slide your feet. If you don’t lift your feet you can’t step on them.”
  “Oooh,” said David and Ricardo with new found respect.
  “That’s why I’m el maestro.”  The three hyenas burst out laughing.

  By Thursday, David had already got them another party and they started to plan their strategy.
  “Okay, this week we dance and talk and kiss,” said David.
  “I don’t know about that. I don’t even know what to talk about.”
  “Talk about them,” said Memo. “Tell them they are beautiful; like in the movies.”
  “Just like that?”
  “El maestro is right. Tell them they are beautiful.”
  “What happens if they are not beautiful?”
  “You tell them they are, anyway.”
  “But that’s lie.”
  “You’ve lied before, haven’t you?”
  “You’re never gonna kiss’em if you don’t, man.”
  Ricardo seemed to see the wisdom in that.
 
  “Man, that was a disaster.” They were walking back from the party. “You should’ve told us it was a rock ’n’ roll party.”
  “I’ve never heard of a rock ‘n’ roll party.”
  “Forget about the merengue, man. The girls like to rock ‘n’ roll.”
  “Maestro you gotta teach it to us,” said David.
  “I think I picked up the basic step.”
  “Let’s see it.”
  “I need a girl. Who wants to be the girl?”
  “Forget it. I’m not gonna be the girl; especially right here in the street.”
  “Show us at my house. El maestro’s gonna teach us to rock ‘n’ roll!”
  “I don’t know about that. First it was the merengue, then the cha cha cha, now’s the rock ‘n’ roll”. It’s been three weeks and we haven’t even kissed a girl. We’ll never gonna fuck anybody this way.”
  “The rock ‘n’ roll will do it. The girls love it.”
  “Maybe we should go to the pros,” said Ricardo.
  “You think?” asked Memo apprehensively.
  “Well, you don’t have to do all this dancing stuff. You pay’em. You fuck’em. It’s over.”
  “Maybe Ricardo’s right. What do you think maestro?
  “I think we should give rock ‘n’ roll a try.”

  Memo went to the Apolo movie theater to watch Rock Around the Clock several times. Fortunately, because of Tío Lalo, he could get in for free. He came back with several steps to show David and Ricardo. They practiced and practiced and by Saturday they were ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Adoc, the first shoe chain in El Salvador, came up with a moccasin shoe style that looked just like the one Elvis Presley wore. David bought a pair. Memo and Ricardo followed suit. They had the hair a la Presley going, they had the shoes, and they had the dance. As the song says, all they needed was a girl.
 
  They did a lot of dancing at the next party. They left the party all sweaty and excited but without a girl. After a few weeks of this, they began to look like rockanroleros, as the kids who liked rock ‘n’ roll were called. But they were no closer to having sex than before.