I try not to take my entire family with me when I go shopping simply because there are 5 of us and when you put us all together in the confined space of a store, the freak show that we are really becomes obvious. Yesterday was no exception.
The Island King wanted more decorations for our yard for Halloween so off to the Dollar Store we went. All 5 of us. We have a small Dollar Store and one thing the kids like about it is that they play music really loud in there. So the Island King and the boys are on the toy aisle having a sword fight while the Island Girl and I are on the next aisle over, looking at candles and pretending not to know them when all of a sudden the song YMCA comes on. "OH NO!" I say. Before Island Girl can ask me what's wrong we hear the Island King yell "Hey, this is my favorite song!" Oh no, Oh no, Oh no! There are a lot of people in the store and I know what's about to happen next.
The Island King comes around the corner, singing at the top of his lungs and doing that stupid YMCA dance. The song has only been on for a few seconds and already he's drawn a crowd. "This is going to be bad" I tell Island Girl.
He dances his way to the center of the store and is singing and telling the boys to dance along. An elderly woman looked at him like he'd lost his mind and hurried towards the back of the store but 2 women about our age pushed their buggies aside and actually started dancing with him. A pre-teen girl was watching and the Island King grabbed her hand, pulled her out to the center of the aisle and showed her how to make the letters with her arms. Several other people stood there watching the whole spectacle and the cashier started dancing too.
Island Girl looked at me and said "Please tell me this isn't happening" but there was nothing I could say. There was her father, in all his glory, dancing and singing with the people in the Dollar Store to YMCA.
When the song ended he got a big round of applause and the women who'd been dancing with him laughed and told him they really enjoyed dancing with him and the boys.
"Can we sneak out and act like we don't know them?" Island Girl whispers.
"No, he has the money" I tell her.
"I don't know why you let him out of the house" she sighs. I don't know why I let him out either but it's comforting to know that if times get really hard I can always sell him to the circus LOLLabels: Staying